The 15th century is part of the High Middle
Ages, the period from the coronation of Charlemagne
in 800 to the close of the 15th century, which
saw the fall of Constantinople (1453), the
end of the Hundred Years War (1453), the discovery
of the New World (1492), and thereafter the
Protestant Reformation (1515).
It also marked the later years of scholasticism
and the growth of Christian humanism and other
developments of the early Renaissance.
== Eastern Orthodoxy ==
=== 
Reunion attempts ===
The eastern Emperor John VIII Palaeologus,
pressed hard by the Ottoman Turks, was keen
to ally himself with the West, and to do so
he arranged with Pope Eugene IV for discussions
about reunion to be held again, this time
at the Council of Ferrara-Florence.
After several long discussions, the emperor
managed to convince the Eastern representatives
to accept the Western doctrines of Filioque,
Purgatory and the supremacy of the Papacy.
On 6 June 1439, an agreement was signed by
all the Eastern bishops present but one, Mark
of Ephesus, who held that Rome continued in
both heresy and schism.
It seemed that the Great Schism had been ended.
However, upon their return, the Eastern bishops
found their agreement with the West broadly
rejected by the populace and by civil authorities
(with the notable exception of the emperors
of the East who remained committed to union
until the Fall of Constantinople two decades
later).
The union signed at Florence has never been
accepted by the Eastern churches.
=== Fall of Constantinople ===
In 1453, the Eastern Roman Empire fell to
the Ottoman Empire.
But Orthodoxy was still very strong in Russia
which became autocephalous (since 1448, although
this was not officially accepted by Constantinople
until 1589); and thus Moscow called itself
the Third Rome, as the cultural heir of Constantinople.
Eastern Christians expressed a belief that
the fall of Constantinople was God's punishment
for the emperor and clergy accepting the West's
doctrines of filioque, purgatory and the supremacy
of the papacy.
The West did not fulfill its promise to the
Eastern emperor of troops and support if he
agreed to the reconciliation.
The Sack of Constantinople is still considered
proof by the East that the West ultimately
succeeded in its endeavor to destroy the East.
Under Ottoman rule, the Orthodox Church acquired
power as an autonomous millet.
The ecumenical patriarch was the religious
and administrative ruler of the entire Rum
Millet (Ottoman administrative unit), which
encompassed all the Eastern Orthodox subjects
of the empire.
Those appointed to the role were chosen by
the Muslims rulers not the Church.
As a result of the Ottoman conquest, the entire
Orthodox communion of the Balkans and the
Near East became suddenly isolated from the
West.
For the next four hundred years, it was confined
within the Islamic world, with which it had
little in common religiously or culturally.
The Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox
Churches from Wallachia and Moldavia were
the only part of the Orthodox communion that
remained outside the control of the Ottoman
Empire.
=== Isolation from the West ===
As a result of the Ottoman conquest of the
Byzantine Empire in 1453, and the Fall of
Constantinople, the entire Orthodox communion
of the Balkans and the Near East became suddenly
isolated from the West.
For the next four hundred years, it was confined
within a hostile Islamic world, with which
it had little in common religiously or culturally.
The Russian Orthodox Church was the only part
of the Orthodox communion which remained outside
the control of the Ottoman Empire.
It is, in part, due to this geographical and
intellectual confinement that the voice of
Eastern Orthodoxy was not heard during the
Reformation in 16th-century Europe.
As a result, this important theological debate
often seems strange and distorted to the Orthodox.
They never took part in it and thus neither
Reformation nor Counter-Reformation is part
of their theological framework.
=== Religious rights under the Ottoman Empire
===
Islam recognized Jesus as a great prophet
and considered Christians as another People
of the Book.
But it imposed severe penalties including
frequent deaths for non Muslims.
As such, the Church was not extinguished nor
was its canonical and hierarchical organization
completely destroyed.
Its administration continued to function though
in lesser degree, no longer being the state
religion.
One of the first things that Mehmet the Conqueror
did was to allow the Church to elect a new
patriarch, Gennadius Scholarius.
The Hagia Sophia and the Parthenon, which
had been Christian churches for nearly a millennium,
were converted into mosques, yet most other
churches, both in Constantinople and elsewhere,
remained in Christian hands.
Because Islamic law makes no distinction between
nationality and religion, all Christians,
regardless of their language or nationality,
were considered a single millet, or nation.
The patriarch, as the highest ranking hierarch,
was thus invested with civil and religious
authority and made ethnarch, head of the entire
Christian Orthodox population.
Practically, this meant that all Orthodox
Churches within Ottoman territory were under
the control of Constantinople.
Thus, the authority and jurisdictional frontiers
of the patriarch were enormously enlarged.
However, these rights and privileges, including
freedom of worship and religious organisation,
were often established in principle but seldom
corresponded to reality.
