The Normans

Religion

There was only one Christian church in Western Europe - the Roman Catholic Church with the Pope in Rome as Head of the Church.

The Normans brought a more organised and sophisticated clergy with them. They celebrated their devotion to Christ by building solid stone churches and cathedrals, many of which can still be seen today.

Everyone was expected to attend on Sundays. The peasants had to stand and would not have understood a word of the Latin services read by the parish priest. They might have enjoyed the gory pictures painted on the walls though, showing Judgment Day and souls in torment. There was no music until organs started were installed in the fourteenth century.

All the usual ceremonies of hatch, match and dispatch were held. But baptisms and weddings were very brief. Babies were usually baptised on the day of birth in case they died, and weddings were quick affairs at the church door. Funerals were far longer and more elaborate.

There was no village hall so meetings were held in the church nave, and farming matters discussed. Manorial courts and sometimes even fairs were held here.

How can we tell this is a Norman church?

Click the picture for an answer

The church was centre of village life. It told people how to behave in almost everything they did.