The Middle Ages was a time of reformation, this was the time when the western world lost its Roman rules and began a new chapter in history. The Middle Ages span from the 5th century to the 15th century. However these dates are estimated. Flavio Biondo first used the term Middle Ages, and they were also known as the “Dark Ages.” The Middle Ages are broken into three parts by modern scholars, the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.Medieval popular religion was a mixture of many different elements, heathen, antique, “folk”, and Christian. It was the religion of choice of a wide section of nobility, of the urban bourgeoisie, the clergy, the monks of the older monasteries, and of the common people. The Christian God was a God of power; he was the Lord of terror and the Lord of joy. Man was enslaved by Satan due to the wrongs he had done, and it was up to the Christian God to save him. Life was a battle, a battle between God-the-king, and Satan-the-king. It was a battle of good verses evil.In the Early Middle Ages the Christian world was broken up into three different castes: priests, nobles, and common people. Preachers of the time liked to compare society to the human body: priests were the head and eyes; the nobles were the arms and hands, and the common people were the legs and feet. The church proclaimed itself as the head of all mankind and ruled and directed the society.The church fulfilled many functions. Church courts tried civil and criminal cases such as marriage, and divorce. The church alone controlled scholarship and book production, it was the only institution that cared for the poor, sick, and the aged. It had jurisdiction over all students, monks, priests, lay brothers, and clerks. The “clerks” enjoyed the “benefits of clergy” with no obligations. Population wise the number of clerks was ten times as much back then. Church was more than the patron of medieval ...
