24. Chapter 22: The Church Is Stirred, 1200-1517

CHAPTER 22 The Church Is Stirred, 1200-1517

1. The Struggle for Supremacy Ends The epic struggle between papacy and empire was the great drama of the Middle Ages (ch. 17, sec. 5). It ended with the fading out of the Empire, when in 1268 the last legitimate male of the imperial family perished on the scaffold in Naples. Thereafter the Empire was only a shadow until in 1806 Napoleon waved his magic wand, and it vanished into thin air (ch. 13, sec. 5). In the struggle the papacy also received serious wounds. The Me­dieval Church was a vast and mighty structure. But its frame­work was severely shaken when in 1303 at Anagni King Philip of France inflicted deep humiliation upon the pompous and arrogant Boniface VIII (ch. 21, sec. 1); when from 1309 to 1376 the Church suffered the disgrace of the Babylonian Captivity of its popes (ch. 21, sec. 3); and when the Church from 1378 to 1417 was dreadfully scandalized by the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4).

However, it was not only the framework of the Church that during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was severely shaken. That after all was mostly on the outside. At the same time there was much going on also inside the Church. The life of the Church within its trembling and creaking walls was also strangely stirred.

2. The Crusades Affect the Church

All of western Europe from the twelfth century on underwent ex­tensive and profound changes. It would be going too far to ascribe all these changes exclusively to the Crusades. But no other single cause was so productive of changes (ch. 19, sec. 4). For centuries the people of western Europe had lived their lives within the framework of feudalism (ch. 13, sec. 2). The Crusades did much to break down the feudal system. Above all, the Crusades stimulated the economic and intellectual life of the West by bringing its people, who were still crude and uncultured and com­paratively poor, into direct contact with the ancient and rich civiliza­tions of the Greeks and Arabs of the East. As was inevitable the Church also was deeply affected by these enormous changes. In all the lands of western Europe there came into existence groups of peo­ple who began to hold and spread ideas which were in conflict with the doctrine and government of the Church.

3. The Albigenses Spread Their Heretical Ideas

You will remember that Mani­cheism had its origin in Persia and spread from there through the Roman Empire, and that for a time the great Church Father Augus­tine came under its influence (ch. 6, sec 7). Later Augustine gave up the teachings of the Mani­cheans, and combatted them. His opposition did much to eradicate Manicheism from the West; but in the East it lingered on. During the Crusades, Manichean ideas came back into western Europe through Bulgaria along the new trade routes opened by the cru­saders.

These ideas sprouted abundant­ly, especially in southern France. There the town of Albi became a hotbed of these ideas, and the peo­ple who held these ideas came to be called Albienses after the name of that town.

Like the Micheans the Albi­genses wer dualists. This means that they believed that there is a good and an evil god. The visible world, the world of matter, is the work of the evil god. In this ma­terial world souls are held in bond­age as prisoners from the kingdom of the good God. The Albigenses believed that salvation could be obtained by re­pentance, asceticism (ch. 14, sec. 2), and the "consolation." Among the Albigenses the "consolation" took the place which baptism has in the Church. It consisted in the laying on of hands, and placing the Gospel of John on the person’s head. Through it forgiveness of sins and restoration to the king­dom of the good God was obtained. One who had received the "con­solation" must not marry, must never swear an oath, must not take part in war, must not acquire prop­erty, and must not use meat, milk, or eggs. The souls of people who died without having received the "consolation," according to the Al­bigenses, would enter another hu­man or even animal body, until at last they too would be saved. The Albigenses translated Scrip­ture, in which they claimed to find their teachings. But some rejected the Old Testament. They consid­ered it to be the work of the evil god. Others accepted the Psalms and the Prophets. All believed that the New Testament came from the good God. Since they believed that all material things are evil, they thought that Christ did not have a real body, and that He did not die a real death. They did not rev­erence the cross because it is a ma­terial thing. They rejected the sacraments, because their elements are material. They did not have

PETER WALDO
From the Luther Monument at Worms, Germany
Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions church buildings, because they are built of material things.

