History · Ch 4 — The Three Orders
The Church and Society
The Church and Society
The Church was the most powerful institution in medieval European society, touching every aspect of daily life from birth to death.
Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (written in Middle English; this is a modern-English translation) opens with pilgrims setting out once spring arrives:
'When in April the sweet showers fall
And pierce the drought of March to the root
And the small birds are making melody
That sleep away the night with open eye…
(So Nature pricks them and their heart engages);
Then people long to go on pilgrimages,
And palmers* long to seek the foreign shrines
Of far-off saints, revered in various lands.
And especially from every shire
Of England, to Canterbury they make their journey.'
— Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400), The Canterbury Tales
*A palmer is a monk who travels to distant shrines. …
It owned vast lands, collected tithes, and wielded immense spiritual authority, while its clergy were the only educated class who preserved learning and administered justice. The Church’s influence extended beyond religion into politics and economics, shaping the very structure of feudal society. Its power rested on the belief that salvation was attainab …