Essay, Research Paper: The Middle Ages - A Dark Time For Europe

In the history of Europe, no time was darker than the years between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance. This time was also known as the Middle Ages. People lived under the rule of tyrannical kings, an oppressive church, and the communistic restrictions of organized labor guilds. These three despotic organizations restricted all three of the major areas of free will. First, the kings oppressed the common people politically. Second, the church subdued the populace both intellectually and religiously. Finally, the trade guilds suppressed individuals economically. These terrible injustices did not end until the enlightened times of the Renaissance, though several lasted longer
Political oppression, while certainly nothing new in Europe, reached amazing levels of refinement during the Dark Ages. The peasants were exploited terribly by their lords. Even their right to live and practice basic subsistence agriculture was costly; the landowners demanded many compensations. For example, for three days every week, a peasant would have to work the lords personal land, which was naturally of no benefit to the peasant since all food grown on this land belonged to the lord. Even the food the peasants grew on their own land was susceptible to taxation; as many as five bags of grain out of every ten would be taken by the local strongman. The grain that the peasants were allowed to keep had to be baked in the lords oven, and the use of this oven was also taxed. Any attempt to circumvent this was considered a crime and subject to prosecution. One pig of every ten was taken by the lord, and the peasant was also responsible for slaughtering the seized pig. The lords even took advantage of religious holidays to steal from the deserving workers. On Christmas and Easter, the lord would ask for a "gift" of a certain number of chickens and eggs. The lords also demanded a certain fee from the peasants for the right to marry. All told, a lord usually ended up with at least fifty percent of a peasants yearly income. Even today, when government services are far greater than those of the past, such taxes would be considered atrocious. This draconian treatment of the working class was obviously a malfeasance.
Unfortunately, the nobility was not alone in their quest of torment. The Roman Catholic Church, supposedly one of the most just, peaceful, and enlightened organizations of the time, also treated the common people of Europe like so many fleas on a dog. Despite the overwhelming taxes of the ruling class, the Church also found it necessary to tax the peasants: a ten percent tithe of each persons yearly income was demanded. Naturally, failure to comply could be punishable by excommunication, a virtual banishment from everyday society. This, obviously, was little more than extortion. If that was not harsh enough, the Church also placed a cap on the prices that could be charged for goods, thereby limiting the income a peasant could receive in the first place. Economics was not the Roman Catholic Churchs chief area of expertise when it came to utilitarianistic social pressures, however. The Catholic Church was most skilled in the area of religious persecution. The main source of this persecution was the Inquisition. No one would have suspected the Inquisition, since the Catholic Church was supposedly a peaceful organization. However, the Churchs pacifist period was certainly over when the Inquisition started, though the early Inquisition was little more than genocide. In the thirteenth century, Pope Innocent III ordered a crusade against a heretical branch of Christianity known as the Albigenses. When it was found that determining the orthodox from heretical proved difficult, a papal legate ordered, "Kill everyone - God can sort out his own." After the more practical members of the Church realized that such undeveloped forms of oppression were clearly unfeasible, the founder of the Dominican order, Saint Dominic, was sent in to examine the prisoners individually. Though he initially tried reasoning with them, Dominic eventually decided that "When kind words fail, blows may avail." Torture, he decided, was the only solution. Naturally, the heretics were soon stamped out. In one day at Montsegur, a town in southern France, two hundred people were burned alive for "heresy." Other sects soon appeared, and a permanent board of inquisitors was established in 1233. The board was given permission by the pope to use torture as standard procedure for obtaining confessions. This Church-supported madness continued even into the 19th century, until finally being stopped. But until then, no one was safe from the Inquisitions wrath. Even high church officials, such as the English cardinal, Reginald Pole, were not immune to the grasp of the Grand Inquisitor was led the board. Famous thinkers and scientists, like Galileo, were also tried and executed. The Inquisition even practiced censorship, publishing the Index of Forbidden Books in 1559. Clearly, the Roman Catholic Church was not the loving organization its founders set out for it to be. It practiced extortion, torture, and censorship.
Of the organizations that burdened the people during the Middle Ages, one group often escapes notice, though their policies would be considered dictatorial today. These organizations were the guilds. Economic freedom is often considered one of humankinds greatest rights. The guilds, however, severely reduced the peoples ability to make economic choices. The driving force of todays economy is competition. The rules of the guilds specifically prohibited that competition. Each profession had a guild to ensure that those in business would retain their market share, without worrying about new businesses with which to compete. They did this buy forbidding anyone who was not a guild member from practicing their trade. No one but a member of the cobblers guild, for example, could make or sell shoes. The members of the guild decided who could enter their guild, almost making the guilds into exclusive clubs. Usually, a guild member would only induct his son or nephew, making a craft hereditary. Even within the guild, prices were fixed to further eliminate any competition. Anyone selling at a different price was punished. The characteristics of a good were also strictly regulated. Bakers were required to produce loaves of a certain size and weight. One punishment for disobeying this regulation was to parade the offender through the town, while mocking him. Obviously, these laws took away from economic abilities of the common people. Today, such laws would be considered unconstitutional.
In the light of todays world of the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and the Bill of Rights, the policies of the three groups, the nobility, the church, and the guilds, would seem unforgivable; obvious violations of human rights. Unfortunately, that was probably the original problem. The leaders of the time did not consider the basic, inalienable rights of the individual. Without rulers whose philosophies were more enlightened, the people of the Middle Ages were condemned. They were condemned to be oppressed, intellectually, economically, politically, and religiously.