Page 277 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

Rhineland. Bands of Christians set upon Jews in Speyer, Worms, Mainz, and Cologne.
In the thirteenth century, in the supercharged atmosphere of fear created by the struggle with the heretics, Jews were persecuted more and more (see the box on p. 240). Friars urged action against these “murderers of Christ,” contending that the Jews, hav- ing turned Jesus over to the Roman authorities, were responsible for his death, and organized the public burning of Jewish books. The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 decreed that Jews must wear distinguishing marks, such as ribbons, yellow badges, and special veils and cloaks, to differentiate themselves from Christians. The same council encouraged the development of Jew- ish ghettos, neighborhoods built behind walled enclo- sures to isolate Jews from Christians. The persecutions and the new image of the hated Jew stimulated a tradi- tion of anti-Semitism that proved to be one of Chris- tian Europe’s most insidious contributions to the Western heritage.
European kings, who had portrayed themselves as protectors of the Jews, had so fleeced the Jewish com- munities of their money by the end of the thirteenth century that they no longer had reason to resist the mob fury. Edward I expelled all Jews from England in 1290. The French followed suit in 1306. As the policy of expulsion spread into central Europe, most northern European Jews were driven into Poland.
INTOLERANCE AND HOMOSEXUALITY The climate of into- lerance that characterized thirteenth-century attitudes toward Muslims, heretics, and Jews was also evident toward homosexuals. Although the church had con- demned homosexuality in the early Middle Ages, it had not been overly concerned with homosexual behavior, reflecting the attitude prevalent in the secular world.
But by the thirteenth century, these tolerant attitudes had altered drastically. Some historians connect this change to the century’s climate of fear and intolerance against any group that deviated from the standards of the now strictly Catholic majority. A favorite approach of the critics was to identify homosexuals with other detested groups. Homosexuality was portrayed as a regular practice of Muslims and such notorious heretics as the Albigensians. Between 1250 and 1300, what had been tolerated in most of Europe became a criminal act deserving of death.
The legislation against homosexuality commonly referred to it as a “sin against nature.” This is pre- cisely the argument developed by Thomas Aquinas (see Chapter 9), who formed Catholic opinion on the subject for centuries to come. In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas argued that because the purpose of sex was procreation, it could only legitimately take place in ways that did not exclude this possibility. Hence, homosexuality (like all other sexual practices that could not result in pregnancy) was “contrary to nature” and a deviation from the natural order estab- lished by God. This argument and laws prohibiting homosexual activity on pain of death remained the norm in Europe until the twentieth century.
The Crusades
Q FOCUS QUESTION: What were the reasons for the Crusades, and who or what benefited the most from the experience of the Crusades?
Another manifestation of the religious enthusiasm that seized Europe in the High Middle Ages was the series of crusades mounted against the Muslims. These cam- paigns gave the revived papacy of the High Middle Ages yet another opportunity to demonstrate its influ- ence over European society. The Crusades were a curi- ous mix of God and warfare, two of the chief concerns of the Middle Ages.
Background to the Crusades
Although European civilization developed in relative isolation, it had never entirely lost contact with the lands and empires to the east. At the end of the elev- enth century, that contact increased, in part because developments in the Islamic and Byzantine worlds prompted the first major attempt of the new European civilization to expand beyond Europe proper.
The Crusades 239
CHRONOLOGY The Catholic Church in the High Middle Ages
Foundation of abbey of Cluny 910
Pope Gregory VII 1073–1085 Decree against lay investiture 1075
Pope Urban II 1088–1099 Founding of Cistercians 1098
Pope Innocent III 1198–1216 Start of crusade against the Albigensians 1209 Fourth Lateran Council 1215
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.