FREE ESSAY ON BRITISH CHURCH IN THE 14TH CENTURY

BRITISH CHURCH IN THE 14TH CENTURY

In the summer of 1381 a large group of peasants led by Wat Tyler stormed London. These
peasants, unwilling to pay another poll tax to pay for an unpopular war against France
and discontent with unfair labor wages, freed prisoners from London prisons, killed
merchants, and razed the home of John of Gaunt, considered the creator of the poll tax.
Perhaps more important, however, was the rebels attack on the Temple, a symbol of the
British Church's wealth and power. The rebels burned the charters, legal records of the
Church's vast land-holdings, stored within the Temple. This act - a religious building
being targeted of in rebellion against a mismanaged, abusive government - shows an
acknowledgement by the peasantry of the British Church's political power. The Church's
involvement in politics, though making it more central in a person's life, also left it
more vulnerable to corruption and subsequent criticism.
The Church in Britain was a medieval "cradle to grave" institution. People were born
Christian, received Baptism shortly after, married under a Christian auspices, and were
given their Christian last rites shortly before they died. This type of existence is
talked of in literature of the time, such as in Langland's Piers the Ploughman. During a
chapter entitled "The Teaching of the Holy Church," Langland asks for the name of a woman
who has quoted "such wise words of Holy Scripture" (Langland, p. 34):
"'I am the Holy Church,' She replied, 'You should recognize me, for I received you when
you were a child and first taught you the Faith. You came to me with godparents, who
pledged you to love and obey me for all your life.'" (Langland, p. 34)
This kind of comment demonstrates the deep central role that the Church played in a
British person's life. 
The Church's importance on a smaller, community level reinforced the Church's centrality
to a person's life. Churches served a multitude of functions to communities, such as time
keeper, boundary marker, and record keeper. People knew where they were in the calendar
year from the announcement of holidays. The border of their parish was established by the
annual tradition of beating the bounds. A record of a parish's members, both alive and
dead, was kept in the Bede Roll. Local churches also served as poor relief and even
served as a marker of social standing, with more prominent individuals having pews closer
to the front of the church. These are a just a few examples of how the Church played a
central role and had a political importance on a more local level. 
Because of this importance, the role of a local pastor was especially important. Many
Church officials were also wealthy landowners, especially bishops, who sat in Parliament
and were among the King's counselors (The Oxford History of Britain, p. 241). In
practice, it made no difference if a local priest was good or bad, they still worked on
authority of the Church. In reality, however, many priests failed in this position of
power. This is demonstrated by various instances in which a local community would riot
against their pastor or steal a priest's chalice until a compromise on a certain issue
was worked out. This failure by religious officials to live up to their not only high
moral, but also political position is mentioned in Langsford's Piers the Ploughman:
"'Many chaplains are chaste, but lack charity. There are no men more greedy, once they
get preferment... they swallow up everything they are given, and cry out for more... And
there are parish priests galore who keep their bodies pure, yet are so burdened with
avarice that they cannot wrench it off.' (Langland, p. 37)
This kind of comment shows that corrupt behavior within the Church was an issue in
medieval Britain.
The Church faced some of the greatest criticism during a tumultuous 14th century. When
the Black Death reached Britain in 1348, the Church had to suddenly explain why its own
people were dying, when the plague was supposed to be killing only heretics, infidels,
and nonbelievers. The Church was hard pressed to find answers, especially when people
began to die quickly, many of whom had not received their last rites and were doomed to
spend millennia in purgatory. Priests, fearing they might catch the highly contagious
pestilence, would not even perform last rites to the dying. The Church, like the rest of
Britain, faced incredible strain during the plague's passing.
The strain only became greater 30 years later, during the Great Schism when two - and
later three - popes claimed legitimacy to the same position and began excommunicating
each other's supporters. The legitimacy of such actions was probably called into question
by many of Britain's people. Excommunication became blunted through overuse (Oxford
History of Britain, p. 180). This blatant political act by the Church demonstrated to the
British people that there was more to the Church's actions than just the saving of
souls.
The actions of rebels during the Peasant's Revolt of 1381 capped off a century of
political problems for the Church in Britain. When the rebels burned the charters held
within the Temple in London, they made an extremely loud comment about the common
person's idea of the Church. This comment was further echoed when the rebel group put on
trail and beheaded the archbishop of Canterbury, a leading religious figure. The rebel
group acknowledged the Church's deep involvement in the secular world. They also
acknowledged that this involvement meant that the Church would sometimes fail to live up
to its high moral standards, occasionally falling to the corrupt political level that
might be expected of nobles but not of a religious institution. 
The Black Death, Great Schism, and Peasant's Revolt all contributed to the heretical
movement of Lollardy. John Wycliffe, the founder of Lollardy, gained much of his support
through his criticism of the Church's wealth and the unworthiness of many in the clergy
(Oxford History of Britain, p. 245). The movement did not die out after Wycliffe's
passing, and this shows a willingness of the British people to accept criticism of the
Church.
The Church was a central part of a British person's life, serving as not only a spiritual
center but, in many cases, also a political center. While this political side of the
Church increased the amount of influence it had on a person's life, it also left it more
open to corruption and criticism. Money and power can lead to corruption, and when
religion is tied into money and power the corruption that occurs can be amplified, since
it often creates hypocrisy. The British people recognized such problems and reacted on
both local and national levels. On the local level they would steal chalices until
priests better served their parish. On the national level they burnt charters and
beheaded an archbishop in response to unpopular government policies. The Church
emphasized a focus on the afterlife, that worldly wealth and sinful actions could play
against a person during their judgment. When members of the Church itself did not
practice what they preached - and given the Church's vast wealth and power, it was a
definite possibility - the people would react even more unfavorably than if such an
action was performed by someone outside of the Church. Again, Langland provides
relevance, when he pleads to "rich men" at the end of a chapter entitled "Piers the
Ploughman's Pardon": 
"So I warn all you rich men who trust in your wealth ... not to be bolder before you
break the Ten Commandments. And especially you men in authority ... no doubt you are
though wise, and possess enough of the world's wealth to buy yourselves pardon and papal
Bulls - but on that dreadful day when the dead shall rise and all men shall come before
Christ to render up their accounts, then the sentence shall state openly how you led your
lives, how well you kept God's laws, and everything you have practiced day by day."
(Langland, p. 97)
The 14th Century put a great strain on British society, especially the Church. In a time
when salvation was needed, the Church failed to provide it, but remained a wealthy
landowner and a strong political player. The people's reaction was heard loudly near the
end of that century and would be heard even louder in the coming religious changes that
loomed ahead.