In the Middle Ages, the people could be broken up into classes. There are many ways to break people up into classes, but people generally can be put into royalty, nobility, clergy, tradesmen, and peasants. Each of these groups played a different role with the church in the Middle Ages. Groups like peasants and tradesmen, had similar roles with the church. Groups like peasants and clergy had much different roles with the church. However, the Roman Catholic Church was a major part of life for all people in the Middle Ages. All major actions, like a crusade, would have heavy influence from the church. This is why the church played an important role in the Middle Ages. Royalty and the church both had heavy influence on each other. The members …show more content…
This role was much like the role of the royalty with the church, but on a smaller scale. The nobility were rulers of smaller areas in a country that was controlled by a king or queen. The nobility interacted with bishops, who were the church rulers of a smaller area controlled by and archbishop. A noble would use the power of a bishop to influence his will among the people of his territory. Nobles would also play a role in the selection of the bishop that was to have power in his area. This allowed nobles to gain much power from a bishop. However, bishops also used the nobles for their purposes. Bishops would collect money and goods from the nobles. Nobles would also give protection to the churches and monasteries controlled by the …show more content…
The clergy were people involved in the church such as monks and nuns. These people carried out the duties of the church. Their duties were giving mass, giving religious sacraments, and helping the towns where their church or monastery was located. Many lower clergy men also gave a basic education to the youth of a town or village. The clergy received most of their income from tithes of food, money, or clothing given by the people located near them. Members of the clergy were numerous enough to be divided into their own class in the Middle Ages. This shows how large the role of the church was during this time