Medieval Cathedrals

Introduction

The main difference between a cathedral and a large church is the presence of the throne of a bishop. The word cathedral derives from the Latin and originally Greek word cathedra, meaning a chair or throne. In England cathedrals have centered around large groups of Christians and attracted large donations and other riches allowing the buildings to grow in size and splendor.

Many cathedrals are built on earlier sacred sites where saints have been buried. Sadly many of the cathedrals that were founded before 1066 have very little of the early buildings still standing, except in some cases where the crypts (places where the people were buried) have survived.

The cathedrals before the Norman Conquest were probably much smaller in size compared to what we see now. The Normans brought their building skills with them and shortly after the Conquest many of the cathedrals were being rebuilt.

Part 1 – Creating your own Cathedral Floor Plan

Draw your own floor plan of a cathedral. Label the parts with a reference number. Then on the back of your sheet of paper, draw this chart and write a one sentence description of that part and a one sentence description of what that part was used for.

Item Name Description

Chapter House

Nave

Choir

High Altar

Transepts

Dome

Chapels

Parts of the Cathedral This page describes the different parts of a cathedral. All cathedrals are different but generally follow a common design plan. They generally face east to west and are in the shape of a cross. To your right is a plan of a cathedral showing the layout of the main church and cloisters. The numbers highlight areas of interest in the layout and more information about each area is provided below.

The Chapter-house (1) is where the

Dean and Chapter met to discuss the

running of the cathedral. The Chapter-

house is usually built on the east side

of the cloisters (2) and consists of a

large single room commonly octagonal (8 sides) in shape. Some chapter-houses are different and the example at

Hereford has 10 sides while the one at Abbey Dore had twelve sides. The roof of the chapter-house is commonly

supported by a single central column and the ceiling is often elaborately vaulted and decorated.

Many of the cathedrals in Britain are orientated

east to west. The nave is situated in the west

end of the cathedral where people would come

to pray. For that reason, it is the long hall of the

cathedral. (The nave is 5 on the diagram to the

left).

The choir (11) is at the east end of the cathedral.

The clergy traditionally prayed here and an

elaborately carved screen was often built to

separate them from the general public in the

nave. This part of the cathedral is often called

the 'quire' - the 19th century spelling of 'choir'.

St. Paul's in London still uses this spelling.

It is here that the high altar (13) is generally

found. The high altar is the main altar in the

church. It is generally made of a stone or marble

table. It is a raised area so that all of the

worshippers in the church can watch the

ceremonies. Sometimes relics, the remains of a saint, are buried under the high altar. This altar is where the priests

performed the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is a Christian rite commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. On the night before his

death, according to the Christian scriptures, Jesus blessed bread and wine and gave them to his disciples, saying "this is

my body" and "this is my blood." He also commanded his followers to repeat this ceremony in his memory, and the

Eucharist traditionally involves blessing of bread and wine by the clergy and their consumption by worshipers. Although

celebrated spontaneously when the first Christians gathered to share a meal, the Eucharist quickly became a central part

of the formal worship service

The north and south transepts (7, 9) separate the choir from the nave. This means that the layout of cathedrals usually

forms the shape of a cross. Side altars are found in the transepts as well as the tombs of important people. People

could go an pray in the transepts and small ceremonies could be held there as well. However, the main purpose of the

transepts are to separate the commoners from the monks and clergy who would worship in the choir. The central tower

or dome (8) of the cathedral is found at the centre of this 'cross'. These high towers are supported by piers or pillars. At

Salisbury Cathedral, it is possible to see that the piers have been slightly bent out of shape by the weight of the tower.

These domes or towers were a symbol to God as you had to “look up” towards heaven to see the top of the dome. Also,

these towers, given their large heights, were very easily seen from great distances away. Anyone who looked toward a

cathedral and saw the tower or dome was reminded of the constant presence of God.

The tombs of past bishops and famous saints are often found in side chapels (2, 3). In the later Middle Ages, the wealthy

would pay for private chapels to be built where their families could say mass in private.

Part 2 - The Role of the Church in Medieval Times Describe how the Church got so wealthy and powerful in Medieval times. Discuss how the church kept control over the

people and how they gained their money. To do this, summarize all seven of the bold headings below. Describe these

different techniques around the outside of your floor plan. Be thorough in your explanations and use complete

sentences. Draw a small symbol next to each of your discussion items symbolizing that idea. Keep this neat so that it

looks nice.

Church and the town The Medieval Church played a far greater role in Medieval England than the Church does today. In Medieval England, the Church dominated everybody's life. All Medieval people - be they village peasants or towns people - believed that God, Heaven and Hell all existed. From the very earliest of ages, the people were taught that the only way they could get to Heaven was if the Roman Catholic Church let them. Everybody would have been terrified of Hell and the people would have been told of the sheer horrors waiting for them in Hell in the weekly services they attended. Work The control the Church had over the people was total. Peasants worked for free on Church land. This proved difficult for peasants as the time they spent working on Church land, could have been better spent working on their own plots of land producing food for their families. Tithes They paid 10% of what they earned in a year to the Church (this tax was called tithes). Tithes could be paid in either money or in goods produced by the peasant farmers. As peasants had little money, they almost always had to pay in seeds, harvested grain, animals etc. This usually caused a peasant a lot of hardship as seeds, for example, would be needed to feed a family the following year. What the Church got in tithes was kept in huge tithe barns; a lot of the stored grain would have been eaten by rats or poisoned by their urine. A failure to pay tithes, so the peasants were told by the Church, would lead to their souls going to Hell after they had died.

