Christianity in Europe in the Middle Ages

In the history of the European Middle Ages, the early Middle Ages (V-XI centuries), mature (XII-XIII centuries) and later (XIV-XVI centuries) are distinguished. Thus, the Renaissance, at least the Italian Renaissance, which dates back to the 14th-16th centuries, is partly included in the Middle Ages. In other European countries, the Renaissance came in the 16th-17th centuries. These centuries are also called the era of the Reformation - Protestant reforms and religious wars.

5th–8th centuries period of the Great Migration of Nations. By the 9th century the borders of European states were basically established. Frankish kingdom in the VI century. under the Merovingians and in the 9th century. under Charlemagne (the Carolingian dynasty is named after him) was a huge empire. In the X century. under the new Saxon dynasty, the Holy Roman Empire of the German people arises. In the ninth century united kingdom of England.

In 1054, the Christian Church split into Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox, and at the end of the 11th century. the era of the Crusades begins, which introduced the European peoples to the culture of Islam and Byzantium. During the Renaissance, the formation of nation-states. Spain after the discovery and conquest of America becomes in the XV century. the most powerful and influential state in Europe and remains so until the British defeat its Invincible Armada (a flotilla of several hundred ships), after which England becomes the “mistress of the seas”. Italy in the Renaissance is a set of independent states, of which the most famous were Florence - the birthplace of the Renaissance, Venice, Milan, Genoa.

We learn about the myths of European peoples from the medieval epic, the basis of which they were. In the epic, which grew out of a heroic song, the fabulous-fantastic (mythological) is not separated from the real. The most famous German epic is the Nibelungenlied. The text dates back to the beginning of the thirteenth century, but the origin is clearly ancient. There are various time layers and contradictions between them, which is normal for an epic. The Nibelungen are fabulous creatures, northern guardians of the treasure that is being fought over. They are heroes in the service of the knight Siegfried, who was murdered villainously. In the second part of the epic, the representatives of the Burgundian kingdom, defeated in 437 by the nomadic Huns led by Attila, are already called the Nibelungs.

By the 11th century all Western and Central Europe adopted Christianity and submitted to the spiritual authority of the Pope. Another double borrowing - the barbarians defeated Rome, but took Christianity, which itself defeated Rome, which conquered Judea.

The Western European culture of the Middle Ages, according to D. Feiblman, belongs to the religious type of cultures with the dominant institution of the Catholic Church. The religious type of culture, according to D. Feiblman, has always played a prohibitive or restrictive role in relation to cultural progress and has been conservative.

Monastic orders were of great importance in the religious life of Europe, of which the most significant were the Franciscan Order, founded by the Christian preacher Francis of Assisi (1181 or 1182-1226), the Dominican Order, founded by the Spanish monk St. Dominic in 1215, and the Benedictine order founded by St. Benedict (V-VI centuries).

For those who wanted to fully devote themselves to God, monasteries were created, in which, with the help of asceticism, considered as a way of spiritual creativity, and not just mortification of the flesh through fasting and chains, the monks communicated with God by prayer, understood as “smart doing”. Asceticism in Christianity is aimed at fighting passions, and not pleasures, as among the Cynics and Stoics. Monasticism is as characteristic of the Middle Ages as is chivalry with its own particular moral code. The most strict monks retired to sketes, becoming hermits. Monasticism was inspired by the struggle of the spirit with the flesh as the source of sin. “The voice of the flesh blinds the spirit,” said Pope Gregory the Great. In the world, however, we meet the so-called blessed, or holy fools for Christ's sake.

People "not of this world" who could convey to others their relationship with God are called mystics. One of the most famous in the history of Christianity was M. Eckhart (1260-1327). In his sermons, he divided man into external and internal. The main virtue, which, according to Eckhart, most of all connects a person with God is solitude, detachment from the world. Solitude is insensitivity to everything but God. Solitude is higher than love: love is when a person loves God, solitude is when God loves a person. In accordance with the whole Christian tradition, Eckhart positively assesses suffering, calling it the beast that will rush to solitude faster than others. Eckhart supplemented the words with which Christ's Sermon on the Mount began - "Blessed are the poor in spirit" with his dictum: "Blessed are the poor in will." When a person does not want anything for himself, he merges with the will of God, Eckhart believed.

The word acquires great importance (“In the beginning was the Word”), Augustine the Blessed, a Christian theologian and church leader of the 4th century, emphasized: everything is created by the Word. Here is not only the influence of Platonism, but also the mysticism of the identity of the word and the thing. The sermon becomes a means of education and a form of literary creativity. The genre of the life of the saints, which originated in ancient Rome, is rapidly developing; first short stories about individual episodes, then more and more lengthy. Apocrypha also occupied an important place in Christian literature - books describing the life and death of Jesus Christ, the apostles and other characters of Sacred History, not included in the New Testament by the Ecumenical Councils.

The history of the Middle Ages begins with the fall of the Roman Empire. The transition from ancient civilization to the Middle Ages was due, firstly, to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire as a result of the general crisis of the slave-owning mode of production and the associated collapse of the entire ancient culture. Secondly, the Great Migration of Peoples (from the 4th to the 7th centuries), during which dozens of tribes rushed to conquer new lands. The Western Roman Empire was unable to withstand the waves of barbarian invasions and in 476 ceased to exist. As a result of barbarian conquests, dozens of different kingdoms arose on its territory. The third and most important factor that determined the process of formation of European culture was Christianity. Christianity has become not only its spiritual basis, but also the integrating principle that allows us to speak of Western European culture as a single integral culture.

The role of the church in the life of Western European medieval society was very great. Religion and the church filled the whole life of a man of the feudal era from birth to death. The church claimed to rule society and performed many functions that later came to belong to the state. The medieval church was organized on a strictly hierarchical basis. It was headed by the Roman high priest - the pope, who had his own state in Central Italy. Archbishops and bishops in all countries of Europe were subordinate to him. These were the largest feudal lords, who possessed entire principalities and belonged to the top of feudal society. Having monopolized culture, science, and literacy in a society consisting mainly of warriors and peasants, the church possessed enormous resources that subordinated to it the man of the feudal era. Skillfully using these means, the church has concentrated enormous power in its hands: kings and lords, in need of her help, shower her with gifts and privileges, try to buy her favor and assistance. church christianity european culture

The Church pacified society: she sought to smooth out social conflicts, calling for mercy in relation to the oppressed and destitute, for an end to lawlessness. The Church did not approve of open hostility towards the rural population. Its goal was to reduce social conflicts as much as possible. The Church strove to show mercy towards the oppressed and destitute people. She cared for the sick, the elderly, the orphans and the poor.

