Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.10, 2022

 

Anti-Clericalism in the Late Middle Ages

(Abstract)

 

Long Xiuqing

 

From the late Middle Ages to the Reformation, the clergy of the Catholic Church received resentment and criticism about their power, wealth, and morality from various social classes, a historical phenomenon that European and American historians refer to as anti-clericalism. This is a concept based on the needs of historical research on the Reformation. Anti-clericalist criticism was abundant in the late Middle Ages, both from laymen and from some clergy, but not all anti-clericalism caused divisions in the church. Thus, anti-clericalism did not directly contribute to the Reformation, but rather reflected the institutional vulnerability of the Church in the late Middle Ages, including long-standing ills, resistance to reform, and the conflicts between the Church and the secular world. An in-depth analysis of these elements provides a better explanation of the emergence of the Reformation.