The Quest for God

By William Switala

The Quest for God is a study of the explosion of interest in newer approaches to spirituality that took place in the west among Christians, Jew, and Muslims in the twelfth century. The book explores the historic internal and external forces that influenced members of the three major faith groups who were looking for new ways to approach their personal relationship with God. It contains a detailed explanation of the new attitudes and religious practices that emerged among the three groups during that century. This includes special emphasis placed on the mysticism of Christian monks and nuns, the Kabbalah of the Jews, and the tenets of Sufism in Islam. It also paints a clear picture of the role played by the leading figures, both male and female, who pioneered this effort. A unique feature of the book is the linkage of similar imagery, biblical references, mystical attitudes, and actual religious practices utilized by all three faith systems to achieve a newer more mystical approach to spirituality. The fundamental development of spiritual approaches initiated by these three faiths laid the foundation for many of the spiritual practices we have today. Each of the three faiths is covered in a separate section. Preceding the discussion of the spiritual elements of each is a chapter dealing with the historical setting in which that faith operated. A final chapter summarizes the entire work and shows the common characteristics that each group had and links them together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781662402715

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Political and Economic Setting

Every political, economic, philosophical, and religious movement is grounded in the historical setting in which it is found. The numerous forces of a time period have a direct and dynamic impact on the development of new ideas and trends. In most cases, a new movement advances as the result of tensions created by the dissatisfaction with old beliefs and institutions. This phenomenon also had an effect on the religious climate of the twelfth century in Western Europe. The political and economic climate at the onset of that century had a profound influence on the religious state of the Christian Church. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the chaos of the barbarian invasions had subsided, due largely to the impact of the Carolingian monarchs of the ninth century. In the eleventh century, a series of changes began to emerge that would have a deep effect on the political and economic climate in Europe and on the Church. These changes would directly pose problems for the guidance the Church normally provided to its members. They would also usher in new approaches to spirituality that would be of a much deeper and more effective nature. In order to better understand the dynamics of these influences, it is necessary to examine the three major political and economic forces that emerged in the late 1000s and early 1100s. These changes included the development of feudalism, the rise of towns and cities, and the beginning of the rise of national monarchs.

Feudalism

At the beginning of the tenth century, when the attempts to establish a unified system of government in Europe by the Carolingian monarchs had failed, an effort took place to develop some type of political and economic structure that would establish the protection, justice, and mutually beneficial economic arrangements needed to insure peace and stability throughout the land. The structure that emerged became known as feudalism. At the heart of this system was the development of private agreements or contracts, in which one individual became dependent on another for physical protection, in exchange for some political and economic benefit. This practice had its roots in the old Roman patronage system and in the earlier Germanic practice of comitatus. The actual first efforts at this new system occurred in the latter parts of the 800s and the beginning of the 900s. It was a way for the king, or emperor, to bind his nobles to himself. This was a critical step toward achieving some semblance of unity and order after the old Empire had fragmented into hundreds of smaller private states.¹

The official ceremony establishing the feudal relationship between two individuals consisted of three steps:

An individual seeking to commit himself to a superior knelt before him and placed his hands between that of the other. He then declared that he wanted to become the other’s man. This was known as the act of homage. The person doing the pledging was then acknowledged as a vassal and the person accepting the pledge became his lord.

The next step involved the vassal swearing an oath of fealty which bound him in a religious sense to fulfill all of the obligations he had pledged.

The lord concluded the ceremony by giving the new vassal a portion of land known as a fief.

This process allowed the king to solidify his control over his kingdom by binding all of his nobles to him. In this feudal arrangement the king, or lord, promised to protect the vassal and see to it that he received justice in his dealings. He also saw to the economic well-being of his vassals by insuring the safe passage of commodities and the construction of roads and bridges in the land. For his part the vassal pledged fidelity and military, economic and political support, whenever the lord needed them.² The vassal could also establish a lord/vassal relationship with the minor nobility on his newly acquired fiefdom using the same process described above.

