In fact, unmarried sons and daughters of noblemen were able to secure powerful and lucrative positions in the church as abbots (heads of monasteries) and abbesses (heads of convents). Many monks and nuns came from noble families. The regular clergy also included monks (men who live in religious houses called monasteries) and nuns (women who live in religious houses called convents or nunneries). Prelates were well educated and had luxurious palaces (large homes), whereas parish priests tended to have minimal education and lived in near poverty. There was a wide gulf between high prelates and parish priests in terms of wealth and level of education. All of these clergymen occupied a considerably lower position than the secular clergy, both within the church and in society. Regular clergymen were urban priests (heads of local churches in cities), cathedral canons (heads of cathedrals, or large main churches, in cities), and parish priests (heads of town and village churches). Moreover, they formed the learned elite of late medieval society, until Renaissance education created a new class of scholars from the secular world.īelow the secular clergy were the regular clergy. Prelates enjoyed income from land estates, loans, taxes on clergy, and the wealth of their families of birth. These conflicts reached a crisis during the Renaissance and Reformation. During the Middle Ages the secular clergy wielded extensive power, constantly coming into conflict with kings and emperors over the question of the proper authority of the church. Most prelates came from the ranks of the nobility, although some were from wealthy commoner families and a few had lower social origins. Prelates were the pope (supreme head of the Roman Catholic Church), cardinals (officials ranking directly below the pope), and bishops (heads of church districts). The secular clergy were high officials called prelates. These duties include holding worship services, hearing confession (church members' admissions of sin), and administering the sacraments (holy rituals) of the Catholic religion. An ordained clergyman is one whom the church officially authorizes to perform priestlyĭuties. The clergy were divided into secular (unordained) and regular (ordained) branches. They were placed at the top of the social ladder because their involvement in spiritual matters was considered vital to the welfare of society. The First Estate was comprised of the Roman Catholic clergy (church officials also called clergymen). The system was somewhat flexible, however, and people frequently moved up within their own social class, or even occasionally elevated themselves to a higher estate. A person's rank on the social scale was determined by birth, gender, sources of wealth, occupation, political position, residency in town or country, and numerous other factors. Each of the Three Estates were further subdivided into many other levels. Since the early Middle Ages, people had been divided into three groups, called estates. Social status was the basis of life in Europe during the Renaissance and Reformation.
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