4. The Waldenses Seek to Lead the Church Back to Simple Christianity The Albigenses were definitely hostile to the Church. That cannot be said of the Waldenses. They were followers of Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons. He be­lieved that the Bible and especially the New Testament should be the only rule of faith and life for the Christian. He sold all his goods, and gave his money to the poor. He and his followers learned large portions of the New Testament by heart. Two by two, dressed in simple woolen garments and bare­footed, they went about preaching. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fri­days they fasted. They would not swear an oath or shed blood. They used only the Lord’s Prayer. They did not believe in prayers and masses for the dead or in purga­tory. They considered prayers offered in a house or in a stable just as effective as those offered in a church. They practised lay preaching by both men and women.

5. The Church Resorts to Persecu­tion to Suppress Heresy The Albigenses and the entirely different Waldenses grew so nu­merous that in the areas in which they lived they became a real threat to the very existence of the Roman Catholic Church. Their presence had a great effect upon the Church. The Church pro­nounced them to be heretics. It was largely to oppose their preaching that the Dominican and Francis­can Orders of Preaching Friars were organized (ch. 20, sec. 7-9). As these two orders grew very rapidly they acquired a place of the utmost importance during the later Middle Ages. They became the armies of the popes. The preaching of the Dominican and Franciscan Friars had some but not a very great success in winning the heretics back to the Church. And so various church councils decided, in no small meas­ure under the influence of the teachings of Augustine (ch. 7, sec. 6), to use methods of force. The Church began to persecute here­tics. The Inquisition was intro­duced with the Dominicans in charge of it. The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic court whose business it was to root out heresy. Anybody suspected of heresy was brought before this tribunal conducted by Dominican Friars. The Friars would question the suspected one. If they discovered that he held heretical ideas they would ask him to recant or deny his heretical be­liefs. If he recanted he would go free. If he would not recant, but steadfastly persisted in his hereti­cal opinions, he was abandoned by the Church to the officers of the civil government. That is, he was surrendered to the civil govern­ment to be punished, for "the Church does not shed blood" (ch. 7, sec. 6). Punishment most fre­quently took the form of death by fire. The heretic was burned at the stake.

If a man accused of heresy would not answer the questions put to him by the Dominican examin­ers, he would be tortured until he confessed or died as a result of the torture.

Many Albigenses and Waldenses fell victims to the Inquisition. But their number in southern France was so great that the task of de­stroying them was too big for the Inquisition. Then the popes re­sorted to other measures. They preached a crusade against the heretics. Some of the nobles re­sponded to the call of the popes.

They marched at the head of their armies into southern France. For twenty years "blood flowed like water." The country was devas­tated by war of the most savage kind. What had been the fairest province of France was turned into a wilderness, and its cities into ruins. The Albigenses were rooted out. The Waldenses found a place of refuge in the high valleys of the Alps. They still live there today. At the time of the Reformation they accepted its teachings and be­came Protestants (ch. 27, sec. 2). Of the Christians who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, they are the only group that has survived to the present time. They are car­rying on evangelistic work in Italy today with considerable success.

6. Wycliffe Teaches the Need for Reform In the latter part of the Middle Ages there arose many individuals who criticized the doctrine and government of the Roman Church. The two who were by far the most important are John Wycliffe and John Huss.

Wycliffe was born in England in the year 1320. He studied at the University of Oxford, and later be­came professor in that institution. In 1376 he began to criticize the clergy. He said that wealth and political power had so corrupted the Church that a radical reform was necessary. The Church, he said, should return to the poverty and simplicity of apostolic times. The pope he called the antichrist. He declared that the Bible rather than the Church should be the only rule of faith. But the Bible in gen­eral use in the Catholic Church was written in Latin and could not be read by the people. It was the translation made from the Hebrew and the Greek into Latin by Je­rome, known as the Vulgate (ch. 6, sec. 6). In order that Christians in England might be able to read the Bible for themselves, Wycliffe translated it into the English lan­guage. He also wrote many books.

