The Church

But why was the Church so powerful?

1. It owned land.

The Church owned many large areas of farmland. People who grew crops on this land had to give one tenth of everything they grew to the Church. This was called the Tithe. This was a lot of crops for many poor people to lose.

2. It controlled people’s beliefs.

The Church told people that when they died, their souls lived on either in Heaven or in Hell.  Hell, they said, was a place of great pain and suffering. The people were understandably frightened of going there. So, the Church gave them hope. It said that after you die your soul goes first to a place called Purgatory, where it would stay until any sins had been burnt away.

3. It was rich.

As you can imagine. People wanted to be in purgatory for the shortest possible time. The Church said that you could shorten your stay in purgatory if you did several things.

These included:

• Attend Church and live a good life • Go on a pilgrimage • Buy a special pardon. These pardons were known as Indulgences.

The Church made a lot of money this way, as people - especially rich people - tried to buy their way to heaven. The Church also made money through the Tithes.

4. It was not controlled by the King.

The Church was Roman Catholic and therefore was lead by the Pope. This meant that the King could not tell anyone from the Church what to do. Even if a churchman committed a crime, they could not be tried by a normal court, but instead were tried by fellow churchmen, who were often very lenient.