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Pope, Priest and Monks in medieval Europe

Medieval Christianity was a peace project in almost the same way that the European Union is today. The Middle Ages, in many respects, was not an era of faith. It was a time of beliefs, superstitions and bigotry, high public impulses of an irrational nature, sometimes mandatory pilgrimages, crusades with dubious goals, social and mystical crises, millenarian expectations, and prophecies of various kinds. In his book, Krotzl writes that how the popes and missionary influenced the formation of Europe between 500 and 1250. According to Krotzl, the popes favored a flexible and peaceful conversion to the Christian faith. "The idea of universal human rights was shaped and developed into the reality of missionary work," Krotzl writes. (Katajala-Peltomaa, Salonen, and Kurt 11).

The monks preached a religion more internal, more personal, more in line with the requirements of morality. Their preaching of repentance, and their examples encouraged the fallen man who was the victim of sin, to turn to regret about their sins, to repentance and confession. The ideal of poverty, which was established over the next decades, had its monastic life as its source. As a result, this life will give "a clear direction to the goal of eternal salvation," and the following centuries will be marked with this desire” (Stephenson 44).

The crusade was usually considered as the call of the pope to fight in the name of the Lord. In 1095, Pope Urban II took the opportunity of a trip to Clermont, France, to summon knights and rulers to rescue their co-religionists from the East (the Byzantines) and restore the safety of pilgrimages. Basil II became known as the Bulgar-slayer after his overwhelming victory over the Bulgars in 1014 ( as shown in image). There are two reasons why the role of Byzantium in the organization of the expedition is significantly distorted and belittled. (Stephenson44).

After the capture of Jerusalem, European historiographers, who at that time were exclusively persons of a clergy rank, did everything possible to emphasize the central role of the pope in the emergence of the idea of ​​the crusade and its organization. Their position was further strengthened by the formation of the so-called crusader states in the Levant. Their canters were Jerusalem, Edessa, Tripoli, and above all, Antioch. The new state entities needed a story that would explain how they came under the power of knights from the West. This frontispiece illustration from a religious prayer book shows the warrior Basil standing on top of bodies of the conquered Bulgarians. Both angels and warrior-saints are shown protecting the emperor. Besides the fact that the monks performed thousands of social functions that no one else did during the Middle Ages. They played a role in maintaining the faith itself

Additionally, POPE INNOCENT III INAUGURATED" the 4th Crusade after Saladin's realm started to collapse. However, the crusading army of typically French aristocrats was unfocused to Constantinople to interfere in Byzantine government. In 1204, the Christian crusaders took and dismissed one of Christendom's entire cities. (Hutton116). So , the role of pope, monk ,priest and nun is remarkable in the history of medieval Europe.

Works cited

Hutton Webster, Readings in Medieval and Modern History (Boston: D. C. Heath & Co., 1917),

pp. 116–117.

Katajala-Peltomaa, Sari, Kirsi Salonen, and Kurt Villads. "In the Name of Saints Peter and Paul."

Church and belief in the Middle Ages: popes, saints, and crusaders (2016): 11.

Stephenson, Paul. "Images of the Bulgar-slayer: three art historical notes." Byzantine and

Modern Greek Studies 25 (2001): 44-68.