Christianity in the 13th century

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See also: Christianity in the 12th century and Christianity in the 14th century
For broader coverage of this topic, see
Christianity of the Middle Ages
.
Notre Dame de Paris
.

The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) imperial church headed by

autocephalous status and only nominally acknowledging Constantinople's standing in the Church hierarchy. In Western Europe the Holy Roman Empire
fragmented making it less of an empire as well.

High scholasticism and its contemporaries

Scholasticism originally began to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology. It is not a philosophy or theology in itself, but a tool and method for learning which puts emphasis on dialectical reasoning. The primary purpose of scholasticism was to find the answer to a question or resolve a contradiction. It is most well known in its application in medieval theology, but was eventually applied to classical philosophy and many other fields of study.

Aquinas

In the 13th century there was an attempted suppression of various groups perceived as heterodox, such as the

Natural Philosophy that could anachronistically be called 'science' began once again to flourish in the hands of such men as Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon
.

Notable authors include:

Western religious orders

The monastic orders, especially the

Mendicant Orders, which focused on poverty, preaching and other forms of pastoral ministry, were founded at this time. The four Mendicant Orders recognized by the Second Council of Lyon
are:

Crusades

The Fourth Crusade, authorized by Innocent III in 1202, intended to retake the Holy Land but was soon subverted by Venetians who used the forces to sack the Christian city of Zara. Eventually the crusaders arrived in Constantinople, but rather than proceed to the Holy Land the crusaders instead sacked Constantinople and other parts of Asia Minor effectively establishing the Latin Empire of Constantinople in Greece and Asia Minor. This was effectively the last crusade sponsored by the papacy; later crusades were sponsored by individuals. Thus, though Jerusalem was held for nearly a century and other strongholds in the Near East remained in Christian possession much longer, the crusades in the Holy Land ultimately failed to establish permanent Christian kingdoms.

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Many things that were stolen during this time: holy relics, riches, and many other items, are still held in various Western European cities, particularly Venice
.

The crusades in southern

Teutonic Knights expanded Christian domains in Eastern Europe; and the much less frequent crusades within Christendom, such as the Albigensian Crusade, achieved their goal of maintaining doctrinal unity.[1]

Fourth Crusade, 1202–1204

The Crusader states established in Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade.

The

Roman Catholic Church
.

After the

Latin West the Empire of Nicaea
was established, which was later to be the origin of the Greek monarchy that defeated the Latin forces of Europe and re-established Orthodox monarchy in Constantinople and Asia Minor.

Crusades against the Eastern Orthodox

Teutonic Knights in Pskov in 1240 as depicted in Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky
(1938).

Crusades against Christians in the East by Roman Catholic crusaders were not exclusive to the fourth crusade nor the

Church of the Pantokrator being converted into Roman Catholic properties and it is viewed with some rancour to the present day. Some of the European Christian community actively endorsed the attacking of Eastern Christians.[2]

This was preceded by a European backed attempted conquest of Byzantium, Greece, and

Latin Patriarch of Constantinople (with various other Crusader states
).

The

crusades against Orthodox Novgorod. Many in the East saw the actions of the West in the Mediterranean as a prime determining factor in the weakening of Byzantium which led to the empire's eventual conquest and fall to Islam.[4]

Albigensian Crusade

Pope Innocent III excommunicating the Albigensians (left), Massacre against the Albigensians by the crusaders (right)

The

Cathars of Occitania (the south of modern-day France
). It was a decade-long struggle that had as much to do with the concerns of northern France to extend its control southwards as it did with heresy. In the end, both the Cathars and the independence of southern France were exterminated.

