Background to the Crusades: the medieval Western Church
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe how the pope's power had increased by the 11th century.
Key learning points
- The Western Church was headed by the pope.
- In the early medieval period the pope and Church had little power compared to local kings, but gained more over time.
- Throughout the medieval period there was a power struggle between local kings and the pope over control of religion.
- The Church had gained significant control over the lives of Western Europeans by the 11th century.
- Christianity was a fundamental aspect of life for medieval Europeans.
Keywords
Church - the Church is the organisation of the Christian religion
Pope - the pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church
Bishop - a bishop is a senior member of the Christian Church
Excommunication - excommunication is the action of officially excluding someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church
Common misconception
The pope has always been the most powerful person in the Roman Catholic Church.
For much of the medieval period, a power struggle between the pope and local kings took place for control of religion within each country. In the early medieval period the pope had very little power at all.
Teacher tip
For the third learning cycle, show students examples of doom paintings to demonstrate methods of control the Church used in medieval Europe. Ask students to consider how this would enable the Church to control the local illiterate population.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The worship of images is known as .
Q2.What do Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul have in common?
Q3.What happened to the main language when the Roman Empire collapsed?
Q4.Who were the early converts to Islam?
Q5.What was the religion of Byzantium?
Q6.Which two were Islamic caliphates based in the Middle East?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The head of the Roman Catholic Church is the
Q2.The action of officially excluding someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church is known as
Q3.This keyword is a senior member of the Christian Church.
Q4.Who controlled the Papal States, a kingdom in central Italy?
Q5.Which two reasons prevented people from disobeying Church rules?
Q6.Who led the Church in medieval Western Europe?
To help you plan your 7 history lesson on: Background to the Crusades: the medieval Western Church, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 history lesson on: Background to the Crusades: the medieval Western Church, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 history lessons from the The Crusades: did Europeans go on crusade to capture the 'holy land'? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.