It’s hard for some modern people to believe that 90%+ of these guys were true believers
by abefrost
It’s hard for some modern people to believe that 90%+ of these guys were true believers
by abefrost
10 Comments
I mean if you are divinely ordained then most of what you do is chill in the eyes of God unless someone like the pope says otherwise. That’s the best part of being divinely ordained, nobody can question shit even if what you are doing is like the definition of sinful. Most kings and queens totally believed in their religion, it’s just that they are allowed a special spot where they can kill and otherwise fuck everyone over because they came from the right womb. I mean shit if *you* had literally everyone in the city, including all religious leaders and nobility, telling you nothing that you do can be wrong and you are a super special person forever, you’re probably not going to think they are lying or that anything you do would be against God’s will. Being told you are special and never wrong from birth does real weird shit to people.
You’re confident you can tell the difference between a genuine believer and someone who’s faking it for social benefit?
Although we can’t know for certain I imagine it’s a mix of both depending on which monarch you’re talking about.
I mean not really. A lot of nobility were highly educated men and women who one of the main studies they spent their time on being theology. They would understand religion and their own personal relationship with god and the philosophical idea of a god then many modern people. You’re idea is more ancient times nobility that would often paint themselves as descendants of gods chosen by them to defend their positions.
Funfact, that’s also how the modern American Republican party works!
It’s impossible to tell one from the other.
What’s a fact is that plenty if not most of the medieval elite used religion in ways that are pretty much realpolitik and more often than not religion tended to take the backseat if it clashed with political goals.
From there being able to between cynicism and pure narcissism and delusion becomes pretty much impossible.
Would I believe that Philip IV actually believed in God? I guess.
Would I believe he was a complete cynical man who only cared about religion in cultural terms? I guess.
I mean, it’s totally possible to cynically use religion to accomplish their goals while being a true believer.
Like, Louis VII, king of the franks was clearly a devout believer, raised for the church before becoming king, and it didn’t stop him from trying to use the nomination of bishops as a tool to increase royal power, to the point of being in direct conflict with the pope.
More like “God probably wouldn’t want me doing this, but the archbishop says it’ll be okay if I give him enough money – which is quite convenient for me, so I’m not gonna question it.”
People today truly don’t understand just how devout and sometimes fanatical medieval European Christians were.
To be fair, their political behavior (as well as privilege based on exploitation and justified by religion) does come across as cynical (overall, there are exceptions of course)