- 1014 Pope Benedict VIII officially added filioque to the Nicene Creed. It means that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He did this to insist on the equality of the deity. But the Eastern Church insists that the Father alone is the origin of both the Son and the Spirit. They are offended that the West altered the Creed without an ecumenical council
- 1033 b. Anselm, father of scholasticism. He proposed the ontological argument for the existence of God. He argued for the necessity of the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ
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Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works
By Oxford University Press
Known as the author of the "ontological" argument for the existence of God and for his "substitutionary" theory of the atonement, Anselm was one of the most powerful medieval thinkers. Included are Monologion, Proslogion, Why God Became Man, On the Virgin Conception, and Original Sin, plus 13 others. 480 pages, softcover.
For More, see: Major Works of Anselm and Anselm Studies
The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
By C.S. Lewis / Cambridge University Press
The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, providing the historical and cultural background to the literature of the middle ages and renaissance. It describes the 'image' discarded by later years as 'the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organisation of their theology, science, and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe'. This, Lewis' last book, has been hailed as 'the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind'.
- 1054 Pope Leo IX's delegate, Cardinal Humbert, laid a sentence of anathema on the alter of St. Sophia, the most prestigous Eastern Orthodox church. The two churches are permanently separated
- 1073 Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Emporor Henry IV. The high point of papal supremacy
- 1079 b. Peter Abelard, the Refiner of Scholasticism. He came to some heretical conclusions. For example, he believed that the death of Christ was just a moral example for us to follow. His autobiography is called A History of Calamities, in part because he was emasculated for having an affair with his young neice
- 1079 Under the Seljuk Turks, the Muslims are more determined than previously to keep the Christians from making pilgrimages to the Holy Land
- 1093 b. Bernard of Clairvaux, the most influential person of his day. He helped reform the monastaries. He was a great preacher, in spite of his allegorical exegesis. And he was Augustinian in his doctrines of grace, which later gave Calvin and the other reformers an anchor in the High Middle Ages
- 1096-1099 The First Crusade fought for lofty ideals. The pope wanted to save Constantinople, save the Byzantine Empire, and thus heal the breech between the Eastern and Western Church. They were able to temporarily regain the Holy Land
- 1100 b. Peter Lombard, scholastic author of Four Books on the Sentences, the standard theological text for 200 years. It influenced Calvin's Institutes
- 1109 d. Anselm
- 1140 b. Peter Waldo in Lyons, France. He is the founder of an old, old protestant church (300 years before Luther). The Waldensian church still exists in some parts of the world today, but in most countries it merged with the Methodists and Presbyterians. Waldensians stress the authority of scripture and lay preaching. They also come to reject salvation by sacraments
- 1143 d. Peter Abelard
- 1147-1148 The Second Crusade. Bernard of Clairvaux was the chief motivator of this crusade, but somehow his reputation survives it. It was a disastrous failure. The failure was blamed by the Westerners on the lack of committment of the Eastern Church. The wedge is driven deeper
- 1153 d. Bernard of Clairvaux
- 1174 Peter Waldo converted
- 1179 Two of Waldo's followers (called Waldensians) are laughed out of the Third Lateran Council after being tricked into saying that Mary was the mother of Christ. They didn't know they were agreeing with Nestorius
- 1181/82 b. Francis of Assisi
- 1184 Waldensians are declared heretical
- 1187 Muslims retake Jerusalem
- 1189-1192 The Third Crusade is an ineffective attempt to recover Jerusalem
- 1200-1204 The Fourth Crusade. The Crusaders finished this crusade by looting Constantinople, the seat of the Eastern Orthodox church. So much for the lofty ideals of the First Crusade
- 1209 Innocent III proclaims a "crusade", a papal inquisition, against the Waldensians
- 1212 The Children's Crusade. The children felt they could take the Holy Land supernaturally because they were pure in heart. Most of them were drowned, murdered, or sold into slavery
- 1215 Fourth Lateran Council requires annual communion for salvation. Also condemns the Waldensians. They are persecuted for the next 600 years. They sought refuge in the Alps, and thus were not directly involved in the Reformation of Luther until later
- 1216 Papal approval for the Dominicans, the Order of Preachers. Their purpose was to oppose heresy with piety, learning and zeal
- 1219-1221 The Fifth Crusade. The crusaders temporarily held Damietta in Egypt. Francis of Assisi went with the crusaders. But where they stopped, Francis kept going. He went unarmed into the presence of the sultan and preached to him
- 1224 St. Francis's Stigmata, a mystical experience of the wounds of Christ
- 1224/25 b. Thomas Aquinus, the chief teacher of the Catholic Church. Author of Summa Contra Gentiles, an apologetic handbook for Dominican missionaries to Jews, Muslims, and heretics in Spain, and Summa Theologica, the theological textbook that supplanted Lombard's Sentences as the chief theological work of the Middle Ages
- 1225 Francis writes "The Canticle of the Sun", which we know as "All Creatures of Our God and King"
- 1226 d. Francis
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Francis of Assisi: The Early Documents, 3 Volumes
By R. Armstrong, J.W. Hellmann & W. Short, eds. / Faithworks / Stl
Complete! "The texts come from the first 150 years of the Franciscan tradition and help us understand both Francis and his movement. There is a wonderful variety among the writings; the chronological arrangement reveals the development of Francis' thought. Recommended,"---Library Journal. 2368 pages total, three softcovers.
For More, see: Major Works of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Francis of Assisi Studies
Selected Writings: Thomas Aquinas
By Translated by Ralph McInerny / Penguin Putnam Inc.
Although a controversial figure in his own day, St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74) forged a unique synthesis of faith and reason, of ancient philosophy and sacred scripture, which decisively influenced Dante and the whole subsequent Catholic tradition.
Intensely interested in Aristotle, as well as Plato, Paul, and Augustine, Thomas believed that unaided human thought can take us a long way towards wisdom and truth, although it must always be supplemented by the central mystery of revelation. His writings contain many classic statements of doctrine about angels, the Incarnation, Trinity, sacraments and the soul and also penetrating discussions on choice, creation and conscience, law, logic and the purpose of life.
In this superb selection, arranged chronologically, Ralph McInerny brings together sermons, commentaries, responses to criticism and substantial extracts from one of Christianity's supreme masterpieces, the Summa theologiae. For anyone concerned to find ways of reconciling science and dogma, reason and religion, Thomas has always been a major source of inspiration. This volumes reveals both the development and the sheer scope of his work.
For More, see: Major Works of Aquinas and Aquinas Studies
- 1229 The Sixth Crusade. Frederick II temporarily gained Jerusalem by making a treaty with the sultan
- 1232 b. Raymund Lull, first missionary to the Muslims
- 1248 The Seventh Crusade. St. Louis IX of France is defeated in Egypt. This was the last crusade. The final result of the crusades is that the western Christians drove a wedge between the Church and the Jews, between the Church and the Muslims, and between the Western and Eastern Church.
For further study
Download these lectures from Covenant Theological Seminary's Ancient and Medieval Church History by Dr. David Calhoun:
