The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, 1492 CE
In the spring of 1492, shortly after the Moors were driven out of Granada, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain expelled all the Jews from their lands and thus, by a stroke of the pen, put an end to the largest and most distinguished Jewish settlement in Europe. The expulsion of this intelligent, cultured, and industrious […]
The Wars of Religion
Murder of Coligny and St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre The religious wars began with overt hostilities in 1562 and lasted until the Edict of Nantes in 1598. It was warfare that devastated a generation, although conducted in rather desultory, inconclusive way. Although religion was certainly the basis for the conflict, it was much more than a […]
The Way of the Medieval Pilgrim
Since the earliest Christian centuries men have esteemed the fundamentals of the pilgrimage—that a journey to a sacred spot could bring the pilgrim some supernatural grace. Next to building a church, the best way to get to Heaven was to go on a pilgrimage. The sacred endpoint of a pilgrimage is known as a shrine. In […]
Western Monasticism
(1) Pre-Benedictine Period The introduction of monasticism into the West may be dated from about A.D. 340 when St. Athanasius visited Rome accompanied by the two Egyptian monks Ammon and Isidore, disciples of St. Anthony. The publication of the “Vita Antonii” some years later and its translation into Latin spread the knowledge of Egyptian monachism […]
Monasticism in Britain
Monastic communities, both of men and women, have played an important role in the history of Britain. In a society which presented few options or opportunities, this way of life offered many attractions. What the life lacked in glamour, it more than made up for in serenity and stability. The monastic life offered social mobility […]
Age of Critics (1350-1550)
ALL WAS NOT WELL, then, with Christian society at the close of the Middle Ages. Not only were the Latin and Greek portions of the Church at odds, but the new national monarchies coming into existence in Western Europe threatened unity under Papacy and Empire. Once pope and emperor had clashed over primacy of the […]
Age of Teachers (1150-1350)
THE SCHOLASTICS OR SCHOOLMEN were the characteristic medieval theologians and philosophers. In Italy, the classic secular and Christian writings had never become entirely extinct and a twelfth century revival of law promoted a number of flourishing centers for legal studies, of which Bologna was the chief. There may have been a medical school at Salerno […]
Age of Reformers (950-1150)
THE DARK AGES were not of the Church’s making; she had to make the best of conditions following a breakdown of secular society. But she did not merely endure these conditions; she launched a program of reform that eventually brought light and order back to Europe. The “Peace of God” movement has been traced to […]
Age of Missionaries (500-1000)
THE CIVILIZED WORLD in which Christianity had been born did not endure, save at Constantinople. Barbarians of the stage of civilization of pre-Columbian American Indians took over most of the Roman Empire from the fifth century onward, and for nearly five hundred years disrupted and retarded its institutions. That anything of Roman culture survived was […]
Churchmen in late 14th Century England
To the modern day reader, the number and variety of people who provided some kind of religious function in the late fourteenth century is mind-boggling. First, there was the secular hierarchy of paid archbishops, bishops and priests. Usually, the archbishops and bishops were like the secular aristocracy of the time. They lived in palaces and employed men to work their lands; they participated in politics, and even enjoyed such aristocratic pursuits as hunting. There was a huge […]