Abuses of the Medieval Catholic Clergy
The Dark Ages of Europe were called such for several reasons. One of the more notorious reasons was the state of the Catholic Church. In the years before the Reformation, members of the Catholic clergy had reached an all time low in terms of their morality. The abuses of clerical power and privileges by the medieval clergy spanned all parts of their daily lives. Members of the Catholic clergy were financially, politically and socially corrupt. Each of these corruptions made up the enormous religious corruption that was the logical result of such debauchery. Of the several grievances against the Church, "[t]he first and sorest was that she loved money, and had too much of it for her own good" (Durant 17). Documents on the exact wealth of the Church in the Middle Ages simply do not exist. Historians, however, speculate that the Church 's share of the wealth made up anywhere from a fifth to three-quarters in each of England, France and Germany. "In Italy, of course, one third of the peninsula belonged to the Church as the Papal States, and she owned rich properties in the rest" (Durant 17). The clergy was notorious for sucking money out of the people any way they could. They were known to have sold false relics to unsuspecting believers, passing animal bones and bits of torn cloak as those of Christ. Often times "priests
charged a mite too much for burial services" (Mee 151) or raised the amount of taxes due by a few ducats. Charging extra for taxes was not difficult because clergy often served as local officials, including those in charge of collecting taxes (Clifford 7). Had he Church been using the skimmed/scammed money for legitimate Church purposes, it may not have been so insulting. However, it was blatantly obvious that the cash was going to the clergy, who were becoming worldlier by the day. Even the papacy, the highest representative of God 's church on Earth, had become almost mortally corrupted. Pope Clement VI 's "luxurious court and gorgeous retinue
Cited: Clifford, Alan. The Middle Ages. St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1980. 5-9. Durant, Will. The Reformation.New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980. 17-25. Kelly, JND. Oxford Dictionary of Popes. New York: Oxford University Press. 1986. 220-1, 248-9, 252-5. McBrien, Richard P. Encyclopedia of Catholicism.San Francisco: Harper Collins. 1989. 1091-4, 1027-8. Mee, Charles L. White Robe,Black Robe. New York: GP Putnam Sons, 1972.64-5, 151-2. Strayer, Joseph R. Dictionary of the Middle Ages. New York: Charles Scribner 's Sons, 1983. Vol 3. 440-5, Vol 6. 446-50.