Medieval Church History

:bbfft: The recent renewal of interest in the medieval period seems to be sweeping through our modern world, as is evidenced by the growing curriculum in colleges and universities, clubs such as SCA, and an ever growing amount of space devoted to the subject on the internet. However, it seems that the topic of Christianity and the Church in the medieval world often takes a back seat for the common enthusiast and historical hobbyists. Granted, swords, armor and castles represent a very exciting and romantic vision for the medieval enthusiast, and this aspect of medieval history never fails to capture the imagination. On the other hand, Church history also offers the en…

Pinched from a really GREAT and FASCINATING site Glastonbury's History and Traditions Saints James P Carley from Glastonbury Abbey – The Holy House at the Head of the Moors Adventurous by James P Carley, pub Gothic Image I. ARTHURIAN SAINTS Such, felt the monks and historians of Glastonbury, was the sanctity of their monastery that the author of the verse Lyfe of St Joseph of Arimathea (published in 1520) could confidently affirm that 'Sothely glastenbury is the holyest erth of england'. By the fourteenth century the monks had laid claim to a startling number of relics and remains of saints, many of whom, they felt, had also had close associations with th…

Let those who have been robbers now be soldiers of Christ... let those who have been hirelings for a few pieces of silver now attain an eternal reward. --Pope Urban II God has instituted a Holy War, so that the order of knights and the unstable multitude who used to engage in mutual slaughter in the manner of ancient paganism may find a new way of gaining salvation: so that now they may seek God’s grace in their wonted habit, and in the discharge of their own office, and no longer need to be drawn to seek salvation by utterly renouncing the world in the profession of the monk. --Guibert de Nogent So the propaganda went during the call for the first crusade. Most peopl…

Is there a scale to the balance of the good and evil in the world? Does such a thing exist, or is it only in the mind of man? Did the insanity of 9-11 tip the balance toward an evil influence in the world, more then normal any way, as spoken of in legends of things thats happened and has been passed down from earlier times? There are many reports during a war or other conflict of manifestations that may indicate such a thing as a cosmic balance is in play. They range from a simple act of kindness to even the appearance of armed Knights on horse back defeating a battalion of the then modern solders with automatic weapons. Like the Cross of the Crusaders and the Musli…

One area that gets a lot press in medieval studies is the rather unpalatable practice of forced conversion. Admittedly, this is an area that I haven’t read about in depth, but it is definitely a subject that needs to be discussed in order to understand the spread of Christianity across western Europe and the history of the western Church in the early medieval period. The primary question of this thread is: To what degree did forced conversions play in the overall spread of Christianity and the administrative structure of the Church catholic? If you have any source material, interpretations, or thoughts to share, please feel free. I’m particularly interested in book su…

The problem posed to medieval thinkers regarding the nature of the human soul perplexed thinkers for much of the period. It was not merely an academic issue, but the question was a central one to understanding the human person, how the human person thinks, how the human person behaves ethically, and how the person exists in relation to Christian revelation. Plato and Plotinus had no problem in conceiving individual human souls as a simple and indestructible spiritual substances. As long as such a view was thoroughly informed by the notion of the soul being created, it seemed on the surface that such a view would fit well into a Christian anthropology. However, for Plat…