In addition, poverty was even given moral priority. During the 3rd - 5th centuries, the church even condemned the love of wealth. But over time, when the church was the largest owner, in the literature of a later time, all this is displayed somewhat muted (the glorification of poverty prevails in all literary works of the Early Middle Ages).

The Church attracts under its protection many peasants in need of patronage, provides them with land for settlement, and encourages the liberation of foreign slaves, who at the same time fell into dependence on it.

By the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century, all the main features of the feudal system took shape. The Christian religion became his dominant ideology. The Church held in its hands all spheres of human life. She filled the life of people - and organized their time, subordinating it to the rhythm of daily worship, determined judgments - and directed and controlled feelings, the church gave constant food for thought - and suggested the nature of entertainment.

In the restless feudal times, people sought the protection of the monastery. The monastery was also the most exacting owner, preserving the most severe forms of feudal exploitation. The Church was the largest landowner in the feudal world and tirelessly increased its material wealth. The monasteries were among the first to switch to a commodity economy, to production for the market, take treasures and money for safekeeping, and provide loans. Under the auspices of the church, joining with church holidays, fairs and markets arise, pilgrimages to holy places merge with trade trips. Continuing to use economic power for its own purposes, the church in the XI-XIII centuries. in fact, he leads the trade and colonization movement of Europeans to the East, organizing huge collections of money to finance them. After the "campaigns" ceased, these funds began to be used to strengthen the papal treasury.

The church organization reaches its highest power in the XII-XIII centuries, turning into a powerful financial organization with unlimited power over its structures and exceptional political influence. The Church taught that every member of society should live in accordance with his legal and property status and not seek to change it. The ideology of the three "estates", which spread in Europe in the 10th century, put forward monks, people devoted to prayer and standing above society, in the first place. There was a gradual aristocratization of the clergy and monasticism.

It was a relationship of domination and submission. Subordinating the life of an individual person to the same standards for all, the corporation inevitably dictated to people a certain type of behavior, moreover, a system of thoughts and feelings. In the era of the early Middle Ages, this suppression of human individuality was not yet felt by people as something contrary to their nature. But the time will come when corporate ties will become a serious brake on the development of society.

Mass mediaeval culture is a bookless culture; sermons became a "translation" of the thoughts of the social and spiritual elite into a language accessible to all people. Parish priests, monks, and missionaries had to explain to the people the basic principles of theology, instil the principles of Christian behavior and eradicate the wrong way of thinking.

Also, it should be noted the feature of literature and culture of the Middle Ages. It lies in the fact that in a society, the main part of which was semi-literate, writing was not the main means of popular communication. The medieval population was mostly unliterate and the culture of the Middle Ages was underdeveloped. For a long time, the dialects of the people and languages ​​​​in Western Europe were the means of communication between people, they could not learn writing, and it remained completely under the rule of Latin. During the 5th-9th centuries, all primary educational institutions in the countries of Western Europe were under the authority of the church. She formed the curriculum, chose students. The main goal was to educate the ministers of the church.

The methods and level of teaching in different schools were different, therefore, the education of people also changed. During the 8th-9th centuries, the development of mental life at the beginning of the 10th century noticeably stopped. As a rule, the clergy were illiterate, and ignorance spread. The medieval inhabitants of Europe, including the highest strata of the population, were mostly illiterate. Even the priests in the parishes had a very low level of education.

However, one cannot fail to note the positive role of the church and Christian doctrine in the development of medieval civilization. She controlled the education and production of books. Thanks to the influence of Christianity, by the 9th century a fundamentally new understanding of family and marriage was established in medieval society, the familiar concept of “marriage” was absent in the late antique and ancient German traditions, and then there was no concept of “family” familiar to us. In the era of the early Middle Ages, marriages between close relatives were practiced, numerous marriage ties were common, which were inferior to the same consanguineous ties. That was the position the church was struggling with: the problems of marriage. Since the 6th century, this problem has become almost the main theme of many works. The fundamental achievement of the church of this period of history should be considered the creation of marriage as a normal form of family life, which still exists.

Thus, medieval culture is the result of a complex, contradictory synthesis of ancient traditions, the culture of barbarian peoples and Christianity. However, the influence of these three principles of medieval culture on its character was not equivalent. The dominant feature of medieval culture was Christianity, which acted as a new ideological support for the worldview and attitude of a person of that era, which led to the formation of medieval culture as an integrity.

Originating in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, orthodoxy unlike Catholicism, it did not undergo rigid centralization, but was a conglomerate (set) of several separate churches headed by separate patriarchs. The most respected and oldest of these churches were four: Constantinople (its patriarch formally continued to be considered the head of the entire Eastern Church), Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem (which was the most ancient patriarchy on the grounds that the first bishop of the Jerusalem community would be James, brother of Jesus). But the educational activities of these churches led to the fact that Christianity penetrated into many countries of Eastern Europe precisely in its Orthodox interpretation. Serbia (late 9th century), Bulgaria (865), Romania (4th–5th centuries), and others were among such countries. Thus, we can say that not individual countries, but tribes were subjected to Orthodox baptism living on the territory of future sovereign (independent) states. Formally, these tribes were considered independent, but the recognition of the ecclesiastical authority of one of the Orthodox churches (as a rule, it was about the Patriarchate of Constantinople) made them subject, even in the ecclesiastical issue, to Byzantium. Such a position, which suited the leaders of these tribes at the initial stage of relations, ceased to satisfy them later, when separate states began to take shape in the tribal territories, which preferred to adhere to independence in relation to religion. Taking advantage of the crisis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, connected with the invasion of the Turks into the territory of Byzantium in the XIII-XIV centuries, Bulgaria, and after it Serbia, chose to declare their churches autocephalous(independent) from other Orthodox churches.

