Class 2

Question 1

1. (page 16). There is no EXACT beginning and ending years to the Middle Ages. Southern gives an
   “at its widest limits” definition of when the Middle Ages were. What does he give?

Answer 1

A timeframe extending from the end of the Roman Empire in the West (around the 4th or 5th century) to the dawn of the Renaissance in the 15th or 16th century.

Question 2

1a. Look up in other books or on line to see what others say about when the Middle Ages happened. It’s
usually narrower than Southern. What do others say?

Answer 2

476 AD to around 1500 AD
5/16

Question 3

2. How was the medieval church like a state. Several ways:

Answer 3

Diplomatic Relations
Education and Administration,
Taxation and Revenue Collection
Territorial Authority
Legal System
Hierarchical Structure,

Question 4

3. Nevertheless how was the church not a police state? And, what was its only sanction?

Answer 4

They lacked the physical means to enforce its authority
The only sanction the church could impose was excommunication

Question 5

4. The term “Middle Ages” was invented in the Renaissance, which started in Italy from roughly
   1380 onwards, elsewhere from roughly 1460 onwards. The Middle Ages were MIDDLE to antiquity
   (the culture of Rome up to around 400 a.d.) and to the Modern era. Those coining the term “Middle
   Ages” meant it as a negative. For them, it meant what?

Answer 5

A time of Barbarism: dominated by ignorance, superstition,

An intermediate period of decline and stagnation

The Renaissance thinkers viewed the Middle Ages as a period, and a lack of cultural and intellectual progress.

Question 6

5. Giving the Middle Ages in Europe its unity was the commanding position of what?

Answer 6

The Pope unified the people.

Question 7

6. Compare the Medieval West to the East (Greek) and to the Moslems in terms of culture and
   education.

Answer 7

The Byzantine Empire (Greek East) retained much of the Roman intellectual and cultural legacy
The Islamic world experienced a Golden Age7-14 (8th–13th centuries) marked by significant advancements in science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy
The West during the early Middle Ages was marked by relative cultural and intellectual stagnation

Question 8

7. Moslems, besides conquering Saudi Arabia and environs, also occupied what areas?

Answer 8

Most of the western Mediterranean including Sicily, as well North Africa, The Iberian Peninsula, South Asia. The Caucasus, East Africa

Question 9

8. The Middle Ages was dominated by what religious order up until the 12th century? What several
   benefits did they give individuals and society?

Answer 9

The age of Benedictine rule
Stability and Order In a time of political fragmentation and social turmoil, Benedictine monasteries provided stability. The monastic life was a source of order, discipline, and peace, which helped maintain a semblance of continuity in otherwise turbulent times. Other contributions to society in the practices of: Preservation and Transmission of Knowledge, Centers of Education and helping in Agricultural Advancements

Question 10

9. “Coronation of Kings” was a sacrament for a period of the EARLY Middle Ages. What were some
   of the features of this? And, what was the purpose of this?

Answer 10

Sword, Scepter, Ring, Crown —— essentially ecclesiastical
This practice gave them a sacred character and set them above bishops and priests in the government of the Christian community

Question 11

10. From 1050-1300 (maybe the MIDDLE part of the Middle Ages) much had changed from the early
    part. What? and Why?

Answer 11

• PP-35 Expert knowledge became essential in administration and government, leading to the rise of specialization.
  Why
• There was no single outstanding technical innovation behind this expansive movement, but a combination of many circumstances:
  Relied more on rationality and got away from supernatural thinking
  They went from rituals to systems
• growing accumulation of capital, rising population
• The Return of the Mediterranean to western control.
• The political decline of the Greek and Moslem empires, all helped to open up ever-enlarging prospects to the West.

Question 12

11. From 1300 to roughly 1500, the LAST THIRD of the Middle Ages, many things happened that
    would have been inconceivable in the previous periods. What?

Answer 12

• The violent attack on Boniface VIII by French troops who invaded the papal palace at Anagni in 1303
• The condemnations of the Spiritual Franciscans and other popular urban religious movements associated with them
• PP-44 A succession of papal condemnations in the 1320s showed that the papacy stood in a new relationship to the intellectual and spiritual currents of the age.

Question 13

12. During 1300-1500 what was changing in society?

Answer 13

Europe was deeply entrenched in ecclesiastical governance, with extensive control over wealth and secular rule. The existing institutions were difficult to dislodge, as any potential alternative seemed more disruptive than beneficial. Rulers in this period were wary of causing upheaval by challenging established norms.