During the ninth century, feudalism began to impact the Church. The king began to form a lord/vassal arrangement with the bishops and abbots in his realm. In this manner, bishops and abbots acquired large grants of land in exchange for pledging loyalty to the lay lord. This resulted in the lay lords having a high degree of control over and interference in the elections of bishops and abbots in their lands. This system resulted in the appointment of upper-level clergy who became more interested in governing their own vassals, fighting wars, and having a hand in politics, rather than seeing to the spiritual needs of their flocks. Because of this misplaced concentration, the lower clergy lacked needed supervision, resulting in their becoming less educated and morally corrupt.³

The Rise of Towns and Cities

A major contributor to the rise of towns and cities in the ninth and tenth centuries was the economic arrangement known as the manorial system. A nobleman resided on a large estate called a manor. As lord of the manor his wealth hinged directly on the amount of land he possessed and its agricultural products. Since neither he, nor his soldiers, directly tilled the land, he had to utilize another work force to do this. This group consisted of the peasants, called serfs, who lived on his land. The economic system that emerged provided for the optimal use of the land on the manor. It hinged on dividing the land into three portions:

Approximately a third of the land was tilled in order to grow crops directly for the lord.

Another third of less arable land was held in common usage between the lord and his serfs. This portion consisted largely of pastures and woods.

The final third was reserved for the serfs to grow corps for themselves. Part of their produce went back to the lord as a type of tax.

The lord’s house resided at the center of the manor and nearby was a village where the serfs lived. In addition to the homes of the serfs, the village also contained a church, grinding mill, granaries, a bakery, and blacksmith and carpenter shops.⁴

A major economic shift began to take place in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The Crusades, which began in the eleventh century, were designed to free the Holy Land from Muslim control and had an impact on the manorial system and the rise of the towns and cities. As the Crusaders returned, they brought back items and spices largely new to the people in Europe. People readily sought these items and this gave rise to a thriving market for them. The end result was the creation of a growing system of international trade between the West and the Middle East. At the heart of this arrangement lay the need for items that could be used for trade purposes. In addition to those actually undertaking trade expeditions, there grew a need for craftsmen and artisans who could produce these commodities. Since they were concentrating on manufacturing trade goods, this group needed others to produce food and various necessities of life for them. The traditional practice of bartering for goods began to give way to a money-based economy. Money began to replace land as the basis for wealth. The new craftsmen and artisans settled in villages that grew into towns. Here they built their workshops and homes. Merchants in the towns facilitated the trading of what they produced. All of this cash-based activity led to the creation of the middle class. As the towns increased in size, they eventually became cities, especially in England, France, and Spain. In order to secure legal status and protection, towns sought charters from the king, or lord of the area. Sometimes the lord would be a bishop or abbot of a monastery. The charter granted the town a degree of freedom and, in many cases, gave the it a right to organize its own system of government.⁵

The Rise of the National Monarchies

Twelfth century began with a number of lands in Western Europe striving to achieve a national identity. By the end of the century, France and England had accomplished a large part of this goal, while Spain, Italy, and Germany had a greater distance to travel. In each of these cases, the Church played a role which impacted the religious climate of the period.

France

The last of the great Carolingian dynasty ended in 987. In that year, the nobles and Church leaders in France elected Hugh Capet as their king. This established the Capetian dynasty that was to figure so prominently later in the twelfth century. During the reign of the Capetians, feudalism was firmly established in France.

Louis VI (1108­­­­­­­–37) was the first of the Capetians to expand royal power and carve out a sense of French national identity. At the onset of his reign, the royal holdings only consisted of the Ile de France, a small territory in the heart of what was to become the city of Paris. His first actions were to settle the petty squabbles among his nobles and to establish group of loyal servants, some of whom were not nobles, to assist him in running the country. A master politician, Louis made his presence felt throughout France by settling the differences among his nobles, defending some vassals against others, and employing many of the techniques later recommended by Niccolo Machiavelli in his work, The Prince. One of his greatest accomplishments was to marry his son Louis to Eleanor of Aquitaine. This set the stage for the Capetians to annex the land of Aquitaine to their own territory.⁶

