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We must update the picture traced in by the criticisms of Boccacio, Valla, and others. Were these individuals perhaps exaggerating? What evidence do we have after 1450 and in other parts of Europe relative to the condition of the Church? We have noted the position taken by the humanists in an earlier discussion. In this lecture/essay we will discuss some of the views of the church people that were not scholars of the humanities.
We noted the anti-clerical bias of Bocaccio's fourteenth century Decameron which became a model for a number of other Italian novelists. Bocaccio's tales are relatively tame when compared with those of Masuccio in the late fifteenth century. Preserved Smith writes of Masuccio's tales, that he "indulged in the most obscene mockery of Catholic rites." (The Age of the Reformation, p. 50.) In France the Cent nouvelles nouvelles, and the poems of Francois Villon were cut from very similar fabric. In all these tales it is never "the butler" who "did it", but the priest, the monk, the friar, or the nun.
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I am indebted in this section for many of the anecdotal details to "Piety and Popular Faith at the Threshold of the Reformation," in Kurt Aland's A History of Christianity, Vol. I., pp. 406ff.
In general terms the most impressive characteristic of religious devotion in this time is the extent and the depth of concern, even anxious uncertainty, expressed in both the words and deeds of the pious and not so pious alike. This nagging unrest focuses on the relationship between man and Almighty God both in this life and in the next. It addresses ultimately the question of the character of God and the question of man's ability to relate to God, given the evident character of the human race. But this unrest also motivated an intense cultivation of a studious religiosity among both clergy and laity.
Although the artistic expressions of the nearness and capricious nature of death first appeared after the Black Death, they are, indeed, more often seen in the graphic arts of the early sixteenth century than ever before. Particularly in those uncomissioned works prepared for the popular market death is variously depicted in the company of all classes and all ages, engaged in all walks and activities of life. These depictions differ in one significant respect from those of the earlier centuries. The monstrous minions of the devil join the grim reaper of death in many settings. Thus, for example, the striking allegory of Albrecht Dürer's woodcut of a warrior knight resolutely ignoring the threat of death at one side and the temptations of the devil on the other to proceed with his mission. That so many such depictions found there way into the churches of that age is telling.
While the artists expressed in realistic depiction the otherwise invisible terrors that disturbed the human psyche, there were yet other indications of these fears. The graphic arts also confirm what the written accounts carefully detail, the occurrence of ominous and frightening real events. Virtually any anomaly or deformity, a comet in the sky, an albino offspring, or other unexpected and unexplainable circumstances struck the cords of anxiety deep in the bowels of society. Even common place events were sometimes transformed into the ominous.
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The abstract principle of evil had taken the monstrous form of Satan, variously depicted as a serpent with a human head or as having a human body with one human leg and one horse leg, tail, horns, and a long extruded tongue. Satan ruled over a huge force of lesser demons all of whom were lurking around tempting individuals in order to win their souls. In this task, the fifteenth century mind believed that Satan had also singled out certain humans, witches, to be his agents. In return the witches used the demons to cast evil spells, bring sickness, famine and death to whomever they wished. Moreover, the witches--both male and female--seduced innocent persons to join them in committing awful deeds. Witches gathered periodically (Witches' Sabbaths) to receive their instructions from Satan, always in the countryside in the middle of the night. The juicy gossip about these allegedly obscene meetings is a testimony to the creativity of the human imagination. In addition to witches--and perhaps their guests--who attended these nocturnal meetings Satan sometimes brought a few male and female demons (incubi, succubi) with him. Suffice it to note that the imaginary orgies described by witches under torture had the same strange appeal as pornography does today, and often produced a similar type of overwrought, violent and self-conscious reaction from the investigators.
Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kraemer's fifteenth century handbook, Malleus maleficarum, identified many harmless character traits as evidence an individual was a witch. Keeping and talking to a pet animal or bird was an excellent clue. Widows living alone in the country, particularly young, good-looking widows were very suspect. Behaviors that we now associate with various neuroses or psychoses were cited as obvious evidences. Unexplained birthmarks, minor deformities or scars anywhere on the body were to be searched out and poked with a needle to see if the individual could feel it--if not, it was nearly proof positive that it was Satan's mark.
