History of Christianity during the Middle Ages

the history of Christianity during the Middle Ages covers events related to Christianity from the fall of the Western Roman Empire (c. 476) to the Protestant Reformation (16th century), which is when modern Christianity is considered to begin.^{[citation needed]} This period of history coincides with what is known as the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages begin with the overthrow of the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, by Odoacer, leader of the Heruli, in 466 and end with the coronation of Charlemagne in 800. Although this division is arbitrary, since the beginning of the High Middle Ages was a gradual process in which the source of wealth and power was transferred from the cities to the countryside, while the authority of the central power of the emperor of Rome declined.

Beginnings and consolidation of the papacy

Justinian I Mosaic (527-565) in the church of San Vital de Rávena, example of Byzantine art of the centuryVI in Italy

In the beginnings of Christianity there was no difference between the different bishops, although after the cessation of Roman persecutions (c. 360) the need arose to unify beliefs and centralize power. In tracking down the papal primacy, Damasus I (366-384), presented himself as a spiritual link between the Christians of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire, while he was intransigent with the doctrines contrary to those established in the councils. At the same time, the figure of the emperor is consolidated in the dominated, by which he adopts a mystical form, legitimized and sent by God, who seeks the centralization of power through the support of the Church. Pope Leo I the Great (440-461) assumed the title of pontifex maximus, which had been abandoned by Roman emperors since 382. Papal supremacy was consolidated with Gelasius I (492-496), who He wrote a letter to Emperor Anastasius I (491-518) in which he formulated the doctrine of the two swords, understood as the justification for the superiority of the pope's spiritual power over the emperor's temporal power.

At the same time that the power of the Christian Church was growing in Europe, that of the emperors was diminishing. In the midst of the crisis of constant warfare, Emperor Justinian I (527-565) tried to reassert imperial rule in Italy from the east, in what is known as Gothic warfare (535-554). the campaign was successful, an exarchate was established for Italy,^{[citation needed]} imperial influence was limited. In 568 the Lombards invaded the peninsula establishing the Lombard Kingdom. When they entered Italy, some Lombards retained their native form of paganism, while others were Arian Christians, hence they did not have good relations with the Catholic Church, which they zealously persecuted. The failure of the emperors to send aid gave place for the popes to be in charge of feeding the city with grain from the papal treasury. As well as negotiating agreements with the Lombards, by paying their leaders in exchange for protection or, failing that, by hiring soldiers to defend the city. This marked the end of the Byzantine Empire's influence in Rome.

Celtic and Germanic conversion

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Christian missionaries began preaching among peoples of Celtic and Germanic origin.

Ireland, Scotland and Wales

In the V century, there was fluid contact between what is now Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In this context, Christianity began to spread in these regions from post-Roman Britain; starting with Wales, a region in which pagan Celts and Christian Bretons lived together since Roman times.

In the early 5th century, Ireland was dominated by the Druids. It is unknown how the word was first introduced. Christianity on the island, but it is estimated that it began with the prisoners who were captured on the coast of Great Britain during the raids that were carried out in search of booty and slaves. The chronicle of Prospero of Aquitaine (390-455) mentions that in 431 Palladius of Scotland he was sent by Pope Celestine I (422-432) to Ireland to be its first bishop, although he would leave the island shortly after due to the strong opposition to his presence from the chief of Wicklow. This shows that by that date there was already a small Christian community.

Tradition gives prominence to Patrick of Ireland, who at the age of 16 was kidnapped by a group of Scotti, taken to Ireland and sold as a slave. The date of his captivity is unclear, although it is known to have lasted six years. According to different authors, it must have been between the years 410 and 430, being most likely around 420; but in no case before 405. After his escape he studied theology and was sent back to Ireland in 433 as the leader of a group of missionaries by Germanus of Auxerre (378-448), Bishop of Britain, as a second attempt at evangelization. after the failed expedition of Palladio two years before. Patricio achieved the conversion of the leaders of some clans, which led to the conversion of the rest of the population.

According to tradition, the introduction of Christianity into Scotland is attributed to Columba of Iona (521-597). Although how much he actually contributed to this is unknown, there is no doubt that he was highly influential in the early Christian communities of Scotland. Columba arrived on the Isle of Iona in 563 from Ireland, along with twelve other men, and there he founded an abbey. After his arrival, he established contact and was protected by Conall mac Comgall, king of Dalriada, an important Scottish state, which favored the spread of the new religion.

Anglo-Saxons

Germanic peoples who invaded southern and eastern Britain, from the early V century to the Norman Conquest in the year 1066.

Evildoers

Visigoths

Waldenses

Valdo –whose name in Spanish would be Pedro Valdés– was a 12th century lowercase merchant from Lyon who chose to lead a life of poverty and preaching. Immediately a group of followers formed around him, whom the archbishop of the city, Guichard de Lyon, prohibited from preaching. Valdo and his followers appealed to Rome, where the Englishman Walter Map, making use of theological subtleties -differentiations that we do not understand today- ridiculed them. Although the Waldensians were allowed to keep their vows of poverty, they were forbidden to preach unless the local authorities allowed it. Despite the opposition of the local archbishop, upon their return they proclaimed their message of poverty and faith, for which they were condemned at the Council of Verona in 1184 and persecuted throughout Europe, taking refuge in the highest valleys of the Alps. There they were joined by what was left of the poor Lombards, a movement very similar to that of the Waldensians who suffered the same situation.

History Franks

Lombards

Frisians

4th and 5th centuries

In the IV and V, the Roman Empire lost much of its extent in the West and became a Byzantine East. The date of the year 476 is usually indicated as symptomatic, but in fact the invasion and cracking of the empire had begun much earlier (406). A group of peoples, originally from Scandinavia, the Germans, from central Europe had launched to conquer the spoils of Rome. Of these towns, the Visigoths were Christianized by Bishop Ulfilas, but Arianism took root in them until they passed to Orthodoxy in 589. Burgundians and Vandals were also Arian. The Suevi, 408, were still partly pagan and vacillated between Arianism and orthodoxy until around 560, when they opted for the latter. The Ostrogoths, when they seized Italy in 489, already practiced Arianism, but their king Theodoric strove to avoid friction with the Catholics. The Franks, on the other hand, pagans, went directly to Orthodoxy, in 496, with the baptism of their king Clovis. Adore tout ce que tu as brûlé, et brûle tout ce que tu as adoré, which translated means "Adore everything you have burned and burn everything you have adored..."

The Germans, however, constituted the ruling minority. Most of the countryside still had indigenous pagan populations. In the cities, the majority was Christian. When the Vandals crossed into Africa in 429, they added an Arian hierarchy to the Orthodox episcopal hierarchy. Many cities in Vandal Africa had simultaneously an Orthodox bishop and an Arian bishop. About five thousand Catholics were exiled by the Vandal monarch Hunirico and one of his successors, Trasamundo (496-523), exiled 120 bishops to the island of Sardinia. When the Byzantines recovered the province of Africa in 534, Catholicism was decimated. The Muslim invasion, in the mid-VII century, made it virtually disappear.

In the IV and V, Germany is becoming Christianized; the regions of the Rhine and the middle Danube (Noric and Recia) are the first to receive the Gospel, through the work of Saint Severinus (482). Pablo Orosio and Salviano, religious authors of the time, appreciate the values of the Germanic world and wish their full conversion.

In the East, Saint Simeon and the monks of Sinai converted the Sabeans of southern Arabia, Abyssinia, Persia and Armenia from Arianism to Orthodoxy and also embraced Orthodoxy and the scope of Christianity spread throughout the world.