1. Chapter 15 Medieval Europe

2. I. Religion and Society (pgs. 544-552)  The Catholic Church played an important role in Medieval Europe and used its powers to uphold its teachings.  Between 1050 and 1150, more monasteries were built and new religious groups were started.

3. New Religious Orders  The Cistercian (sihs-thur-shuhn) order of monks was founded in 1098.  The most famous Cistercian monk was Bernard of Clairvaux (klar-voh).  Clairvaux helped promote the Second Crusade and defended the poor against the rich.

4.  In the 1200s, several new religious orders were created.  The men in these orders were called friars – comes from the Latin word “brother.”  Friars were different from monks in that they traveled around preaching.  They could not own property or personal wealth and lived by begging.

5.  Francis of Assisi founded the first order of friars in 1209 who became known as Franciscans.  A Spanish priest named Dominic de Guzman founded another group of friars called Dominicans.

6. The Role of Religion  In medieval Europe, daily life revolved around the Catholic Church.  MASS – Catholic worship services (Sundays/holy days)  SACRAMENTS – rituals done in church (communion)  SAINTS – holy men and women who had died (Mary)  RELICS – bones/personal belongings of Saints (power/healing)

7. What Was the Inquisition?  The Catholic Church was very powerful in medieval times and wanted everyone to accept the Church’s teachings.  Heresy (hehr-uh-see) is having religious beliefs that conflict with Church teachings.  To combat heresy, the pope established a court called the Inquisition (ihn-kwuh-zih-shuhn).

8.  People brought before the Inquisition were urged to confess their heresy and ask for forgiveness.  Those who confessed were punished and allowed to go back to the Church.  Those who did not were considered guilty and tortured and turned over to political leaders, who could execute them.

10. How Were the Jews Treated?  Many Europeans hated Jews for: 1) Refusing to become Christians 2) Being moneylenders who charged interest, which was considered a sin.  Hatred of Jews is known as anti-Semitism (she-muh-tih-zuhm)  Christian mobs killed thousands of Jews and many were forced out of their homes.

11.  II. Medieval Culture

12. Medieval Art and Architecture  Architecture in the Middle Ages reflected the importance of religion.  People built large churches, called cathedrals.  Two popular architectural styles of that time are:  1) Romanesque – rectangular buildings with long, rounded roofs, huge pillars, and thick walls  2) Gothic – ribbed vaults, pointed arches, flying buttresses, large stained glass windows.

13. The First Universities  Oxford University in Oxford, England was founded in 1231 and was one of the first universities established in Europe.  Universities were also opened in Bologna (buh*loh*nyuh), Italy and Paris, France.

14. Who Was Thomas Aquinas?  Thomas Aquinas (uh*kwy*nuhs) was a Dominican friar who began a new way of thinking and studying theology called scholasticism (skuh*las*tuh*sih*zuhm).  Scholasticism combined Church teachings with reason and the teachings of Aristotle.  Aquinas also emphasized the idea of natural law.  He claimed that natural law gave people certain rights that the government should not take away: 1) right to live 2) right to learn 3) right to worship 4) right to reproduce

15. Medieval Literature  During the Middle Ages, people generally spoke and wrote in Latin.  In addition, each region developed its own vernacular (vuhr*na*kyuh*luhr), or everyday language.  During the 1100s, new literature was written in vernacular:  1) troubadour (troo*buh*dohr) poetry – love poems, often about a knight and lady  2) heroic epic – stories of brave knights fighting for kings/lords