Astrology was more commonly consulted in this period than since the last age of Roman paganism. Almost every government consulted astrology to determine the propitious times for certain public events. Churchmen, even the Popes, regularly fixed their personal agendas with the aid of an astrologer. When a certain astrologer/scholar calculated that a deluge would occur in 1524 when all the planets form a conjunction in the sign of Pisces, the results were widespread. The mayor of Wittenberg reportedly redesigned his attic as a place where he could more safely store his beer. In anticipation Charles V considered whether to move his troop encampments and his secretarial corps from the accessible lowlands into the mountains. During that year the Elector Joachim of Brandenburg hurriedly evacuated his palace during a torrential thunderstorm ordering his servants to take immediate refuge on the highest hill in Berlin!
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The veneration of saints was cultivated with serious and popular intensity. The appearance of dozens of churches, chapels, even altars in existing cathedrals, dedicated to Mary in this period is indicative. The Cistercian monks, the Franciscan friars and the Teutonic Knights are all active in this veneration of Mary. The graphic arts again reveal the character of Saint Mary as she was understood in the popular mind. She is depicted in any number of very human, every-day situations from childbirth, to scrubbing the floor, to admiring (perhaps feeding) a goldfinch.
The cult of Saint Anne, Mary's mother, also virtually exploded on the artistic scene. Often she, Mary and Jesus are shown together. From the baptismal records in copper mining communities we ascertain that the name Anne is one of the most popular girls names used after 1500. It rarely occurs in the records before 1400.
Here intersects another trend that continued into the sixteenth century, that of saints' relics. Originally a partial skull duly licensed and certified by the papacy as being that of Saint Anne had been laid into the wall of the Cathedral at Mainz. Repair work on the wall had revealed the skull. The stonemason doing the repair covertly carried it back to his hometown of Düren--between Cologne and Aachen--and deposited it with the local church. Once the authorities at Mainz learned the whereabouts of Saint Anne's remains they proceeded to demand the return of the stolen property. The Düren church authorities would have meekly surrendered the relic had the city population not risen in protest demanding that the Mainz authorities were out of line. Legal proceedings followed in both secular and ecclesiastical courts. The case was heard in both the imperial Diet and the papal Curia. It was resolved by noting that Saint Anne had indicated her desire to reside in Düren by the several attested miracles attributed to her there. No such miracles had ever been reported in Mainz.
The cult of Saint Joseph also gained recognition in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, but perhaps the most interesting late fifteenth century novelty in saint worship was the popularity of the Vierzehnheiligen "Fourteen Holy [Intercessors]". This veneration emphasized the relevance of the intercessor or helper saints to assist everyday people in all walks of life manage the nitty-gritty problems of life. The fourteen saints included were not really new ones, it was the new emphasis on the intercessory role of these well-known saints, which attracted the interest and met the needs of a society adrift in uncharted anxiety. The pinmakers took Mary as their helper--because Mary pinned Jesus' diapers! The merchants and apothecaries took Michael--because Saint Michael weighed human souls in the balance scales. Saint Bartholomew, as popular legend told it, had survived such a cruel whipping that large strips of the skin from his back had peeled off. He was popularly depicted carrying his skin in his hand. Are we then surprised that butchers and tanners chose Saint Bartholomew as their intercessor?
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Despite the rigors and inconveniences of travel in this period, there is a phenomenal increase in pilgrimages to sites of reputed holiness motivated by the search for the elusive prize of additional assurance. Pilgrims came from all walks of life including men and women, canons, friars, and monks and nuns. It is difficult to know whether there are more pilgrims or whether the pilgrims are merely making multiple pilgrimages. Indeed, venerated sites seem to multiply almost as fast. There was Düren where the relic of Saint Anne might produce yet other miracles. There was Tours where St. Martin was buried. There was Rome with the tombs of Peter and Paul among others. There was Assisi, the birth-place of Saint Francis. There was Canterbury where the bones of the martyr, Saint Thomas Becket, rested; and finally, to end this representative list of long recognized shrines, there was Aachen, repose for the bones of Emperor Charlemagne. Then there were local cathedrals like Anneberg and Wittenberg where lesser but typically more numerous relics were to be venerated. Castle Church at Wittenberg possessed approximately 18,855 relics by 1520, but had counted only around 5000 in 1509.