At the death of Louis VI, Louis VII (1137–80) succeeded to the throne but could not compare to his father in either ability or political astuteness. Unlike his father, Louis VII failed in the management of his vassals. He also made the mistake of going on the ill-fated Second Crusade which turned into a general disaster. When Eleanor could not bear him an heir, he dissolved his marriage to her. She then proceeded to marry Henry of Anjou in 1152. As a dowry, she gave Henry the province of Aquitaine. He also held the provinces of Anjou, Normandy, and Brittany. The struggle between the Capetians and the Angevins became a major theme in the history of France. In 1154, Henry also became King Henry II of England. This gave him a kingdom consisting of England and all of western France.⁷

Philip II (1180–1232) succeeded Louis VII. A strong king, Philip seized the best lands in the Anjou province and after the death of Henry II in 1189, he waged constant warfare against Henry’s sons, Richard I and John. Ironically, based on the complex relationship in feudalism, they were technically his vassals. Finally, in 1214 at the Battle of Bovines, he defeated John and his ally, Otto of Germany. This enabled him to annex all the major lands held by the King of England north of the Loire River. This gave France much of its national territory for years to come.⁸

The struggle for national identity in France in the twelfth century created an atmosphere of almost constant warfare. This resulted in a climate of uncertainty, destruction, and bloodshed that tried the religious beliefs of many.

England

The history of England in the twelfth century is closely connected to a series of dynamic English leaders. To gain a better understanding of English history in the twelfth century, one must go back to the previous century to review the actions of William I (1066–87), who gave the impetus for the creation of the modern nation of England. Called the Conqueror, William was of Viking descent and also the Duke of the Province of Normandy in France. In 1066, after the death of the English king, Edward the Confessor, William crossed the English Channel with an army. William claimed that Edward had made him his heir. At the Battle of Hastings, he defeated Harold the Saxon, who also had claimed the throne of England. One of the first promises he made to his new subjects was to reform of the Church in England. His first step in this endeavor was to appoint a Norman bishop, Lanfranc, as the new Bishop of Canterbury, the most prestigious position in the Church in England. Bishop Lanfranc then proceeded to enact a series of reforms in the English Church.⁹

Four kings governed England in the twelfth century, and each ruled with a fair degree of ability. William II (1087–1100) succeeded William I and demonstrated a tough, almost ruthless hand, bringing most of his vassals under control. Henry I (1100–35) governed in a quiet, thoughtful, and more careful manner and operated a government that was most efficient. Henry II (1154–89), the Frenchman from Anjou, exhibited a high degree of energetic genius and is considered to have been the greatest of the Twelfth Century English kings. The final king, Richard I, the Lionhearted, (1189–99) was more famous for his exploits in the Third Crusade than in the effectiveness as a ruler at home.¹⁰

As each English monarch gained more authority, the feudal nobles and Church leaders increased their hostility toward them. While the monarchs easily put down minor rebellions by the nobility, the Church was a much stronger opponent. At the heart of the controversy was the assertion by the kings that they had the right to appoint high Church officials, as William I had done with the Archbishop of Canterbury. This disagreement pitted William II against St. Anselm, the new Archbishop of Canterbury. The papacy supported Anselm in this controversy, as did the English clergy. The dispute was finally resolved by the Compromise of Bec in 1106. This agreement permitted the Church to elect its own officials and gave the king the right to invest them with their land holdings, thus making them his vassals. This solution was agreeable to both sides for the time being.

The relationship between the monarchy and the Church broke down more seriously during the reign of Henry II. He had one of his most trusted friends, Thomas Becket, appointed as the Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket then became an ardent champion of the Church and its prerogatives. When Henry tried to force clergymen to be tried in royal courts for crimes they committed, Becket maintained the position that they could only be tried by the Church. Henry, while in a rage, made an offhand comment that he would like to see Becket dead. Some of his nobles interpreted this as fatal order and proceeded to the cathedral where they murdered Becket at the altar. This act forced Henry to grant a greater degree of independence to the Church as an act of atonement for the deed.¹¹ In spite of these problems, the Church in England, as did the Church in France, supported a strong monarchy as a way of bringing peace and ensuring stability in their nations.¹²

