Heresy. The very word produces shudders -invoking images of torture, confession, burning at the stake for people who dared to deviate from the designated authority of their age. Although no heretics were burned between 383 and 1020, they were increasingly rooted out in Europe during the Middle Ages as the established Church used force to …
The Medieval history is distinguished as the epoch of various empires, kingdoms and the epoch of ruling by particular dynasties. The Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburg Empire, the British Empire, the Kingdom of France, the Ottoman Empire – each of these state formations, each in its time, was a creator of history and left its …
The Pardoner is a man of sin. His job is to pardon the sins of others by selling Church indulgences, what we may call “pass jail cards” instead in the Pardoner’s case, “pass hell and purgatory” cards. The indulgence was the Church’s way of raising money, to either fund the building of churches or wars. …
Augustine’s dialogue with Adeodatus presents a dilemma concerning the complex issue of knowledge; that is, whether or not it is possible to arrive at the knowledge of things via the employment of words. “Can nothing be taught by means of words? ” This question summarizes the problematic of the dialogue to which Augustine provides two …
Medieval civilization emerged out of the collapse of the western half of the Roman Empire. As various new political states emerged, a new form of society emerged as well, one in which there were three distinct classes: those who worked, those who fought, and those who prayed. During the time of the Roman Empire, there …
