The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation

saw a firmly established form of Catholic Christianity in northern

Europe, thoroughly orthodox in doctrine, reformed in morals

and clerical regulation, and increasingly uniform in liturgical

observance. Catholic Europe was ready to embark on its centuries-

long history.

Knowles and Obolensky, The Middle Ages, (The Christian Centuries, vol.
2), pp. 3–15, 27–68.

Latourette, The Thousand Years of Uncertainty: 500–1500 AD (A History of
the Expansion of Christianity, vol. 2).

1. Why did the circumstances of life in northern Europe make the
   founding of monasteries the most effective instrument of spreading the
   Christian religion?


2. How did the reciprocal interaction of kings, popes, and monks make
   them the dominant players in the shaping of a Catholic Europe?

Suggested Reading

Questions to Consider