Lay Piety

The church’s zeal to reform the laity was matched by the desire of many laypeople to become more involved in their religion. Men and women flocked to hear the preaching of friars, who made themselves a permanent feature of the towns. When Berthold, a Franciscan preacher who traveled the length and breadth of Germany giving sermons, came to a town, a high tower was set up for him outside the town walls. A pennant advertised his presence and let people know which way the wind would blow his voice.

Townspeople gathered to hear preachers like Berthold because they wanted to know how the Christian message applied to their daily lives. They were concerned, for example, about the ethics of moneymaking, sex in marriage, and family life. The preachers in turn met the laity on their own turf, spoke in the vernacular that all could understand, and taught them to shape their behaviors to church teachings.

Laypeople further tied their lives to the mendicants, particularly the Franciscans, by becoming tertiaries. A tertiary was one who adopted the practices of the friars—prayer and works of charity, for example—while continuing to live in the world, work at his or her usual occupation, raise a family, and tend to the normal tasks of daily life.

Although for many people religion was only one facet of life, for some—especially women—it was a focus. Within the towns and cities, powerful families founded new nunneries for their wealthy daughters. Less well-to-do women sought the life of quiet activity and rapturous mysticism led by the Beguines. Others pursued a life of charity and service in women’s mendicant orders. Still others, like Elisabeth of Hungary, raised their children while devoting their free time to fasting, prayer, and service to the poor.

The new emphasis on the holiness of the transformed wine and bread encouraged some pious women to eat nothing but the Eucharist. They believed that Christ’s crucifixion was the literal sacrifice of his body, to be eaten by sinful men and women as the way to redeem themselves and others. Some bypassed their priests, receiving the Eucharist (as they explained) directly from Christ. Furthermore, renouncing all other foods became part of a life of charity because many of these devout women gave the poor the food they refused to eat. Thus, pious women used their control over ordinary food to gain new kinds of social and religious prestige and power.