Friction between the main directions of Christian doctrine arose shortly after the 7th Ecumenical Council (787), which is officially recognized by supporters of the Orthodox Church as the last Ecumenical Council. At the heart of church contradictions are not only discrepancies of a purely dogmatic nature, the main of which is the addition by Catholics to the Creed "filioque" (translated from Latin - "and from the son"). The meaning of this addition is that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son. An important factor in the final rupture of the churches were political reasons. Their essence was the confrontation between the Italian rulers and the Byzantine Empire, which for some time successfully carried out expansion into the territory of the Apennine Peninsula.

The first step towards breaking up was schism(church conflict) 862-870, provoked by the actions of the Byzantine emperor Michael III, who deposed the Patriarch of Constantinople Ignatius and erected in his place Photius, who, according to his convictions, was an absolutely secular person. Pope Nicholas I considered this moment convenient for proving his power and condemned the new patriarch and demanded the return of Ignatius to the patriarchal throne. Photius, outraged by the interference of the Pope in the internal affairs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, convened a council in 867, which condemned the initiative of Pope Nicholas I. But at that moment the situation changed dramatically, since the patron of Patriarch Photius, Byzantine Emperor Michael III, was killed, and ascended to throne Basil I made a "castling", changing the current patriarch to his predecessor Ignatius (870). However, this candidacy did not suit the pope either, which was facilitated by another aggravation of relations due to the church subordination of Bulgaria, which adopted Christianity in its Orthodox version, but was in the sphere of interests of the Catholic Church. A few years later, Ignatius died (879), and Photius again took his place, forced to agree to a mutually beneficial exchange: Pope John VIII canceled anathema(excommunication) imposed on Photius, but in return received Bulgaria as his subject. The fulfillment of the stipulated terms of the contract turned out to be unilateral. Photius with great triumphs again ascended the patriarchal throne, but was in no hurry to give Bulgaria under the jurisdiction of the pope. In 880, at the Council of Constantinople, which united the patriarchs of all the Eastern churches, Photius was acquitted of all charges brought by the Roman Catholic Church, and was officially recognized in the patriarchal rank. This conflict, which did not result in a long confrontation, became the "first call" of unceasing contradictions, the final aggravation of which occurred in 1054 and ended with the official division of the churches, which from now on divided Christianity into two different directions.

The rise of the papacy, associated with the emerging split of the formerly united Christianity into two branches and the concentration in the hands of the Pope of Rome not only of ecclesiastical power over the whole of Western Europe, but also of a significant part of secular influence, had a reverse side. The sharply increased prestige of the heir of St. Peter (as the popes were often called, hinting at the origin of their power from the first leader of the Roman Christian community - the Apostle Peter) made his place the subject of political intrigues and behind-the-scenes struggle between the cardinals and external forces interested in the choice being made. If in the first centuries of our era the throne of the Roman high priest was simply dangerous, later personifying only one of the many churches of the Christian world, now it has become the arena of a real struggle, which was not slow to affect the moral qualities of people who sought to take possession of it. Period VIII-XI centuries. - the time of the moral decline of the Roman papacy, the constant change of popes, many of whom, being purely secular people, took the priesthood only in order to take enormous secular and spiritual power into their own hands. The case of Pope Formosus (891–896), whose successor Stephen VII (896–897) became so engrossed in hatred for his predecessor that he ordered that his corpse be dug up and subjected to a trial, was condemned and thrown into the Tiber. There were frequent cases when popes succeeded each other on the throne, after which the deposed candidate again regained the papal throne. So, Benedict IX in the XI century. succeeded in restoring his right to the papacy several times, and, characteristically, most often he himself resigned his position, selling it to another candidate.

According to the old saying that "the fish rots from the head," the rest of the Catholic Church did not remain indifferent to what was happening to its top: a mixture of secular and spiritual authorities, as well as commercialization spread to the entire building of the church, penetrating it from the upper to the lower floors. Among the feudal lords, the custom was widely practiced to buy the positions of a priest, bishop, or even archbishop. An ordinary knight could afford to buy the position of a priest and administer both secular and spiritual court over his servants. A baron or a count bought the position of a bishop and thus became vicegerents of the Catholic Church over individual cities or entire regions. The custom of buying and selling church offices cannot even be called corruption in the modern sense of the word, since the collection of the agreed amount took place quite officially, with the issuance of a receipt or receipt. The church has also undergone significant softening. celibacy(a vow of celibacy given by a priest upon entering the dignity), since many cardinals, and even simple priests, openly cohabited with women, and children born in such a “civil marriage” were adopted by close or distant relatives, acquiring a surname and significant rights. Such a mixture of powers led in the XI century. to another innovation, which would have seemed wild to the early hierarchs of the Christian church, military service became a vassal duty of the clergy. Priests, called upon to perform a peacekeeping function, from now on became full participants in feudal civil strife, and far from being the most peaceful. History has preserved many examples when bishops actively led their troops to storm enemy walls or to militia a neighboring feudal lord.

The social differentiation of the clergy increased significantly. It was divided into owners of parishes or individual dioceses (priests, bishops, archbishops), who had significant incomes thanks to the collection of fees from the population for the remission of sins (the so-called indulgences), and mendicant monks, who often did not have their own parish and were forced to spend their time wandering in foreign lands. Naturally, this situation did not suit many representatives of the clergy, who tried to return the church, mired in worldly needs, to the service of the Christian faith. The most famous was the Cluny movement, which received its name from the name of the Cluny monastery in France and gradually gained significant influence. Starting at the end of the 10th century, it advocated the separation of the church from secular power and a return to the observance of the basic Christian commandments. A symptom of the changes taking place not only at the level of individual monasteries, but also at the very top of the Catholic Church, was the election to the papal throne of Gregory VII (1073-1085), a graduate of the Cluniac monastery, who for the first time dared to enter into an open conflict with the powerful Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry VI (1056–1106), defending the priority of spiritual power over secular power. In 1075, the Lateran Council, assembled by Gregory VII, issued a decree according to which the sale of church posts was prohibited, and the election of priests and bishops henceforth became an internal affair of the Catholic Church, beyond the control of secular rulers. Taking advantage of the strife among the German princes, many of whom openly opposed the emperor, Pope Gregory managed to force Henry VI to bow his knee to him, recognizing the supremacy of the pope. Of course, the struggle between secular rulers and spiritual rulers was not over, but the papacy managed to achieve significant success.

