How Much Power Did the Catholic Church Have in the Middle Ages? 

100%

Dr Eleanor* put some respect on her title

You should try her podcast we are not so different.

Yeah, she made the whole show by herself because she’s allround. If she were she’ld be wonder woman. People write her text, she gets as muchtakes as she needs for every sentence. I’m not saying she’s not passionate just that your view of what a teacher should or even could be is a mirage.

Agreed! When you have a teacher or professor who is passionate about what they teach students that enthusiasm often rubs off onto the students which then inspires them to want to know more. A positive upward spiral of learning evolves. I find that British historians who also present documentaries are extremely enthusiastic about their academic area(s) of expertise. I haven’t always seen that kind of enthusiasm in American academia which is too bad.😩

She’s smoking hot. 😏

hear hear

I was just thinking the same thing - I’m not religious at all and yet this presenter has me fascinated!

They will never survive the information age. Their story is being cut to pieces by biblical critical scholarship. Their guy looks a lot like Osiris, appolonius of Tyana, Romulus, the Ceasars, Hericlies, and Achilles to name only a few. The internet is their biggest foe yet - critical thinking.

Hopefully not. The Catholic Church needs to repudiate and return lands wrongly stolen by and profited from the Doctrine of Discovery then pay reparations

The Catholic Church is not enterprise but a mandate from heaven and she is without error.

There was no catholic church until constantine

@@deborahproctor9538 who told you that lie???

@@jeffreyrodrigoecheverria2613 Then why is it that they keep allowing pedophiles to become priests?

Like Guy Fawkes, the victor writes history

And the alchemist fakes the gold...

Good series tho

More to come!

I have relatives who are nuns here and in Germany.My cousin Edgar was a German monsignor. My mom,s cousin Bernard Popp was auxiliary bishop of San Antonio. I imagine my ancestors in Germany and Hungary were , priests, nuns, friars and monks back in the middle ages too.

I Guess John Cleese has been doing a lot of self corrections nowadays. His ignorant take regarding the Church is even more ridiculous today, with the woke morons ando their queer Inquisition.

Another religion is taking over Britain now, and it's not very progressive.

Yes - that’s a very interesting conundrum.

It got there when christianity went from being an enemy of the empire in the first couple centuries to THE State religion when Constantine "converted."

The son of a carpenter was a king. Prince only means first citizen. It’s not hard at all, when Christianity was legalized the early Christians could own public spaces of worship. The very first churches were gymnasiums. After it was legalized and became the religion of the empire etc, gyms where naked dudes would hang up and hook up was obviously out of fashion, Judeo-Christian morality kicked in, and the gyms and pagan temples became consecrated as churches, which means congregations. As you saw in the video the land that the church controlled, then as now, was usually gifted to the church. Nobles like the countess that Dr Janega was talking about, built the convent in her land, and made it fancy for herself, and gifted the land to the Church, the Church in turn buried her in the same convent she built, in a prominent and fancy position with her feet facing east, and all the religious people in there spent their time saying mass and praying, for her soul. That was the usual exchange. But since that was popular, then all the nobles were doing it, and this meant they left land to the Church, and someone had to administer all this land, and that is where you have the parish priests, and then the bishops, who boss over the priests, and they have in turn above themselves the archbishops, who is just a bishop that bosses over a bunch of other bishops. The bishops where usually the most important person in the diocese, basically the territory the bishop controls, unless they had an archbishop over them. And that’s how this man got land and power, and was called a prince, first citizen, of the church.

This religion had an incredibly successful business model. It sold you an incredible afterlife and had a pretty extensive manual for daily life and it was open to everyone. The disciples of the son of the carpenter are incredibly active in spreading their teachings, rapidly building faithful congregations that promise a better life in a world where life is short, full of hard work and most citizens are only a little bit better off than slaves. That appeal snowballs, going from a weird Jewish sect to being a Roman Empire-wide underground phenomenon to becoming a major religious, social and political force, which the Emperors could no longer ignore or get rid of. Once they have a foot in the door they soon push out all other religions and establish a state religion which runs parallel to the worldly power and has great influence over it. When Rome falls and is no longer the center of power in Western Europe, the pope latches onto anyone with sufficient power to protect the church, arriving at the most successful of them all, Charlemagne, who is crowned Emperor in 800. Essentially the church putting itself above the Emperor and being the only institution that can confirm this title. The church is well organized, has a sophisticated administration and therefore it remains one of the few literate elements in society, so they end up controlling education. They also have a duty to work and labour, leading to monasteries that become prosperous and accumulate wealth and knowledge. In some cases religious leaders gain so much power that they are both religious and worldly leaders, like like the Prince Bishoprics of Liege, Cologne, Trier, Bremen, Geneva etc. Or the Late medieval/Renaissance popes owning the papal states and acting like proper worldly aristocracy with armies etc. All this power and wealth leads to severe criticism from people who no longer see the link between church origins, scripture and their interpretation so that a scission happens leading to centuries or religious conflict.

@@rotwang2000 - thank you for the mini history lesson. Impressive. 👍

gods bless them.

