4.4 Monks and Missionaries

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• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 1

Age 3: the age of Monks and Knights

4.4 Monks and Missionaries

What was last lesson about?

Word Duty

Hermits: people who moved to deserted places to devote their lives to God

Monasteries: buildings used by people who want to devote their lives to God

Monks: inhabitants of a monastery. Their lives consist of working and praying

Precepts: rules and guidelines that tell monks how to live

Abbot: head of a monastery

Willibrord: missionary who spread the Christian Faith in Northwest Europe

To convert: to adopt a new set of beliefs, usually a religion

Heathen/Pagan: person who does not believe in the Christian God

Missionary: someone who spreads the Christian faith

Archbishop: bishop who has the right to set up his own churches

Baptism: ritual used to convert someone to Christianity

KEY WORDS

What is this lesson about?

Imagine someone tells you that your religious beliefs are no good and that it is better to believe something else. Since the end of the seventh century, missionaries worked in our region to convert the heathen peoples to Christianity. They changed symbols and habits of the heathens into Christian ones to make the conversion acceptable.

What is the previous picture about?

The establishment of monastries.

Devoting yourself to god -> Hermits (kluizenaars)

"resisting worldly temptations would bring you closer to God"

• moved away from other people
• ate no more than necessary 
• wore clothing that offered a minimum of protection. 

Starting living in monasteries -> monks.

The abbot was the leader of the monastey.

Monks focused on prayer and work.

They use a set of precepts: rules and guidelines that tell them how they should live.

Saint Catherine’s Monastery (the oldest working Christian monastery in the world) The monastery was built by order of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565)

Glendalough 6th century Irish Monastery

Willibrord

Some monks went out into the world to convert heathens - people who did not believe in the Christian God - to Christianity.

Willibrord became an enthusiastic missionary, someone who wants to spread the Christian faith. In 690 he travelled along with eleven followers to convert the Frisians. 

How the missonaries converted people:

• Convert the lords first
• Use heathen habbits and symbols

Conversion wasn't only religious, by lords it was used for a political struggle. Many lords forced their defeated opponents to be baptized.

A 14th-century French miniature shows the sacrament of baptism

Church network

People didn't give up their religion without a fight.

Churches and monasteries were set up locally.

Schools for priests were set up so they could preach the word of God.

Missionaries often destroyed local holy objects to ‘prove’ that the old gods did not have any power. Willibrord probably destroyed statues of Roman gods in Zeeland, such as this statue of the goddess Nehallenia from the 3th century, for this reason.

Assignment 5.3 Monks and Missionaries

In the next slide you will find a text, but it is filled with gaps. You have to fill in the missing words. Try to do it by heart, but if you need help: use your book p. 107 - 110.

In the 3rd century there were Christians who moved to the desert to devote their lives to God, they were called …………. At a certain point they decided they would help each other resist temptation and started living together in ………… and were then called ………….

They all were urged to listen to the …………. of the monastery.

Monks

Monasteries

Hermits

Abbot

Many monks wished to spread their religion and convert …………. Some monks, like the famous …………, travelled to convince people to become Christians and they were called …………. To convert people to Christianity they had to be …………... 

Baptized

Willibrord

Heathens

Missionaries

The pope gave Willibrord permission to set up churches and was therefore called an …………. Missionaries started with the conversion of the …………. and to make Christianity acceptable they made heathen ………. Christian. To make sure the newly converted people remained Christians missionaries established churches and monasteries. Schools were set up for local people to become …………... and preach the word of God. 

Habits

Lords

Priests

Archbishop

Write down one question about something from this lesson that you find difficult.

Get to work

What:
- Make a summary of §5.2

Help: first your book, then fellow students and then the teacher.

Make a picture / scan of your summary of §5.3
and upload it here.