My aim here is to give a broad idea of the Gregorian reform,
the new orders that emerged and the effect this had on society.at large.
This week’s readings focused on what can be described as the
‘great upsurge of the medieval West’. This occurred from about the year 1000 onwards
in which the population doubled. As a result there became an increase in land
clearances and built up areas becoming clustered. In what resembled the
urbanisation of the 19th century the economic upswing lead to the creation of
networking towns which became economic, political and cultural meccas. This
urbanisation impacted on all sectors of society from the church to the status
of the people. Economic and social inequality was determined by ownership of
land and buildings in town rather than strictly dependent on birth and family.
There also seemed to be a trend towards liberty and perhaps away from
feudalism. The changing society was reflected in the ecclesiastical world
through what is known as the Gregorian reform. This reform ‘released the church
society from feudal secular domination’ and aimed largely at a return to
sources and to achieve the true apostolic life. It is apparent that these
changes within the church were an effort to find a place amongst the evolving
society and possibly to remain relevant to the people of which found themselves
with new liberties. Of larger focus for this week’s readings is the emergence
of new religious orders in which laymen played a greater role in religion. These
orders were eager for reform within the church and were against the corrupt
clergy. These orders were as much political as they were religious. Many things
came from the reformation ranging from new concepts of sacraments to the
scholastic revolution, demonstrating that there was indeed a great change in
society.
--Dion
6 comments:
Hi all. If you're puzzled by the phenomenon of St Francis, you could begin by heading over to tutorial 3, where I've been talking about this with some students and invited guest blogger Anne - an expert on the medieval Dominican order - to help out.
Hi Kathleen, thank you for the link to the other tutorial. The comments which Anne made in regards to how Francis was acting in a certain way to appear disturbing were very interesting. As she mentions, you could think from a modern perspective that he was just crazy, but for him it was a certain tool he used for preaching. Like, on face value the bird thing does seem a bit weird, but demonstrating that the birds were more willing to listen to his preaching was probably a pretty good method.
Yes indeed. And as someone in tute 2 discovered through reading around a bit more, apparently the different birds that Francis is meant to have preached to had allegorical meanings. i.e. they represented certain parts of society, like 'the poor', 'the homeless' etc., so it was also showing how Francis was preferring the downcast of society to the rich and famous. Stories of Saints alsways get more complicated the closer you look in my experience...!
I definitely think that a part of why Francis was so successful in his way of interpreting the scriptures was a result of the times he lived in, specifically with the emergence of the towns and growth in the economy. Just as we are today experiencing a bit of a mindset of returning to the simpler things in life (well, maybe not every one is), like using your car less, being mindful of eco-friendly goods, growing your own food etc etc, as a result of our recent economical and environmental experiences, i feel that the medieval world which Francis lived in, also, may have accepted his more 'simple' way of life, in response to the "great upsurge" of their times.
Of course, this rejection of worldly possessions, good and property, as much as it may have been preached by Jesus in his days, is hardly something that the all-powerful church would have initially been excited about. For if people were turning away from their wealth, then surely it would just be one step away from people turning away from the church itself (which, of course, oozed wealth, pomp and circumstance, as a way of projecting its power and influence). I dont think the church would have liked the franciscans ideology at all, as it was, as you, Kathleen pointed out in the discussion of tute 3, a form of criticism on the church's behaviour and general mindset.
Therefore, i do think that Francis was quite wise in his actions, as even though he was adement to change the midset of the people around him, he had no intention of being a martyre, as such. I'm pretty sure he had no inclination to feel the heat of the Heretic's fire, and thus was careful with his interpretations of the scripture, so as to make sure he remained friendly with the church, and thus free to do his life's work.
I think you're right Clare - and it would have been a very fine line to walk with twitchy popes on the rampage against dissent throughout Europe...
Going on from what Clare has said about a simpler way of life: I think it's interesting how Jesus preached that men should leave all their worldly possessions, family and loved ones in order to follow him, yet the Catholic church in particular (in my opinion) are the most overly extravagant of all. They have really fancy building, have fancy, dramatic and dressy rituals and have gone out of their way to maintain their own bank accounts yet preaching that everyone else should hand their wallets over to the church. The church leads extravagant lives with fancy ornate buildings when it seems interpretation at this time favoured a very simple lifestyle and 'living' rather than just 'gaining'.
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