The legal privileges of the patriarch and
the Church depended, in fact, on the whim
and mercy of the Sultan and the Sublime Porte,
while all Christians were viewed as second-class
citizens.
Moreover, Turkish corruption and brutality
were not a myth.
That it was the "infidel" Christian who experienced
this more than anyone else is not in doubt.
Nor were pogroms of Christians in these centuries
unknown (see Greco-Turkish relations).
Devastating, too, for the Church was the fact
that it could not bear witness to Christ.
Missionary work among Moslems was dangerous
and indeed impossible, whereas conversion
to Islam was entirely legal and permissible.
Converts to Islam who returned to Orthodoxy
were put to death as apostates.
No new churches could be built, and even the
ringing of church bells was prohibited.
Education of the clergy and the Christian
population either ceased altogether or was
reduced to the most rudimentary elements.
=== Corruption ===
The Orthodox Church found itself subject to
the Turkish system of corruption.
The patriarchal throne was frequently sold
to the highest bidder, while new patriarchal
investiture was accompanied by heavy payment
to the government.
In order to recoup their losses, patriarchs
and bishops taxed the local parishes and their
clergy.
The patriarchal throne was never secure.
Few patriarchs between the 15th and the 19th
centuries died a natural death while in office.
The forced abdications, exiles, hangings,
drownings, and poisonings of patriarchs are
well documented.
But if the patriarch's position was precarious
so was the hierarchy's.
=== Devshirmeh ===
Devshirmeh was the system of the collection
of young boys from conquered Christian lands
by the Ottoman sultans as a form of regular
taxation in order to build a loyal army (formerly
largely composed of war captives) and the
class of (military) administrators called
the "Janissaries", or other servants such
as tellak in hamams.
The word devşirme means "collecting, gathering"
in Ottoman Turkish.
Boys delivered to the Ottomans in this way
were called ghilmán or acemi oglanlar ("novice
boys").
=== Antioch ===
The Church of Antioch was moved to Damascus
in response to the Ottoman invasion of Antioch.
Its traditional territory includes Syria,
Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Turkey.
The remainder of the Church of Antioch, primarily
local Greeks or Hellenized sections of the
indigenous population, remained in communion
with Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and
Jerusalem
== Western Christianity ==
=== 
Western Schism ===
In 1409, a council was convened at Pisa to
resolve the issue.
The council declared both existing popes to
be schismatic (Gregory XII from Rome; Benedict
XIII from Avignon) and appointed a new one,
Alexander V.
But the existing popes refused to resign,
and thus there were three papal claimants.
Another council was convened in 1414, the
Council of Constance.
In March 1415 the Pisan pope, John XXIII,
fled from Constance in disguise; he was brought
back a prisoner and deposed in May.
The Roman pope, Gregory XII, resigned voluntarily
in July.
The Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, refused to
come to Constance; nor would he consider resignation.
The council finally deposed him in July 1417.
The council in Constance, having finally cleared
the field of popes and antipopes, elected
Pope Martin V as pope in November.
=== Italian Renaissance (1399–1599) ===
The Italian Renaissance was a period of great
cultural change and achievement, marked in
Italy by a classical orientation and an increase
of wealth through mercantile trade.
The city of Rome, the Papacy, and the Papal
States were all affected by the Renaissance.
On the one hand, it was a time of great artistic
patronage and architectural magnificence,
where the Church supported such artists as
Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Bramante, Raphael,
Fra Angelico, Donatello, and Leonardo da Vinci.
On the other hand, wealthy Italian families
often secured episcopal offices, including
the papacy, for their own members, some of
whom were known for immorality, such as Alexander
VI and Sixtus IV.
=== Scholasticism ===
Scholastic theology continued to develop as
the 13th century gave way to the fourteenth,
becoming ever more complex and subtle in its
distinctions and arguments.
The 14th century saw in particular the rise
to dominance of the nominalist or voluntarist
theologies of men like William of Ockham.
The 14th century was also a time in which
movements of widely varying character worked
for the reform of the institutional church,
such as conciliarism, Lollardy and the Hussites.
Spiritual movements such as the Devotio Moderna
also flourished.
Notable authors include:
Jan Hus (c.1369–1415)
Pierre d'Ailly (1351–1420)
Jean Gerson (1363–1429)
Nicholas of Clemanges (1360–1440)
Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464)
Thomas a Kempis (1380–1471)
Denis the Carthusian (1402–1471)
Rudolf Agricola (1444–1485)
Wessel Gansfort (1419–1489)
Gabriel Biel (1425–1495)
Johann Heynlin (1425–1496)
Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498)
Jan Standonck (1454–1504)
Conrad Celtis (1459–1508)
Johann Geiler (1445–1510)
John Colet (1467–1519)
Johann Reuchlin (1455–1522)
Ulrich von Hutten (1488–1523)
Johann von Staupitz (1460–1524)
Jacob Wimpfeling (1450–1528)
Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples (1455–1536)
Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536)
=== Protestant Reformation roots and precursors
===
The Council of Constance confirmed strengthened
the traditional medieval conception of Churches
and Empires.
