History of Christianity Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Criticism and blame=== The many great calamities of the "long fourteenth century" led folk to believe [[Armageddon]] was immanent.{{sfn|Taylor|2021|pp=109β110}} This sentiment ran throughout society and became intertwined with anticlerical and anti-papal sentiments.{{sfn| Taylor|2021|pp=118β119}} Some claimed the clergy did little to help the suffering, although the high mortality rate amongst clerics indicates many continued to care for the sick.{{sfn|Taylor|2021|pp=114β115}} Other medieval folk claimed it was the "corrupted" and "vice-ridden" clergy that had caused the many calamities that people believed were punishments from God.{{sfn|Taylor|2021|pp=114β115}} The period from around 1100 to 1349 can be identified as an era of βanticlerical revolution". It describes developing attitudes and behaviors against the clergy.{{sfn|Swanson|2021|pp=9, 11, 12}}{{refn|group=note| Scholars have generally referred to this hostility as "anticlericalism" even though the term is considered biased, and there is a lack of consensus on its elements and form in pre-Reformation Europe.{{sfn|Swanson|2021|pp=9, 11}}}} Hostility was usually targeted at bad [[priest]]s, ineffective [[incumbent]]s or inadequate [[curate]]s.{{sfn|Swanson|2021|pp=12, 15}} Multiple strands of criticism of the clergy between 1100 and 1520 were voiced by clerics themselves.{{sfn|Swanson|2021|p=15}} Such criticism condemned abuses and sought a more spiritual, less worldly, clergy.{{sfn|Swanson|2021|pp=16β17}} However, there is a constancy of complaints in the historical record that indicates most attempts at reform failed. The church's entanglement with the secular and lay exploitation were too deeply rooted. {{sfn|Swanson|2021|pp=16β17}}{{refn|group=note| By the Late Middle Ages, Benedictine and Cluniac had become so focused on centralization and institutionalization that they had become more like competing enterprises than spiritual houses.{{sfn|Van Engen|1986|p=533}} Constitutional reform, such as the [[Conciliarism|Conciliar movement]], was intended to unite the Church; instead, it produced a 40-year debate on what constituted legitimate authority.{{sfn|Canning|2011|p=7}}}} Power within the church tipped away from the monastics toward bishops, but this didn't help with the problems since many kings and noblemen drafted competent bishops to improve their own governments leaving many diocese without spiritual leadership.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2009|p=378}} Civilization itself was changing its character. The Old order was being challenged. The influence of educated and wealthy lay people increased as the influence of clergy waned.{{sfn|Morris|1990|pp=225, 229}} By the 1300s, nations were becoming more formidable opponents than they had been in the 1100s when the struggle over papal superiority first took political form.{{sfn|Morris|1990|p=228}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2009|p=364, 388}} Evidence of decline in papal power can be found by 1302.{{sfn|Gonzales|2010a|p=368}}{{refn|group=note| After a disagreement, [[Pope Boniface VIII]] issued the bull ''Unam Sanctam'' asserting again that, since "one sword must be under the other," the church must be supreme.{{sfn|Gonzales|2010a|p=368}} This was followed in 1303 by the excommunication of [[Philip IV of France|Philip the Fair of France]]. Philip responded by sending his men to arrest the Pope.{{sfn|Morris|1990|p=231-232}}}} Practices meant to Christianize people had become "burdensome" and contributed to discontent.{{sfn|Van Engen|1986|p=544}} Franciscans provided evidence against [[Pope John XXII]] (1316-1334) as the failings of a succession of popes contributed to criticism.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2009|pp=563 - 564; 574}}{{sfn|Morris|1990|p=229}} The combination of catastrophic events, both within the church and those events beyond its control, undermined the moral authority and constitutional legitimacy of the church opening it to local fights of authority and control.{{sfn|Lazzarini|Blanning|2021|p=8}}{{sfn|Taylor|2021|pp=109β110; 118β119}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2009|p=375}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page