|
Catholic church was a very powerful institution. People knew of
other religions and both judaism and Islam had followers in Europe
but all non-christians were regarded as infidels and treated as
suspicious.
Jews were expelled from England in 1290 and were persecuted in
Europe during the fourteenth century. The Catholic church was based
at Rome and headed by the Pope. People did occasionally try to set
up other churches such as the Cathars in twelfth century France and
the Lollards in fifteenth century England.
Most people believed though that everyone should believe in one
religion and the strongest at that time was the Catholic church, so
Christians who opposed the Catholic church were treated harshly.
The Cathars for example were condemned by the pope for believing
that everything on earth was created by the devil and a crusade
against them was launched. In the next 26 years thousands of them
were slaughtered until they were all wiped out.
There were numerous religious orders in the middle ages but the two
most popular were the Benedictines who wore black robes and the
Cistercians who wore white. Benedictine monastories were sometimes
found in towns but most were built in the countryside in fact the
Cistercians would live deliberately in remote areas so that they
would not be distracted from their prayers.
Religion
Catholic Codex Sinaiticus
Corrupt
Books of the bible The Ten
Commandments The Church |