The increased authority of papal power and the growing economic power of the Catholic Church allowed the highest representatives of the clergy to implement a plan to spread their influence beyond Europe, even if by force. An epochal event both in the history of the Christian Church and in the history of all medieval Europe was 1096, since it was in this year that Pope Urban II (1080-1099) at the Clermont Cathedral proclaimed a crusade against the "infidels" (Muslims), arguing the need for violent the capture of the Middle East by the search and collection of preserved Christian relics (for example, the Holy Sepulcher). The result of the First Crusade (1096–1099) was the liberation of Jerusalem and the creation of several small states in the conquered territories, as well as the spiritual and chivalric orders of the Hospitallers and Templars, who became obedient conductors of the papal will in the process of fighting against non-believers and heretics. True, subsequent campaigns failed to repeat the success of the first, and already in 1187 the Turks were able to regain Jerusalem, after which all the plans of conquest in relation to the Middle East could only be spoken of as unsupported adventures. Some exception is the IV Crusade (1204), during which the crusaders managed to capture Constantinople and split the Byzantine Empire, establishing in its place the Latin Empire with its center in Nicaea, but this success was short-lived. Already in 1261, the power of the Latin emperor, supported by the Catholic Church, was overthrown, and the revived Byzantine Empire entered a short period of greatness, which, unfortunately, turned out to be the last in its long history.

13th century period became the time for the emergence of a new institution within the Catholic Church, the name of which still retains a connotation of mystery and sacred horror. We are talking about inquisition(from Latin inquizitio - to investigate, investigate), the existence of which is usually dated to 1252, when Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254) officially allowed the use of torture in those court cases where it was a violation of the interests of the church. During the 13th-16th centuries, which account for the largest number of inquisitional proceedings, thousands of people (including Giordano Bruno) were accused of heresy and sentenced to a painful death, the only reason for which were confessions, knocked out with the help of sophisticated torture. Despite the fact that already in the XVIII century. The Inquisition practically ceased active activity, focusing not on punishing apostates, but on introducing heretical books into the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books), its actual prohibition occurred at the beginning of the 19th century, and the legal abolition of the Inquisition followed only in 1966.

The papacy at the end of the thirteenth century fell into a new period of decline, which was provoked by the conflict between Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) and the French king Philip IV the Handsome (1285–1314). During the pontificate of Boniface, alarming symptoms of the decline of the Catholic faith became noticeable, as evidenced by the increase in the methods of levying various fees in favor of the church, as well as the moral decline of the clergy. Characteristic is the statement of Pope Boniface himself: "The clerics must say what the people say, but this does not mean that they are obliged to believe in what the people believe." Having put forward a statement about the divine origin of the power of the pope, Boniface VIII demanded that the secular rulers recognize the supremacy of spiritual power, but his claims ran into a harsh response from the French king Philip, who at the beginning of the 14th century. managed to begin the process of centralization of France and did not want to endure encroachments on his property, even from the side of the pope. The chancellor of the French king, Philippe Nogaret, captured the pope in his own palace, which led to the sudden death of Boniface and the election of a new pope, which took place under the vigilant control of the French king. The new pope Clement V (1305–1314), elected under pressure from France, was forced to agree to the transfer of his residence from Rome to the southern French city of Avignon, which marked the beginning of Avignon captivity of the popes(1305–1378), which became a symbol of the decline and unquestioning submission of the heir to St. Peter to the will of secular rulers.

Only towards the end of the 14th century. The Catholic clergy managed, taking advantage of the difficult situation of France associated with its participation in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), to return their location to the historical center of the entire Catholic world - Rome. Unfortunately, the change in the location of the papal throne, although it made it possible to eliminate the direct dependence of church affairs on secular authorities, did not solve the problems that were growing within Catholicism itself. More and more priests called on the leadership of the Catholic Church to carry out reforms that could serve to raise its moral and political authority in the eyes of the entire Christian world. A symptom of a split in the ranks of the clergy itself was the appearance antipope, which were supported by a significant part of the clergy and often anathematized the popes themselves, elected by the conclave (meeting) of cardinals. In order to solve the accumulated dogmatic and institutional problems, the Basel Council (1431–1449) was convened, which managed to find ways to eliminate the Hussite heresy spread in Austria and the Czech Republic, but this council also failed to unite Catholicism by adopting certain decrees, since Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447) convened an alternative council in Florence (1438-1439). In 1439, it was at the Florentine Cathedral that union of florence, which summed up the confrontation between the Roman and Constantinople churches, subordinating the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Pope. This union did not lead to the desired result, since the Byzantine Empire, which was thus trying to attract the troops of the Western European rulers to its aid, fell under the blows of the Turks in 1453, and the Russian Orthodox Church received in its hands a significant reason for putting forward its claims to the role of the most powerful among Orthodox churches.

By the beginning of the Renaissance, the papacy failed to find the necessary sources and strength to update religious dogma and the institution of the Catholic Church itself, which was the main reason for the emergence of the reform movement that unfolded in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century.

Dogmatic disputes accompanied the entire history of the development of Christianity (suffice it to recall the struggle between the Nestorians and Monophysites), but in the Middle Ages these debates took on a new form, caused by the changed conditions in which the Catholic Church found itself. The development of natural science and the study of the works of ancient thinkers forced the representatives of the church not only to be content with the statements taken on faith, but to strive to substantiate them. Philosophy was assigned the role of a servant of theology, but even inveterate theologians had to use logical techniques to confirm their judgments, so philosophy was an obligatory subject of study within the framework of a medieval university. The philosophical justification of religious truths has become the main subject scholastics, which took a leading place in the intellectual life of the Middle Ages. Another thing is what role was assigned to philosophy or, more broadly, to rational knowledge in the process of comprehending God and the surrounding world.

For the first time, such a question in the form of an antithesis (opposition) between reason and faith was raised by the medieval philosopher John Scott Eriugena (810-877), who argued that the sacred texts have indisputable authority, but to comprehend the depth of the ideas and ethical provisions expressed in the Bible is necessary not only and not so much by blind faith, but also by rational explanation and clarification of what is written. "Nemo intrat in caelum nisi per philosophiam" (No one ascends to heaven except through philosophy) - this is how he himself briefly formulated the essence of his position. According to legend, ordinary parishioners were so outraged by Eriugena's "heretical" statement from their point of view that they killed him and burned the manuscripts that he had with him. Nevertheless, the works of the philosopher continued to be copied, which led to their official prohibition by the Roman Catholic Church, and twice - in 1050 and 1225.