Spain

During the seventh and eighth centuries, Muslim armies had swept across North Africa and crossed over the Straits of Gibraltar into Spain and conquered everything in their path. They pushed northward through Spain and into what would become southern France. They advanced as far as the town of Poitiers. At the Battle of Tours in 732, the Carolingian king, Charles Martel, finally stopped their leader Abd al-Rahman and his army. The Christian forces gradually pushed the Muslims back across the Pyrenees Mountains. The Mountains then became a stronghold for Christians.¹³

The Christian rulers in the north began to advance southward after the year 1000, taking advantage of the political instability the Muslims were experiencing in southern Spain. This advance by the Christians became known as the Reconquista, or reconquering campaign. By the end of the twelfth century, the Christians had regained control of almost two-thirds of Spain. They had driven the Muslims back to a territory around the city of Granada.¹⁴

Six Christian kingdoms emerged near the beginning of the twelfth century in Spain: Portugal, Leon, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Cataluña. Each had its own monarch and system of vassals. During the remainder of the century, a process started in which the six began to merge. It took until the 1400s for a unified nation that we now know as Spain to finally appear.¹⁵

During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as was the case throughout Western Europe, an economic shift began to occur in Spain, which moved it from a purely agricultural-based economy to a trading-manufacturing one. This led to a population shift that resulted in the rise of the cities of Toledo, Cuenca, Córdoba, Seville, and Murcia.¹⁶

A unique political innovation took place in Spain during the twelfth century. Due to the overwhelming responsibilities of running a complex government, the king of Castile and Leon devised a political vehicle called the Palatium, or Cortes, to assist him in running the country.

This political body consisted of representatives from the nobility, the clergy and the various towns.¹⁷ The group became the forerunner of legislative bodies that appeared later in European history, especially in the French Estates General system of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Germany and Italy

Germany and parts of Italy constituted the last makeup of the Holy Roman Empire established by Charlemagne in the ninth century. During the late eleventh and throughout the twelfth centuries, a series of events took place there that prevented Germany and Italy from forming national states, until the nineteenth century.

When the German king Henry III died prematurely in 1056, his son Henry IV became the king. Due to the fact that he was a minor, he did not reach the appropriate age to rule until 1065. During the interval between the death of Henry III and the seating of Henry IV as ruler, the German nobles, led by the Saxon faction of the country, rebelled against the monarchy. What followed was nine years of turmoil and bloodshed in Germany. Henry IV attempted to stem the revolt and, by 1075, was victorious.¹⁸

Henry IV was on the verge of unifying his country, much like what was happening in France and England at this time, when another problem arose. He received notification from Pope Gregory VII informing him that he had to cease taking part in the investiture of Church officials. Henry replied that the Pope had overstepped his authority by challenging the Emperor in this matter and threatened to remove Gregory as Pope. This did not intimidate the Pope because he had new powerful allies in the Norman rulers now in control of Southern Italy and Sicily.¹⁹

The Pope increased the pressure on Henry by excommunicating him. This meant that the bishops, clergy, and lay people in Germany no longer needed to follow his leadership. In essence, this deprived him of his royal powers. The Pope then urged the people to elect a new king and freed them from their feudal vows to the king. In 1077, Henry IV appeared before the Pope’s residence in Canossa, Italy, as a penitent in the middle of winter. The Pope absolved him, and Henry returned to Germany. His penitent spirit did not last long, and in 1085, Henry invaded Italy and forced the Pope into exile. Henry had another Pope elected and had himself crowned as Emperor.²⁰

Henry V succeeded to the throne in 1106. He continued the war against the Pope and his allies in Germany. Although the Germans had acted in such a hostile manner toward the Church, a new group of cardinals now exercised their influence in Rome and coupled with a more compromising Pope, Callixtus II, the Church reached a settlement with Henry V. The result was the Concordant of Worms, signed in 1122, and named after the town in which it was reached. In it the king agreed to abandon his claims of lay investiture of Church officials.

