# Medieval Restorationism

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Medieval_Restorationism
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Medieval_Restorationism.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Restorationism
> Source revision: 1295792382
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

For restorationism in other time periods, see [Restorationism (Christian primitivism)](/source/Restorationism_(Christian_primitivism)).

**Medieval Restorationism** was a number of movements that sought to renew the [Christian](/source/Christianity) church during the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages). The failure of these movements helped create conditions that ultimately led to the [Protestant Reformation](/source/Protestant_Reformation).

## Background

According to [Barbara Tuchman](/source/Barbara_Tuchman), beginning in about 1470, a succession of [Popes](/source/Pope) focused on acquiring money, their role in Italian politics as rulers of the [papal states](/source/Papal_states), and power politics within the [college of cardinals](/source/College_of_cardinals).[1] France had largely controlled the papacy. It was relocated to [Avignon](/source/Avignon) in the 14th century to escape violent instability between the factions of the Roman nobility. The [Avignon papacy](/source/Avignon_papacy), followed by the [Western Schism](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Simony) (the selling of clerical offices for profit), and general acquisitiveness.[2][3]

## Medieval restorationism

Timeline of [Proto-Protestant](/source/Proto-Protestant) groups

See also: [Mendicant orders](/source/Mendicant_orders)

The restorationist movement [4] 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](/source/Eastern_Orthodoxy) in the east), such as the [Florians](/source/Florians), [Apostolic poverty](/source/Apostolic_poverty), [Humiliati](/source/Humiliati), [Lollards](/source/Lollardy), [Hussites](/source/Hussite), [Waldensians](/source/Waldensians), [Devotio Moderna](/source/Devotio_Moderna), [Conciliarism](/source/Conciliarism), [Franciscans](/source/Franciscans) and [Brethren of the Common Life](/source/Brethren_of_the_Common_Life).[1][5][6] While these pre-reformation movements did presage and sometimes discussed a break with Rome and [papal authority](/source/Primacy_of_the_Roman_Pontiff), they also provoked restorationist movements within the church, such as the councils of [Constance](/source/Council_of_Constance)[7] and [Basle](/source/Council_Of_Basel),[8] which were held in the first half of the 15th century. Preachers at the time regularly harangued delegates to these conferences regarding [simony](/source/Simony), [venality](/source/Venality), lack of [chastity](/source/Chastity) and [celibacy](/source/Celibacy), and the holding of multiple [benefices](/source/Benefices).[9] The lack of success of the restorationist movements after this time led inexorably to the [Protestant Reformation](/source/Protestant_Reformation).[1]

## See also

- [Avignon papacy](/source/Avignon_papacy)

- [History of the papacy](/source/History_of_the_papacy)

- [Western schism](/source/Western_schism)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-folly_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-folly_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-folly_1-2) Barbara W. Tuchman (1984). [*The march of folly*](https://archive.org/details/marchoffollyfrom00tuch). New York, U.S.A.: Alfred A. Knopf. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-394-52777-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-394-52777-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** G. R. Owst (1926). *Preaching in Medieval England, 1350-1450*. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University. pp. 31–32.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** David S. Chambers (1966). *The Economic Predicament of Renaissance Cardinals: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, vol. III*. Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.A.: University of Nebraska.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-mirror_4-0)** Barbara W. Tuchman (1978). [*A Distant Mirror*](https://archive.org/details/distantmirrorcal00tuch). Knopf. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-394-40026-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-394-40026-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Patalong, Frank (2023-05-15). ["Die Clowns Gottes – warum die Franziskaner der Ketzerverfolgung entgingen"](https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/bettelorden-im-mittelalter-warum-die-franziskaner-der-ketzerverfolgung-entgingen-a-a726eb28-0511-48d6-b878-d0c514792b91). *Der Spiegel* (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-21.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Schaufele, Wolf-Friedrich. [*Die Kirchenkritik des Hoch- und Spätmittelalters und ihre Bedeutung für die Reformation*](https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10900/157508/Sch%C3%A4ufele_083.pdf) (PDF) (in German). p. 73f.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Council of Constance (1414). ["Council of Constance"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080101090223/http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum16.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.piar.hu/councils/ecum16.htm) on 2008-01-01. Retrieved 2008-04-08.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Council of Basle (1431–1449). ["Council of Basle"](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02334b.htm). Catholic Encyclopedia 1907. Retrieved 2008-04-08.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** John M. Todd (1971). *The Reformation*. New York.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

## External links

- [Late Medieval Sourcebook](http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1w.html)

- [The Birth, Life, and Death of the Bohemian Revival](http://www.elcristianismoprimitivo.com/english/the-birth-life-and-death-of-the-bohemian-revival.htm) Historical overview of the Unitas Fratrum

This Middle Ages–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

- [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Middleages-stub)
- [t](/source/Template_talk%3AMiddleages-stub)
- [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Middleages-stub)

This Catholic Church–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

- [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Catholic-Church-stub)
- [t](/source/Template_talk%3ACatholic-Church-stub)
- [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Catholic-Church-stub)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Medieval Restorationism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Restorationism) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Restorationism?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.