Medieval Church Impact On People's Life

Historical Essay – Natsha Nair

In Medieval Europe between 500-1500AD, how did the power of the church impact peoples’ lives?

In Medieval Europe during 500AD – 1500AD peoples’ lives were significantly impacted by the church and the amount of power and control it had over peoples’ daily lives. People depended on the church during the entirety of their life they believed and acted upon its teachings. People had short, hard lives and looked for a sense of purpose in life, and found this in religion. They worshiped one God and believed that if they followed the Church’s teachings their spirt would be taken to heaven. The church had an immense amount of power over the government and the judicial law enforcements at the time, those who did not follow

This significantly impacted peoples’ lives as people wanted to please god and supposedly go to heaven. As suggested by Macdonald, a renowned history author, the Church was a very powerful religious institution and often told people about the dangers of hell and what they must do in order to please god and go to heaven. this included confessing sins to the priests, going to church often, studying the Bible and giving generously to the Church. These factors benefited the church’s wealth causing it to be even more powerful and controlling of people’s lives. (Macdonald,1991, p.37). A French picture by Fra Angelico circa 1387 depicts the perspective that people had of hell suffering of those who did not follow the church’s teachings (Anderson et.al, 2005, p.168) (appendix 1). This idea is supported by Cootes, an history author “The Christian Church taught people that death was getaway to eternal happiness for those who followed the teachings of Christ.” The power of the Church significantly impacted the lives of the people during the Middle Ages as people believed that they must give to the church and follow its teaching or suffer the consequences in

According to Woolacott, a history professor, the Christian Church as well as being a very powerful religious institution was a very powerful political institution, impacting peoples’ everyday lives. (Woollacott, 2012, p.83). A painting displayed in St Thomas the Matyr, Salisbury circa 1475 depicts one of the various torture methods used in Medieval Europe to those who dishonored or offended the church’s teachings. The painting also depicts various human-creature hybrids as it was often thought that those who didn’t believe in Christ weren’t pure and would go to hell. This was displayed in a place of worship to remind people of the power of the Church. (Glynn, 2008) Langley supported this as he stated that “Few people challenged the authority of the church and those who did where severely punished.” (Langley, 1996, p.31). The power of the church greatly impacted the lives of people who were Christian as well as those who were not, although they were the minority, they were under the constant threat of being punished and were also looked down upon the rest of the