CHAPTER XII
THE CHURCH
IN my first chapter I stressed the importance of the Church
and of religion to medieval man, and now that we have seen
many other sides of his activity, it is time to return to con-
sider the part played by religion in the lives of the peasants. Of
all our investigations this is perhaps the most difficult, for here
we are dealing with something that was so much a part of every-
day life that many of its most common details have left but little
trace. What it was everyone's business to observe it was no one's
business to record. Who should trouble to note down the multi-
tudinous details concerning matters which were part of everyday
life—nay more, were part of the whole surrounding scheme of
things and of the very air men breathed ? Most medieval peasants,
if questioned about their beliefs, would have been unable to
answer any more explicitly than can their present-day brothers
in any mountain village of Catholic France or Switzerland. They
do what has always been done. The services, the ceremonial, the
offerings, the obligations—all are part of the scheme of things,
not to be questioned, save by the wicked, and even they, in
articulo mortis, are often not so sure.
Obviously, the peasant's attitude to religion is not a matter we
can dogmatise about, any more than we have found we can dog-
matise about his status, obligations or privileges. His religion,
to be sure, was not so much a matter of geography: the devout
believer was much the same everywhere, while the doubter and
blasphemer were animated by like prejudices wherever they were
to be found. In speaking of the peasant's religion, therefore, we
may assume that the majority were believers, although the fer-
vour and sincerity of their belief is much more difficult to
estimate. The heretic, declared, was rare, and not to be envied.
He was an outcast from the great body of the faithful, and was
made to feel his exile. Most men feared the isolation of such a
position, and were liable to suffer more than loneliness once the
Church took active steps against them. If we leave them on one
side and concentrate on the faithful, we shall be considering the
great body of medieval peasantry.
BL SI