The Catholic Church was the only church in Europe in the Middle Ages. It had its own laws and a lot of money.

Bishops were often very wealthy and came from noble families. They sometimes sat on the king's council . Priests , on the other side, came from the lower classes . They looked after the poor and sick people, and sometimes they taught Latin and the Bible to the children of the village .

Monks were called Benedictines because St. Benedict showed them how to live. They had to do work but were not allowed to have any land or leave the monastery . They did everything in silence . Monks went to the monastery church about eight times a day to pray . Between these masses they often read or wrote books on science and religion and sometimes they sang religious songs. They were the most well-educated people of the Middle Ages. Women monks were called nuns . They lived in places called convents .

Pilgrimages were a very important part of life in the Middle Ages. Many people went on journeys to holy places like Canterbury Cathedral in England. Sometimes they had to travel for many months and they often slept in monasteries , where they were safe. They told each other stories on their long trip.


Monte Cassino abbey was the first house of the Benedictines
Image: Monticiano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons


Cathedrals

Cathedrals were important buildings of the Middle Ages. People went to mass and thought they could get a place in heaven when they attended . But cathedrals also had other functions . Crownings were held there. People got married in cathedrals, and funerals also took place there . Some kings and queens were even buried in cathedrals.

The body of a cathedral is the nave . It is the long, central part of the church. The cathedral sometimes had a curved end called the apse . Between the rows of seats there were big passageways to walk - called aisles . One part of a church was built in another direction - to make the form of a cross. This was called the transept .

Cathedrals were mostly made of stone. Building such a big church often took hundreds of years. It was the bishop , who was the religious head of a country. He gave the order to build a cathedral. Medieval churches were at first built in Romanesque style. They had many round arches and thick pillars . Sometimes the churches formed a half-circle. From the 12th century on, cathedrals were built in Gothic style. These churches were very pointed and tall. Some of them had 3 big doors.


Canterbury Cathedral
Image: Rafa Esteve, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons