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Medieval Christianity
(AD 1-1417)

  1. Early Christianity (1-330)
    1. Jesus Christ (?4 BC-AD 29)
      • -4 BC-AD 26: Jesus was born in Bethlehem, where his mother Mary and her husband Joseph had gone for the Roman census; according to Jewish tradition, Jesus was presented at the Temple in Jerusalem and then was circumcised; in his 20s, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River; prior to Jesus's ministry, he spent forty days in a wilderness, in ritual prepatory prayer.
      • -26-29: at age 30, Jesus moved to Capernaum and choose twelve disciples, known as the Apostles; he preached about the kingdom of God, taught to love infinitely, promised eternal life with God, and healed the sick.
      • -29: Jesus was executed by the Roman military governor Pontius Pilate at Golgotha by crucifixion, the Roman punishment for political offenders; three days after his death, Jesus appeared to his Apostles and instructed them to spread his message of love; this is the most compelling doctrine of Christianity, because by rising from the dead, Jesus gave humanity hope of life after death and thus earned the title Christ (Greek for "the anointed one"), the savior.
    2. Beginnings of the Church
      • -Jesus' teachings spread and became increasingly popular, especially with social outcasts and the oppressed.
      • -29-62: Paul's missionary travels included: (1) traveling throughout the Mediterranean to spread Jesus' teachings outside of Palestine; (2) writing epistles (letters) to keep up with his own congregations; (3) collecting money from his congregations for the Jewish Christian Church in Jerusalem.
      • -29-64: Peter was called by Jesus the "rock on which the church was founded"; he led the Jewish Christian church, which was the center of the Christian movement, in Jerusalem and is considered the first Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
      • -65-105: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written; there purpose was to show Jesus was truly the messiah and to gain converts to Christianity.
    3. Roman Persecution
      • -64: during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, two-thirds of Rome burned; he blamed the Christians, which were few in numbers, and persecuted them.
      • -70: during the reign of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, his son Titus captured and destroyed Jerusalem including the Jewish Christian church; Christianity began to spread to other cities and towns in Palestine.
      • -98-117: Trajan reigned as Roman Emperor; he recognized Christianity as a threat to religious unity and persecuted many.
      • -161-180: Marcus Aurelius reigned as Roman Emperor; he was deeply committed to unity and thus recognized Christians as a threat.
      • -302-305: during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, Christian persecution began once again.
      • -contrary to the hopes of the Roman Emperors, persecution only created martyrs, which gained more converts to Christianity, making Christianity one of the biggest religious followings in the Roman Empire.
    4. Official Acceptance
      • -312: at the battle of Milvian Bridge, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great dreamed that Christ appeared to him and told him to inscribe the first two letters of Christ (XP in Greek) on the shields of his troops; after doing this, he defeated Maxentius, his rival.
      • -313: the Edict of Milan ended the persecution of the Christians and mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire; the church was then given legal rights and large financial donations.
      • -throughout the Roman Empire, it became easier to become a Christian and to live a Christian.
      • -324: Licinius, emperor in East, and Constantine reunited the Roman Empire; the army was reorganized and the separation of civil and military authority was completed; the Senate was given back the powers that it had lost in the 3rd century; and new gold coins were issued.
      • -325: the Council of Nicaea, the first Christian council, was conducted by Constantine; the council condemned Arianism, a heresy denying the full divinity of Jesus, and created the Nicene Creed, universally accepted by all Christians.
      • -326: the building of the city of Constantinople began on the site of ancient Greek Byzantium.
      • -330: Constantinople was made the capital of the Roman Empire, splitting the Empire into east and west; the Eastern Roman emperor became head of the Eastern Church and the bishop of Rome became head of the Western Church; councils were conducted with both churches, however.


  2. Western and Eastern Christianity (330-1054)
    1. Christian Influence
      • -one of the major tasks of the Church was to convert pagans; missionaries, like St. Patrick in Ireland, St. Augustine in England, and Boniface in Saxony, spread Christianity through major parts of Europe; by the 12th century, every European was Christian, except for small communities of Jews and Spanish Muslims.
      • -because many people lived in scattered villages, the Church developed rural parishes, each led by a priest; these parishes made up a diocese, led by a bishop; and several dioceses made up an archdioceses, led by an archbishop.
      • -the Church had major influences in feudal society; high church officials were feudal lords, with fiefs, vassals, and positions in the royal court; church officials also gave blessings at the ceremonies for knighthood and noble marriages; by the 12th century, the Church owned a third of Europe's land.
      • -the Church gained a lot of influence over politics and warfare; they could name political leaders and clergy; they could punish dissenters by denying them the sacraments or by excommunication; and by the "Peace of God," which demanded that warriors not harm clergymen or noncombatants, and the "Truce of God," which demanded wars not be fought on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
    2. The Bible
      • -379-391: St. Jerome, an ordained priest and theologian who traveled between Antioch, Constantinople, Rome, and Bethlehem, translated the Bible into the version that would become standard for all Medieval Christians.
      • -Jerome's Bible was assembled with both Hebrew Scriptures, to form the Old Testament, and Christian Scriptures, to form the New Testament.
      • -The Old Testament made up about three-quarters of the Bible and, although it focused only on the Hebrew people, it was still highly studied by Christians in the Middle Ages.
      • -The first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) were believed to be written by Moses at the time and contain many of the most prominent Biblical stories as well as much of Hebrew law; the Pentateuch, as these five books were called, made up the historical narratives of the Old Testament.
      • -Prophetic books followed the historical narratives: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; these books detailed the teachings of people who predicted the end to the cataclysmic events Hebrews faced, many alluded to a savior (which was intriguing to a Christian perspective).
      • -Although the New Testament was much shorter and written in a shorter timespan than the Old Testament, it was very important as the prominent source of information about Jesus and the early Church; it is made up of the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, letters attributed to Paul, James, Peter, John, and Jude, and the Book of Revelation.
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    3. Attempts at Unification
      • -as Christianity developed, the need for a unified understanding of doctrine was needed throughout Christendom; councils were held to condemn heretics and to unify Western and Eastern Christianity, at least in beliefs.
      • -381: the First Council of Constantinople was conducted; it condemned various religious sects as heresies and established the bishop of Constantinople second in precedence to the bishop of Rome.
      • -382-430: St. Augustine developed many of Christian doctrines while attempting to resolve theological conflicts with heresies.
      • -431: the Council of Epesus was conducted in Turkey; it condemned Nestorianism, a heresy denying the full divinity of Jesus.
      • -440-461: St. Leo I reigned as bishop of Rome; he established the primacy of the bishop of Rome, as Pope, over all other Christian bishops.
      • -451: the Council of Chalcedon was conducted in Turkey by Pope Leo I; it condemned Monophysitism, a heresy denying the human nature of Jesus.
      • -553: the Second Council of Constantinople was conducted; it condemned Greek writings, earlier accepted by the Catholic Church.
      • -680: the Third Council of Constantinople was conducted; it condemned Monthelitism once again.
      • -787: the Second Council of Nicaea was conducted in Byzantine; it validated the veneration of images and ordered their restoration throughout Christendom.
    4. Photius
      • -858-867: Photius, reigned as bishop of Constantinople; he had many conflicts with Pope Nicholas I over the right of missions in Bulgaria.
      • -869-870: the Sixth Council of Constantinople was conducted in Basil; it deposed of Photius; it was not recognized by the Eastern Church.
      • -879: the Seventh Council of Constantinople was conducted by Photius; it repudiated the Sixth Council; it was not recognized by the Western Church.
    5. The Great Schism
      • -1043: Michael Cerularius became bishop of Constantinople; he closed many churches in Constantinople that were loyal to the papacy; and was bitter about the Western Churches' use of unleavened bread and the discrepancy in beliefs between the two churches on the procession of the Holy Spirit.
      • -1054: Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida was sent to Constantinople form Rome and excommunicated Cerularius; Cerularius in turn excommunicated the Pope; this was a complete break between the two Christian Churches.


  3. Crusades (1095-1291)
    1. First Crusade
      • -1071: Alp Arslan, the leader of the Seljuk Turks, defeated the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert; he proceeded to conquer Palestine, where he tortured Christians, angering and scaring all of Christian Europe.
      • -1095: despite their own tensions, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I asked Pope Urban II for help against the Turks; Urban saw this as a chance to win prestige, to unite the European rulers, and to unite Christianity, so he gave a speech which called for a "crusade" to free Jerusalem from the evil Turks; the speech spurred thousands of people from all classes and nations, who roared, "God wills it."
      • -before the Crusades could be organized, a barefoot preacher named Peter the Hermit led thousands of poor, unarmed peasants from France and Germany; they attacked and looted several non-Christian towns along the way to Jerusalem, where they were massacred by the Turks.
      • -1096: thousands of "crusaders," peasants and knights, with crosses sewn to their clothes, went by sea or by land attracting more and more soldiers as they went; they won many victories in Syria as they journeyed south towards the Holy Land.
      • -1099: 25,000 crusaders besieged Jerusalem and slaughtered Muslim and Jewish men, women, and children which resided there; after achieving their goal, many crusaders left, but the ones who remained sought to establish Christian states; they established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa.
    2. Second Crusade
      • -to protect the Holy Land states, Military Religious Orders were formed such as the Templars, the Hospitalers, and the Teutonic Knights; these groups of professional knights took vows of obedience and chastity, much like the clergy.
