Church's Role In Medieval Times

All throughout medieval European history, the church maintained a pivotal role in the progress of societies. In England especially, during the earlier medieval period, parishes acted as sources of income, rather than religious centres or economic centres, as in the local economy would not have been focused solely on the parish. Whereas in Scotland, parishes were still economically valuable, it was due to the smaller number of parishes being more important to the society’s economy. However, moving into the middle medieval period, people became more concerned with religious aspects of parishes rather than the monetary benefits. So as the involvement of people in the church grew, the desire for education on church conduct and practices grew. Thus

Furthering the ease of access to higher education, the printing press’s creation in the fifteenth century allowed for greater production of books. Prior to the printing press, paper had been exported from Italy since the fourteenth century, which reduced the cost of creating books. With the growing literacy rates, creation and exportation of paper, cheaper production costs of books, and the demand for more books paved the way for the creation of the printing press. Although the printing press did increase the literacy rate, its main usage by Gutenberg, the creator, was to print multiple copies of the Bible, now known as the Gutenberg Bibles. Because people could read or, if they were wealthy enough, purchase the Bible, there was less of a need for the clergy to recite it. As has consistently been the case, people refers to the higher social standings. Whilst further education of the clergy about the Bible may seem beneficial, it may have actually led to further distancing of the English and Scottish clergy from the papacy. Because the clergy could then read the Bible for themselves and study it more than just to memorise it for sermons, they began questioning about the intentions and motivations of the papacy. Moreover, though the papacy was technically a religious body, in the later medieval period, there was a growing stress on the political agenda. Moreover, the clergy were asking these questions, it would have most likely shown in the sermons. Thus the general public would have begun to wonder as well. Education in both England and Scotland was beneficial to society as a whole because it furthered the demand for inventions. Depending on how it is viewed, education was also beneficial to religious development in the British Isles because it further separated the church within the Isles from the papacy.