{{For|restorationism in other time periods|Restorationism (Christian primitivism)}}
'''Medieval Restorationism''' was a number of movements that sought to renew the [[Christianity|Christian]] church during the [[Middle Ages]]. The failure of these movements helped create conditions that ultimately led to the [[Protestant Reformation]].
==Background== According to [[Barbara Tuchman]], beginning in about 1470, a succession of [[Pope]]s focused on acquiring money, their role in Italian politics as rulers of the [[papal states]], and power politics within the [[college of cardinals]].<ref name=folly>{{cite book |title=The march of folly |author=Barbara W. Tuchman |year=1984 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=0-394-52777-1 |location=New York, U.S.A. |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/marchoffollyfrom00tuch }}</ref> France had largely controlled the papacy. It was relocated to [[Avignon]] in the 14th century to escape violent instability between the factions of the Roman nobility. The [[Avignon papacy]], followed by the [[Western Schism]], weakened the papacy's authority when there were two popes between 1378 and 1417. It had been hoped that the restoration of the papacy to [[Rome]] in the 1430s would result in a church that concentrated on religious affairs, with many pressing issues. However, most of the popes during the following period were accused of focusing on making their young relatives cardinals, appointing relatives and supporters to more than one clerical office, [[simony]] (the selling of clerical offices for profit), and general acquisitiveness.<ref>{{cite book |author=G. R. Owst |title=Preaching in Medieval England, 1350-1450 |pages=31–32 |publisher=Cambridge University |location=Cambridge, England |year=1926}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Economic Predicament of Renaissance Cardinals: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, vol. III |author= David S. Chambers |year=1966 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.A. |publisher=University of Nebraska}}</ref>
==Medieval restorationism== [[File:Pre-Protestant branches.svg|thumb|Timeline of [[Proto-Protestant]] groups]] {{see also|Mendicant orders}} The restorationist movement <ref name=mirror>{{cite book |author=Barbara W. Tuchman |year=1978 |title=A Distant Mirror |url=https://archive.org/details/distantmirrorcal00tuch |url-access=registration |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-40026-7}}</ref> at the time was centered on movements that wanted to renew the church (at that time, within European Christendom, there was only Roman Catholicism in the west and [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] in the east), such as the [[Florians]], [[Apostolic poverty]], [[Humiliati]], [[Lollardy|Lollards]], [[Hussite]]s, [[Waldensians]], [[Devotio Moderna]], [[Conciliarism]], [[Franciscans]] and [[Brethren of the Common Life]].<ref name="folly"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/bettelorden-im-mittelalter-warum-die-franziskaner-der-ketzerverfolgung-entgingen-a-a726eb28-0511-48d6-b878-d0c514792b91|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230517201316/https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/bettelorden-im-mittelalter-warum-die-franziskaner-der-ketzerverfolgung-entgingen-a-a726eb28-0511-48d6-b878-d0c514792b91|lang=de |title= Die Clowns Gottes – warum die Franziskaner der Ketzerverfolgung entgingen |work=Der Spiegel |accessdate=2025-04-21 |archivedate=2023-05-17|date=2023-05-15 |last1=Patalong |first1=Frank }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/157508/Sch%C3%A4ufele_083.pdf |title= Die Kirchenkritik des Hoch- und Spätmittelalters und ihre Bedeutung für die Reformation |last=Schaufele |first=Wolf-Friedrich |page=73f|lang=de}}</ref> While these pre-reformation movements did presage and sometimes discussed a break with Rome and [[Primacy of the Roman Pontiff|papal authority]], they also provoked restorationist movements within the church, such as the councils of [[Council of Constance|Constance]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum16.htm |title=Council of Constance |accessdate=2008-04-08 |author=Council of Constance |year=1414 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101090223/http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum16.htm |archivedate=2008-01-01 }}</ref> and [[Council Of Basel|Basle]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Council of Basle |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02334b.htm |accessdate=2008-04-08 |date=1431–1449 |author=Council of Basle |publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia 1907}}</ref> which were held in the first half of the 15th century. Preachers at the time regularly harangued delegates to these conferences regarding [[simony]], [[venality]], lack of [[chastity]] and [[celibacy]], and the holding of multiple [[benefices]].<ref>{{cite book |author=John M. Todd |title=The Reformation |location=New York |year=1971}}</ref> The lack of success of the restorationist movements after this time led inexorably to the [[Protestant Reformation]].<ref name="folly"/>
==See also== *[[Avignon papacy]] *[[History of the papacy]] *[[Western schism]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1w.html Late Medieval Sourcebook] *[http://www.elcristianismoprimitivo.com/english/the-birth-life-and-death-of-the-bohemian-revival.htm The Birth, Life, and Death of the Bohemian Revival] Historical overview of the Unitas Fratrum {{Middleages-stub}} {{Catholic-Church-stub}}
[[Category:History of the papacy]] [[Category:Proto-Protestantism]]