Question

I need 5 facts about The Decline of the Papacy in the late middle ages...Im not understanding it very well can someone explain what it is to me? thanks! :)

Answer 1

Welcome to OpenStudy. If you need five facts... What are you not understanding?

Answer 2

This might help you find some: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_papacy

Answer 3

I just don't understand the whole Decline can someone wayne give me a short understandable summary please?

Answer 4

It's all you @chandowd

Answer 5

Ok thank you @beccaboo333

Answer 6

@ssanchez,

Some people were discontented not just with the papacy but also with the church and its teachings as a whole. Englishman John Wycliffe, a professor at the University of Oxford, taught that popes and clerics did not make up the church. Instead, Wycliffe claimed that the church was the community of all believers. Wycliffe believed that salvation came through study of the Bible, not through the rituals of priests and bishops. According to him, the king, not the pope, should control church reform.

Wycliffe's ideas were extremely popular in England. Some of the peasants in the revolt of 1381 were influenced by him. He had support among the nobles as well, and even many priests adopted his views. Although Wycliffe was not persecuted during his lifetime, his supporters, called Lollards, were condemned as heretics after his death. Many were killed, but others survived, and Lollardy continued into the 16th century.

Some of Wycliffe's ideas also became popular among Czechs in Bohemia. Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and it grew rich during the 14th century. It too was hit by famine and plague, and many Czechs revolted under the pressures of hardship. Their protests were largely religious. Led by religious reformer John Huss, they demanded changes in the church, focusing on the part of the Mass called communion, which involved the ritual consumption of the body and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine. Over the years, priests had come to take communion in both forms, but ordinary believers were only allowed the bread. Huss’s followers, called Hussites, insisted that everyone be allowed to take communion in both bread and wine. This was more than an argument over ritual—it was a demand for equality. Huss was burned at the stake in 1415 and a civil war broke out in Bohemia. Huss’s followers were defeated in 1436, but their demand for communion in both forms was granted.

Source: http://www.lessonsite.com/ArchivePages/HistoryOfTheWorld/Lesson08/DeclineofthePapacy.htm

Hope this has helped!! Feel free to PM me with more questions.

Answer 7

Thank you SOO much!!! :) This helped a lot!

Answer 8

Your welcome! I'm glad I could help! :D