Kelsie Frazier

Kelsie Frazier
November 25, 2015
H. Brit/ Lit
Mr. Urban
What is Power in Medieval Europe?
Every society has different forms of power. Those forms may be land, gods, or
kings. Power is to have influence over people and to be able to tell them what to do . The
people follow the person or object that is in power; for example, the President of the
United States, or the Mandate of Heaven. The middle ages were the time period in
Europe between the end of antiquity in the fifth century and the Renaissance. In history
books they make it seem as if the kings had all of the power in medieval Europe. The
books made it seem like all the people worshipped the king and that the king was the
highest form of power. The king was not the highest form of power in medieval Europe;
in fact, the church was the highest form of power in medieval Europe. People in medieval
times sought the church out for any and everything that they needed. If the people needed
shelter, the church provided it, if they needed food, the church provided it, and if they
needed to talk to someone, the church provided it.

The church was the center of

everyones life. The middle ages were the period of time that Christianity began to
prosper in Europe. The church had its own laws and punishment system if the people did
not follow in the path of the Lord. The punishments were harsh and brutal. If a person
did anything remotely bad they would automatically go to hell.

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At weekly services, the priest would terrify people with sermons about Hell. The
church led people to believe that they would go to Hell for many various reasons. If
someone was not baptized, they would go to hell. Cohabitating is a sin, if a man and
woman wanted to be together, they had to be married first. A non- holy ground burial was
an automatic no entry to heaven for someones soul. Tithes are ten percent of earnings in
a year and the church was supposed to get that ten percent. If they did not receive it, the
persons, who failed to pay, soul would be condemned to hell after they died. Everything
was an automatic go to hell card. Everybody lived and died within espouse of the catholic
faith. Church was a way of life, if you were not with the church, then you had no motive
to continue on with life. Everyone during that time believed that God, heaven, and hell all
existed. They believed that all great things came from God. Everyone wanted to get into
heaven so they did everything the church told them to do. Going against the accepted
beliefs and rituals were disgusting to priests. It was a threat to the churchs authority.
Some of the head priests sought to control the government and to take over the kings and
nobles that ran the government. In the caste system the church was the top caste, all
powerful. The church wanted a theocratic government, but was never granted that wish.

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GODS
(churches)
KINGS
LORDS
VASSALS
SERFS

The church had money and was always receiving money from one way or another.
They got money through things like marriages, burials, and baptisms. The church also
was exempt from ever paying taxes. The church had so much control over people that
they would work for free on the land. The people that did this were especially peasants.
They couldve had better jobs or even owned their own land, but they loved church and
God.
The greatest buildings ever built as churches are known as cathedrals. They were
long lasting legacies. The cathedrals being built was a main focus on everyones lives,
more importantly to the people that were building them. Building the cathedrals could
have been a lifelong project, but the people were devoted Christians. They would work

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day and night to build these magnificent cathedrals, making sure every detail was perfect.
The cathedrals were bigger than all buildings, even royal palaces. They were meant for
people to see them from a distance and to remind people of the power the church held.
They were the best places to be to socialize with townspeople. Sometimes people of
Medieval Europe would conduct business and meetings in the cathedrals. Some towns
did not have city halls because the cathedrals were so vast. Some cathedrals had a Gothic
twist to them. The new architectural style first appeared in France, for example, the Notre
Dame Cathedral. A Gothic style could include glass stain windows, tall pointed spires,
and flying buttresses. One could compare the devotion of the medieval Europe people to
church and God, to Egyptians and their devotion to the Pharaoh. As an old proverb
states, Everything is afraid of time, and time is afraid of the pyramids (Laney), the
same thing stands for cathedrals. These great works of art were built to last for an eternity
and to have long lasting impressions through generations.
The people of medieval times thought that the Earthly kingdom was the reflection
of the Heavenly kingdom and the rulers received dominion from God. People became so
committed to worshipping and serving God that they became monks and nuns. Monks
and nuns commit their whole lives to serving God and the Christian Religion. They live
in Christian Monasteries which is a place where dedicated people go after lives of strict
self- discipline in order to achieve close relations to God. To become a monk or nun, a
person must take specific vows. The Benedictine Order is a long document of Rules.
These rules were to be followed by the monks and nuns living in the monasteries. These
rules are taken to help them get closer to the Lord and to remind them that everything
they do is for God. The monk and the nun praise the lord and embrace Jesus several times

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throughout the day. They also spend their lifes work on studying the written word of the
bible.
During medieval times, men viewed women as lesser beings. Men got their ideas
from the biblical story, Adam and Eve. They believed that worst sin was created when
Eve tempted Adam. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate (Bible). Women were viewed as the
most evil human beings because if this temptation that Eve caused. The churchmen
reinforced the idea of women being inferior to men. They believed that women needed to
stay in their place and obey the commands of their fathers and husbands.