• after fall of Rome Christian Church split into eastern and western churches
• western church, headed by the Pope, became known at the Roman Catholic Church and grew stronger
• It not only controllled spiritual life but most powerful secular, worldly/not religious, force in Western Europe

• 530 monk named Benedict founded monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy 
• drew up set of rules to regulate life there for monks and nuns
• took oath of poverty
• vows of chastity or purity
• vows of obedience to the head of the monestary, the abbot
• main duties were prayer and worship to God and manual labor (farming fields or other physical tasks)

• 900s Abbot Berno at Cluny, a monestry in eastern France, set to end abuses of Church (clergy getting wealthy, not keeping vows, marrying, nuns and monks ignoring their vows as well...)
• Revived Benedictine Rule by not allowing Nobles interfere with running of monastery.
• Allowed only those who kept vows to stay
• other monestaries copied Cluniac program and reforms spread through W. Europe

• a friar, a monk who traveledwidely, preach to poor
• at 20 had religious conversion and devoted his  time to preaching Christiona message and teaching by his own examples of good work

• Spanish reformer St. Dominic founded preaching order of friors called Dominicans who taught peole about church doctrines and disputed ideas of the heretics

• Women responded to the call for reform independent to regular Church orders
• they didn't have means to have rich dowrys to the Church but got together to sew and weave to getby and ministr to the poor and set up hospitals and shelters

people who did not obey laws of the church were excommunicated and could not receive the sacraments

noble who violated church laws could face being excommunicted by excluding an entire town,region, or kingdom from participating in most Sacraments and from receiving Christian burial