During the High Middle Ages, church bells held significance as they notified communities about events and marked the hours. This signified the central role of the Roman Catholic Church at the time as people relied on it for leadership, answers, and protection. The Church's hierarchy mirrored the feudal system with the Pope at the top governing bishops, archbishops, cardinals and priests. Through tithes, gifts of land, and its own holdings, the Church accumulated great economic power and influenced all aspects of medieval life and society.

1. Lesson 3 Reading
Notes
the role of the church in medieval Europe

2. 3.1 Introduction

3. 1. What was the significance of the church
bells during the High Middle Ages (1000 to
1300 C.E.)?
• Church bells basically notified everyone
within the community about different
things in and around the area.
• The bells warned of danger, called
people to worship and even told the
townspeople what hour it was during
the day.

4. 2. What do these church bells signify about
the Roman Catholic Church’s power during
this time?
• These church bells signified that the
church was the center of the
community and that people looked to
the church for answers.

5. 3. Why did the Roman Catholic Church have
so much power during this time?
• People looked to the Church to explain
why certain things happened. They also
thought that God punished them
through disasters and they hoped that
prayer would keep them away from
danger or to be able to protect their
souls in the afterlife.

6. 3.2 The Christian Church
takes shape

8. 1. Why did the Roman Catholic Church play a
“vital” role after the Roman Empire fell?
• Since the Roman Catholic Church was
the only thing that was basically stable
during that time, people looked to the
Church for leadership and
organization.

9. 2. The Pope was the head of the Roman Catholic
Church. He was also known as the ______ of
Rome.
• The Pope was also known as the
BISHOP of Rome.

10. 3. Fill in the Pyramid with the church hierarchy.
Pope
Cardinals
Archbishops
Bishops
priests

11. 4. What are the similarities of this type of hierarchy
within the feudal system?
•The feudal hierarchy and the Roman Catholic
hierarchy is basically the same because the person
who has the most power is located at the top and
the people who have the least amount of power are
at the bottom of the pyramid.

12. 5. Why do you think the Roman Catholic Church
set up their structure in this manner?
•The Roman Catholic Church probably set up their
structure similar to the feudal hierarchy because
this type of hierarchy has a chain of command and
it allows things to run smoothly.

13. 6. What did the following oversee within the
Roman Catholic Church hierarchy?
•Pope – Supreme head of the Roman Catholic
Church.
•Cardinals – assists the Pope (appointed by the Pope)
•Archbishops – oversaw large or important areas
called archdioceses.
•Bishops – governed areas called dioceses from great
cathedrals.
•Priests – served local communities, called parishes.
Each parish had its own church building.

14. 7. The Roman Catholic Church had significant
economic power during the Middle Ages. How did
they acquire this power?
•The Roman Catholic Church had economic power
because it had the most amount of land in Europe.
This land came from gifts from kings/queens as
well as wealthy lords. However, some land was also
taken over by force by the Roman Catholic Church.
•The Roman Catholic Church also collected a tax
from person.

15. 8. What is a tithe?
•A tithe was a tax that each person had to pay.
•Each person was expected to pay 1/10 (one tenth)
of his money, produce, or labor to help support the
church.

16. 9. Why do you think King Henry IV would want to
have the power of appointing church officials?
What advantages would this give King Henry IV?
•King Henry IV would want to have the power of
appointing church officials because this would
probably mean that he was granted a spot in
heaven since he had friends within the church.
•King Henry IV also believed it was his privilege to
appoint church officials.

17. 10. Knowing how important the Roman Catholic
Church was during the Middle Ages, why would it
be a bad thing if you were excommunicated from
the church?
•People were afraid of not going to heaven. So if
you were excommunicated from the church, that
means you were NOT in the blessings of God.

18. 3.4 ~ Pilgrimages and
Crusades

19. 1. Why did many Christians go on pilgrimages?
•Many Christians went on pilgrimages because
they wanted to show their devotion to God, it was
an act of penance for their sins or they hoped of
being cured of an illness or one of their family
members would be cured of an illness.

20. Vatican
Dome of the Rock
Canterbury

21. 2. Why were crusades important to Christians
between 1095 and 1270?
•The Christians had lost Jerusalem to the Muslims.
Jerusalem was a holy city to Jews, Christians and
Muslims, but it became a Muslim city. However,
the Christians wanted it back so the Crusades were
started to take back Jerusalem and other holy cities
along the way.

22. 3.5 ~ Art and Architecture

23. 1. What significance did art have for people during
the Middle Ages?
•Since most people could not read, art helped them
understand Biblical stories.

24. 2. What does the word cathedral come from? Who
usually lived in the cathedrals?
•The word cathedral comes from the Latin word
cathedra which means “the throne upon which a
Bishop sits.”
•A Bishop usually lived in the cathedrals.

25. 3. Why were cathedrals built?
•Castles were built to show a sense of wonder or
awe.
•Most cathedrals were built in the shape of a cross.
•Cathedrals were built as a sign of Christian
devotion to God.
•On average, a cathedral took 50-100 years to
complete.

28. 3.6 Education

29. 1. Often a leader wants to leave his/her mark when
they die. What did Charlemagne do that helped
create a learning environment during the Middle
Ages?
•Since Charlemagne did not know how to read or
write, he wanted the Church to teach people how to
read and write.
•In fact, the Church moved away from all upper
case letters when writing and moved into upper
case/lower case letters like we use today.

30. 2. Who were the people who were able to read and
write during the Middle Ages?
•During the Middle Ages, the people who were
able to read and write were the clergy members
(members of the church hierarchy).

31. 3. Who believe that reason and faith should both
be used for logical knowledge?
•Thomas Aquinas thought that
faith and reason were both gifts
from God.

32. 3.7 ~ Holidays

33. 1. Why were holidays so special in the Middle
Ages?
•The word holiday comes from the “holy day”.
Medieval holidays come from events in Jesus’ life
or an important religious idea.

34. 3.8 ~ Monks, Nuns, and
Mendicants

35. 1. Monks were responsible for keeping Medieval
history alive. What evidence can you find in the
textbook to support this claim?
•As stated in the textbook, monks went to the
library writing room called a scriptorium and
copied books by hand. They also created
illuminated manuscripts.
•By copying down the different events in history,
these monks allowed the historians of today
discover what it was like during these times.

36. 2. What does the word “mendicant” mean? How
are mendicants and monks similar and how are
they different?
•Mendicant: means beggars
•Mendicants & Monks Similar: They both cared for
the poor and sick. They also took a vow to own no
property.
•Mendicants & Monks Different: Monks spent their
lives secluded in order to prayer, study and work.
Whereas the Mendicants were out amongst the
people.