Editing Christianity (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Main|Christianity in the Middle Ages}}

==== Early Middle Ages ====
With the decline and [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|fall of the Roman Empire in the West]], the [[papacy]] became a political player, first visible in [[Pope Leo I|Pope Leo]]'s diplomatic dealings with [[Attila the Hun|Huns]] and [[Vandals]].<ref name="Gonzalez-p238" /> The church also entered into a long period of missionary activity and expansion among the various tribes. While [[Arianism|Arianists]] instituted the death penalty for practicing pagans (see the [[Massacre of Verden]], for example), [[Catholicism]] also spread among the [[Hungarians]], the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]],<ref name="Gonzalez-p238">{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=238–242}}</ref> the [[Celts|Celtic]], the [[Baltic peoples|Baltic]] and some [[Slavic peoples]].<ref>{{harvnb|Chadwick|1995|pp=60, 130}}</ref>

Around 500, Christianity was thoroughly integrated into Byzantine and [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Kingdom of Italy]] culture<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |title=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-09-959008-8 |location=London |pages=243, 247 |translator-last=Harari |translator-first=Yuval Noah |author-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-last2=Purcell |translator-first2=John |translator-last3=Watzman |translator-first3=Haim |translator-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-link3=Haim Watzman}}</ref> and [[Benedict of Nursia]] set out [[Rule of Saint Benedict|his Monastic Rule]], establishing a system of regulations for the foundation and running of [[monasteries]].<ref name="Gonzalez-p238" /> [[Monasticism]] became a powerful force throughout Europe,<ref name="Gonzalez-p238" /> and gave rise to many early centers of learning, most famously in [[Ireland]], [[Scotland]], and [[Gaul]], contributing to the [[Carolingian Renaissance]] of the 9th century.

[[File:Krist spred 3.jpg|thumb|[[Christendom]] by AD 600 after its [[Spread of Christianity|spread to Africa and Europe]] from the Middle East]]
In the 7th century, [[Muslim conquest of Syria|Muslims conquered Syria]] (including [[Jerusalem]]), North Africa, and Spain, converting some of the Christian population to [[Islam]], including some of the [[Christianity in pre-Islamic Arabia|Christian populations in pre-Islamic Arabia]], and placing the rest under a separate [[Dhimmi|legal status]]. Part of the Muslims' success was due to the exhaustion of the Byzantine Empire in its decades long conflict with [[Persia]].{{sfn|Mullin|2008|p=88}} Beginning in the 8th century, with the rise of [[Carolingian]] leaders, the Papacy sought greater political support in the [[Frankish Kingdom]].{{sfn|Mullin|2008|pp=93–94}}

The Middle Ages brought about major changes within the church.<ref>''Religions in Global Society''. p. 146, Peter Beyer, 2006</ref><ref>Cambridge University Historical Series, ''An Essay on Western Civilization in Its Economic Aspects'', p. 40: Hebraism, like Hellenism, has been an all-important factor in the development of Western Civilization; Judaism, as the precursor of Christianity, has indirectly had had much to do with shaping the ideals and morality of western nations since the christian era.</ref><ref>Caltron J.H Hayas, ''Christianity and Western Civilization'' (1953), Stanford University Press, p. 2: "That certain distinctive features of our Western civilization—the civilization of western Europe and of America—have been shaped chiefly by Judaeo – Graeco – Christianity, Catholic and Protestant."</ref><ref>Fred Reinhard Dallmayr, ''Dialogue Among Civilizations: Some Exemplary Voices'' (2004), p. 22: Western civilization is also sometimes described as "Christian" or "Judaeo- Christian" civilization.</ref> [[Pope Gregory the Great]] dramatically reformed the [[Ecclesiastical polity|ecclesiastical structure]] and administration.<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=244–47}}</ref> In the early 8th century, [[iconoclasm]] became a divisive issue, when it was sponsored by the [[Byzantium|Byzantine]] emperors. The [[Second Council of Nicaea|Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea]] (787) finally pronounced in favor of icons.<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|p=260}}</ref> In the early 10th century, Western Christian monasticism was further rejuvenated through the leadership of the great Benedictine monastery of [[Cluny Abbey|Cluny]].<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=278–281}}</ref>

