Howe, John. “The Nobility’s Reforms of Medieval Church.” American Historical Review 2, no. 93 (1988): 317-39.
The story of the medieval church particularly of the 11th century is that of the church and the nobility. While Churchmen and women were of diverse background, the ultimate control of the Church between the 11th century and the 12th century lay in the hands of nobles of European society. When the European society begun getting rich in the 11th century as urbanization and development of states progressed, it was apparent that some reforms had to be undertaken. Like all sectors of the society, the church was not exempt from the reforms of the society. Perhaps one of the biggest changes that occurred in the 11th century church as recorded by John Howe in the article “The Nobility’s Reform of the Medieval Church”.
John Howe records that there was an obvious relationship between the churches of Europe and the Crown. This relationship was for the most part, centered on the pursuit of power on the part of the nobles while the church had access to immense wealth. In the course of the century, spiritually minded nobles donated their large estates to church for the sake of funding religious activities. In reality, some of the funding was more politically motivated than religious. While some nobles gave donations to the Church with best intentions, others gave donations with the hope of gaining some specific advantages. This led to the Church’s accumulation of land and absorption of the feudal system. With the time, the religious function of the Church was compromised with feudal needs of a rapidly transforming society. The argument that John Howe makes is that “the nobility, the class that gave the most to the reform movement and benefited most from it”
(p.22).
Church reform began once the nobilities took center stage at the affairs of the Church. In most cases, the Church reforms began at local levels. In France, a Monastery called Cluny was founded in 910. The monastery had a special place because of its freedom from corporate intentions that were running most churches in Europe at the time. In most of the monasteries, abbots and nobles expected some favors from the leadership of the institutions. However, Cluny was special because of its emphasis on the Benedictine doctrine (Howe, 328).
In the course of the 11th century, the papacy also became an important institution for shaping moral character. Most popes argued that reform of the Church was critical for the survival of the Church. In Gregorian time, the Catholic Church instituted celibacy, defined a rather democratic model of electing popes and reduced the influence of nobilities in matters catholic.
O.K Werckmeister. Medieval Art History: A short survey, second edition. Revised and Expanded, Evanston, Illinois, 1993.
In this piece, Werckmeister records the transformation of the German society in the 11th century and the place of religion in the art, culture, and politics of the infant Germon kingdom. During this time, Europe witnessed an increase rate of urbanization engineered by the increased number of cathedrals, abbeys, and Churches of various sizes and dimensions. In addition, this period marked an increase in population as well as productivity. Scholastic awareness, scientific innovations, and economic productivity spiraled growth. Werckmeister argues that the transformation of the German society in the 11th century was almost solely the role of the Church.
According to him, the plentiful churches built in the century were business enterprises that invested in the technology that stimulated the economy of the society. The Romanesque art is an explanation of how the church controlled the economy and the society. Under Henry 111, the Germans were able to find a common balance between the state and the Church.
The Investiture controversy explores the history of the Church from the Ninth Century to twentieth century; however, for the purpose of this paper, I would explore the controversy that plagued the church during the famous power struggles of the mid tenth century. I think the author’s historical argument makes the case that while the tenth century reforms cured some problems of the church; there were squabbles over supremacy between the leaders of the churches and the nobilities. In some cases, some popes felt that it would be difficult to initiate secular reforms unless the pope acquired secular power.
One particular individual famous for the desire for more secular authority for the Church was Gregory VII. He is perhaps one of the greatest reformers in the Church. Gregory was Benedictine who really believed in Monasticism. One of Gregory’s primary achievements was the reformation of how popes get elected, when the cardinal method was introduced. However, Gregory felt that external influence of the Church was a major hindrance of the Church’s primary role of moral perfection.
Gregory was against the opinion that nobilities would have the power to appoint church leaders. In his decree, he struck hard at the Holy Roman emperor. The use of churchmen in the positions of secular administration was abhorred. Gregory felt that the Church should be the supreme authority and not the other way around. He also imposed the need for celibacy, eliminated bishops as hereditary, and questioned the Church’s role in the feudal system. While the Church under Gregory would be powerful, it was important for the Church to keep distance from the ruling class and to act as an authority of moral code. One example of such incidence occurred in the letter that Gregory wrote to Henry IV on 8th of December 1075. He wrote, “ Whatever the King should write or should have delivered to the Pope, Peter himself would receive” (p, 78). In the end, the excessive entrance of nobles in the Church had diminished the ability of the Pope to control running the Church.
The image from the PowerPoint depicted an aggressive and powerful monarchy that had control of the Church. From the images, I suppose the one can deduce that the connection between the Church and the royalty was embedded on the belief that the kings were appointed by God and rules crowned by Christ himself. In the understanding of the people of the middle ages, Christ ruled through the kings. It was impossible to distinguish between religion and the state.