In the future, any theologian faced the need to somehow resolve the issue of the relationship between faith and reason in the comprehension of God, which led to the formation of two traditions: rationalistic (scholasticism) and intuitive (mysticism). The rationalists insisted that the mind must necessarily participate in the process of cognition, while the mystics focused on the supersensible, intuitive connection of the soul with God. All the sharpness of the rationalist position was well understood by medieval theologians, since the danger lay in the initial freedom of reasoning, which could lead to conclusions that did not correspond to the dogma. The most striking example of the application of philosophical research methods to solving theological problems was the famous dispute about the nature of universals (general concepts), which divided the entire intellectual elite of medieval Europe into two currents: realists and nominalists.

Realists the most prominent representative of which was the theologian Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), argued that general concepts exist in reality, while individual things serve only as their imperfect similarities, with which a person is forced to be content due to the imperfection of his nature. nominalists, the essence of whose teachings was most clearly expressed by the English thinker William of Ockham (1280–1349), insisted on the opposite: only single things are real, and general concepts serve only as names (in Latin, nomina means “name”). Such a dispute, seemingly very abstract both from real life and from religious dogma, was nevertheless very important, since it boiled down to the interpretation of the Creed. If you take the position of nominalism and interpret general concepts as empty words, then you get an understanding of the Trinity as a simple combination of three gods, which has no connection other than linguistic, which in itself was already drawn to a heretical statement, since it violated one of the provisions of the Creed . If we adhere to a realistic position, then there was another danger - considering the Trinity as a general and indivisible concept led to the logical conclusion that the suffering of Jesus on the cross meant the torment of the cross of the entire Trinity, and this statement violated another position of the main dogma of Christianity.

The pinnacle of the development of medieval scholasticism was the work of the famous Italian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas (1125-1274). In his work "The Sum of Theology" he distinguishes two kinds of truth: "truth of faith" and "truth of reason", which have the same divine origin, but a different form, which does not prevent us from talking about the same thing. Reason can be guided as long as it does not refute church dogmas. If, in the process of searching for truth, reason and faith come to different conclusions, then only faith should be trusted.

Another significant step of Thomas in the process of rational substantiation of church dogmas was his formulation Five Proofs for the Existence of God.

1. Proof from motion. All things in the world do not move by themselves, but are set in motion by something, from which it follows that there is one and only thing that combines both the movement itself and its source, and this thing is God.

2. Evidence from reason. Things do not exist on their own, but for a certain reason that exists outside of things, but since this series cannot continue indefinitely, it is necessary to admit the existence of the first cause, which determines the existence of all the others.

3. Proof from possibility. The existence of things is accidental, since it is not justified by necessity, but since the world still exists, this means that there is a thing that cannot but exist, and this thing is God.

4. Proof from the hierarchy. Each person contains spiritual qualities, and their content is uneven: no matter how beautiful a person is, there will always be another who will be even more beautiful, therefore it is necessary to allow the presence of a being that embodies the ultimate norm of spiritual qualities that cannot be exceeded . Such an Absolute, according to Thomas, is God.

5. Proof from the end. The emergence of each thing is accidental, but its existence is purposeful. Let the world as a whole not have a specific goal, but each element of this world has such a goal and strives to achieve it. The irresistible force that draws all things to the fulfillment of their own purpose is God. The purpose of human existence is the comprehension of God, therefore, we can say that God, giving a person the desire for a goal, thereby gives the possibility of his own knowledge.

The era of scholasticism can be characterized as a short period of time on a global scale, when religion, philosophy and emerging science tried to keep pace, but happily parted ways at the moment when the development of culture and society provided such an opportunity.

But not all theologians defended the rational path of knowledge of God. Some spoke out against the priority of the mind, seeing in this way the limitation and constraint of the framework of human thinking, which prevents one from ascending to merge with the Absolute. In scholasticism, mystics saw a distortion of the original contact of man with God, offering in return their own ways of restoring the lost connection. The most prominent supporters of the mystical trend in theology were Meister Eckhart (1260–1327) in Catholicism and Gregory Palamas (1295–1359) in Orthodoxy.

According to Meister Eckhart, God and man are initially a unity, which is realized by God, since it was created by his Word, but is not realized by man, so the destiny of man is to rise to the realization of his unity with God and be able to take it for granted. As a result of original sin, man fell away from God, but since God is love, his all-encompassing mercy leaves man a chance to return. God is not just the creator of the world, he is also invisibly present in all his creations, so a person first needs to look into himself, abandoning material temptations and vain desires. Having managed to cleanse his soul from material deposits, a person will be able to discern God in his soul, who was hidden under these deposits.

A person’s life is meaningless if there is no God in it, therefore any suffering causes pain to a person, but as soon as he understands that all sufferings are given to him from God and he experiences them for God’s sake, then the pain will be replaced by sincere joy from the not in vain of his victim - Eckhart comes to this conclusion.

Gregory of Panama belonged to a completely different religious tradition (kXIVb. Orthodoxy and Catholicism diverged so strongly in their dogmatic and political disputes that nothing could any longer unite the lost unity of the Church of Christ), but in his initial positions and in the conclusions to which he came , his reasoning largely coincided with the reflections of Eckhart. Created (created) being has lost its original connection with God, but the source of divinity in the world of things remains light. Not created and not material, it is an attribute of divine existence, and only participation in this light serves as an opportunity for a person to return to the Kingdom of God. According to the largest modern researcher of the mystical tradition in Orthodoxy, S.S. Khoruzhy, “uncreated divine being is also characterized by uncreated light, and this light is divine energy... Divine energies are God's 'actions' or 'appearances' by which God acts in created being; and thanks to these His actions, the union of man with God is made possible. Light spreads throughout being, so the absence of light is darkness, which is nothing, and being is a heterogeneous formation, characterized by varying degrees of fullness of light. Light is the movement, the aspiration of God towards the person who has fallen away from him, but not every person is able to see the divine light directed at him, therefore, the condition for the return of a person to the divine is the process synergy - fusion of opposite energies. For an ordinary person, such a merger is an intuitive comprehension of the essence of a deity in an act of mystical illumination. It can be said that the mystical experience is the opening of the eyes, only after which the person begins to realize to what extent he was blind.

