History

During the High Middle Ages , life in Europe dramatically changed . A number of religious and intellectual developments took place during these crucial centuries (pg 237 . In an effort to spread Christianity , many differences emerged between those who accepted the religion and Europe 's non-Christian neighbors . The key components in the lives of European Christians that marked this segregation included preaching , confession , pilgrimages , and private prayer (pg 237 . Of these , one of the most influential ways religion developed and spread outside of the monastic walls was pilgrimage (pg 239 . The religious developments

resulted in what historians have referred to as a persecuting society ' where minority groups such as gays , Muslims and Jews , were widely identified , persecuted , and oppressed . For instance , throughout most of the thirteenth century , the church had cooperated with the kings to restrict the lives of Jews to the point in the late 1280s , when kings began to expel the Jewish people from their kingdoms altogether (pg 250

The Cluniacs , deriving from the Cluny in Burgundy founded in 910 by pious nobleman Cluny , began to not only expand and rebuild cathedral churches , but also lobbied for a complete reform of the entire church (pg 238 . Religious figures at all levels were affected by the reform movement from the monasteries . German emperor Henry III appointed his relative , Pope Leo IX , who in turn enforced his hierarchical vision on those who would allow it . Under this vision , the pope was the spiritual doctrinal , jurisdictional , and legal leader of the entire Christian...