4. Discussion: Today the West possesses a strong tradition of religious toleration which was absent earlier in our history. How did the West respond to religious minorities within (Jews and Cathars) and neighbors of differing faiths (Muslims and Pagans) during the Middle Ages? What role did religious and political/military leaders play in perpetuating religious intolerance?

I need a citation from this book (i don’t have it)

2 replies:

The “vibrant” changes and reforms to happen to the church during the high middle ages was the elimination of “lay investiture” (Spielvogel 232). Pope Gregory VII went up against Henry IV to separate the church from the grasp of the crown. It was not recognized until a new king and a new pope made a compromise. At this time it was also the beginning of Cistercian ideals which broke off from the benedictine ideal of discipline (Spielvogel 234). Some of the biggest changes of the church was the “religious enthusiasm that seized Europe”(Spielvogel 239). This being the crusades, “a curious mix of god and warfare” (Spielvogel 239). These wars were based off the idea of culling the non-believers from earth and purifying the Christian religion. Another change was the Persecution of the Jews. They were seen as “Murderers of Christ” (Spielvogel 239), and should marked to distinguish themselves from everyone else. ” the new image of the hated Jew stimulated a tradition of antisemitism that proved to be one the Christian Europe’s most insidious contributions to the western heritage”(Spielvogel 239). Not a good change in the lifetime of the church going from accepting all to “our side, your side”. Then over the next century many more crusades were to happen. But on a lighter note some sects of the Church “Franciscans and Dominicans emerged that had a profound impact on the lives of ordinary people” (Spielvogel 234). The Church went through a very big change during this time some aspects helped people and allowed for the growth of new ideas while some changes allowed for bigger wars over decades to happen.

2. There were a couple vibrant changes and reforms that the Roman Catholic Church went through. A big change was the issue of lay investiture. According to the text book, lay investiture is “the practice by which secular rulers both chose and invested their nominees to church offices with the symbols of their office (232). This change was held by Gregory VII who planned on appointing his own clergy once the reform was successful. Gregory VII ended up running into trouble with Henry IV, since they both had to fight over who became the leader. Henry IV believed that for years kings were always supposed to appoint their clergy. Another change was the Cluniac reform which was for the idea of the Benedictine rule. Once the idea traveled from place to place, many different monasteries began to ditch their traditional views and pick up the Cluniac way of things (232). The Cistercian monasticism also became quite popular over a short amount of time. This was because many monks were unhappy with the amount of discipline their monastery had. They spent a lot of time doing manual labor and praying. This was different than the traditional views of the Benedictine Monk. The Benedictine Monk spent hours upon hours praying to God (234).