Structure of the Church

The Church: An Introduction

The structure of the Church is separate from the King and the shires as Church members form a separate social class called clerici (clergy). The clergy is made up of ecclesiastics devoted to the faith who have taken vows not to pursue worldly advancement and possessions, instead choosing a life of service to our God and the faithful.

The Church will have the power to regulate its own affairs and Church members will be tried by the ecclesiastical courts rather than the secular courts of the Kingdom. However, the Church will have to operate from the lands of the secular lords until such time as they are granted their own lands. Such lands will be given to a Bishop as a temporality which is the only exception to the rule that a member of the clergy may not own property.

It is hoped that in the future the Church will be able to acquire their own lands either through a grant from a magnate or direct conquest. It will be quite a while, however, before the Church will be able to muster the wealth, support and military strength to become a political force unto itself.

Clergy may not pursue crafting skills with the intention of becoming a commercial trader. But they will be able to peruse any craft for the betterment of the Church and can offer these services to those outside the clergy in exchange for donations to the Church. They can serve as ministers or officers of the court but will not be allowed to accept payment unless it is a donation to the Church.

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When clergy members hold secular positions in the military or government they hold special titles. See the section on Clergy Titles.

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A member may leave the clergy, but will not be allowed to re-enter service without special dispensation from the ecclesiastical council.

The Church: The Hierarchy

When a member undertakes holy vows they enter an entirely new social class with its own rankings. The position you held in secular life will affect at which position you enter the church.

Novice

Trial Members or Paupers (Vagabonds) enter the Church as a Novice and Villeins (Coloni) may choose to enter the Church at this level instead of taking the Friar examination. A Novice is in training to become a Friar but is not yet considered part of the clergy and is still a member of the secular structure.

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A Novice may advance to Friar by demonstrating a good understanding of the Church Dogma and an interest in developing role-play skills. Typically a Novice can expect their training to take two-weeks to a month but an exceptionally dedicated Novice may be fast tracked while an inactive one may never see advancement or could be removed entirely.

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The role of a Novice is to learn the Dogma of the Church while showing an interest in role-play and assisting the Friars and/or Priests in their daily duties.

Friars

Any peasant, whether man or woman, may become a friar by training as a Novice or by successfully completing the Friar examination. The form of address is "Brother" or “Sister�. Friars will become part of a mendicant or military order and will be governed by its rule.

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A Friar may advance to Priest by showing a great understanding of the Church Dogma, a good understanding of the Church Lore and developing role-play skills.

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A Friar may be ordained as a Priest by completing the sacerdotal examination as proof that they already possess excellent knowledge of the Dogma, an excellent understanding of the Church Lore and good role-play skills.

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The role of a Friar will be heavily influenced by the rule of the Order that they are a member of but, in essence, a Friar is to the Church what a Villein is to the secular society. As long as a Friar follows the orders rules and does not break their holy vows they will find that they can peruse almost any avenue.

As examples: a friar may choose to join the garrison, may serve as a minister or officer of the court, can peruse a craft or hobby, spread the faith as a missionary or take up arms in a crusade. In fact, as long as they act in God’s name, a Friar has great freedom. Friars will serve the spiritual needs of the community by reminding people of our faith and warning those who are straying from the path.

Deacon

Gentry (Nobiles Homines) and Freeman (Homines Liberi) who wish to join the church may do so at the rank of deacon; upon passing a verbal interview and paying for their schooling. A deacon is a candidate for priesthood. The form of address is "Deacon/Deaconess" and in full correspondence as "The Reverend Mister".

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A Deacon may be ordained as a Priest by showing excellent knowledge of the Dogma, an excellent understanding of the Church Lore and good role-play skills.

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A Deacon may be ordained as a Priest by completing the sacerdotal examination as proof that they already possess excellent knowledge of the Dogma, an excellent understanding of the Church Lore and good role-play skills.

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The deacon's role in the church is to study the lore of the Church and it is also their duty to support the priest to which they are assigned. Their responsibilities are much the same as those of a Friar.

Priest

Friars or Deacons may become priests upon passing the sacerdotal examination or by demonstrating that they have the knowledge and capability to act as a fixture of the faith within the community. The form of address for a priest is "Reverend Father" or “Reverend Mother�.