      • -1144: the Muslims conquered the County of Edessa; Bernard of Clairvaux, a French monk, urged Europe to fight a Second Crusade which was called by Pope Eugenius III.
      • -Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III led an army to the Holy Land, but was defeated and destroyed at the Battle of Dorylaeum in Anatolia; King Louis VII of France was more fortunate, but still suffered casualties.
      • -1148: the French army of Louis VII entered Jerusalem; his forces and those of Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem, attacked Damascus, but were defeated and retreated home.
    3. Third Crusade
      • -1187: Saladin, a Muslim prince, captured Jerusalem; a crusade was prompted by Richard I of England, Philip II of France, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I.
      • -1189: Frederick I died and his armies returned to the Holy Roman Empire, leaving only Richard I and Philip II, two rivals, to fight the Crusade.
      • -1191: Philip II, who only entered the crusade to match his enemy Richard, returned to France; this left Richard I, the only true soldier of the three.
      • -1192: Richard united the local nobility and established himself as their leader; despite major victories, he was unable to take back Jerusalem, and finally accepted a truce guaranteeing the protection of Christians in Jerusalem.
    4. Later Crusades
      • -1204: Venice agreed to transport a Fourth Crusade to the Holy Land for a fee; unable to pay the fee, the crusaders were forced to attack Venetian enemies before they could go to the Holy Land; they captured Constantinople, looted its rich Christian churches, and established a Latin kingdom in the Balkans; the money and greed they gained kept them from ever getting to the Holy Land.
      • -1212: 20,000 French and German children set out for the Holy Land in the Children's Crusade; despite their hope that the Mediterranean Sea would part and open a path to Jerusalem, instead, corrupt merchants in Marseilles sold them all into slavery.
      • -1228: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, pressured by Pope Gregory IX, led a crusade to the Holy Land; although no fighting occurred, Frederick negotiated a treaty with the Egyptians by which Jerusalem was given back to the crusaders.
      • -1249: St. Louis IX, king of France, led a crusade to Egypt and captured Damietta on his way to Cairo; when the Egyptians opened their water gates, the crusaders were flooded and forced to retreat, paying a large ransom.
      • -1270: St. Louis IX led another crusade against Tunis, but when he died, the unenthusiastic nobles returned to France.
      • -1291: the Muslims conquered Acre, the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land; this ended the hope of Europe to halt the Muslim forces, and although some Christians remained stationed in the islands off Anatolia, nothing more occurred.


  4. Roman Catholic Church (1054-1417)
    1. Disputes Between Church and State
      • -the Church held great amounts of land and wealth, thus a strong political force.
      • -1075: Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV because Henry tried to appoint bishops in his realm; Henry IV then refused to acknowledge Gregory as pope.
      • -1077: Henry IV asked penance from the pope in Canossa, to reconcile the church with the Holy Roman Empire.
      • -1209: Pope Innocent III excommunicated King John of England because John refused to accept the election of Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury.
      • -1213: John surrendered England to the pope and received it back as a fief.
    2. The Four Lateran Councils
      • -1123: the First Lateran Council was conducted; it forbid simony, marriage of clergymen, and annulled the ordinances of the Antipope Gregory VIII.
      • -1139: the Second Lateran Council was conducted; it annulled the ordinances of the Antipope Anacletus II.
      • -1179: the Third Lateran Council was conducted; it established the election of new popes by a two-third majority by a council of cardinals.
      • -1215: the Fourth Lateran Council was conducted; it condemned the religious sects, the Cathari and the Waldenses, as heresies.
    3. New Theology and Philosophy
      • -1077-1109: Saint Anselm, a theologian, proved the existence of God based on the structure of the human thought.
      • -1121-1142: Peter Abelard, a theologian, examined contradictions in the doctrine of the Catholic church.
      • -1268-1274: Saint Thomas Aquinas, the most famous Christian theologian, sought to do exalt the natural knowledge of God while and of the gospel.
      • -1254-1274: Saint Bonaventure, a theologian, worked with Aquinas to integrate Aristotelian with Augustinian tradition.
    4. Papal Problems
      • -1309-1377: the pope fled to Avignon, France in the "Babylonian Captivity" where the city served as the papal court and the popes were under strong French influence.
      • -1378-1408: several antipopes resided in Avignon, claiming to be the true Roman Catholic Pope.
      • -1378-1417: the Great Schism took place with two or three popes at one time.
      • -1414-1418: the Council of Constance was called to settle the question of the papal succession claimed by Pope Gregory XII, Antipope John XXIII, and Antipope Benedict XIII; Martin V was instead choose as the next pope succeeding Gregory.