medieval catherdral
The medieval church played a far greater role in medieval England than the church does today, in medieval England; the church dominated every body’s life. All medieval people- are they village peasants or towns people- believed that god, heaven and hell all existed. The control of the church had over the people was total. Peasants worked for free on church land. Peasants paid 10% of what they earned in a year to the church.
. Although cathedral building was driven by religious figures or institutions, it was often a community effort. From the mid-twelfth century, the Church started granting indulgences (forgiveness of sins) to those who would help to build a church or cathedral, and therefore, rather than going on crusades, which had been a popular means of absolving sins in the late eleventh century, people dedicated more effort to the construction of houses of God instead. As cathedrals took decades, and often even centuries to complete, few people who worked on them expected to see them finished during their lifetimes. Being involved in the construction of a cathedral, even as the building patron, required a willingness to be part of a process that was larger than oneself.