ABSTRACT

In this fascinating survey, F. Donald Logan introduces the reader to the Christian church, from the conversion of the Celtic and Germanic peoples through to the discovery of the New World. He reveals how the church unified the people of Western Europe as they worshipped with the same ceremonies and used Latin as the language of civilized communication.

A History of the Church in the Middle Ages offers a unique perspective on the legacy and influence of the Christian church in Western culture. Never fixed or static, the church experienced remarkable periods of change between the sixth and sixteenth centuries. Saint Francis of Assisi, the gentle poverello of Umbria, the martyr Thomas Becket, the ill-fated lovers Abelard and Heloise, and the visionary Hildegard of Bingen, all testify to the diversity and richness of the medieval church.

 

chapter |2 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|10 pages

The Pre-Medieval Church

chapter 2|17 pages

The Beginning of the Middle Ages

chapter 3|17 pages

Justinian and Mohammed

chapter 4|24 pages

The scene is set: St Gregory the Great to

chapter 5|19 pages

Church, Carolingians and Vikings

chapter 6|15 pages

The Church in Disarray, c.850–c.1050

chapter 7|26 pages

Reform, The East, Crusade

chapter 8|21 pages

The Twelfth Century

chapter 9|32 pages

Three Twelfth-Century Profiles

chapter 10|18 pages

The Age of Innocent III

chapter 12|29 pages

Two legacies: universities and cathedrals

chapter 14|22 pages

Death and Purgatory

chapter 15|18 pages

Exile in Avignon and Aftermath

chapter 16|17 pages

The Great Schism

chapter 17|19 pages

The Fifteenth Century