Wycliffe’s followers carried his teachings and the newly translated Bible into many parts of England. Naturally the pope and the clergy were uneasy about this. They did all they could to destroy Wycliffe. But a large portion of the English people and among them many powerful nobles were in hearty sympathy with the reformer. These nobles protected him so that he did not fall into the hands of his perse­cutors. Wycliffe died in peace on the last day of the year 1384. He was buried in the sacred burial ground of his church in Lutter­worth. The teachings of Wycliffe con­tinued to be spread over England after his death, not only by means of his writings, but also by the preaching of his disciples, who came to be known as Lollards. The number of the followers of Wy­cliffe increased day by day. They were people who denounced the pope and his clergy, practised poverty, and acknowledged the Bible as the only standard of doctrine.

JOHN WYCLIFFE SENDS FORTH HIS FOLLOWERS
Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions
After a painting by W. F. Yeames As the followers of Wycliffe in­creased in influence, the opposi­tion of the clergy likewise in­creased. At last the bishops suc­ceeded in getting a law passed which condemned heretics to be burned. From one end of England to the other the Lollards perished as martyrs in the flames. But it was difficult to uproot them entire­ly. In the fifteenth century fires were still kindled. Gradually, how­ever, the growth of Lollardism was checked. Thinner and thinner grew the ranks. Finally those who were left were driven into hiding. But Lollardism lingered on in secret to the time of the Reformation.

7. Huss Preaches Reform in Bohernia The teachings of Wycliffe spread far beyond the shores of England. In Bohemia John Huss accepted them with enthusiasm. Huss, who was born around 1369, had been trained for the priesthood. He be­came dean of the theological facul­ty at the University of Prague, in the capital of Bohemia, and later was made head of that institution. When Huss became acquainted with the writings of Wycliffe he began to preach with boldness against the corruption of the clergy. Long before the birth of Huss strong opposition to the Roman Church had developed in Bohemia. The Waldenses were especially numerous in that coun­try. So the preaching of Huss met with a hearty response among both the common people and the nobil­ity. Huss won almost the whole of Bohemia to his views.

JOHN HUSS PREACHING TO HIS FOLLOWERS
Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions

Huss taught many ideas which later became the main teachings of the Reformers. He taught that the holy Catholic Church consists of the total number of the predesti­nated. He distinguished between being in the Church and being of the Church. He taught that one could be in the Church and yet not be a real member of it. Of the uni­versal Church Christ alone is the head. Popes and cardinals are not necessary to the government of the Church.

It should be remembered that this was the time of the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4). The bitter conflict caused by it in the Church was now at its height. The two popes at this time were John XXIII in Avignon, and Gregory XII in Rome. Pope John XXIII was hard pressed by the King of Naples, who was the protector of Pope Gregory XII. John promised indulgences to all who would come to his aid against the King of Naples. Before this Huss had been a strong believer in indulgences. On one occasion he had spent his last cent to buy one. Now he con­demned the selling of indulgences as an abominable practice contrary to the teachings of the Bible.

Immediately Pope John excom­municated Huss. The latter treated his excommunication with con­tempt, declared it to be null and void, and appealed from the pope to the Council.

EXECUTION OF JOHN HUSS (Burned at the Stake)
Bettmann Archive
After a painting by Hellquist, 1887

Late in the year 1414 a general council assembled in Constance. It had been called by the emperor Sigismund for the purpose of mak­ing an end of the Schism and bringing about the necessary re­forms in the Church. The emperor invited Huss to attend the Council, and promised him a safe-conduct. Relying upon the emperor’s prom­ise of safety Huss accepted the in­vitation. He arrived in Constance on the second of November, 1414. A few weeks later he was put into prison by Pope John XXIII for heresy.

Huss, supported by the Bohem­ians and the emperor himself, pro­tested vehemently against his ar­rest. The answer was that his arrest was entirely canonical, that is to say, it was in accordance with the canons, or rules, of the Church. That was only too true. According to canonical law of the Roman Catholic Church, heretics have no rights. To deceive heretics and be­tray them is a pious act. Promises made to heretics need not be kept.