Question 14

13. Although moods were changing with the rise of secular government and the diminishing of
    papal overlordship, there was, for now, no radical shift or revolution. Why?

Answer 14

No massive void to fill
Clerical and ecclesiastical leaders needed each other

Question 15

14. There were at one point FIVE major “patriarchal churches.” Islam reduced THREE of these to
    non-entities. Which were the three that became “minor”? Which two survived as “major”?

Answer 15

PP-54 ish Major: Rome and Constantinople
Minor: Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem

Question 16

15. The Pope, for some centuries, was in alliance (as a subordinate) to the Emperor (based in
    Constantinople), thus keeping East and West together. Increasingly in the 700s, this changed. In
    December of 753 a.d. what decisive action took place which had the effect of breaking ties
    between East and West?

Answer 16

alliance with the new Carolingian king, Pepin

800 The coronation of Charlamange

Question 17

16. (page 61). The last universally acknowledged Ecumenical Council of the undivided Church was
    when and where? What number Ecumenical Council was it?

Answer 17

The Seventh Ecumenical Council; After all the discord of the eighth century the pope still sent his legates to the 2nd Council of Nicaea in 787—To settle the iconoclast issue

Question 18

17. Outline the details of the controversy over “The Filioque Clause.” What does the word “filioque”
    literally mean? What is the history of the clause. What did the adoption of the Filoque Clause
    signify?

Answer 18

• PP-64 The Filioque Clause (“and the Son”) was added to the Nicene Creed by the Western (Latin Church)
• The original Nicene Creed (325 AD, reaffirmed at Constantinople in 381 AD) stated that the Holy Spirit proceeds “from the Father” This change was officially adopted by the Roman Catholic and rejected by the eastern church.
• unofficially added by some unknown person or community in the West, perhaps in Spain in the seventh century.
• This signified the cutting off of the papacy to the Greeks and changed the churches view towards a western view
• Charlemagne not invited or in attendance of 2nd council 787
  Charlemange Used the filioque to postitiom himself as theological ruler

Question 19

18. What year did the breach between East and West become final?

Answer 19

July 1054

Question 20

19. What were the circumstances leading up to the breach? (Note, both the circumstances that
    had been building for centuries AND the circumstance around the final break.)

Answer 20

Doctrinal debates for 4-500 years
* PP-58 The iconoclast he immediate need to defend orthodoxy arose from the iconoclast movement which dominated the church of Constantinople for sixty years from 726 to 787.
* PP-60 The alliance between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty 753 marked a turning point in the relationship between the East and West, with Charlemagne exerting influence over doctrinal matters.
* PP-65 There was not another pope of Greek origin until the fifteenth century. From 752 to 1054 there were no Greek popes
* By about 1030 the filioque slowly spread through the western church without papal authorization was installed at the centre of Latin Christendom.
* The excommunication of Michael Cerularius (the Patriarch of Constantinople
* Celibacy and leavened bread

Question 21

20. Why, after the breach with the Christian East, did the West not pursue the military option of
    reconquest? Give three reasons.

Answer 21

1. Lack of Immediate Military Capability
2. Focus on conflict with Normans and upcoming crusades
3. Continued Diplomatic and Religious Ties

Question 22

21. “The ease with which Papal declarations of orthodoxy were accepted in the West” was not true
    in the East. Why?

Question 23

22. Describe “The Donation of Constantine.” What does it purport to be? Is it real? What does it
    offer?

Question 24

23. In the seventh century, the Synod of Whitby decided in favor of the English (Roman) system of
    calculating Easter instead of the Celtic (Irish / British). Exactly what year did this happen? What
    was the “unanswerable argument” holders of the Roman position asserted?

Question 25

24. What is the PALLIUM? Who receives it? Give some details (look it up in books / online additional to Southern).

Question 26

25. What MONK, in 1073, became the Pope? What was his name before becoming Pope, and what was his Papal name? How did he increase the papacy even over what The Donation of Constantine said? What were some of the outrageous claims?

Question 27

26. When the papacy move to Avignon? How long did it stay there?

Question 28

27. When did indulgences start? What was the FIRST one about?

Question 29

28. What is a benefice? (Use the description in Southern AUGMENTED by your reading in other sources.) What is “the struggle for benefices”?

