The Clergy: Church, Monks and Medieval Religion

Some monks spoke very little. Many gave up all private property. In medieval Europe, a priest or monk was not just a religious figure. The Church ran courts, owned land and shaped daily life.

In this lesson, we meet the first of the three orders: the clergy. We see who could join it, how it earned its wealth, and how monks lived. We end with cathedrals, pilgrims and the poets who laughed at the clergy.

1How powerful was the Church?

The Catholic Church was a power of its own. It had its own laws, called canon law. It held land given by rulers. It could collect its own taxes.

The Pope, the bishop of Rome, headed the Church in the West. Bishops and priests formed the first of the three orders.

Most villages had a church. People gathered there each Sunday to pray and hear a sermon.

The Church also ran its own courts. In England, a clergyman accused of a crime could claim “benefit of clergy”. He was then tried in a church court instead of a king’s court.

• Own laws, own land, own taxes.
• Head of the western Church: the Pope.
• Benefit of clergy: tried in a church court.

2Who could become a priest?

Not everyone could join. Women could not become priests. Serfs and people with certain physical disabilities were also kept out.

Priests were meant to stay unmarried. The First Lateran Council, in 1123, forbade clergy in orders to marry. Many ignored this for centuries.

Bishops held a very high place. Like lords, they held large estates and lived in grand palaces. Some historians call them a “religious nobility”.

• Priests: men only, no serfs.
• 1123: Lateran Council bars clergy marriage.
• Bishops lived like lords.

3How did the Church earn its wealth?

The main source was the tithe. The word comes from Old English and means “tenth”. Peasants owed the Church a tenth of what they produced each year.

Rich families also gave gifts, called endowments. They hoped these would help their own souls, and those of their dead relatives, in the afterlife.

• Tithe = a tenth of produce.
• Endowments from the rich, for the afterlife.

4How did monks live?

Some pious Christians left ordinary life. They joined communities called monasteries or abbeys. Men became monks. Women became nuns. Each lived in their own single-sex house.

Benedict of Nursia, who lived from about 480 to 547, founded Monte Cassino in Italy around 529. He wrote a Rule there. It has 73 chapters. Its motto is “pray and work”.

The Rule called for obedience. It praised silence and told monks to avoid idleness. Monks prayed, read and worked with their hands at set hours. They owned no private property.

Cluny Abbey in Burgundy was founded in 910 by Duke William I of Aquitaine. It was known for following Benedict’s Rule strictly.

Good monasteries grew. Many had schools and hospitals. Monte Cassino itself cared for the sick.

• Benedict founded Monte Cassino about 529.
• Rule of 73 chapters: obedience, silence, work.
• Monks owned no private property.
• Cluny, founded 910, stressed strict observance.

5Why did people criticise the clergy?

By the 12th and 13th centuries, new religious men appeared. They were called friars. They did not stay in one monastery. They travelled, preached and lived on charity.

Some people felt the old monasteries had grown rich and comfortable. William Langland’s poem Piers Plowman was written around 1370 to 1386. It praised hard-working ploughmen.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales between 1387 and 1400. Its pilgrims travel from London to Canterbury. They go to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. Chaucer gives comic portraits of a nun, a monk and a friar.

• Friars travelled and lived on charity.
• Piers Plowman: Langland, c. 1370-86.
• Canterbury Tales: Chaucer, 1387-1400.

6How did the Church shape festivals?

Christmas falls on 25 December. Early Christians in Rome set that date. Rome already held a festival of the Unconquered Sun on 25 December since 274.

Easter moves each year. The Council of Nicaea in 325 fixed the rule. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox.

Holy days were also rest days. Hard-working peasants welcomed them.

• 25 December set in Rome in the 4th century.
• Easter rule fixed at Nicaea, 325.
• Holy days gave rest to peasants.

7What did cathedrals and pilgrimages add?

Pilgrims travelled to shrines and great churches. Chaucer’s tale is the best-known example.

The Gothic style began near Paris. Abbot Suger rebuilt the choir of Saint-Denis between 1140 and 1144. It is often called the first Gothic building. Pointed arches and large coloured windows marked the style.

Chartres Cathedral was mostly built between 1194 and 1220. Most of its original stained glass survives. A cathedral is the church of a bishop. Many people could not read. They learned Bible stories by looking at the windows.

Hildegard of Bingen, an abbess who lived from about 1098 to 1179, wrote music. More of her chants survive than from any other medieval composer.

• Saint-Denis choir, 1144: first Gothic building.
• Chartres: mostly 1194-1220.
• Stained glass told Bible stories in pictures.
• Hildegard (c. 1098-1179): composer and abbess.

8What are the exam traps?

• The tithe was a tenth paid to the Church. The taille was a royal tax.
• Monte Cassino is Benedict’s house. Cluny came later, in 910.
• Monks stay in one abbey. Friars travel.
• A cathedral belongs to a bishop, not a monastery.