==== High and Late Middle Ages ====
[[File:Jesus-Christ-from-Hagia-Sophia.jpg|thumb|upright|An example of Byzantine pictorial art, the [[Deësis]] mosaic at the [[Hagia Sophia#Deësis mosaic|Hagia Sophia]] in [[Constantinople]]]]
[[File:Passages d'outremer Fr5594, fol. 19r, Concile de Clermont.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pope Urban II]] at the [[Council of Clermont]], where he preached the [[First Crusade]]. Illustration by [[Jean Colombe]] from the ''[[Passages d'outremer]]'', {{c.|1490|lk=no}}.]]
In the West, from the 11th century onward, some older cathedral schools [[Medieval university|became universities]] (see, for example, [[University of Oxford]], [[University of Paris]] and [[University of Bologna]]). Previously, higher education had been the domain of Christian [[cathedral school]]s or [[monastic school]]s (''Scholae monasticae''), led by [[monk]]s and [[nun]]s. Evidence of such schools dates back to the 6th century&nbsp;AD.<ref>Riché, Pierre (1978): "Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: From the Sixth through the Eighth Century", Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, {{ISBN|0872493768}}, pp.&nbsp;126–127, 282–298</ref> These new universities expanded the curriculum to include academic programs for clerics, lawyers, civil servants, and physicians.<ref>Rudy, ''The Universities of Europe, 1100–1914'', p. 40</ref> The university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the [[History of Christianity|Medieval Christian]] setting.<ref name=verger1999>{{cite book |last=Verger |first=Jacques |year=1999 |author-link=:fr:Jacques Verger|title=Culture, enseignement et société en Occident aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles |edition=1st |language=fr |publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes in Rennes |isbn=978-2868473448 |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL822497W |access-date=17 June 2014}}</ref><ref>Verger, Jacques. "The Universities and Scholasticism", in The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume V c. 1198–c. 1300. Cambridge University Press, 2007, 257.</ref><ref>Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0521361052}}, pp. xix–xx</ref>

Accompanying the rise of the "new towns" throughout Europe, [[mendicant order]]s were founded, bringing the [[Consecrated life (Catholic Church)|consecrated religious life]] out of the monastery and into the new urban setting. The two principal mendicant movements were the [[Franciscans]]<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=303–307, 310ff., 384–386}}</ref> and the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]],<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=305, 310ff., 316ff}}</ref> founded by [[Francis of Assisi]] and [[Saint Dominic|Dominic]], respectively. Both orders made significant contributions to the development of the great universities of Europe. Another new order was the [[Cistercians]], whose large, isolated monasteries spearheaded the settlement of former wilderness areas. In this period, church building and ecclesiastical architecture reached new heights, culminating in the orders of [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic architecture]] and the building of the great European cathedrals.<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=321–323, 365ff}}</ref>

[[Christian nationalism]] emerged during this era in which Christians felt the desire to recover lands in which Christianity had historically flourished.<ref>{{cite book |title=Parole de l'Orient |volume=30 |year=2005 |publisher=Université Saint-Esprit |page=488}}</ref> From 1095 under the pontificate of [[Urban II]], the [[First Crusade]] was launched.<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=292–300}}</ref> These were a series of military campaigns in the [[Holy Land]] and elsewhere, initiated in response to pleas from the Byzantine Emperor [[Alexios I]] for aid against [[Turkish people|Turkish]] expansion. The Crusades ultimately failed to stifle Islamic aggression and even contributed to Christian enmity with the sacking of [[Constantinople]] during the [[Fourth Crusade]].<ref>Riley-Smith. ''The Oxford History of the Crusades''.</ref>

The Christian Church experienced internal conflict between the 7th and 13th centuries that resulted in a [[East-West Schism|schism]] between the [[Latin Church]] of [[Western Christianity]] branch, the now-Catholic Church, and an [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern]], largely Greek, branch (the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]). The two sides disagreed on a number of administrative, liturgical and doctrinal issues, most prominently [[Eastern Orthodox opposition to papal supremacy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/greatschism.aspx|title = The Great Schism: The Estrangement of Eastern and Western Christendom|publisher=Orthodox Information Centre|access-date = 26 May 2007|archive-date = 29 June 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070629153450/http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/greatschism.aspx|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>Duffy, ''Saints and Sinners'' (1997), p. 91</ref> The [[Second Council of Lyon]] (1274) and the [[Council of Florence]] (1439) attempted to reunite the churches, but in both cases, the Eastern Orthodox refused to implement the decisions, and the two principal churches remain in schism to the present day. However, the Catholic Church has achieved union with various [[Eastern Catholic Churches|smaller eastern churches]].

In the thirteenth century, a new emphasis on Jesus' suffering, exemplified by the Franciscans' preaching, had the consequence of turning worshippers' attention towards Jews, on whom [[Jewish deicide|Christians had placed the blame for Jesus' death]]. Christianity's limited tolerance of Jews was not new—Augustine of Hippo said that Jews should not be allowed to enjoy the citizenship that Christians took for granted—but the growing antipathy towards Jews was a factor that led to [[Edict of Expulsion|the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290]], the first of many such expulsions in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |last=MacCulloch |first=Diarmaid |title=Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years |publisher=Penguin |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7x4m20TRYzQC |isbn=978-1-101-18999-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Telushkin |first=Joseph |title=Jewish Literacy |publisher=HarperCollins |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jewishliteracy00telu/page/192 192–193] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-688-08506-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/jewishliteracy00telu/page/192}}</ref>

Beginning around 1184, following the crusade against [[Cathars|Cathar]] heresy,<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=300, 304–305}}</ref> various institutions, broadly referred to as the [[Inquisition]], were established with the aim of suppressing [[heresy]] and securing religious and doctrinal unity within Christianity through [[religious conversion|conversion]] and prosecution.<ref>{{harvnb|González|1984|pp=310, 383, 385, 391}}</ref>