These events represent some of the major developments in 13th-century Christian history, including the ongoing Crusades, the growth of religious orders like the Dominicans and Franciscans, and efforts by the Church to combat heresy through the establishment of the Papal Inquisition.
1209-1229: The Albigensian Crusade
1215: Fourth Lateran Council (Continued)
1216: Foundation of the Dominican Order
1223: Franciscan Rule Approved
1226: Death of Saint Francis of Assisi
1229: The Treaty of Paris
1231: Papal Inquisition Established
1248-1254: Seventh Crusade
1254-1259: Eighth Crusade
1260: The Battle of Ain Jalut
1274: Second Council of Lyon
1274: Death of Thomas Aquinas
1294-1303: The Avignon Papacy (Papal Exile)
We are presently in the high Middle Ages. As a Protestant believer, I absorbed a common attitude among us: How did the church survive the Middle Ages? How could the church sink so low? Why did God allow the papacy to develop as it did? How could both doctrine and practice become so corrupt?
I must now admit that the more I learn of this period, the more I marvel that they did as well as they did. In every generation, some godly men and women followed Christ with a devotion we would look far to find today. The medieval church met almost every barbarian threat across Europe, bringing brutal peoples to some level of Christian understanding and practice.
I dreamt recently that we 20th-century Christians and churches will have far more to answer for than our medieval 'dark age' predecessors at the Great Judgment when the Lord considers the light we each had. -- Ken Curtis
• This century is often called the high point of the Middle Ages, with the papacy reaching its greatest power, scholastic philosophy reaching its zenith, and Gothic Cathedrals towering over the landscape.
• Crusading cause and spirit continues.
• 1204--Europeans, with Vienna taking the lead, capture Constantinople.
• 1212--Children's crusade
• Mendicant orders of friars were established, another effort at church reform. These reemphasize the importance of the sermon.
• 1209--Francis of Assisi establishes Franciscans (canonized 1228).
• 1220--Dominican Friars established as a teaching order, later entrusted by the Pope with the Inquisition. Some became missionaries to Central Asia, Persian Gulf, India, and China.
• Salisbury Cathedral built within one lifetime (1220-1258), a rarity for medieval cathedrals!
• With Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) the papacy was at the height of its powers. Affirmed all churches were under his control. Developed theory of papal power that allowed him to interfere in political affairs of nations. Approved 4th Crusade. Established Dominicans and Franciscans. Instituted Inquisition, joining powers of church and state to punish heretics.
• 1215--Fourth Lateran Council summarized and reinforced medieval doctrines and practices.
• Thomas Aquinas summarizes Scholastic Theology in his Summa Theologica, 1271, writing, intelligo ut credam "I understand, in order that I may believe."
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