MEDIEVAL CHURCH HISTORY
by James H. Christian, Th.D.
tian history. Francis’ object was to create an order of monks which would be useful to, and yet separate from, the world by taking the Gospel to the people. The other innovation was the Tertiaries or third orders introduced by the Franciscans. The third order was composed of laymen who might be married and engaged in the normal pursuits of life. The Tertiaries enabled people to live semi-monastic lives of prayer, fasting, worship, and benevolence without leaving their families or jobs. In the eighth century, Christianity found itself fighting for its very life against one of the most pow erful antagonists which it has encountered, Mohamme danism. Mohammed, during the papacy of Gregory I, had made his one and only contact with Christianity in the person of a Nestorian monk who had never seen a copy o f the New Testament. From him Mohammed had learned all that he knew about Christianity and had rejected it. Within a century of the Prophet’s death, Mohammedanism had conquered Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, and was threatening Europe itself. It had established itself in Spain from which vantage point the Mohammedan general was preparing an attack against the rest of Europe. In 732 he marched an attack over the Pyrenees into France. His first contact with Christian troops was successful, and they were defeated. Elated with their success and laden with spoils, the forces of Islam were confident of victory as they pre pared for the battle with Charles Martel at Tours in 732. In the ensuing conflict the confident Mohamme dans were decisively defeated, and the Mohammedan general was killed. Islam was turned back and Europe was saved for Christianity. Two and a half centuries later, Christianity took the offensive against Islam. For some time Christians had been making pilgrimages to the Holy Land. At first problems had been few, but in the eleventh century opposition was mounting among the Mohammedans against the pilgrims, who were being persecuted and prevented from visiting some of the sacred spots. While there were other factors present in the issue, the pope wanted to save the holy sites from further dese cration by heathen hands and protect the pilgrims. At Clermont, France, in 1095, Pope Urban II delivered one of the most influential sermons of Christian history when he issued the call for the first crusade. Thus was launched one of the most futile, and unchristian move ments of church history, the attempt to wrest Palestine from Islam by force of arms. The Crusades were a mixture of comedy and error, of tragedy and triumph, of weakness and heroism. The first crusade was a complex movement composed of two separate armies, both headed for the wrong goal. It came into being in response to a request from the east ern emperor who pleaded for help to deliver Constani- nople from the Mohammedans. However, it turned aside from this objective and invaded Palestine itself. One of its armies was led by a fanatical monk named Peter Continued on page 22 17
W h i l e t h e m e d ie v a l p e r io d character of the church of the Middle Ages. It was an eventful epoch of church history, characterized by un usual movements and dominated by outstanding men. Unfortunately, the limitation of space will preclude the inclusion of many of these. The medieval period was ushered in by a great mis sionary program. Gregory I, known as Gregory the Great, became pope in 590. Often regarded by Protes tants as the first pope, he was a man of integrity, theo logical insight, administrative ability, and creative genius, to whom is ascribed the Gregorian chants of the Roman church. It was Gregory who initiated the missionary conquest of England. According to tradition, he was inspired to this task by seeing some Anglo- Saxon boys being sold in a slave market. Struck by their fair complexion and fine appearance, he asked what kind of people they were. Upon hearing they were Angles, he declared that they should be called “ angels” and should be evangelized. There were other missionary conquests at the same time. The barbarian tribes sweeping down from the north were met by Christian missionaries. Some of these missionaries were strictly Roman in their approach, bearing relics and claiming miracles in the names of saints, baptizing people into the church with out bringing them to a saving knowledge of Christ. There were others, however, like Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the vernacular and sought to explain the Gospel to them. The result of such movements as these was the “ Christianizing” of western Europe. At the same time missionaries were going out to meet the people with the Gospel; others were withdraw ing from the world to live alone. Monasticism had been born in the previous period but flourished in this. Monasticism was of two kinds, hermitic and cenobitic. The former was older and less controlled. In this type men, and sometimes women, withdrew from civilization to live alone in the hope that by renouncing the world and withdrawing from its sins they could find favor in God’s sight. While many of these were serious and godly, there were others whose lives might be charac terized as bizarre. Among these was Simeon Stylites, so named because he lived atop a sixty-foot pillar for thirty years. Cenobitic or community monasticism, on the other hand, was much more regular and useful to society. The monks in this type were organized for work, worship, and witness. Some of them were scholars who copied and studied the manuscripts and ancient documents of the church. Others worked at crafts and farming. The lives of all were closely regulated by the Benedictine, or similar, Rule which demanded poverty, chastity, and obedience. In the later Middle Ages two important innovations appeared in monasticism. One was the creation of mo nastic orders of preaching friars. The Franciscan Friars were such, founded by St. Francis of Assisi, generally regarded as one of the saintliest men of Chris- FEBRUARY, 1967 is best known as “ The Dark Ages,” this title does not altogether suit the
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