Midevil Clergy

Of the several grievances against the Church, “[t]he first and sorest was that she loved money, and had too much of it for her own good” (Durant 17). Documents on the exact wealth of the Church in the Middle Ages simply do not exist. Historians, however, speculate that the Church’s share of the wealth made up anywhere from a fifth to three-quarters in each of England, France and Germany. “In Italy, of course, one third of the peninsula belonged to the Church as the Papal States, and she owned rich properties in the rest” (Durant 17).

The clergy was notorious for sucking money out of the people any way they could. They were known to have sold false relics to unsusp

Another grievance that eventually became a driving force behind the Reformation, was the sale of indulgences. Priests are authorized to absolve a confessor from the guilt and punishment of sins in hell, but not from earthly penance. If all penances are not performed, the balance would have to be paid in purgatory, a kind of

The political issues of the clergy were seated in their lust for power and money and their variety of privileges. Th sale of church offices had a lot to do with the political corruption. Important, as well as insignificant offices were offered up to the highest bidders. “Careerists accumulated numbers of benefices [church offices] that made it impossible to serve them all personally. Ill-paid substitutes were who were often uneducated and negligent provided for the needs of the people” (McBrien 1091). Such pluralism led to a lot of nothing. Nothing was accomplished for the people and nothing was accomplished for the church.

spot for his friend’s children. For them he arranged magnificent marriages and named one a cardinal.

The clergy’s social corruption was that it was too social. Clerics focused more on their public status that on their congregations. They openly drank, owned private property, slept in, slept around and pretty much ignored their religious obligations."Some confessors solicited sexual favors from female penitents. Thousands of priests had concubines: in Germany nearly all. In Rome it was assumed that priests kept concubines…Bishop Hardouin of Angers reported (1428) that the clergy of his diocese did not count concubinage a sin, and made no attempt to disguise their use of it" (Durant 21).

The church was also benefited with special privileges. The political privileges of the church were intended to “Protect them from attacks on the dignity of their function, to exempt them from public duties incompatible with their position, to shield them from civil justice, and to assure them a fair means of subsistence in all circumstances” (Strayer Vol 3 445). The f

Some topics in this essay:
Strayer Vol, Tales Chaucer, Thomas Gascoigne…complained, Church Papal, Alexander VI, II Leo, Reformation Catholic, Hardouin Angers, Clement VI’s, Middle Ages, vol 3, strayer vol, vol 3 445, strayer vol 3, 3 445, catholic clergy, daily lives catholic, alexander vi, church offices, lives catholic, daily lives, lives catholic clergy, ecclesiastical courts, durant 17,