The list of relics found in various places boggles the mind. Locks of hair, numerous skulls (many of John the Baptist), nails and splinters from the cross, a vial of Mary's milk, toenail and/or fingernail clippings, bones, pebbles (alleged scraps of leather, fragments of metal armor, nondescript rags, pieces of rotting tapestry--all attributed to some specific hero of the faith or heroic event preserved in the legends of the saints. One unique and unusual relic that nevertheless attracted a continuous stream of pilgrims was described simply as "something like a drop of blood". It was discovered in three empty cups found on the alter of the church in Wilsnack by local priests in 1383 in the aftermath of a fire that had destroyed part of the building.
The true attraction in relics was two-fold, but the church hierarchy and the people found them attractive for different reasons. The relic collections attracted thousands of pilgrims and thousands of donations. The income from relic collections was indisputably valuable to the local church's operations budget. The people came to view the relics because of the indulgences such pious exercise offered when accompanied by a suitable donation. No one was quite sure how many years of indulgence he or she might personally need, but it was something concrete you could do to allay the anxiety that gnawed at the pit of your stomach. It would obviously be better to have too many than to have not enough. Hence viewing one collection of relics was never quite enough if another was available within your means. The crowds of pilgrims were enormous. One day in 1496, one-hundred-forty-two thousand people were counted passing though the Cathedral at Aachen to view the relics and make their gift.
By 1520 those 18,855 saints relics at Castle Church in Wittenberg were being exhibited seven times a year. To each relic was attached indulgence worth l00 "years" and 100 "quarantines" (approximately 111 "years") per individual, per viewing, per donation. This meant two million, ninety-two thousand, nine hundred and five "years" of indulgence might be acquired by each individual who properly viewed each of the relics. The relics at the Collegiate Church at Halle had thirty-nine million "years" of attached indulgences. Such pilgrimages were a major source of income for the churches and shrines involved, but remember that the papacy levied a tax on every church's income and required that each relic be licensed by the papal curia--for a fee.
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Aside from pilgrimages other actions were also meritorious. Any well-to-do family felt compelled to contribute a sum to adorn some part of some existing church building. Ideally, installing yet another alter where mass could be recited, or a chapel complete with two or three alters for daily masses during their life time and over the resting place of their bones after their death. One result of this proliferation of altars in existing churches across Europe was increasing activity for increasing numbers of churchmen. Wittenberg was still a relatively small town in the early sixteenth century--Luther described it as "on the outskirts of civilization". You could easily walk from one edge of town to the other. Nevertheless, by about 1510 scholars estimate there were at least ten thousand masses celebrated each year. Compared to Wittenberg, Cologne was an urban metropolis. At Cologne in addition to the cathedral there were 11 endowed chantries, 22 monasteries, 19 parish churches, and 100 chapels. Based on recorded reports there were one thousand masses or more celebrated each day, for a total of about four-hundred-thousand masses per year!
The canons of regional synods are often very revealing in the subjects they address. Bishops are encouraged to follow and enforce the canonical rules of dress and decorum among their clergy. Ostentatious clothing and ornament (velvet, silk, furs, and silver) is forbidden. Officials of diocesan courts are specifically warned against both extorting money and blinking at almost any irregularity. Bishops are warned not to put a price on looking the other way especially in cases of clerical concubinage. One complains that clerical concubinage was so prevalent that laymen dared to believe that fornication was no longer a mortal sin. Abbots and monks must live in their monasteries and they must continue to follow the old rules. No one who wants to become a monk is ever to be charged an entrance fee.
It was no wonder that repeated complaints are heard about the exorbitant cost of such religious activities considering the irresponsible and depraved actions of many of the clergy. The church regularly benefited from the "little sins" of its clergy. They regularly "punished" those clergy that visited the prostitutes, cohabited with concubines, seduced virgins, or committed adultery. The tariffs (monetary fines) meant to curtail such trade seems to have produced a steady flow of revenue. Clergymen also paid a "cradle tax" to the church for each of their children. While some clergy acted responsibly in caring for their concubines and children, others abandoned them on the none too tender mercies of society. Lay society understandably resented the church's easy-going attitude with regard to the discipline of both the secular and regular clergy.