It did not address the national tensions,
or the theological tensions which had been
stirred up during the previous century.
The council could not prevent schisms and
the Hussite Wars in Bohemia.Historical upheaval
usually yields much new thinking as to how
society should be organized.
This was the case leading up to the Protestant
Reformation.
Following the breakdown of monastic institutions
and scholasticism in late medieval Europe,
accentuated by the "Babylonian Captivity"
of the Avignon Papacy, the Great Schism, and
the failure of the Conciliar movement, the
16th century saw the fomenting of a great
cultural debate about religious reforms and
later fundamental religious values.
Historians would generally assume that the
failure to reform (too many vested interests,
lack of coordination in the reforming coalition)
would eventually lead to a greater upheaval
or even revolution, since the system must
eventually be adjusted or disintegrate, and
the failure of the Conciliar movement helped
lead to the Protestant Reformation in Europe.
These frustrated reformist movements ranged
from nominalism, devotio moderna (modern devotion),
to humanism occurring in conjunction with
economic, political and demographic forces
that contributed to a growing disaffection
with the wealth and power of the elite clergy,
sensitizing the population to the financial
and moral corruption of the secular Renaissance
church.
The outcome of the Black Death encouraged
a radical reorganization of the economy and
eventually of European society.
In the emerging urban centers, however, the
calamities of the 14th and early 15th century,
and the resultant labor shortages, provided
a strong impetus for economic diversification
and technological innovations.
Following the Black Death, the initial loss
of life from famine, plague, and pestilence
contributed to an intensification of capital
accumulation in the urban areas and thus a
stimulus to trade, industry, and burgeoning
urban growth in fields as diverse as banking
(the Fugger banking family in Augsburg and
the Medici family of Florence being the most
prominent); textiles, armaments, especially
stimulated by the Hundred Years' War, and
mining of iron ore with the booming armaments
industry.
Accumulation of surplus, competitive overproduction,
and heightened competition to maximize economic
advantage contributed to civil war, aggressive
militarism, and thus to centralization.
As a direct result of the move toward centralization,
leaders like Louis XI of France sought to
remove all constitutional restrictions on
the exercise of their authority.
In England, France, and Spain the move toward
centralization begun in the 13th century was
carried to a successful conclusion.
But as recovery and prosperity progressed,
enabling the population to reach its former
levels in the late 15th and 16th centuries,
the combination of both a newly-abundant labor
supply as well as improved productivity, were
'mixed blessings' for many segments of Western
European society.
Despite tradition, landlords started the move
to exclude peasants from "common lands".
With trade stimulated, landowners increasingly
moved away from the manorial economy.
Woollen manufacturing greatly expanded in
France, Germany, and the Netherlands and new
textile industries began to develop.
The invention of movable type lead to the
Protestant zeal for translating the Bible
and getting it into the hands of the laity.
This would advance the culture of Biblical
literacy.
The "humanism" of the Renaissance period stimulated
unprecedented academic ferment, and a concern
for academic freedom.
Ongoing, earnest theoretical debates occurred
in the universities about the nature of the
church, and the source and extent of the authority
of the papacy, of councils, and of princes.
== Spread of Christianity ==
Through the late 15th and early 16th centuries,
European missionaries and explorers spread
Catholicism to the Americas, Asia, Africa
and Oceania.
Pope Alexander VI, in the papal bull Inter
caetera, awarded colonial rights over most
of the newly discovered lands to Spain and
Portugal.
Under the patronato system, state authorities
controlled clerical appointments, and no direct
contact was allowed with the Vatican.On December
1511, the Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos
openly rebuked the Spanish authorities governing
Hispaniola for their mistreatment of the American
natives, telling them "... you are in mortal
sin ... for the cruelty and tyranny you use
in dealing with these innocent people".
King Ferdinand enacted the Laws of Burgos
and Valladolid in response.
Enforcement was lax, and while some blame
the Church for not doing enough to liberate
the Indians, others point to the Church as
the only voice raised on behalf of indigenous
peoples.
== Timeline ==
== 
See also ==
== 
References ==
== 
Further reading ==
Esler, Philip F. The Early Christian World.
Routledge (2004).
ISBN 0-415-33312-1.
White, L. Michael.
From Jesus to Christianity.
HarperCollins (2004).
ISBN 0-06-052655-6.
Freedman, David Noel (Ed).
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible.
Wm.
B. Eerdmans Publishing (2000).
ISBN 0-8028-2400-5.
Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan.
The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of
the Catholic Tradition (100-600).
University of Chicago Press (1975).
ISBN 0-226-65371-4.
== External links ==
Schaff's The Seven Ecumenical Councils
