How did religion shape everyday life in the High Middle Ages?

AAPART FROM THE LAND, the weather, and local legal and social conditions, religion had the greatest impact on the daily lives of ordinary people in the High Middle Ages. Religious practices varied widely from country to country and even from province to province. Most people in medieval Europe were Christian, but there were small Jewish communities scattered in many parts of Europe, and Muslims lived in the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and other Mediterranean islands.

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Statue of Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary, and the Christ ChildNearly every church had at least one image of the Virgin Mary, the most important figure of Christian devotion in medieval Europe. In this thirteenth-century wooden sculpture, she is shown holding the infant Jesus, and is herself sitting on the lap of her mother, Anne. Statues such as this reinforced people’s sense that the heavenly family was much like theirs, with grandparents who sometimes played important roles. (Scala/Art Resource, NY)