A feature of medieval Christian mysticism is a distinctly expressed personalism(from lat. persona - personality). A person achieves a union with a deity, but does not dissolve in the Absolute (as, for example, occurs in classical Hinduism when Atman and Brahman merge), but retains his individual features, acquiring in addition divine properties, becoming a God-man and becoming like Christ himself in this capacity.

With the help of an extensive system of dogmas, the Catholic Church jealously guarded its right to priority in resolving religious issues, so every priest who allowed a free interpretation of Holy Scripture in his sermon could be classified as a heretic. During the Middle Ages, there were many different heresies, most of which have survived only fragmentary information.

Paulicians. This heresy arose in the 7th century. in Armenia. Its founder was the priest Konstantin Silvan, who apparently combined in his doctrine the legacy of Manichaeism with the involvement of various Eastern cults. Having spread throughout almost all of Europe, the supporters of the Paulician heresy gradually concentrated in the south of France, coexisting with the heresy of the Cathars that arose there. There is practically no information about their teaching, it can only be stated with certainty that the Paulicians were supporters of a dualistic understanding of the divine nature, recognizing the presence in it of both a constructive (creative) and a destructive (destructive) principle. They did not recognize the Church and any church hierarchy, arguing that every person is predisposed to enter the Kingdom of God, and no one can help or hinder him in this. The disappearance of the Paulician heresy turned out to be the result of the inquisitorial activity of the Catholic Church to eradicate heretical sentiments in Languedoc (south of France). From the point of view of orthodox Christian views, the Paulicians were no less apostates from the true faith than the Cathars and Albigensians, although their religious doctrines differed. One way or another, but the crusade against the Cathars put an end to the existence of the Paulician current, although separate islands of his followers remained in Eastern Europe until the 14th century.

Bogomils. The emergence of the heresy of the Bogomils is associated with the educational movement of representatives of the Eastern (Orthodox) churches, which at the beginning of the 9th century. made the Bulgarian kingdom, whose borders touched the northern borders of the Byzantine Empire, the object of their close interest. The result of their active efforts to Christianize the Slavs was the adoption of the Orthodox faith by the Bulgarians in 865, but a side effect of the active spread of Christianity among the pagans was the penetration into their environment of dualistic beliefs, originating in Manichaeism. The founder of a new trend, widely known under the name Bogomilism, or Qatari(from lat. katar - pure), a certain Jeremiah became, proclaiming himself the new apostle and heir of Jesus Christ on earth. He himself and his closest associates (whose names have been reported to this day, paradoxically, by the Synodikon of Tsar Boris, whose goal was to anathematize heretics) - Stefan, Vasily, Mikhail, and others - extended their influence not only to the territory Bulgaria, but also to neighboring states. To the amazement and indignation of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, adherents of the Bogomil heresy were even in Constantinople itself, and they were not forced to abandon their own beliefs even by the terrible fate of Basil, one of the main preachers of Bogomilism, who was burned for refusing to repent of the sins attributed to him.

According to the beliefs of the representatives of the Bogomil heresy, the universe is dominated by dualism, which originates in the very act of the creation of the world. God does not create the entire universe, but only a bright and spiritual world, while Satanail, who is the eldest son of God, gets the creation of a material and sinful world in which man is condemned by nature to exist. Christ, being the youngest Son of God, is able to bring a ray of light and goodness into the world, but he cannot fix the world, which was originally created according to the laws of evil.

Pressed by representatives of orthodox Orthodoxy, supported by the secular Byzantine authorities, the Bogomils were able to keep their faith intact for several centuries: only in the XII century. traces of their movement are lost in Bulgaria. But even before the 15th century, that is, until the Turkish invasion itself, the Bosnian Church retained its autocephaly (independence), borrowing a significant part of its doctrine from the heritage of the Bogomil heresy.

Cathars. Another name for Cathars Albigensians(named after the city of Albi). This is perhaps the most active heresy, which gained fame due to the cultural upsurge with which their activities were associated in southern France, as well as in Italy, Germany and some other European countries. The choice of the place where the Albigensian heresy took root and had a significant impact on cultural development is not accidental, because the south of France was traditionally considered the most free-thinking region, which was primarily due to historical reasons. For several centuries, it was Languedoc and Provence (the southernmost French provinces) that were subjected to the beneficial influence of Arab culture, which preserved the heritage of ancient civilization and managed to exaggerate spiritual riches.

Unlike previous heresies, the Cathars arose a little later (at the beginning of the 11th century), but became more widespread, which caused reasonable alarm on the part of the Roman Catholic Church, since representatives of this heresy sharply opposed papal authority, arguing that every person is free to seek the way to God himself, and the existence of the church only hinders the realization of these aspirations. Based on the letters of the apostles, supporters of the Cathar heresy denied Catholic priests their special right to hear confession and perform absolution, since, for example, the apostle James said: “Confess your deeds to each other and pray for each other to be healed.” The Albigensians also opposed the dogma of the trinity of God, rejected the veneration of icons and crosses, refused church sacraments, considering them unnecessary on the path of spiritual perfection. As sacred books, they revered only the New Testament and rejected the Old Testament because of its impossibility to serve as a guide that could lead a person to God.

Fearing the further strengthening and spread of this trend, the Catholic Church was forced to resort to emergency measures to maintain its prestige and special place in the Christian world. Even the Lateran Council in 1179 anathematized all heretics, but this did not have the desired effect, since by that time the Cathars had already declared their church independent of the Roman Catholic Church, and the secular authorities were by no means in a hurry to eradicate heresy in their possessions. Many French feudal lords secretly adhered to the Cathar doctrine, and many of them dared to openly speak out against papal authority. It was in the person of these rulers (who included the famous troubadours Bertrand de Born, Raymond de Saint-Gilles, Count Alphonse of Toulouse, and others) that the Cathars found defenders and patrons capable of protecting them from claims from orthodox Christians. Unfortunately, this protection was short-lived. As early as 1209, Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars and those laity (including those of noble birth) who adhere to or at least tolerate this heresy. The crusaders, who came to destroy the Cathar heresy from all over Europe, were tempted by the omission of all sins promised by the Pope and began to actively eradicate apostates from the true faith. From 1209 to 1229, the crusade against the adherents of the Albigensian heresy lasted, the result of which was their complete destruction, sanctioned by the authority of the papal power. According to the words of the papal legate Arnold Amalric, in response to the question of one of the crusaders about how to distinguish a heretic from a real Christian, everyone should be destroyed, giving God himself the opportunity to distinguish his own from others.

