2. Power
Economic- powerful landowner
Political-
Kings had divine power, so they needed
Popes´ support
Estates system was
´supported/explained´ by religion
arbitrated between kings´ disputes
3. The Church was divided functionally into the ordinary clergy, who are referred to as
secular because they minister to the needs of secular people, and the monastics, who
are referred to as regular because they are regulated by monastic rules.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_social_structure_of_medieval_times#ixzz1daELc4k2
Clergy
Secular Regular
Took care of secular Were secluded (monks & nuns)
away from secular people
people daily
Monastries & Abbeys
Churches Followed rules of their order
Celebrated Mass (some independence from the
Pope) : clothes, tasks, daily
Celebrated rites timetable.
(baptism, weddings,ect) Studied
Prayed
Copied texts (amanuensis)
4. Hierarchies in the
Church
Secular Regular
Pope in Rome or Patriarch of Pope or Patriarch
Constantinople
Cardinals (Roman Church), Grand Master, heads of
archbishops who could elect a new monastic order, which could
pope be worldwide in scope
Archbishops (Roman Church), Abbots, heads of local
senior bishops monasteries
Bishops, heads of dioceses, which
consisted of geographical groups of Monks, who were the
churches members of monasteries
Priests of local churches Novices, training to become
Deacons, lower order in local monks
churches
5. Monastic Rule:
Monks lifestyle (1)
The daily life of Medieval monks in the Middle Ages were
based on the three main vows:
The Vow of Poverty
The Vow of Chastity
The Vow of Obedience
vow: voto
The life of medieval monks were filled with the following work and
chores:
Washing and cooking for the monastery
Raising the necessary supplies of vegetables and grain
Reaping, Sowing, Ploughing, Binding and Thatching, Haymaking and Threshing
Producing wine, ale and honey
Providing medical care for the community
Providing education for boys and novices
Copying the manuscripts of classical authors
Providing hospitality for pilgrims
6. Monks lifestyle (2)
Matins,
The times of these prayers were called by the following names -
Lauds,
Prime,
Terce,
Sext,
Nones,
Vespers and
Compline.
Matins : the night office; the service recited at 2 am in the divine office
Prime : The 6am service
Vespers : the evening service of divine office, recited before dark (4 - 5pm)
Compline : the last of the day services of divine office, recited before retiring (6pm)
Any work was immediately ceased at these times of daily prayer. The monks were required to
stop what they were doing and attend the services.
The food of the monks was generally basic and the mainstay of which was bread and meat. The
beds they slept on were pallets filled with straw.
7. Amanuensis monk
Copying religious and scientific texts
(Bibles, prayer books, astronomy texts)
Preserving knowledge (from the Classic
Era: Greek and Roman discoveries)
Copying important works by
contemporary religious thinkers
(phylosophy)
8. Where did the regular
clergy live?
The monastery was A nunnery was the
the religious home of a religious home for a
group of monks. Many group of nuns.
monasteries were built
across Europe in
medieval times.
An abbey is simply another name for a
monastery where the head person was A priory is another name for a
called an abbot (male) or abbess (female). monastery where the head
person was called a prior.
9. Religion- regulating daily life
Religion was important for people in medieval times and was
part of the daily structure for many of them. Each village had a
church and many monasteries were built all across Europe.
Kings, Queen and nobles of the time gave donations to the
Church in exchange for blessings and for forgiveness for their
wrong-doings.
The Church looked after the poor and the sick were taken care
of in monasteries.
Without books and the ability to read, preachers were the only
source of information about God and the scriptures.
The insides of churches were not white as we see them today
but would have been covered in brightly coloured pictures
showing stories from the Bible. It was common for people to
choose to dedicate their lives to the Church.
10. Benedictine Monks-
an important medieval order
Saint Benedict founded several monasteries in Italy in the
early sixth century (A.D. 500 ? A.D. 550). Benedict devised a
series of rules that had to be followed by his monks.
These rules became known as the Benedictine Order.
The rules were easy to follow and were adopted in
many other countries as well. The monks had to obey
three vows; poverty, chastity and obedience. This
protected them from the deceits of the World, the
lust of the flesh and the snares of the devil.
Their day was divided into three parts.:
1st devoted to services in the church;
2nd devoted to work in the cloisters, reading, writing and meditation
3rd devoted to manual labour, to help in the gardens or the infirmary.
The Benedictine monks were known as the 'Black Monks'
because of the colour of their clothing.
11. What happened when?
Key dates:
476—Fall of Rome
814—Death of Charlemagne
1215—Magna Carta & 4th Lateran Council
1347-1349—Great Plague
1517—Martin Luther publishes 95 theses
1492—Columbus