The Conciliar Movement and Schism

619 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The Rise of the Medieval Papacy

The Conciliar Movement and Schism

Exemplified by the "Babylonian Captivity," the problems, which aroused in the eleventh century papacy, were nothing that could be overlooked. Eventually causing the schism and conciliar movement, the corruption of those leaders of the Catholic Church was caused by a question of who had more power, the king or the pope? The quest for more power in the papacy resulted in the beginning of the reform movement, another reason for the European states to politically separate, and caused the church to reevaluate its system of power.

A question of power and control was plaguing the pope and the king. Attacks ricocheted back and forth between Pope Boniface the VIII and King Philip IV, each thought they held more power than the other did. In earlier days, it would have been no question as to whom could manipulate the other into giving up power, the pope would only have to threaten excommunication and the king would give in to the papal demands.

Philip was not one to fear excommunication as those ahead of him had; the Church was not greater than he was. Eventually Philip tired of the games between himself and the papacy and had Boniface killed to settle the problem. This only lead to a greater argument.

The inability to bargain with the royalty in Italy drove the papacy to take a liking to the French offer to move the center of the Church to Avignon. France sees the power in holding the Church within its lands and persuades the papal leaders to bring the Church on French soil. The move of the Church marked an uprising of immorality among the Church leaders.

The papacy was known for their immoral behavior, bearing children, having affairs, being publicly drunk, and even participating in orgies. The papacy also participated in the sale of indulgences, in which they gave positions in the church as well as forgiveness and salvation for money. The conditions were bad in Italy, some leaders wanted to go back, but instead they took advantage of France.

A reaction to the decline of morals among church leaders, many people began to question the Universal Church. Lead by such people as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, the reform movement began. Reformers believed that the middleman should be removed-the popes, bishops, cardinals-and that people could have direct contact with God.

Show More
Related

  • Essay On The Effects Of The Protestant Reformation

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    There are so many causes from the Protestant Reformation. In the Protestant, there was three different sections that got affected more the the others. When the Protestant Reformation happened it affected the Sociality, Political, and Economic the most.

    Read More

  • Heresy In The Ramsay Scallop

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since heretics were a big problem according to the church, Pope Innocent III got involved. Pope Innocent III called a crusade on heretics which started a war. Pope Innocent III called the crusade on heretics because he believed they were too big of a threat to ignore. It was a 20 year, long, bloody battle against the heretics. The result of the war was that the war destroyed many towns and thousands of people were killed. The war took place in France. He and the church wanted the country to be heretic free. Almost all heretics were killed during the bloody 20 year war. (Burstein and Shek).

    Read More

  • The Influence of Pope Urban II

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pope Urban II was sought by Alexius Comnenus, a Byzantine Emperor who wanted the papacy to help his army hold off the advancing Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. The reason for Alexius Comnenus contacting the pope rather than another emperor or monarch wasn’t just the fact they were secular, but because the pope would have more power to persuade the people. The Gregorian movement in 1050-80 was ultimately was responsible for the new instilled power of the papacy’s position over nonreligious rulers. The pope agreed to aid the Byzantine emperor, but he also had his own agenda when it came to the military advances and the new power of his position. The papacy did not intend to only help the Byzantine Empire but to further save all of Christendom from being overrun.

    Read More

  • Angela Merici Catholic Reformation Essay

    507 Words  | 2 Pages

    With the rise of the reformation in the 16th century, Roman Catholics had a difficult time defending their religion but they did so through different means. The protestant reformation's rise was a cause of the Babylonian Captivity of the 14th century, the Great Schism from 1377 to 1417, and the Conciliar Movement to reform. As a result, Catholic women began to criticize heresy, institutional changes condemned protestant thought, and catholicism remained strong through influential Baroque arts.

    Read More

  • The Effects of The Black Death on the Economic and Social Life of Europe

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    "The Church was in poor shape as well. The popes resided at Avignon, not at Rome, to the scandal of many.

    Read More

  • Avignon Papacy Effects

    1687 Words  | 4 Pages

    The prestige of papacy has faltered many times during the History of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the largest issues with papacy prior to the time of reformation was the influence of France on the church. Throughout history countries or monarchies have often fought for power and influence over the church and state. For a period of time, the papacy left residency in Rome and moved to Avignon, France due to France’s strength influence of the popes of the time. The results of this residency would affect both the church and all people in the surrounding areas. Not only that, but the effects lasted well on past the residency eventually leading to the Great Schism. In order to understand the effect of Avignon papacy it is important to

    Read More

  • Progressive Movement Dbq

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many reforms like women suffrage, labor rights, etc were focused on ethics. A majority of muckrakers like John Spargo, Upton Sinclair, and Lincoln Steffens were promoting God into their reforms. They found their outlooks on the reform through Christianity.