After a

Medieval inquisition executed an average of three people per year for heresy at its height.[7][8] Over time, other inquisitions were launched by the Church or secular rulers to prosecute heretics, to respond to the threat of Moorish invasion or for political purposes.[9] The accused were encouraged to recant their heresy and those who did not could be punished by penance, fines, imprisonment, torture or execution by burning.[9][10]

Children's Crusade

The Children's Crusade is a series of possibly fictitious or misinterpreted events of 1212. The story is that an outburst of the old popular enthusiasm led a gathering of children in France and Germany, which Pope Innocent III interpreted as a reproof from heaven to their unworthy elders. The leader of the French army, Stephen, led 30,000 children. The leader of the German army, Nicholas, led 7,000 children. None of the children actually reached the Holy Land; those who did not return home or settle along the route to Jerusalem either died from shipwreck or hunger, or were sold into slavery in Egypt or North Africa.

Fifth Crusade, 1217–1221

Main article: Fifth Crusade

By processions, prayers, and preaching, the Church attempted to set another crusade afoot, and the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) formulated a plan for the recovery of the Holy Land. In the first phase, a crusading force from Austria and Hungary joined the forces of the king of Jerusalem and the prince of Antioch to take back Jerusalem. In the second phase, crusader forces achieved a remarkable feat in the capture of Damietta in Egypt in 1219, but under the urgent insistence of the papal legate, Pelagius, they launched a foolhardy attack on Cairo in July 1221. The crusaders were turned back after their dwindling supplies led to a forced retreat. A night-time attack by Sultan Al-Kamil resulted in a great number of crusader losses and eventually in the surrender of the army. Al-Kamil agreed to an eight-year peace agreement with Europe.

Sixth Crusade 1228–1229

Main article: Sixth Crusade

Emperor Frederick II had repeatedly vowed a crusade but failed to live up to his words, for which he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX in 1228. He nonetheless set sail from Brindisi, landed in Palestine, and through diplomacy he achieved unexpected success: Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem
were delivered to the crusaders for a period of ten years.

In 1229 after failing to conquer Egypt, Frederick II of the

Al-Aqsa Mosque. The peace brought about by this treaty lasted for about ten years.[11] Many of the Muslims though were not happy with Al-Kamil for giving up control of Jerusalem, and in 1244, following a siege, the Muslims regained control of the city.[12]

Seventh Crusade, 1248–1254

Main article: Seventh Crusade

The papal interests represented by the

Kingdom of Outremer.

Although this provoked no widespread outrage in Europe as the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 had done, Louis IX of France organized a crusade against Egypt from 1248 to 1254, leaving from the newly constructed port of Aigues-Mortes in southern France. It was a failure, and Louis spent much of the crusade living at the court of the crusader kingdom in Acre. In the midst of this crusade was the first Shepherds' Crusade in 1251.

Eighth Crusade, 1270

Main article: Eighth Crusade

The Eighth Crusade was organized by Louis IX in 1270, again sailing from Aigues-Mortes, initially to come to the aid of the remnants of the crusader states in Syria. However, the crusade was diverted to Tunis, where Louis spent only two months before dying. For his efforts, Louis was later canonised.

Ninth Crusade, 1271–1272

Main article:
Ninth Crusade

The future

Baibars in 1271, after having accompanied Louis on the Eighth Crusade. The Ninth Crusade was deemed a failure and ended the Crusades in the Middle East.[13]

In their later years, faced with the threat of the Egyptian

Mamluks, the Crusaders' hopes rested with a Franco-Mongol alliance. Although the Mongols successfully attacked as far south as Damascus on these campaigns, the ability to effectively coordinate with Crusades from the west was repeatedly frustrated most notably at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The Mamluks eventually made good their pledge to cleanse the entire Middle East of the Franks. With the fall of Antioch (1268), Tripoli (1289), and Acre (1291), those Christians unable to leave the cities were massacred or enslaved, and the last traces of Christian rule in the Levant disappeared.[14][15]

Northern Crusades]

The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquer

crusades against Orthodox Novgorod
.

Between 1232 and 1234, there was a crusade against the

Bremen-Hamburg to make an end to their freedoms. The archbishop excommunicated them, and Pope Gregory IX
declared a crusade in 1232. The Stedingers were defeated in 1234.

Aragonese Crusade

The Aragonese Crusade, or Crusade of Aragón, was declared by Pope Martin IV against the King of Aragón, Peter III the Great, in 1284 and 1285.

