Why did the medieval church matter so much?
If pupils are to appreciate what made medieval people tick, they need to understand the central importance of the Church in medieval life. This enquiry begins with a large doom painting, projected onto the classroom wall. As pupils enter the classroom they hear a Gregorian chant and smell burning incense. Skilful teacher questioning and explaining helps pupils to understand the significance of the doom painting. In subsequent lessons, the pupils use textbooks and video material to find out about the main ways in which the Church influenced people’s lives. They make a field visit to the local parish church, and do a virtual tour of a monastic site, to understand why these buildings mattered so much to medieval people. The end product is the ‘Medieval church’ chapter for a new book: ‘The time-traveller’s guide to the middle ages’.
