Medieval Times

Churches Mission to Reform:
1. In the thirteenth century, the Church’s reforms were focused on purifying all of society by reshaping the world’s laws in order to paint the image of heaven in God’s eyes. 
• Society would be purified after achieving two amendments, “strengthening institutions of justice to combat heresy and heretics… and support preachers who would bring the official views of the church to the streets” (Hunt 436). 
2. These amendments were good in the eyes of some but to many, it was conflicting their own beliefs. In result, opposing views clashed with the vision of the church. Secondly, throughout the thirteenth century, women were very pious and involved in religion. 
• All women were comfortable in their own ways of preaching. Some sought the quiet life, “others the lives of charity and service… others domestic lives of marriage and family punctuated by religious devotions” (Hunt 442). 
3. Scholasticism is the method of logical inquiry, asking a question, and then exposition, a comprehensive explanation and combining the authority of the church fathers with that of Aristotle. The goal of this method was to summarize and reconcile all knowledge. Thus, many people were accused of placing excessive amounts of emphasis on reason over faith but in conclusion, there is no conflict. 
4. In order to gain support, kings attempted to impose their authority through taxes, courts, and representative institutions. The purpose of these actions is to emphasize the amount of power the king sustains. By using these systems, the king’s authority would have more publicity, and furthermore, it would reach the ears of the public. 
5. Pope Boniface VIII and King Phillip IV were the originators of representative institutions. When the two leaders were at a standoff, the crossroads for the papacy began and the fortifying of the monarchy was initiated. 
• Since the monarchy was being fortified, competition for the position between the two leaders was intense. Propaganda and Popular Opinion was a powerful system that the kings used in order to bash the other contender in order to elevate their own status. 
6. At the times when the non-noble classes, the popolo, fought with the nobles for triumph over the Italian communes, Italian city-states were formed.
• The popolo has much infrastructure and may be considered a kind of alternative commune. The nobles then had no choice but to ally with a certain group and allow lordships to come to light.