Huss was left to languish in prison for more than eight months. Then, without having been given an opportunity to defend himself, he was brought from the dungeon to the cathedral in Constance. There, on the sixth of July, 1415, in the presence of the bishops and the emperor he was degraded. First he was dressed in the vest­ments of a priest. Then one by one every article of priestly attire was removed with curses that were considered appropriate. Thereupon a paper cone was placed upon his head. Upon this paper cap three ugly devils had been painted. The cap bore the inscription: "Here is the Heresiarch."

Huss was led forth from the cathedral to a place before one of the city’s gates. There a high stake had been erected and surrounded with firewood. He was tied to the stake with cords which had been thoroughly soaked in water. The wood was kindled. Flames licked his body and Huss died a martyr’s death. A crusade was organized against the followers of Huss, and for many years Bohemia was ravaged by war. But the spirit of reform lived on, and when the Reforma­tion began in Germany, opposition to the Roman Church was still strong in the land of Huss.

8. Wycliffe’s Bones Are Burned The same Council of Constance that burned Huss alive also ordered that the writings of Wycliffe should be burned, and that his body should be dug up and burned. Throughout England whatever books of Wycliffe could be found were consigned to the flames im­mediately after the close of the Council. But it was not until four­teen years later that the order of the Council in regard to the body of Wycliffe was carried out. For forty-four years his body had rested in the churchyard of Lutterworth. Then in 1428 the grave was opened. Only a few bones were found. With great ceremony these bones of the "notorious and obsti­nate archheretic whose name and memory is cursed," were burned. The ashes were strewn upon the waters of the Severn River, which carried them out to sea.

9. Three General Church Coun­cils Fail to Bring About Re­form In the period from 1409 to 1449 three general church councils were held: in Pisa in the year 1409, in Constance from 1414 to 1418, and in Basel from 1431 to 1449. The threefold purpose of these coun­cils was (1) to heal the Great Schism, (2) to bring about re­forms in the Church, and (3) to suppress heresy. The Council of Pisa was in the end a failure. It accomplished nothing that proved to be effective (ch. 21, sec. 4).

We have already seen how the Council of Constance, by appoint­ing Martin V as the legal pope, was successful in healing the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4). We have also seen how this same council condemned Huss as a heretic and burned him alive; and how it condemned Wycliffe as the archheretic and ordered his dead body to be burned. You will also recall that the burning of Huss did not stop the Hussite movement in Bohemia. Crusades against the Hussites, in­volving terrible slaughter and bloodshed, also failed.

One of the main objects of the Council of Basel was to restore the unity of the Church in Bohemia. The Hussites were invited to send representatives to the Council to talk things over. In 1436 an agree­ment was reached known as the Compactata. This agreement pro­vided (1) that all the members of the Church in Bohemia who so de­sired would be allowed to partake not only of the bread but also of the wine in communion, (2) that attempts should be made to reform the lives of the clergy, (3) that a certain freedom of preaching should be allowed, and (4) that certain grievances in regard to the holding and administration of church property should be re­moved. The Council had negotiated with heretics on equal terms, and had granted special privileges to those who had openly defied the authority of the Church.

While the Council of Basel was in session the Greeks sent repre­sentatives to implore the Chris­tians in the West to send them help against the Mohammedan Turks, who were threatening the very ex­igence of the Eastern Empire and Church. The situation was desper­ate. In order to get help the Greek representatives were willing to go to any lengths. The Eastern Church and Empire had delegated their foremost men as their repre­sentatives: the emperor himself, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who was the head of the Eastern Church, and several bishops. After lengthy discussions the Greek rep­resentatives agreed in exchange for help to accept the doctrines of the Western Church. They even agreed to acknowledge the suprem­acy of the pope of Rome over the Eastern Church.