    Read More

  • The March Of Folly Barbara Tuchman

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    She examines 6 popes between 1470-1530 who she claims lead in a way similar to politicians. They lost touch with the common people both emotionally and intellectually. A little known cleric led the revolution challenging papacy that culminated in the reformation of the church. In that context, Barbara outlines that the popes were venal, immoral, and their power politics was calamitous. The faithful were distressed by their leadership, which ignored all the protests and the signs that a revolt was coming. In the end, the papal constituency lost almost half of its followers to Protestants. Barbara says that these people were driven by the greed and the urge to create a family empire that would outlive them. This chapter sums up the essence of folly in these major failures, lack of a fixed policy, over extravagance, and the illusion that their rule was

    Read More

  • Conflict Between Church and Government Involving Thomas Becket and Henry II

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    A king of England could not remove a pope from his position but popes claimed that they could remove a king by excommunicating him - this meant that the king’s soul was condemned to Hell and people then had the right to disobey the king.

    Read More

  • Why Urban Called For A Crusade In 1095

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    The aristocracy of the period also led a very violent lifestyle: this crusade or ‘Holy War’ justified the use of violence as a means of abolishing the threat from Islam on the Christian World. Thirdly, the papacy was very keen on consolidating its political influence in Italy, France and Germany. The papacy wanted to keep the Christian parts of the world as large as possible and they also wanted to make sure that these areas would be completely Christian. Urban wished to expand the Church’s sphere of influence to those previously Christian parts of Europe and Northern Africa which had been overrun by the Islamic world..

    Read More

  • Martin Luther Thesis Statement

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the Middle ages, the church faced many problems such as the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism that hurt the prestige of the church. Most of the clergy lived in great luxury while most people were poor and they set an immoral example. The clergy had low education and many of them didn’t attend their offices. Martin Luther had witnessed this himself, “In 1510 he visited Rome and was shocked to find corruption on high ecclesiastical places”

    Read More

  • Fourteenth Century Crises

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Schism originated in 1309, when Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Italy to Avignon, just outside of French territory. The move was the result of the constant power struggle in Rome between the Pope and the king. The purpose of the move was to insure the Pope freedom of action, but it appeared that the move allowed the King of France, Phillip the Fair, to wield a great deal of influence over the Pope. Many felt that the presence of the papacy in France compromised the Pope's independence and made it the vassal of the French King. In 1376, Pope Gregory XI made a significant move and returned the papacy to Rome. After his death, the College of Cardinals convened to choose the new Pope. "The people of Rome and the vicinity, turbulent and easily roused, had, under the sway of circumstances, loudly declared their preferences and antipathies, and endeavored to influence the decision of the cardinals" (Knight). The Roman mobs insisted on an Italian pope, and the cardinals elected Urban VI. The French did not approve of the new Pope or the method by which he was chosen, so they elected their own Pope, Clement VII, who would once again rule from Avignon. As a result, "Western Chris...

    Read More

  • The Reformation and the Church

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.

    Read More

  • The Influence of the Roman Catholic Church

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Church was organised into a hierarchical system that sustained the Church’s stability and control over the people and lower clergy, by organising them into different groups. First there were the ordinary believers, the citizens of the kingdom who followed the Christian faith. Then there was the clergy, the members who devoted their lives to the church. Each group of the clergy was assigned specific functions by the clergy nobles to help run the Church competently. Amongst all the clergy associates, the Pope was at the top, he had the equivalent if not more power than the ruling monarch and was in charge of all political affairs and administered the clergy. He was able to dictate political laws and even comment on the Monarch’s decisions. Under the Pope, there were the bishops. The bishops directed church courts and managed cases correlated to the public such as marriage, wills and other public predicaments. Priests held religious services that consisted of sacraments, baptisms and the usual Sabbath services. The monks and nuns received manual labour that required helping clean the monasteries and assist the needy. Educated monks copied manuscripts of medieval and ancient knowledge in the Scriptorium. Finally...

    Read More

  • THE RISE OF THE PAPACY

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    Early in history, the Roman papacy consolidated its power. It became one of the most influential organizations in the medieval period. This rise to power resulted from the decline in the Western Empire, the leadership of Roman bishops, and special grants that gave the church land holdings. This rise to power caused some positive ramifications, such as the protection of the church from heresy. However, the absolute power of the pope also caused corruption and abuses, many of which would eventually spark the reformation.

    Read More

More about The Conciliar Movement and Schism

Open Document