Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

The church, it has often been argued, was central to the medieval world. It provided much more than the spiritual care of the people and developed, during the course of the period covered by this module, into an exceptionally powerful, wealthy and influential institution, which effectively controlled education and the development of learning, and which was crucially involved in the political, social and economic life of the day. This module assesses the medieval church from two perspectives. On the one hand it explains and examines the structure of the church as a hierarchical institution comprised of those serving it (monks, priests, bishops, popes, etc.). On the other, it assesses the faith of `ordinary' people and their daily religious experiences, including the popularity of saints' cults, pilgrimages and miracle stories. Ideas of what was accepted, and where the ever-shifting line between orthodoxy and heresy was drawn, and why, will also be discussed. A continuous thread which runs through the module is the call for reform of the church, both from above and from below, and the ways in which reform was implemented over the centuries and up to the events in the sixteenth century, which saw the reform of the church on an unprecedented level.

This module offers students the opportunity of an in-depth study of the medieval church, from its beginnings to the sixteenth century, but with the main focus on the period c.500-1500. The module considers the history of the Christian faith, with emphasis on the religiosity of the people and ideas of orthodoxy and heresy, and of the institutional church across Western Christendom. It takes a widely comparative approach and extensive use will be made of the rich and varied source material available (in print and translation), by which means the significant role of the medieval church in the development of western culture and learning will be examined.