It seemed that the Schism of the year 1054 was healed. It appeared that the two great parts of the Church, the Greek Eastern and the Latin Western parts, would be re­united; that again in all the world there would be only one church. But so it seemed for only a short time. When reports of the agreements made at the Council of Basel reached the East there arose from every side a loud and bitter pro­test. Opposition to the concessions made by the Greek representatives was fierce and determined. The patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria called the Council of Basel a "council of robbers." They denounced the Patriarch of Constantinople as a matricide — a murderer of his mother, the East­ern Church — and a heretic.

Ten years later, in 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople, the seat of the head of the Eastern Empire and of the head of the Eastern Church. That put an end to all further attempts at re-union of the Eastern and Western churches.

10. The Renaissance Has Both Good and Bad Effects When the German barbarians overran and conquered the western provinces of the Roman Empire, the ancient Graeco-Roman civiliza­tion was well-nigh trampled out in the West. But the barbarians did not conquer the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire (ch. 9, sec. 1; ch. 10, sec. 3). For a thousand years (from 476 to 1453), that is, all through the Middle Ages, while western Europe became steeped in ignorance and barbarism, the an­cient civilization was preserved in the Eastern or Byzantine Empire.

It is true that in the West the lamp of learning occasionally re­ceived a meager supply of oil. In the time of Charlemagne there had occurred a revival of learning (ch. 11, sec. 6 and 8). Then also men coming back from the Crusades, through their contact with the Greeks in the East and also through their contact with the Arabs in Spain, had brought with them to the countries of western Europe some knowledge of ancient civilization. But the real revival of learning, called the Renaissance, came about in the following manner. With the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Turks (1453) many Greek scholars fled the doomed city, carrying with them to Italy precious manuscripts containing the writings of the ancient Greek literary masters. Men began to study these manuscripts and Italy became the scene of a wonderful literary and artistic revival. From Italy the Renaissance spread across the Alps into the countries of northwestern Europe.

Many of the popes of the second half of the fifteenth century be­came very liberal patrons, or sup­porters, of the Renaissance. They supplied students of Greek and Latin literature, writers, archi­tects, and painters with funds so that they could devote themselves to literature and art without finan­cial worries. It was during this period of the Renaissance popes that the Vatican was built in Rome. The Vatican is the palatial resi­dence of the popes, with its beauti­ful gardens, its famous Vatican Li­brary and Sistine Chapel, and the magnificent St. Peter’s Church. The ancient Greek and Latin scholars whose writings were now again studied for the first time in centuries and with unbounded en­thusiasm, were pagans. A study of their works resulted in a revival of paganism. The popes of this period were more interested in this revived paganism of the Renais­sance than in Christianity. Many of them, especially Alexander VI, were very wicked men. Their splendid and luxurious court, their patronage of art and literature, and their great building projects cost immense sums of money. By various schemes they managed to make great amounts of gold flow into the papal treasury from the several countries of western Eu­rope. The irreligion and the luxu­rious manner of life of the popes, and their heavy exactions of money caused great dissatisfaction with the papacy and the Church, espe­cially in the countries north of the Alps.

SAVONAROLA PREACHES AGAINST LUXURY IN FLORENCE
Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions
Painting by Ludwig von Langenmantel In Florence, Italy, a priest by the name of Savonarola preached boldly against the wickedness of his time. He did not spare Pope Alexander VI. He was, however, in no sense a reformer of the Church. He did not attack the Cath­olic system, but only the moral abuses of his day. In 1498 he was hanged, and his body was burned.

11. The Brethren of the Common Life Attempt Reform in the Netherlands

About the middle of the four­teenth century, during the "Baby­lonian Captivity," there arose in the Netherlands another attempt to reform the Church. This movement was that of the Brethren of the Common Life. It was founded by Gerhard Groote, under the influ­ence and with the help of John Ruysbroek. Groote preached to large multitudes of eager listeners, and the result was a great revival of religion. The Brethren of the Common Life were strong believers in Christian education, They hoped to bring about reform in the Church by means of education. In many places in the Netherlands and northern Germany they established excellent schools. From these schools came many men who did much to promote learning and piety. Luther attended one of their schools in Magdeburg for one year (ch. 23, sec. 5). Two other pupils of the Brethren of the Common Life who deserve special mention are John of Wessel and Erasmus.