Crusade against the Tatars

In 1259 Mongols led by

Halych-Volynia, Lithuania and Poland. After that Pope Alexander IV tried without success to create a crusade against the Blue Horde
.

Second Council of Lyon

The

Great Schism that divided Rome and Constantinople, Gregory X had sent an embassy to Michael VIII Palaeologus, who had reconquered Constantinople, putting an end to the remnants of the Latin Empire in the East, and he asked Latin despots in the East to curb their ambitions. On June 29, 1274, Gregory X offered Mass
in St John's Church, where both sides took part. The council declared that the Roman church possessed "the supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal Catholic Church."

The council was seemingly a success but did not provide a lasting solution to the schism; the emperor was anxious to heal the schism, but the Eastern clergy proved to be obstinate. However, Michael VII's son and successor Andronicus II repudiated the union.

Serbian Church

In 1217,

Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinople in Nicaea as the first Archbishop of the autocephalous (independent) Serbian Church. The patriarch of Constantinople and his Synod thus appointed Sava as the first archbishop of "Serbian and coastal lands."[18][19][20][21][22] In the same year, Archbishop Sava published Zakonopravilo (St. Sava's Nomocanon). Thus the Serbs acquired both forms of independence: political and religious.[23]

Archbishop Sava appointed several bishops, sending them around Serbia to organize their dioceses.[24] To maintain his standing as the religious and social leader, he continued to travel among the monasteries and lands to educate the people. In 1221 a synod was held in the Žiča monastery, condemning Bogomilism.[25]

Rus' Church

See also:
Eastern Question

Mongol rule in Kievan Rus lasted from the 13th (Genghis Khan's
army entered Kievan Rus in 1220s) through the 15th century, the Rus' church enjoyed a favored position, obtaining immunity from taxation in 1270. Through a series of wars with Muslim countries the church did indeed establish itself as the protector of Orthodoxy.

See also

References

  1. ^ Brian Tierney and Sidney Painter, Western Europe in the Middle Ages 300–1475. 6th ed. (McGraw-Hill 1998)
  2. ^ ""The Sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders"". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  3. ISBN 0-14-026653-4
    .
  4. ^ "Fourth Crusade, 1202-1204" Even after Greek control of Byzantium was re-established, the empire never recovered the strength it had had even in 1200, and the sole effect of the fourth crusade was to weaken Europe's chief protection against the Turks.
  5. ^ Duffy, Saints and Sinners (1997), p. 112
  6. ^ Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages (2005), pp.144-147
  7. ^ a b Bokenkotter, A Concise History of the Catholic Church (2004), p. 132
  8. ^ Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History (2007), p. 93
  9. ^ a b Black, Early Modern Italy (2001), pp.200-202
  10. ^ Casey, Early Modern Spain: A Social History (2002), pp.229-230
  11. ^ Lamb, Harold. The Crusades: The Flame of Islam, Doubleday (publisher) New York. 1931 pp.310-311.
  12. ^ "Crusades" In The Islamic World: past and Present, edited by John L. Esposito. Oxford Islamic Studies Online, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article (accessed February 17, 2008).
  13. ^ Dore's Illustrations of the Crusades By Gustave Dore, Dore
  14. ^ Hetoum II (1289‑1297)
  15. ^ "Third Crusade: Siege of Acre". Archived from the original on 2008-03-12. Retrieved 2009-06-02.
  16. ^ Wetterau, Bruce. World history. New York: Henry Holt and company. 1994.
  17. ^ Kalić 2017, p. 7-18.
  18. ^ Ostrogorsky 1956, p. 383.
  19. ^ Blagojević 1993, p. 27-28.
  20. ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 28, 42-43.
  21. ^ Ferjančić & Maksimović 2014, p. 37–54.
  22. ^ Marjanović 2018, p. 41–50.
  23. ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 43, 68.
  24. ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 43.
  25. ^ Vlasto 1970, pp. 222, 233.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links
The Middle Ages
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Christianity in
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