Question 30

29. When did the cardinals get the exclusive right to elect the Pope?

Question 31

30. (page 155) What is an anti-pope?

Question 32

31. Roughly how many (arch)bishops were there in the Latin Church of the LATER Middle ages?

Question 33

32. Though in the Middle Ages the actions of the bishops often was not according to the ideal, many bishops were good. Who (what pope) wrote a great book on what a true bishop should be like? When did the author live, and when did he lead the Church? What is the book called?

Question 34

33. What, according to this book, was the true bishop to be like and do?

Question 35

34. For about one hundred years (the 800s), the bishop’s role was a good one. This is often called “The Carolingian Ideal” after the Emperor Charles / Charlemagne / Charles the Great (Carolus in Latin). What were these ideals?

Question 36

35. The Church for a long time tended to be organizationally one in the West. Then, all of a sudden, there was a proliferation of religious orders. When was this?

Question 37

36. What religious order was the first of the great western orders and for centuries was about the only one?

Question 38

37. When was The Rule of Benedict drawn up? What was going on in society at the time?

Question 39

What was the MAIN element in the Rule of St. Benedict? Elaborate briefly.

Question 40

39. How many worship services were proscribed each day in a Benedictine monastery?

Question 41

40. The Rule of St. Benedict envisioned three classes of recruits, namely:

Question 42

41. The work of the Benedictine monasteries was not chiefly for the salvation of the monks. What was the “double objective” of the monks?

Question 43

42. Discuss briefly how monks could pay the penitential debt of someone else (or, at least they thought they could!)

Question 44

43. The Benedictine ideal decayed around 1100 a.d. For what TWO reasons? Give a TWO SENTENCE description of these two reasons.

Question 45

44. An alternative to the Benedictine monks was the Augustinian Canons (sometimes in England called The Austin Friars). How did Pope Urban II distinguish them?

Question 46

45. While the Augustinian Canons were not very rich, learned, “religious,” or influential, the merit of their flexible rule “which is not often appreciated” was what?

Question 47

46. Quite opposite to the Augustinians were the Cistercians, a reform movement of Benedictine spirituality. Give a brief description of who they were and what their strengths were.

Question 48

47. Who and what were / was The Conversi?

Question 49

48. If the Benedictines were in the settled countryside and the Augustinians filled in the gaps in the countryside (and city), where did the Cistercians go?

Question 50

49. What was the origin of the Dominican order?

Question 51

50. What were “the foundations,” that is, the foundational principles of the Dominican order?

Question 52

51. If, in a word, the special mark of the Benedictines was OBEDIENCE, and, in a word, the special mark of the Dominicans was PREACHING, what was the special mark of the Franciscans, according to Southern?

Question 53

52. Men of what two orders are called friars? (Note: the answer Southern gives is the generally accepted answer. However, in England the Augustinian canons were also called “The Austin Friars.” It is debatable whether they, therefore, are a THIRD kind of friar. Not counting the Augustinians, men of what two orders are called friars?

Question 54

53. The German Dominican Eckhart tried to give the center of the religious life in the individual soul’s conversion, not in the institution. Give several STRENGTHS and several WEAKNESSES to his view.

Question 55

54. There were always fringe, goofy, off-the-wall individuals and groups. One great impetus to this kind of religious expression was the plague. WHEN was the greatest extent of the plague in Europe?

Question 56

55.It was said, with both some truth and some tone of slander, convents of nuns in early / middle 20th century Americas was “where a large ethnic family would dump their ugliest and least-likely-tomarry daughters. How was the endowment and staffing of nunneries in the Middle Ages so vastly different, especially in the 7th and 8th centuries?

Question 57

56. (page 311) As we get to the 12th century, things changed. What then was the driving force between nunneries (convents)?

Question 58

57. Who were the beguines. Give several salient points about them.

Question 59

58. Gerhard Groote’s work in establishing something new in a religious foundation was somewhat typical of new movements springing up in the late 14th century. Describe what he did. List some STRENGHTS and some WEAKNESSES.

Question 60

59. Modern scholars habitually call the followers of Groote what?

Question 61

60. Who was “the greatest name in the whole movement inspired by Groote” ? What book is he most known for?

Question 62

61. All the writers in the movement aimed at an intensity of individual perception arising from a regular routine of __________________________ and ______________________________.

Answer 62

61. All the writers in the movement aimed at an intensity of individual perception arising from a regular routine of __________________________ and ______________________________.