166 chalice for the laity
divine. The council also adopted a resolution concerning
the patriarchates, establishing the primacy of five sees:
ROME,CONSTANTINOPLE(equal to Rome), ALEXANDRIA,
ANTIOCH, and JERUSALEM. Moreover, the council con-
demned MONOPHYSITISM.
See alsoEPHESUS,ECUMENICALCOUNCIL OF.
Further reading:Norman P. Tanner, Decrees of the
Ecumenical Councils,Vol. 1, Nicaea I to Lateran V(Lon-
don: Sheed & Ward, 1990), 75–86; Patrick T. R. Gray,
The Defense of Chalcedon in the East (451–553)(Leiden:
Brill, 1979); Robert Victor Sellers, The Council of Chal-
cedon: A Historical and Doctrinal Survey (London:
S.P.C.K., 1961); Iain R. Torrance, Christology after Chal-
cedon: Severus of Antioch and Sergius the Monophysite
(Norwich: Canterbury Press, 1988); Frances M. Young,
From Nicaea to Chalcedon: A Guide to Literature and Its
Background(London: SCM Press, 1983).
chalice for the laity SeeUTRAQUISTS.
Champagne, fairs of SeeFAIRS AND MARKETS.
chansons de geste (Old French epics)The chansons
de geste were epic poems and songs of heroic deeds in
Old French that celebrated the exploits of some ecclesi-
astical figures but mostly heroes and kings, especially
CHARLEMAGNEand his companions. These epic poems
were loaded with warlike action waged against the
SARACENSor the rebelling enemies of a king or lord.
They had a religious dimension, since their heroes
fought for God against the infidels or the breakers of
oaths. The most important of these were the Song of
Rolandand Raoul of Cambrai.GUILLAUME D’ORANGE, his
brothers, and relations were a heroic family that was the
subject of a group of epic narratives. Numerous such
poems were written about the Battle of RONCEVAUXand
its heroes. Others were written about personal rivalries
and historic events such as the Crusades or, in the later
Middle Ages, about the struggles of the French against
the English.
See alsoCHIVALRY; EPIC LITERATURE; FEUDALISM AND
FEUDAL INSTITUTIONS;RODERIGODÍAZ DEVIVAR, HISTORY
AND LEGENDS OF.
Further reading:William Calin, The Epic Quest: Stud-
ies in Four Old French Chansons de Geste (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins Press, 1966); Jessie Raven Crosland, The
Old French Epic (Oxford: Blackwell, 1951); Norman
Daniel, Heroes and Saracens: An Interpretation of the Chan-
sons de Geste(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
1984); Joseph J. Duggan, The Chanson de Rolandand the
Chansons de Gestein European Writers: The Middle Ages
and the Renaissance,Vol. I, Prudentius to Medieval Drama,
eds. William T. H. Jackson and George Stade (New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1983), 89–112; Sarah Kay, The
Chansons de Geste in the Age of Romance: Political Fictions
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).charity and poverty Medieval charity was primarily
considered a desirable habit of loving God but also con-
cern about the spiritual and physical state of one’s
neighbor. Medieval poverty or the lack of the where-
withal to live or support oneself at a level commensu-
rate with one’s social status was a common situation in
the Middle Ages. It was increased by bad harvests and
FAMINES, brigandage, wars, illness, old age, epidemics,
and the oppression of the weak by the holders of wealth
and power. Poverty was in part the inability to work.
Distinctions were made between the active or working
poor, whose unskilled and discontinuous labor was not
sufficient to ensure subsistence, and the passive poor,
who had suffered misfortune. Voluntary poverty was
chosen by the religious to free themselves from earthly
considerations and practice an ascetic and Christlike
life, in imitation of Jesus.
The distress of the poor led to numerous charitable
responses and initiatives by monks, clerics, laypersons,
and institutions founded by them for that purpose. They
distributed food, money, and clothing. They sheltered pil-
grims, wayfarers, and the sick. This charity was not nec-
essarily accompanied by true fraternity but could be
prompted by concern over the state of one’s soul and
chance of gaining salvation. Such good works would cer-
tainly help when one was judged by God regardless of
one’s intention. The poor man might arouse compassion,
also repulsion, contempt, and fear. Secular laws dealing
with the poor became much harsher and judgmental in
the later Middle Ages. The religious orders tended to
become more self-involved and less concerned with the
poor during the same period.
Prompted by the concern for the welfare of commu-
nity in the Bible, Jewish communities almost all had
funds to assist the needy. Contributing to them was to be
done with happiness and with sympathy for the recipi-
ents. The funds were to be spent on the sick, education,
wedding expenses for needy couples, provisions and shel-
ter for travelers, and burial expenses.
For Islam there were Sadaqah(alms), which was to
be a voluntary practice and taken from a surplus over
that necessary for one’s family to live. One of the Pillars
of Islam, Zadator Zakah(alms), was an obligation placed
on all Muslims. Everyone was to give about 2.5 percent of
his or her primary or real and liquid forms of wealth for
the needy in an Islamic state. It was considered a path to
purity.
See alsoCONFRATERNITIES; ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND
JUSTICES; HOSPITALS; PURGATORY; SOCIAL STATUS AND
STRUCTURE; SPIRITUALFRANCISCANS; VIRTUES AND VICES.
Further reading:Sharon A. Farmer, Surviving Poverty
in Medieval Paris: Gender, Ideology, and the Daily Life of the