Flagellants. The flagellant movement arose in the 13th century. and it turned out to be connected with the desire for spiritual purification that spread in French and Italian monasteries, not just with the help of strict observance of all fasts, but also by mortifying the flesh with self-flagellation (the flagellants in translation from Italian mean “scourges”). This sect became widespread in Italy, Switzerland and Poland, and the Catholic Church initially did not see anything reprehensible in the actions of the flagellants. But when the scourging began to assert that the scourging of the flesh replaces the remission of sins received from the priest, the hierarchs of Catholicism were forced to drastically change their benevolent attitude towards the new religious trend. Already in 1349, a papal bull (decree) condemned the movement of the flagellants as heresy, and the Inquisition, which immediately joined the process of eradicating heresy, burned out the slightest manifestations of self-flagellation throughout Western Europe with “fire and sword”.

By the end of the XV century. dissatisfaction with the pope and his entourage, who denigrated not only the institution of the papacy, but also the Christian religion itself, became universal. Many thinkers, who themselves often belonged to a clergy, tried to find a way out of the current situation, to return to that life-giving Christianity, which contributed to the spiritual purification of people, and did not sell heavenly blessings at reasonable prices. A simple Augustinian monk named Martin Luther (1483-1546), who taught theology at the University of Wittenberg, had to decide on the path of a radical reorganization of the church. The movement he started was called Reformation(from lat. reformatio - restructuring).

In the early morning of October 31, 1517, Luther posted 95 theses on the doors of the city church, which contained his objections to the church policy pursued by the papacy. In particular, he spoke particularly sharply about the sale of indulgences that free the conscience of a person from sins and bring good profits into the pocket of the Catholic Church in return. Luther was not alone in rejecting indulgences, but his merit lay in the fact that he tried not only to speak out against this phenomenon, but to reveal the roots of the deep crisis that had gripped all of Western Christianity. In this aspiration, he was supported both by the common people, who were constantly ruined by the forced acquisition of indulgences, and by the noble German feudal lords, who saw in his demarche against the Catholic Church a convenient excuse for separating from the power of the Pope. The papal court did not immediately recognize the full magnitude of the danger posed by an ordinary monk, and therefore began to react too late, when all of Germany was engulfed in the flames of a religious uprising. Support from all sections of the population enabled Luther to take an unprecedented step: in 1520, in the presence of students, he burned a papal letter excommunicating him from the church, which finally sealed the gap between his followers and orthodox Catholics. Unfortunately, at first Luther's lack of a clear program capable of restoring lost authority to Christianity led to a simplification and distortion of his views: numerous itinerant preachers who flooded Germany and other European countries offered their interpretations of his theses, which completely confused the common people.

In order to overcome the crisis that broke out, Luther put forward his program to reform the foundations of the Christian religion, designed to restore the lost connection between man and God. God is able to endow a person with grace in response to his sincere faith, therefore the church, in the version in which it was presented by the Catholics, serves as an extra link in this chain. The role of the priest is not to act as an intermediary between God and man, but to show man the path, following which he himself will be able to achieve divine grace. To this end, Luther proposed to eliminate the sharp boundaries that existed between the clergy and the laity: priests were now allowed to marry, wear ordinary clothes and enjoy the same rights as ordinary citizens. The process of worship itself was greatly simplified, and the church was deprived of numerous paraphernalia - icons, complex rituals and rituals. The head of the church was the secular ruler of a particular country or city. This position of the Lutheran doctrine was especially beneficial to numerous German princes, since it deprived them of their church dependence on the Pope and made them full-fledged rulers of their own lands.

The result of the efforts of Luther and Calvin (1509-1564) was the emergence of a new current of Christianity - Protestantism which was not accepted by the Catholic Church. At the church council of 1545-1563. It was decided to equate the Protestants with heretics, which automatically meant the spread of the activities of the Inquisition to them. This cathedral marked the beginning of an era of religious wars that continued until the end of the 16th century. Perhaps one of the most brutal moments of these wars was the famous St. Bartholomew's Night (Paris, August 24, 1572), during which the conspiring Catholics made a surprise attack on the Protestants (who received the name in France Huguenots), culminating in a massacre. The massacre that began in Paris continued in other French cities, dividing the country into two opposing camps. The end of this bloody struggle was put only by the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which proclaimed Catholicism in France as the state religion, but secured the right to freedom of religion for the Protestants.

The famous German sociologist and philosopher Max Weber (1864–1920) in his work “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” considers the emergence of a new system of ideals and values, embodied in the norms of Protestant ethics, as a reflection of the processes of the emergence of an industrial society going on in the socio-economic sphere. In his own words, "a kind of mindset, instilled in education, in particular the direction of education, which was due to the religious atmosphere of the homeland and family, determines the choice of profession and the further direction of professional activity." Protestantism laid the foundation for a new attitude towards labor, property, the opportunity not only to possess a certain fortune, but also to increase it. Man is predisposed not to be a blind toy in the hands of God, but in his power to act and work, increasing his well-being in the earthly world, not forgetting the heavenly world. As long as the striving for hoarding and frugality does not overstep the bounds beyond which it turns into greed and pride, Protestantism treats man's economic activities favorably and tries to encourage him by all possible means. It was precisely because of such an approving attitude of the Protestant Church to human labor activity in those countries where this religion was firmly entrenched (England, Holland, the USA) that the course of the industrial revolution and scientific and technological progress was greatly facilitated.

The main features of the Early Middle Ages are the process of formation of the European community of peoples, the formation of the phenomenon of the Western European Christian type of culture on the basis of the widespread spread of Christianity.

Christianity arose in the conditions of a severe socio-economic crisis that engulfed the slaveholding foundations of the Roman Empire and at its decline in the 4th century. becomes the state religion in Rome. Initially in the 1st c. n. e. Christianity did not yet know the church organization. The institution of the priesthood was replaced by prophets, teachers, apostles, preachers, who came from the ranks of ordinary believers and were distinguished in their general mass by charisma.