Ordained clergy had still another advantage. The Calends Brotherhoods, so named because they met for a social on the Calends (i.e. the first) of each month, were quite numerous. At Cologne the Brotherhood of the Little Ship of Saint Ursula had logged the following treasury of corporate merit: six-thousand masses, more than three-thousand Psalters, two-hundred- thousand Te Deums, two-hundred-thousand rosaries, and six-hundred thirty million "Our Father's" and "Hail Mary's". The brothers had performed these services in their spare time in behalf of their brotherhood and thus developed this fund of excess merit to serve each and every brother individually as they appeared at the judgement bar of God. Many clergy belonged to more than one Brotherhood; a councilor of Frederick the Wise belonged to 35 brotherhoods at once.
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The Devotio Moderna of the Brethren of the Common Life continued to influence many. The impact of their schools has often been noted. Wessel Gansfort (1419-1489) of Groningen was a student in a Brethren school at Zwolle. He went on to get a university education at Paris and taught at Cologne, Heidelberg and Paris. From 1474 until his death he was the guest at several monasteries in the Netherlands. He was the author of Scala meditative, The Stairway of Meditation, which taught a moderate step by step mysticism leading to the vision of God and was used and appreciated among the Brethren. Gansfort rejected the authority of general councils, but also denied legislative and judicial power to the Church or to the Papacy. He emphasized the access of the individual Christian to God. He denied any spiritual value to indulgences.
Another product of the schools was Johannes Pupper of Goch (d. 1475) who was educated by the Brethren School in Paris. I mention him because of his interesting views. No religious truth was to be accepted unless it could be proved from Holy Scripture. Even though he founded an Augustinian canonry he taught that monastic vows are of no special merit.
In considering the importance of the Brethren schools, Erasmus whose contribution in humanities has been discussed elsewhere must be mentioned.
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The Taborites lost their stronghold at Mount Tabor in 1452. In 1553 John Rokyzana was elected by the Bohemian Diet as the Archbishop of Prague without papal ratification. In 1458 George of Podiebrad became king of Bohemia and favored making anti-Catholic adjustments. The restored papacy wanted the Bohemian church restored without admitting the concessions that had been allowed by the Council of Basel. They sent in "agents", John of Capistrano who was a Franciscan Observantine and Fra Giacomo who worked in Bohemia from 1451-1456 to stir up trouble for the Bohemians. Then in 1462 Pope Pius II declared the Compactata void and threatened to excommunicate all priests who gave the cup to the laity. When King George resisted Pope Pius declared him deposed as a relapsed heretic and ordered a crusade organized against him lead by Vladislav, the king of Hungary. King George died in 1471 without surrendering, but the Bohemian Diet eventually in the Peace of Kuttenberg of 1485 recognized Vladislav as King (1471-1516). The Diet further decreed that the Utriquists and the Unists were to co-exist in full equality.
The group known as the Bohemian Brethren was drawn from the disenchanted Utraquists, the defeated Taborites and perhaps some Waldenses. Several groups of these simple people began to break with the Bohemian Utraquists and form a church of their own. The most notable early leader among them was Peter Chelcicky. In 1458, Rokyzana's nephew, Gregory, led a group expelled from Prague by the hostilities of Utraquists to migrate with King George's blessing to his estate at Kunwald in the secluded forests of eastern Bohemia. There they established the Unitas Fratrum, the Unity of Brothers, as a separate community. They observed a strict moral code, and rejected oaths and litigation and the death penalty, military and civil service. They consequently rejected the Old Testament as a source for moral guidance. Since the Utraquists clergy had originally refused to give sacraments to these otherwise minded radicals, they now rejected both Unists and Utraquists clergy. Instead they elected a bishop and priests of their own and had the Austrian Waldenses ordain them. In their simple churches they rejected anything that was not mandated by the New Testament. They held a Synod in 1476 attended by sixty clergy at which they declared themselves a separate church. By 1500 the Unitas Fratrum had between three and four hundred congregations in Bohemia. They had developed their own Confessional statement, and had their own catechism and hymnology.
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