Western Civilization I / Unit 11 WC1 1028 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Monastic Wealth and Clerical Corruption
Captions available
The idea
Monasteries farmed, brewed and copied profitably, and bequests gave them the anchor's twenty percent of arable land. The upper Church came from the nobility, parish priests from the peasantry; concubines, pluralism and purchased office were open, and hell-paintings showed clergy. Yet without the sacraments, damnation.
In practice
No alternative, so corruption changed nothing.
Where people slip
Simony is the witness's word for purchased office.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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