What was the Role of the Church in Everyday Life?
History: KS3, topic 8.1.4
What was the Role of the Church in Everyday Life?
The Church shaped what you could do each day of the week; organised all important events in your life and even had the final say in what would happen after your death.
Everyday life
- The Church shaped what you could do on each day of the week.
- Monday-Saturday was for work, and Sunday was for prayer and contemplation.
- The Church also decided which days you could have off for "holy days", which became our modern "holiday".
Important events
- The Church organised all the important events in your life.
- When a baby was born, it would be baptised and welcomed into the Church community.
- Big events like marriages and funerals would also be run through the Church.
- It was also the focus and meeting place for village life, and the church was at the centre of every settlement.
Death
- The Church also had the final say in what would happen to you after death.
- According to older teachings, to reach Heaven, you needed to attend Church services every week, behave as a good Christian and give your tithe money to the Church.
- Therefore, it was extremely important to do as the Church said.
The Tithe
- The Tithe was a tax everybody had to pay to the Church.
- In England, it was around 10% of your income; you could pay it with money or with goods produced on the farm, as the majority of the population were farmers.
Test yourself on What was the Role of the Church in Everyday Life?
How much of a person's income did the tithe consist of?