Trending in the 11th Century

If social media had existed in the 11th century, one might have scrolled to find commentary on the Crusades called by Pope Urban II. On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols describes several memorable people and events from the 11th century.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are going to look at what was trending in the 11th century. Well, we have to start with that big event. It's right in the middle of the century, 1054, and the Great Schism, the split between the church in the East and the church in the West. This all comes down to a little phrase, Filioque, “and the Son,” a phrase that was added by bishops in the West to the Nicene Creed.

The bishops in the East rejected this phrase, thought that the Western bishops were tinkering with these great creeds of the faith, and used that as a reason to split. It was sort of like the iceberg. The Filioque clause was just simply what was above the surface. Beneath the surface, well, there was a lot going on that went into the split. They were essentially two different cultures. They had two different languages. They had two different approaches to theology. They had two different liturgies. They were for all intents and purposes split long before the split. But there it is, the Filioque controversy in 1054 and the Great Schism.

Well, also trending in the 11th century is King Edward the Confessor. King Edward the Confessor was the son of Æthelred the Unready. Æthelred means “well advised.” “Unready” doesn't necessarily mean “unprepared”; it really means “poor advice.” His name was a little bit of a pun—well advised, poor advised. Well, good old Æthelred the Unready died in 1016 and later his son, Edward the Confessor, was king in 1042. That very same year, he started on what would become Westminster Abbey. It was St. Peter's Abbey, but he changed it around and began building it and began adding to it. It was consecrated in 1065, just in time for King Edward the Confessor's death. He died in January of 1066 and he was the first king to be buried in it. Later that year, on December 25, 1066, William the Conqueror was the first English king to be crowned in Westminster Abbey.

We also have that year trending in history, 1066. This is the year of the Norman Invasion, William the Conqueror crossing the English Channel and conquering England. He brought with him Lanfranc. He was head of the monastery at Bec. And that's important because when Lanfranc left Bec, a monk was put in charged. His name was Anselm. When Lanfranc died and he was the bishop of Canterbury, put in by William the Conqueror, he was replaced by Anselm again. And so we have in 1093 Anselm of Canterbury. In these final years of the 1090s, Anselm would write his famous Monologion, his Proslogion, and then that classic text Cur Deus Homo. So,the 1090s was the trending of Anselm.

It was also on November 27, 1095, that Pope Urban II called for a Crusade. Nearly 100,000 soldiers and support personnel set out with the objective to retake the Holy City of Jerusalem from Muslims. Between 1096 and 1099, they made their long, slow journey to Jerusalem. By the time they got there, only a fraction of that large group that had originally set out were left. And in July of 1099, they recaptured the Holy City. And of course, the Crusades would continue for centuries later.

Well, let's mention some quick honorable mentions—five of them to be exact—from this 11th century. The first one is the very first year, 1001. Leif Erikson, the Norseman from Iceland, arrived in Newfoundland in North America. The second is 1035, Cnut the Great. He died that year, signifying the beginning of the end of the Viking reign. It was in 1040 that Duncan died in battle and Macbeth would be crowned King of Scotland. He, of course, would grow into quite a legend, wouldn't he, in the hands of Shakespeare. In 1047 Facundus painted 312 leaves to go alongside of a manuscript of the book of Revelation as a gift for Ferdinand and Queen Sancha of Spain. And in 1096, the University of Oxford was founded and the first lectures were given. Well, those are some of the things trending in the 11th century. I'm Steve Nichols and thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.