John of Wessel received his first education in a school of the Breth­ren of the Common Life. He was one of the leading scholars and thinkers of his time. From 1445 to 1456 he was a professor in the University of Erfurt in Germany, from which school forty-nine years later Luther received his degree of Master of Arts. Many called John of Wessel "the light of the world." He attacked indulgences. He clearly taught the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He said, "He who thinks to be justi­fied through his own works does not know what it is to be saved." He also taught the closely related doctrine that the elect are saved by grace alone, and wrote, "Whom God wishes to save He would save by giving him grace, if all the priests should wish to damn and excommunicate him." He did not accept the Roman Catholic doc­trine of transubstantiation — the belief that when the priest pro­nounces the sacramental words, the bread and wine are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. Of him Luther later said, "If I had read the works of Wessel beforehand, it might well have seemed that I derived all my ideas from him." Of course, the Roman Catholic Church did not approve of John of Wessel. He was tried for heresy before the Archbishop of Mainz. After having attempted to defend himself, he recanted. But he was cast into prison, where he died in October, 1489. The most famous pupil of the Brethren of the Common Life was Erasmus. He lived at the same time Luther did. He used his great learning and sharp pen to ridicule the ignorance of the monks and the many abuses in the Church. But that is as far as he went. He never joined Luther in the great Reformation movement. It was said: "Erasmus laid the egg [of the Reformation] and Luther hatched it."

Another man who was deeply in­fluenced by the spirit of this great movement was Thomas a Kempis. He lived in the Netherlands near the city of Zwolle, and he wrote The Imitation of Christ. This little book has held its place in the front rank of devotional literature down to our own day. It is one of the famous books of the world.

Whereas in Italy the Renais­sance was very much pagan in character, the revived knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics in northern Europe was taken into the service of an awakening Chris­tianity.

12. A Review of Influences That Have Stirred the Church For more than three hundred years the Church was strangely stirred.

There had been the Albigenses and the Waldenses. In the four­teenth century Pope Boniface VIII was humbled, his successors were captives for seventy years, and then the papacy was rent by schism. In England Wycliffe and the Lollards caused great commo­tion, as did John Huss and the Hus­sites in Bohemia. Dominicans and Franciscans became a power in the Church. The Inquisition was intro­duced. Heretics were burned, and their lands were devastated. In the first half of the fifteenth century three general councils were held. The Turks conquered the Eastern Empire and captured its capital, Constantinople. The gorgeous Christian Church of St. Sophia was made over into a Mohammedan mosque, the cross on its dome was replaced with the crescent, and the Greek Orthodox Church was forced to pass under the yoke of the False Prophet, as Mohammed was called. In the second half of the fifteenth century the paganizing Renais­sance greatly gained momentum in the south of Europe, and captured the papacy. The Brethren of the Common Life, starting in the Netherlands, sounded a ringing scriptural note that was heard throughout all of northern Europe. Wessel held and taught many views which were soon to be more widely and more effectively pro­claimed by Luther. The biting sa­tire from the witty pen of Erasmus, the Dutchman from Rot­terdam, made all Europe laugh over the ignorance of fat and indolent monks.

ERASMUS
Painting by Holbein. The Louvre 13. The Church Stands on the Threshold of the Reforma­tion The life of the Church continued to be stirred. The time had come when new wine would be poured into the old bottle, and the bottle would break. The Church presented the pic­ture of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. Well might one have asked: Can these dry bones live? The answer would soon be forth­coming. The time was at hand when a man would appear at whose mighty voice of prophecy the dry bones would stir. There would be a noise and a shaking. Bone would come to bone. Upon them would appear sinews and flesh and skin. Then the Spirit of the Lord would blow over that valley. The slain would live and stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army.