Renaissance Questions?

Question:

Medieval / Renaissance Questions?

1. Why were the pagan gods still so appealing during the medieval period?
2. Explain the origin of sainthood.
3. In what pagan way(s) were saints used?
4. Prior to the development of hereditary monarchy, who had to approve of each king prior to his coronation?
5. How did the Renaissance challenge the ideas of the Church?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Wow, you've placed a tall order! Permit me to at least try to fill it.

1. Pagan gods had the appeal of the familiar. Christianity was still a bit of a novelty--especially in rural areas. Many of the country folk still held to the old ways of ensuring fertility to their fields and livestock by the use of ancient charms, even after Christianity had become well-established. In fact, these charms were sometimes given a Christian overlay--instead of invoking The Goddess, the charms were addressed to the Virgin Mary or to local female saints.

2. "Saints" were originally all members of the Christian church (see Acts 9:13, 9:32, 9:41; Romans 1:7, 16:15; 1 Corinthians 14:33, and 2 Corinthians 13:13, to cite only a few). As the persecutions of the early Christians increased and continued, off and on, until the fourth century or thereabouts, special honor was shown to the memory of martyrs who had died--sometimes in pretty gruesome ways-- rather than renounce their faith. As the persecutions waned with the establishment of Christianity as the official religion in the Roman Empire, martyrdom became less common, and individuals whose lives had been considered to be exemplary began to be honored as well. Orignially, there was no formal process for this such as there is nowadays in the Roman Catholic Church--basically, if a person lived a life that was a monument to virtue, he or she would often be declared a saint in the locality where he or she had lived--and if miracles were reported to have occurred at the site of the interment, it made it pretty much a done deal.

3. It wasn't just the saints who were used in pagan ways (see above concerning fertility charms)--often pagan holidays were given a Christian explanation and adapted to Christian usages. Christmas replaced the Roman Saturnalia and other winter solstice celebrations, Easter replaced spring festivals, and the feast of All Saints (to honor all who were in heaven, whether or not recognized as saints in the sense of which your second question was addressed) was held the day after the autumn festival of Samhain (our modern Halloween, corrupted from All Hallows Eve), which was a time when, it was believed, the spirits of the dead came back to visit their earthly homes.

4. It made sense for most kings to have the support of the clergy--in some cases this was the Pope, and more often the bishops and archbishops of his territory. The crowning of the monarch took on a religious significance, even though clashes between the secular authority (represented by the king or emperor) and the spiritual authority (represented by the high ranking clergy) were fairly common. The prime example of this conflict is personified in Henry II of England and Thomas Becket, who became Archbishop of Canterbury at the king's behest.

5. The Renaissance saw the rise of Humanism. The ancient philosophers, particulary those of the Greeks, were rediscovered and, with their ideals of how human beings could keep improving and growing, provided a whole new set of ideas that were in contrast to those of the medieval Church.

The Greeks saw humanity as noble and the notion of needing salvation was in about diametric opposition to this idea. The entire spirit of inquiry that the study of these philosophers engendered led to people beginning to question things such as church hierarchy and just how far it had come away from the church as it was in the Apostolic age.

Hope these are of some help to you!