THE MIDDLE AGES
RELIGION IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church was the only church in Europe during the Middle Ages, and it had its own laws and large coffers. Church leaders such as bishops and archbishops sat on the king's council and played leading roles in government. Bishops, who were often wealthy and came from noble families, ruled over groups of parishes called "diocese." Parish priests, on the other hand, came from humbler backgrounds and often had little education. The village priest tended to the sick and indigent and, if he was able, taught Latin and the Bible to the youth of the village.

As the population of Europe expanded in the twelfth century, the churches that had been built in the Roman style with round-arched roofs became too small. Some of the grand cathedrals, strained to their structural limits by their creators' drive to build higher and larger, collapsed within a century or less of their construction

Monks and Nuns

Monasteries in the Middle Ages were based on the rules set down by St. Benedict in the sixth century. The monks became known as Benedictines and took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to their leaders. They were required to perform manual labour and were forbidden to own property, leave the monastery, or become entangled in the concerns of society. Daily tasks were often carried out in silence. Monks and their female counterparts, nuns, who lived in convents, provided for the less-fortunate members of the community. Monasteries and nunneries were safe havens for pilgrims and other travellers.

Monks went to the monastery church eight times a day in a routine of worship that involved singing, chanting, and reciting prayers from the divine offices and from the service for Mass. The first office, "Matins," began at 2 A.M. and the next seven followed at regular intervals, culminating in "Vespers" in the evening and "Compline" before the monks retired at night. Between prayers, the monks read or copied religious texts and music. Monks were often well educated and devoted their lives to writing and learning. The Venerable Bede, an English Benedictine monk who was born in the seventh century, wrote histories and books on science and religion.

Pilgrimages

Pilgrimages were an important part of religious life in the Middle Ages. Many people took journeys to visit holy shrines such as the Church of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the Canterbury cathedral in England, and sites in Jerusalem and Rome. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a series of stories told by 30 pilgrims as they travelled to Canterbury.

The major Cathedral Centres of the Middle Ages 

Beauvais
The cathedral at Beauvais (St. Peter) was built on the site of two tenth-century churches. Parts of one of these older churches have been preserved next to the present cathedral.

This, a building of immense proportions, was begun in 1247, and the choir was completed in 1272. Beauvais, coming as it did toward the end of a frenzy of cathedral building, was built to have the highest nave of any Gothic cathedral of the time (well over twice the height of a five-storyed office building). The architect fulfilled his goal, and Beauvais towered above worshippers with its 157 foot nave. Unfortunately, in under a century, in the year 1284, the roof vaulting fell in. When rebuilding began, the piers were doubled everywhere but in the apse. In 1374, when the choir was complete, work was suspended. It was not taken up again until 1500 and in 1548 the south transept was erected. Unfortunately, the central tower collapsed in 1573. The nave was never rebuilt. The town was destroyed during World War II and the cathedral was damaged.

Canterbury
In 597 Pope Gregory sent the Benedictine monk Augustine to Canterbury to introduce Christianity. Augustine consecrated an existing Roman church, Christ's Church, in 601, but it burned down in 1067, just after the Norman Conquest. The present cathedral was begun in that same year by Archbishop Lanfranc, a friend of William the Conqueror. It is a combination of styles: Romanesque, Early Gothic, and Late Gothic. In 1174, fire destroyed parts of this cathedral, but it was rebuilt once again.

After the death of Thomas Becket in 1170, the cathedral became the most famous centre of pilgrimage in England. Becket's shrine was dismantled by Henry VIII in 1538, but has been reconstructed. During the Reformation, the Archbishop of Canterbury became the head of the Church of England.

The current nave was begun in 1373. It is one of the finest examples of the English Perpendicular style. (Others include King's College, Cambridge, founded by Henry VI and the Oxford Divinity School, now part of the Bodleian Library.) This style creates a light and airy atmosphere through the use of tall piers with vertical subdivisions and tall windows with vertical traceries. The roof vaulting, which includes short ribs between the long ones to produce star shapes, was an English innovation.

Chartres
The Chartres cathedral, with its exceptional stained glass and 375-foot-tall north tower, is one of the world's most graceful medieval cathedrals. It is the first example of a cathedral that has tall windows in the clerestory and high vaults in the aisles, instead of galleries above the aisles (as at Notre Dame). These features became hallmarks of the High Gothic style. The site had been a place of worship in pagan times, and the cathedral existed in the Carolingian era. All that remains from that period is the central part of the crypt.

The church burned down in 1194 (for the second time), but was rebuilt with the addition of a transept. In 1220 the building was complete except for the facades of the transept and their porticos. In all, the cathedral took 66 years to complete, including revisions. Other features were added later, such as the north tower, which is significantly higher than its neighbouring tower, giving the cathedral an asymmetrical look.

Three rows of buttresses support the rib vaults of the nave. The rose window of the south transept possesses almost all of its original stained glass, making it unique among Gothic cathedrals. Chartres displays a new type of triforium elevation, a format that was to be mimicked in later Gothic cathedrals. Earlier elevations consisted of three sections or stories: the main arcade (aisles), large arched galleries (vaulted), and the clerestory. Chartres contains only two main stories, thus allowing for much higher clerestory windows, measuring 23 feet.

Notre Dame
One of the first cathedrals to incorporate flying buttresses, Notre Dame has a rich history. Emperors, kings, and queens were crowned at Notre Dame. Its halls were plundered in times of war, and at one point it was nearly burned. Construction was authorized by Maurice de Sully in 1160, but was not completed during his 36 years as bishop. The work went on for decades and improvements continued to be made even centuries later.

There were several stages of construction. Pope Alexander III laid the cornerstone in 1163. The choir, started that same year and finished in 1182, was followed by the transept and nave, which were completed in 1200. The facade was begun in 1190 but not completed until 1250. In 1250, the cathedral's towers and facade were finally finished, with a foundation 30 feet deep and a finished length of 402 feet. The ribbed vault was more than 108 feet high, an exceptional height for this period.

Large stained glass windows were used to increase the amount of light admitted. The rose window, 32 feet in diameter, is situated above a statue of the Virgin and Child. The interior is shaped like a cross. The portals have three-dimensional statues integrated into the architecture. A neighbouring church, St. Etienne, was torn down in 1218 and the relics were transferred to the new cathedral. Notre Dame became a centre of music; some of the greatest works of medieval polyphony were written here during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by its two music directors, Léonin and his successor Pérotin.