This is one reason why the Church was so wealthy. One of the reasons Henry VIII wanted to reform the Church was get hold of the Catholic Church's money. People were too scared not to pay tithes despite the difficulties it meant for them. Baptisms You also had to pay for baptisms (if you were not baptized you could not go to Heaven when you died), marriages (there were no couples living together in Medieval times as the Church taught that this equaled sin) and burials - you had to be buried on holy land if your soul was to get to heaven. Whichever way you looked, the Church received money. Church wealth The Church also did not have to pay taxes. This saved them a vast sum of money and made it far wealthier than any king of England at this time. The sheer wealth of the Church is best shown in its buildings: cathedrals, churches and monasteries. In Medieval England, peasants lived in cruck houses. These were filthy, usually no more than two rooms, with a wooden frame covered with wattle and daub (a mixture of mud, straw and manure). No cruck houses exist now – most of them simply collapsed after a while as they were so poorly built. However, there are many Medieval churches around. The way they were built and have lasted for centuries, shows us how well they were built and the money the Church had to invest in these building. Pilgrimages Important cities would have cathedrals in them. Pilgrimages were journeys made to places that held special religious significance. Most cathedrals were a places where a saint was buried. Making a pilgrimage was long and often dangerous. Almost everyone traveled on foot and bandits and pirates lay in wait for the unarmed pilgrims. However, people went on these journeys anyways because they felt that prayers made at a saint's tomb were especially powerful. If a loved one fell ill, a relative might promise to make a pilgrimage if the person got better, or someone might go to show that they were sorry for their sins. As pilgrims made their way to cathedrals, they of course made offerings of money and riches to the church and they spent money in the local town on food, shelter and other things that could be bought at the local markets. Wherever money was spent, taxes were owed to the church so a little bit of money always went back to the church. They built their cathedrals larger and larger so that they could be seen from all over the countryside. Cathedrals are large buildings by today’s standards, but back then they were by far the largest buildings and they could be seen for miles. Jobs To work on the building of a cathedral was a great honor. Those who did the skilled work had to belong to a guild. They would have used just the most basic of tools and less than strong scaffolding to do the ceilings. However, if you were killed in an accident while working in a cathedral or a church, you were guaranteed a place in Heaven - or so the workers were told.

Part 3 – the Church as the center of town

On the back of your paper, draw a very stylized image of a cross. Back then the church had a lot of wealth and

the crosses and other items the church had made were decorated with valuable jewels and gold and silver.

They were intricately carved to be extremely beautiful. Use color to enhance the look of the cross.

With this cross serving as the center of the medieval town, write your description of how the church was the center of nearly everyone’s life. Discuss what kinds of things took place at the church and how the church reached out farther into people’s lives to control them. Your description should be thorough, in complete sentences and should cover all of the major ways that they church was at the center of town life.

The Church as the center of town The Roman Catholic Church was the single, largest common thing in medieval Europe. It touched everyone's life, no matter what their rank or class or where they lived. With the exception of a small number of Jews, everyone in Europe was a Christian during the Middle Ages from the richest king down to the lowest serf. From the moment of its baptism a few days after birth, a child entered into a life of service to God and God's Church. As a child grew, it would be taught basic prayers, would go to church every week barring illness, and would learn of its responsibilities to the Church. Every person was required to live by the Church's laws and to pay heavy taxes to support the Church. In return for this, they were shown the way to everlasting life and happiness after lives that were often short and hard. In addition to collecting taxes, the Church also accepted gifts of all kinds from individuals who wanted special favors or wanted to be certain of a place in heaven. These gifts included land, flocks, crops, and even serfs. This allowed the Church to become very powerful, and it often used this power to influence kings to do as it wanted. The Pope The head of the Church was called the Pope. As God's representative on Earth, the Pope had a great amount of power to influence kings and their advisors. If someone went against the Church, the Pope had the power to excommunicate them. This meant that the person could not attend any church services or receive the sacraments and would go straight to hell when they died. At a time when everyone believed in heaven and hell and all belonged to the Church, this was an awful punishment. Under the Pope, were his bishops who ruled the lower classes of priest in the same manner that an earl would rule his vassals.

The Parish Church The parish church was the center of every town. It was generally the largest building in town and had stained glass windows and statues that told stories from the Bible to the villagers who, for the most part, could not read. This building and the religion it stood for were involved in every aspect of the lives of the people. A newborn infant would be baptized here and enter into a union with God. A couple would exchange their wedding vows before God in this church. When a person died,

the final prayers would be said there and the body would be buried in ground that had been consecrated by the Church. If crops failed or someone fell ill, people would come to the church to pray to God for help. Every Sunday, every villager went to church to a service in Latin (which they didn't understand) and a sermon (which they did understand). On Holy Days, when the Church forbade them to work, the people came to give praise to God for the good things in their lives. The parish church was overseen by a parish priest, whose duties were to teach the Christian gospel to his parishioners, and help them to live their lives by God's laws. Monks and Nuns Because religion was so important during the Middle Ages, many people devoted their whole lives to being closer to God and doing the Church's work. Sometimes, parents promised their children to this religious life in order to fulfill a promise to God and to ensure their children were never homeless or without food. These people became monks (if they were men) or nuns (if they were women) and lived apart from the rest of the people in special communities called monasteries and nunneries. Monks and nuns promised to always remain single, to be obedient to their superiors and to live a life of prayer. They ate simple food, dressed in simple clothes (called habits) and spent their days in silence, praying or working. They also attended many church services. There were seven main church services each day, the first at dawn and the last in the middle of the night.