Religion

Overview
Medieval England was overwhelmingly Christian - specifically Catholic Christianity - a faith which effectively dominated every aspect of daily life. What you ate would be determined by the church's calendar of saints' feasts and other holy days of obligation. Peoples' lives revolved around the seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Confession, Extreme Unction (last rites), Holy Orders and Matrimony. It was also an age of intense superstition in which the Church was seen as a bulwark against demons, revenants and other evil supernatural entities.

The clergy constituted a vast proportion of society - not just parish priests, but bishops, abbots, priors, monks and nuns, as well as the veritable armies of lay-brothers who supported the monsteries economically. Their duties extended well beyond the religious; as one of the few sections of society guaranteed to be literate, priests often functioned as tutors, translators, secretaries to the nobility, and often as lawyers to their parishioners, helping to write down and execute wills.

The idea that the medieval church was opposed to science is incorrect - largely an invention of later writers who wanted to portray the middle ages as a period of ignorance. During this period clergymen were often deeply active in science.

The church wielded a tremendous amount of secular power in this period. The Pope in Rome was generally seen as the ultimate arbiter between the great powers in Europe, and across Christendom Bishops and Abbots routinely enjoyed the same status, power and prestige as secular noblemen, ruling over vast estates or - in some cases - ruled countries in their own right. The church had it's own courts - often a point of controversy between Kings and clergy due to the perception that they were more lenient when trying clergy; in fact this leniency was a common trait in most trials, and people would often try to get their cases heard in a church court to avoid the harsh penalties of the secular judges.

It should be understood that Catholicism was not only the dominant religion in England - it was virtually the *only* religion full stop. A combination of secular power, popular devotion and highly successful missionary efforts during the Dark Ages gave Catholicism a virtual monopoly on the religious life of England; heretical Christian sects were pursued ruthlessly and the only religious minority of note in the country during this period was Judaism, the fortunes of which varied wildly depending on the temperament of whoever sat on the throne.