![]() ![]() Very important role had the custom of noble families to send at least one of its family members (a son or daughter) in service of the Church or into a monastery. ![]() ![]() Most of the medieval churches and monasteries were built by local noble families for various reasons. In contrary to bishops and other high officials of the Church who were often also military leaders and lived the life of other high nobility, the clerics of a lower rank were not members of nobility.Ĭhurch gained possession of the land through donations of deeply religious people as well as in exchange for the “salvation of the soul” of its donor and for performing various post-mortal memorial ceremonials. Large estates enabled the high officials of the Church to live a leisurely life comparable to the life of high nobility.įor that reason the majority of the high officials of the Church originated from the local noble families and were considered noble. Thus bishops and other high officials of the Church were also the feudal lords. The monarchs and feudal lords donated to the Church large estates because of its role in the medieval society and because of its support to secular authorities. The members of the regular clergy were all who belonged to a religious order and followed the religious rule under the leadership of a religious superior, while the members of secular clergy were not bound to religious rule and were not members of any religious orders. Clergy could had been either regular and secular. The unordained monks, nuns, friars and religious brothers and sisters were not members of the clergy. Members of the clergy were also the monks and other religious officials who obtained the Holy Order and had been ordained or appointed to offices of pastoral leadership in the church. Bishops (including metropolitans, archbishops or patriarchs) exercised authority over priests and deacons who were on the bottom of the churchly hierarchy. The Pope was on the top of the hierarchy and below the Pope were the ordained clergymen: bishops, priests and deacons. The Christian Church was organized in a strict hierarchical structure of a pyramid and remained practically unchanged until nowadays. Christianity became the leading religion in the Medieval Times, while Christian doctrine of divine right and salvation by suffering provided the basis for the establishment of feudalism and feudal society. ![]()
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