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A:
Feudalism can be traced back to the rule of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, so it was under Christian rule that feudalism prospered, survived and then declined. During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church became perhaps the largest feudal ruler in all Europe. Not only were monasteries great landowners, but there were papal estates and the powerful Papal States.
Arguably, the decline of feudalism owes more to external events such as the Black Death and events leading up to the Renaissance than to the Church itself. In Germany, the Catholic Church was the largest landlord and even reintroduced feudalism after it had largely disappeared.
Feudalism may still exist, in a different form. According to Donald Cozzens, a theologian at John Carroll University, the Catholic Church is the last feudal institution in the Western world, a mediaeval bastion of secrecy and privilege that can not long survive in the modern world. He says that in a feudal system, the loyalty was always to the sovereign or the lord of the manor, not to the people. In the Church, the Pope is sovereign, and it is loyalty to the pope that is demanded.
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Catholic Answer
First of all, there is no "Roman Catholic Church" (other than the Catholic Church that is actually in the city of Rome!) It's just Catholic, not Roman Catholic. Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is never used by the official Catholic Church. Secondly, the demise of feudalism became definite in the 1780's in France, after a series of bad harvests, rioting broke out, and the Estates General abolished all feudal privileges and created a "constitutional monarch"; thus its demise had nothing to do with the Catholic Church. As to the current status of feudalism in the Church, please see the discussion page.
Looking at this era of history (the "Dark Ages" 512 - 1000 A.D.) I'm not sure how much Feudalism itself affected the Church versus the same forces which brought about Feudalism also brought about this nadir in many aspects of the Church. Just roughly, land was all important in feudalism and was the currency with which service was bought and paid for by the local Lord's and the King. Basically all economic resources came back to land, and the Church was also given grants of land, to the point where she was eventually the largest possessor of that most valuable of earthly commodities. Beginning with Charles Martel (ruler of Francia from 718 until 741 A.D. the Frankish rulers started appropriating the Church's lands, until Charlemagne (ruler of the Franks from 768 to 814) instituted an Old Testament tithe in which a plot of land in each parish was to be reserved for the Church's support.
Churchmen had their own land, and their own vassal Knights, which they had to have to provide the needed military service to the King, and they themselves were forbidden to fight (although some priests and bishops occasionally fought in battles).
The upshot of all this was the Church got involved in politics more than spiritual matters, and the papacy declined to its nadir during this period as (with a few notable exceptions) there were a whole string of "bad popes".
On the up side of this coin, even as learning declined to virtually non-existent, the study of Latin flourished in the monasteries, and with the study of Latin, needed for the Liturgy and The Bible, many other ancient works were preserved by the monks.
During this period the vast majority of people were of the serf or feudal class, and the only way out of the rigid feudal model of society was the Church, that and a great faith of the common people resulted in many men and women entering the monasteries, and faith and learning surviving and even flourishing there. This is a gross over-simplification of a long and complicated period. I would suggest you get a hold of a good history that covers this period, one excellent one would be The Building of Christendom, 324-1100: A History of Christendom (vol. 2) by Warren H. Carroll for an in depth study of the period. For a more cursory treatment, try History of the Catholic Church by James Hitchcock, chapter 5 Light in Darkness, or Catholic History by Diane Moczar, chapters 3-6; see links below.
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What is the feudal church and its contribution to the Catholic Church?
Roman Catholic AnswerIf by "feudal Church" you mean the Catholic Church during the time of feudalism, that is sort of an involved topic, I would start with the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Feudalism below:
What was the only unifying force at this time of Feudalism?
The Catholic Church.
How did the Crusades effect the world?
They formed a strong diversion against religions (mainly Muslim and Christian). The crusades influenced power of the Catholic Church, political matters, commerce, feudalism, intellectual development, social effects, material effects, and promoted the famous voyages of discovery.
Who are Eastern Catholics who recognize the pope?
Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church Armenian Catholic Church Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church Chaldean Catholic Church Coptic Catholic Church Patriarchate Ethiopian Catholic Church Byzantine Church of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro Greek Byzantine Catholic Church Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church Italo-Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church Macedonian Catholic Church Maronite Catholic Church Melkite Greek-Catholic Church Romanian Greek-Catholic Church Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church Slovak Byzantine Catholic Church Syriac Catholic Church Patriarchate Syro-Malabar Catholic Church Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church
What were causes and effects that split Christianity?
The split within Christianity in the eleventh century resulted in the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church
What were the short term effects of the catholic reformation?
The short-term effects of the Catholic Reformation included the establishment of the Council of Trent to address church abuses, reforms within the Catholic Church to address corruption and internal issues, and the strengthening of the authority of the papacy. Additionally, the Catholic Reformation led to the founding of new religious orders and increased missionary activity.
Where is the Lutheran Catholic Church located?
There is a Lutheran Church and a Catholic Church but no Lutheran Catholic Church.
Is the Chaldean Catholic Church associated with the Roman Catholic Church?
There is no "Roman" Catholic Church: Roman is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is rarely used by the Catholic Church. The Chaldean Catholic Church is part of the Catholic Church.
Does the American Orthodox Catholic Church worship on Saturdays?
There is an Orthodox Church and a Catholic Church. There is no Catholic Orthodox Church.
Who has authority in a feudalism country?
A monarch and the Christian Church.
Effects of the French Revolution religion wise?
It devestated the Catholic Church which saw all of its property confiscated by the state.
How was the Catholic Church affected by Napoleon's rule of France?
Roman Catholic AnswerThere were a lot of local effects caused by the Church having to deal with Napoleon's government, and the popes at that time were greatly affected, as one of them was imprisoned by Napoleon. But the Church has survived for seventeen centuries before Napoleon, and for several since then, and she will survive to the end of the world. In the long view of things, and the big picture from the Church there were no major effects on the Church as a whole.