@@iippo06 OH no! The poor rich! What are they going to do to survive?!? You better give them more money so you get to heaven...."mendicant literately means 'beggar'". Get a job grifters

@@lmichalski1037 I was referring to the vikings. You're the one praying for equality that will never come. Odds are that you're descended from those monks.

@@lmichalski1037 At their foundation the Franciscans administered to the poor and all other outcastes in society including people with leprosy. That was their work. They didn't own possessions because the poor didn't. They shared the food they had with the poor and they lived in extremely poor conditions. They walked barefoot. The founder, Francis of Assisi, probably died from leprosy since he tended the sick for years of his life. He was born into a wealthy merchant class family and gave all is possessions to the poor. What this video misrepresents is this aspect, choosing rather to focus on an obscure point. Although the tension the caused for preaching about apostolic poverty and helping the poor is a salient point. The Franciscans' preferred form of preaching was their ministry. It was the other mendicant order, the Dominicans that focused on traditional preaching. Choosing to focus on preaching as entertainment as also distorting the impact the Dominicans had as well as the Franciscans. Not that is should matter, but I'm an atheist. What should matter are facts. Also projecting your sensibility into the past without understanding the context, which is always complex in culture and societies especially over hundreds of years, is injudicious.

​@@Rabbithole8Excellent point. I know that Francis was viewed with a great deal of suspicion by the church hierarchy when he was alive. Presumably his actions and priorities were viewed as an implicit criticism of the manner that the church operated at the time. I believe that the church co-opted Franciscan tradition after he died, partly due to his popularity among the poor. I don't know the details but I would love to hear anything you can tell me about it. You seem pretty knowledgeable

I think the Real Crusade series is quite good as well. Thx for the recommendation.

Exactly

During the devastating flooding in Houston a few years ago, Osteen refused to open the doors of his megachurch until public pressure forced him to. A true man of god…

Wycliffe would be appalled at Olsteens flippant attitude about sin.

Don’t get me started on Joel Olsteen! Had the unpleasant occasion to have him and his wife come to where I worked for a book signing.

history whisperer

the real hero right here

Further, divorces were not permitted in the Church of England after Henry broke with Rome. Which is why Edward VIII (as head of the CofE) had to abdicate to marry the divorcée Wallis Simpson. Henry VIII never divorced any of his wives -- those were all annulments (or beheadings). The whole 'divorce' thing is Roman Catholic propaganda. Kind of disappointing from a "history" channel.

Actually Henry committed judicial murders. He was the Don Corleone of his day with a veneer of legality.

Unfortunately for Henry VII, he had gotten a papal dispensation to marry his brother’s widow.

@@nbenefiel He was still a disgusting pig.

@@otsoko66 what you say could be argued as correct at least from the Kings perspective , but you must look at the Catholic Church position regarding annulments. Firstly, annulments were taken very seriously by the Church. The fact they granted his first was possible ,but allowing multiple annulments would be impossible. What was the result? Confiscation of Church property and expulsion of the Clergy, very profitable for the King I might add. Then what? He declares himself as protector of the faith, very ironic don’t you think ?

Love how she speaks loud enough and clearly.

Thank you! Cheers!

Of land titles maybe, but definitely not of individual ppl. Individualism the way we have it today is an invention of the Enlightenment.

No it wasn't. Most Parrish priests were illiterate

@@deborahproctor9538 even though that’s not true, there is a difference between a monk studying in a monetary and a parish priest.

@@FimiliarGalaxy9 it is true

@@deborahproctor9538 ordination always required ecclesiastical education. They were expected to know and read in both their vernacular and Latin. Now to throw you a bone, it would have been a different story for friars.

It was.

Yes, Wycliffe’s name was indeed John, but the guy looked more like a Thomas.

latin hasn't completely gone 🙂

You can still find Latin high mass in a few places

Supposedly Pope Francis is approving a return to the Latin Mass, if churches choose to use it. I grew up in Catholic schools in the 50’s and early 60’s. I remember Vat 2.

Thank God for anne boleyn

Honestly, catholic school 1995-2007 wasn't much different

In what way?

True but those records were usually a thing of later centuries. It coincides with the advent of individualism in the Enlightenment era.

They started keeping records mid 1500s.

I am glad someone else thinks Dr. Eleanor is a hottie! Would love to see her in sheer black thigh high stockings. Meant as an extreme compliment. She is an excellent historian and teaches in simple English.

A former member, have you lost your faith?

Amen!!

Separation of church and state is the worst thing to ever happen.

The first scientists were monks (Roger Bacon and his teacher were Fransican monks), public education (universities were religious institutions, the first public schools were in abbeys - for example Sankt Gallen) just like hospitals. Giving the right to agree to marriage was spread by the Catholic faith. Should I assume you want to live without science, healthcare and human rights? That stupid video where a guy throws scientific books through a time portal and includes a Bible which causes all scientific advantages to disappear is a gross insult to historical studies.

@chrismath149 This guy doesn't care, he just wants to watch his porn.

@@robertlukacs4954 Yes, Iran is the best place to live for sure.

Weakness, poverty & impotence?

Not until the 16th century

@@FimiliarGalaxy9 oke. Thank you

@@urielpolak9949Not until Henry VIII creating the Anglican church, yes.