For its part, the Church agreed that after selecting its own officials, they would then swear allegiance to the king as his vassals.²¹

A new dynasty of kings, the Hohenstaufens, dominated German history during the second half of the twelfth century. The first of this line, Frederick I, known as Barbarossa because of his red beard, ascended to the throne in 1152. His reign would last until 1190. He put an end to the constant warfare among his nobles. He accomplished this by increasing the power of the major nobles, who then subdued the lesser ones. Frederick also developed a group of non-feudal civil servants to administer his lands and royal rights. Complicating matters with the Church, he demanded the right to control the election of Church officials in his lands. Frederick also extended his influence into Italian politics. In 1155, he had himself crowned by the Pope as Holy Roman Emperor. This gave him legitimate claim over northern Italy. To formalize this, he met with Italian representatives in the town of Roncaglia in 1158. At the meeting he informed them that they now had to pay him taxes, accept his appointments to imperial positions, and recognize his right to coin money and regulate commerce in Italy.²²

Alexander III (1159–1181) became Pope in 1159. He acted in the model of the great Church reformer, Gregory VII, and immediately began to renew the Church’s attack on the problem of lay investiture. In response to this Frederick had a rival Pope elected, but the rest of Europe recognized Alexander as the legitimate Pope. In addition, the towns in northern Italy formed a mutually protective alliance called the Lombard League to oppose Frederick. The Norman kingdom in Italy joined them. Frederick suffered a military defeat against this force in 1176. The following year, Frederick finally recognized Alexander III as the true Pope. By signing the Peace of Constance agreement in 1183, he also reached a settlement with the towns in northern Italy. Frederick died in 1190, while on his way to fight in the Third Crusade.²³

Frederick’s son, Henry VI (1190–97), succeeded him. He was the most ambitious of the twelfth century German rulers. During his short reign, he tried to put further curbs on the German nobles, secure Sicily, exercise control over the entire Mediterranean Area, lead a German Crusade to seize the Holy Land, and make vassals of the kings of France and the several kings of the Christian lands in Spain.²⁴

Neither Germany nor Italy managed to form unified kingdoms in the Twelfth Century. In Germany the problem rested in the political reality that the king had limited powers. The princes chose the king, and he did not have many resources outside his own land holdings. The feudal system in Germany did not give the king quite the same control over his vassals as did the systems in France, England, and Spain.²⁵ Italy faced even greater fragmentation because the German Emperor dominated its northern areas, the Pope exerted his influence over its central region, and the Normans, Frenchmen who had conquered Sicily and southern Italy, ruled that portion of the country. This fragmentation would worsen over the next three centuries. The position of the Church would face many hardships in both Germany and Italy because of political conditions in both states.

Summary

The political and economic conditions in Europe had a direct impact on the Church in the twelfth century. Feudalism-bound Church officials like bishops and abbots to lay lords. The desire and obligation to please the lord and to acquire more wealth, instead of seeing to the spiritual well-being of their flocks, soon became the primary goal of many Church figures.

The rise of towns and cities presented another problem for the Church. With a concentration of the population in the narrow confines of the towns, it had to find new approaches to meeting the spiritual needs of the people. The older model of people going to monasteries for spiritual guidance did not work as well in this new setting. The Church now had to find ways of to bringing guidance to the laity in the towns. The increase of people living in towns required the building of new houses of worship. Eventually, this led to the construction of the great cathedrals. Rich members of the middle class now became potential patrons of Church-related projects. Because of this shift, the complete dependence on the nobility lessened.

The rise of the national monarchies also posed a serious dilemma for the Church. The royal interference in Church matters, all the way to the Papacy, created a huge problem. The lay meddling in religious matters weakened the moral stature of the hierarchy. Once again, earthly affairs were eclipsing heavenly ones.

All these factors produced a spiritual tension in the twelfth century. A critical mass of difficulties arose and new alternatives needed to be found that would address the spiritual needs of the people. These alternatives would proceed to take on a multifaceted approach.

Chapter 2

Problems Facing the Church

The twelfth century opened with the Church facing a number of increasingly serious problems in Europe. Not only did these problems effect the administration of the Church, but they also helped to create a corrosive atmosphere undermining the spiritual development of both the clergy and the laity. Most Church histories cite the lay investiture crisis and simony as the prime dilemmas for the Church in the twelfth century, but there were a number of others