The Decline of the Church

Church vs. Monarchy

• Pope Boniface VIII--Unam Sanctum: “• “It is absolutely necessary for salvation that every

human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff…”• Philip IV (1285-1314) of France temporarily captured

him. The Pope died soon thereafter.

The Origins of the Avignon Papacy

• Issue 1: Criminous clergy: clergy accused of committing crimes. Who gets to try them?– Local ruler– Or canon law (Catholic internal law)

• Issue 2: Taxes

• 1. Philipp IV pressured the conclave to choose a Frenchman as Pope (Clement V) who moved from Rome to Avignon (just across the river from France).

• From 1305 to 1377 Popes resided in Avignon in splendor, decadence, and Frenchdom--thus upsetting much of the Catholic world.

• Most cardinals were French• New taxes were imposed to pay for the Popes’ habits.• The Church bureaucracy became very sophisticated and difficult to work

around.

• Pope Gregory XI took a hint from Catherine of Siena and moved back to Rome in 1378, but he keeled over a year later. What to do?

• Catherine to the Pope: “Because God has given you authority and because you have accepted it, you ought to use your virtue and your power…it would give more honor to God and health to your soul.”

The Schism (1378-1417)

• Two sides gets you two Popes: Urban VI (1378-1389) was chosen by the Italians, and later Clement VII was chosen by the French.

• Two Papas in two places.

• European countries divided in their allegiance.

The Derping Continues

• The Conciliar Movement: inspired by Marsiglio of Padua, called for councils of church leaders to elect a new Pope

• Council of Pisa, a new Pope was elected at the Council of Constance (1414-1418):

Pope Martin V (1417-1431)

Changes in Christianity

• 1. Good works stressed• 2. Prayers for those in purgatory.• 3. Mysticism--Meister Eckart influenced Gerart

Groote’s Modern Devotion movement. • 4. William of Occam (1285-1329) challenged the

synthesis of faith and reason.

14th Century Culture The Developments of Vernacular Literature

• The Italians– Dante Alighieri (1265 –

1321)• The Divine Comedy

(1313 – 1321)

– Petrarch (1303-1374)--sonnets

– Boccaccio (1313-1375)--Decameron

• The French– Christine de Pizan (c.

1364 – 1400)• The Book of the City of

Ladies (1404)

The English:

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340 – 1400)

• The Canterbury Tales

Giotto (1266 – 1337)Lamentation

Ars Moriendi --Il Trionfo della Morte--by Francesco Traini

(1350ish)

• Changes in Urban Life– Greater Regulation--

prostitution, etc.– Marriage--done at a

younger age. – Education of the young– Gender Roles

• Male: Active and Domineering

• Women: Passive and Submissive

• Yet they dominated brewing and many became weavers.

Medicine

• Four humors• Physicians,

surgeons, midwives, barber surgeons, apothecaries.

• Medical schools.

Clocks and Glasses

• Giovanni di Dond’s astronomical clock and the oldest clock Europe, to the left below (1386--Salisbury, England).

• 1) Explain the Black Death’s impact on the society and economy of Europe?

•2) How and why did the authority and prestige of the papacy decline in the fourteenth century?

• Explain the Black Death’s impact on the society and economy of Europe?

How and why did the authority and prestige of the papacy decline in the fourteenth century?