With the concentration of leadership in Christian communities in the hands of presbyters, deacons, and then bishops, the institution of the priesthood is formed. Bishops become guardians of the faith, shepherds overseeing parishioners, and also begin to uncontrollably dispose of the property of the Christian community. As individual communities grew, bishops surrounded themselves with officials whose duties included preaching along with financial, judicial, etc. Against the backdrop of the decline of urban self-government, the weakening of the institution of secular power, bishops become the first persons in cities and urban districts. The capital of the decrepit Roman Empire nevertheless remained the center of Christianity, and its Christian community sought to give special importance to the Roman bishop. Thus, the version is spreading that the founder of the Roman community and its first bishop was the Apostle Peter himself, and starting from the 4th century. The Bishop of Rome became known as the Pope.

The Nicene (325) and Constantinople (381) Ecumenical Councils contributed to the strengthening and spread of Christianity and the emerging church, at which the fundamental provisions of the Christian doctrine formulated in 12 points of the "Creed" were adopted. They become obligatory for all Christians. The Council of Nicaea adopted the dogma of the trinity of God: "The Son of God is the true God, born of God the Father before all ages and just as eternal as God the Father, He is begotten, not created, and consubstantial with God the Father." The Council of Constantinople approved the dogma of the equality and "consubstantiality" of the Divine Trinity. Faith in the resurrection of Christ, in the resurrection of the dead, in the Divine Trinity became the basis of Christian teaching. At the same time, Christianity taught that man is the earthly incarnation of God, whose love for man is all-encompassing, while evil is the result of original sin and violation of the commandments. A weak and sinful person can be saved through the church.

Christianity is becoming more and more a universal doctrine, embracing huge masses of people who occupied various social positions. This was facilitated primarily by its ideological aspect, which interprets a person, regardless of social status, as an earthly incarnation of the Creator, called to strive for perfection by a thorny path of rejection of the mortal, earthly and infinite love for the Creator and love for one's neighbor, following the example of Jesus Christ.

However, such an unequivocally positive assessment of the new religion does not answer the question of why, throughout its existence, Christianity was forced to fight against numerous doctrines hostile to it, and moreover, to undergo changes and modernization under the influence of this struggle, both in relation to the content of the dogma and organizational forms. Apparently, one should pay attention to the fact that Christianity, like any type of culture that claims to dominate, formulated in its own way the main contradiction underlying the world. This contradiction between earthly and heavenly, body and spirit was uncompromisingly resolved by Christianity in favor of the latter. Christians were called in this way to deny a priori the manifestations of earthly life, which led in practice to a strict regulation from the outside of all types of human cultural activity by the church. This is the origin of numerous heresies and other types of resistance, so cruelly suppressed by the church in the period under review.

The position of the Roman Catholic Church since the fall of Rome has been different from that of Greek Catholic Christianity. So, already in the V century. Byzantine emperors achieved a significant subordination of the church to their power, including it in the political system. Despite the fact that the cathedrals were the highest body of the Greek Catholic Church, the decision to convene them was made by the Byzantine emperor. In Western Europe, the position of the church was different. She not only did not submit to the supreme political authority, but also retained almost complete independence in solving internal and a number of political issues, starting from the 4th century, from the moment the institution of the papacy was established.

To a large extent, the growth of the influence of the Catholic Church, and at the same time the establishment of the Western European type of culture, was facilitated by the final break between the Western and Eastern Christian churches. Disagreements between the guardians of the faith took the form of a theological dispute about the filioque (filloque), i.e., whether the Holy Spirit proceeds only from God the Father (as the Byzantine theologians claimed) or from God the Father and God the Son (as Rome insisted ). Over the course of a century, differences became more and more irreconcilable, and in 1054 both churches (Orthodox and Catholic) declared complete independence from each other. This gap contributed to a certain extent to the consolidation of differences and certain features in the cultural development of Western Europe and the peoples who found themselves in the orbit of Orthodoxy.

To characterize the state of medieval culture, a comprehensive review and assessment of the achievements of its various branches (spheres) is necessary. However, it is necessary to take into account the spiritual dominant of the socio-cultural process of the Middle Ages, or the religious guidelines of society. Religious worldview, as already noted, was based on the requirement of the suppression of the flesh and the liberation of the spirit (philosophy of asceticism). In practice, it was not possible to completely eliminate rational human activity, which is why the church creates a fairly strong system of regulation of social life by limiting its manifestations to various rules, regulations, customs, etc. On the other hand, in order to maintain the unquestioning authority of the church, to preserve purity its dogmas emphasize the development of not rational, but mainly emotional perception of reality and the foundations of dogma. Manifestations of carnal passions, recognized as sinful, were replaced by passionate, sometimes fanatical love for Christ, the Virgin Mary, on the one hand, and fanatical hatred for the enemies of Christianity. Here is what the well-known researcher of medieval culture A. Ya. Gurevich notes in this regard:
“The emotional richness of medieval life, with a severe restriction of all forms of rationality, made medieval people extremely gullible. Belief in visions, miraculous healings, visits to people by evil spirits were an integral part of individual and social consciousness. People lived in an atmosphere of miracle, which was considered an everyday reality.
So gradually, along with the spread and strengthening of the positions of Christianity and the Catholic Church, religion became at the center of the entire socio-cultural process, subordinating and regulating its main areas. The heyday of this type of culture fell on the period of the Classical Middle Ages.

The Christian church was the custodian of cultural treasures. Christianity became the basis on which a new culture of the European Middle Ages arose.

The centers of Christian culture in Western Europe were monasteries. They lived in monks— people who dedicated their lives to serving God and escaped the hustle and bustle of earthly life. They considered it their duty not only to serve God, but also to spread and establish Christianity. The monks taught people to understand the Holy Scriptures, listened to the believers, and gave them advice.

The monasteries managed to preserve a grain of culture in that cruel time when the cities fell into decay or were destroyed by the invasion of the barbarians. They became small islands of culture in the midst of a sea of ​​illiteracy, where the most educated people of the Middle Ages worked. Often, only in monastic schools could an aspirant to knowledge learn to write, read and count.

Medieval manuscript page

Monks rewrote books, preserving knowledge for future generations. Books were written on finely dressed calf or sheep skin - parchment. One book could take up to three hundred animal skins - a whole herd. The books were richly decorated. They were painted with intricate ornaments, the content of the book was explained with multicolored drawings. These books were expensive and only rich people could buy them. material from the site

In large monasteries were conducted chronicles- records of the most important events that occurred in a given year. So the monks preserved for posterity the memory of the events they witnessed.

medieval monastery

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