The Middle Ages

The Church and the Rise of the

Cities

Chapter 14 Section 2

The Church• The Roman Catholic Church was powerful and

influential in the Middle Ages• It taught that people would be rewarded or

punished after death depending on how they behaved in life

• The Church collected taxes from serfs and took lands from lords in exchange for services performed by the clergy.

• The clergy is people with authority from the church to perform religious services

• People who did not obey the church were excommunicated.

• Excommunication is being expelled from the church

The Leaders• High Church Officials, like the Cardinals and the

Pope, were involved in politics.• They influenced kings and lords.• Almost every village in Europe had a church.

Each church had a bishop and several priests. • Every event in a person's life was influenced and

attended by the church. • Besides priests, clergy members included

monks and nuns. • Monks and nuns looked after the sick, set up

schools, and were scribes that copied books.

Monks and Monasteries• Monastery: the building, or complex of

buildings, of workplace and living quarters for monks or nuns.

• The monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel

• Peasants donated work to monastery

• Nobles gave monastery money and land.• gave money to raise sons as monks• gave money to receive monk’s prayers• gave money to go to monastery in old age

Monks• ate plain foods and no meats• spent most of their time in silence• they developed a sign language to communicate• copied bible, religious books, and Greek stories• Provided education for wealthy people, and

cathedrals eventually became universities.• Wore cassocks, which made them look like angels• Monks were the nurses and caretakers in the middle

ages• Improved planting methods• Skilled craftsmen• Chants led to development of written music used

today• Led the Crusades to recapture the holy land

The Middle Ages

Rise of the Cities• After the fall of the Roman Empire, trade across Europe

declined. • It wasn’t safe for people to travel great distances.• By 1000, with the firm establishment of feudalism, trade

began again• Trade centers around Europe grew into cities. • By 1300, Paris was one of the world’s largest cities with

100,000 people• In cities, merchants, traders, and craftsmen made up the

new middle class.• They created guilds. A guild was an organization of all

people who all did the same craft or skill. • Guilds set prices, quality standards, and prevented

outsiders from taking work.

Craftsmen

Towns

• Medieval towns were crowded and dirty.

• Disease spread quickly

• From 1347-1351, the bubonic plague killed 1/3 of Europe’s population.

• The plague was called “The Black Death” and was spread by fleas living on rats.