new rushdoony notes!

The "Dark" Ages:

The savages were taking over though through the Germanic tribes. They practiced cannibalism. They were meager and limited. Families were torn apart, cities were torn apart, and the lands became waste. The dead laid around unburied. Europe began its descent and ruin.Christians were the source of charity. Wealth began to flow steadily through the hands of the clergy because people knew they would help. They became like a state, building up lands and freeing the serfs. The work of the monks became very vital to their history. Charlemagne made their work possible throughout northern Europe. The Saxons were a very savage people, but Charlemagne managed to baptize and convert them. The crusades began with a call to go out and conquer the Holy Land from the unbelievers. Pope Urban II preached a sermon summoning the faithful all over Europe to go to the Holy Land instead of fighting each other. The crusades were so very different then that though. It became not a conquering of the Muslims, but of the Christians. It was a time when the Church was not in control. It became an era ruled by the youths. The Church sought to rule all institutions as Rome gained more and more power in the surrounding areas. The Church has the spiritual and temporal sword to wield. They believed that the Pope must rule the governments of Europe as well as all the churches. The kingdom of God and the Church are identical according to them. Wherever God rules in the hearts of man, there is the kingdom of God. The church is an aspect of the kingdom of God. They believed also that God and the emperor were as one. The university was a law of itself. The beginnings of the doctrine of academic freedom develop. There was a revival of Aristotle's philosophy as well. Man is a rational political animal and was defined in terms of the state. Reason was how you understood anything. Revelation was only used to try to understand those things connected in another world. Creation was not understood in terms of the Bible. You use science and reason and so become an evolutionist.

It wasn't at all uncommon for an older rich man to marry a young girl so to prepare her to take care of his estate so when he dies that she might marry again well and be able to care for his estate and her new husband's life. He would prepare her for a life full of godliness and wisdom and all things that befit a wife.