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Medieval Europe: Catholic Church's Power & Cultural Impact

Explore the Middle Ages, focusing on the Catholic Church's control, feudal society, major events like the Crusades and Black Death, and suppression of classical works. Discover how the Church shaped art, music, and culture during this period.

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Medieval Europe: Catholic Church's Power & Cultural Impact

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  1. Medieval Period An Overview of the Middle Ages

  2. Major Events • Control of most of Europe by the Catholic Church • General lack of education and literacy among the common people • Feudalism as the basis of society

  3. Major Events, con’t • The beginning of Islam • The Crusades • The Black Death

  4. The Power of the Church • After the fall of the Roman Empire, the largest organized group in the world was the Catholic Church. • Because of their organization and the lack of education of other people, the clergy became the most powerful social class of this time.

  5. The Power of the Church Through exploitation of the lack of knowledge and the prominence of superstitions, the Catholic Church in general, and the Pope specifically, were able to amass huge amounts of land and wealth, and were able to control most of Europe.

  6. The Power of the Church • The Catholic Church was responsible for the destruction of many of the written works of Greek and Roman authors as well as much of the Greek and Roman arts and architecture. • This was done for the purpose of trying to eliminate the “pagan” beliefs of the Greeks and Romans. Many of the practices of these pagan cults were assimilated intothe traditions of our religious holidays such as celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Halloween.

  7. Review Questions - Section 1 • What organization held the most power during the Middle Ages? • Why were the works of the Greeks and Romans destroyed? • Why was it to the church’s advantage to limit the teaching reading to the clergy?

  8. Music and Culture • Because of Catholic control, most of the surviving arts (written, visual, musical, and dance) of the period are sacred and religious in nature.

  9. Visual Arts of the Middle Ages Paintings Statues Mosaics Tapestries Architecture

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