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There are multiple positions available to Priests that carry different levels of authority and responsibility. These can be found in the “church titles� section below.

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The priests main role is to oversee the mental and physical health of all those who follow the faith and they should spread the word wherever they go, and offer guidance to those who seek it. As such the position of priest can be quite role-play intensive you must know how to address members of the clergy and also secular society with the correct titles, be able to offer guidance and help in matters of Dogma and Lore to the Friars and Deacons and be ready to lead people in worship.

Bishop

The role of the Bishop, or Lord Spiritual, is to lead the faithful in his diocese, and to oversee all matters religious in nature. Bishops are allowed to own property in the form of a temporality. It's like a fief, only given to the Bishops of the Church. Collectively the Bishops act as land owning agents on behalf of the Church. The Bishop is a lord of society and is addressed as "my Lord" or "His Excellency" and "The Right Reverend Bishop of Wessex".

Ecumenical Council
This council determines the dogma, lore and laws of the church by two-thirds majority vote. Bishops from other kingdoms or nations that share our religion would also sit on this council. The council must have a quorum of one half plus one, or the written approval of His Grace, Manus Dei for official changes to existing church law or doctrine. The council also grants the charter for Spiritual Orders.

From amongst their number they will nominate a candidate for archbishop whose ordainment must be approved by the King. The archbishop is a minister in the Royal Cabinet and has a vote in the House of Lords. An archbishop’s vote carries the power of veto. The archbishop is addressed as “your Grace” at first and “my lord” thereafter.

Church Knight

The Church may create its own knights, as bishops and archbishops have the power of Accolade. As a knight - you are not expected to preach, but you should still be a good role-player and posses a great understanding of the Church Dogma and a good understanding of the Church Lore.

Knights sworn to the Church may still bear the title of sir, still have heraldic arms and will still fight from horseback. However, the other knightly pursuits of courtly love, maintaining a retinue, and maintaining serfs and lands will be off limits to him. Becoming a Knight of the Church does not imply entry to the clergy but the very act of swearing fealty to a bishop by a knight bachelor instantly precludes him from ever receiving a benefice of land. Similarly, if the knight already possesses land it will become forfeit and he shall have to abandon the manor and estate provided to him by his lord and escheat the territory back into the lord's possession. Being a Church knight does not equate to holding a particular status amongst the clergy and a Church Knight could be a Friar, a Deacon or Priest for example.

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A Friar, a Deacon or a Priest may become a Knight of the Church by demonstrating excellent combat and horsemanship abilities, strong military leadership, a great understanding of the Church Dogma, good understanding of the Church Lore and good-role play skills.

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The Master of a military order would be a church knight, as would his senior lieutenants if they have distinguished themselves militarily, however, only the Master would be ordained and be guaranteed to hold the rank of Priest. However, not all members of a military order are knights. In fact, most of them are lay persons.

Clergy Titles

Here's a quick description of the subset classes that clergy members can have:

Abbot
Members of the clergy who have been granted an Abbey to run are called Abbots. Anyone can be an Abbot, even secular lords, though it is more likely to be run by a member of the clergy, and even more likely that a Master of an Order of Friars will be granted an Abbey. His form of address is "the Right Reverend".

Cleric
Members of the clergy who have a position in both the administrative wing of the government and the church are called clerics. They may be Priests, Deacons or Friars.

Chaplain
Clergy may enlist in the military in addition to their normal ecclesiastical duties. Priests and Deacons who serve in a military position by either being in a military order or joining a secular army for a campaign are called chaplains.

Master of the Order
When members of the church form a spiritual order, they may elect from among their members a "leader" or the Bishop may found an order and assign someone to lead it. This person then becomes the Master of the Order. The Master may be a Priest, Deacon or a Friar when the order is founded, but must be ordained as the founding requirements of any spiritual order would require such. They are titled “the Very Reverend�

Parson
Parsons are members of the clergy who serve as the head of a church building. This person answers only to the Bishop. They may only be a Priest and are styled "the Reverend Father".

Prior
Members of the clergy who have been granted a priory to run OR members who have been assigned by an Abbot to help them run their Abbey. They may be friars, deacons, or priests. Addressed as "the Very Reverend".

Rector
Members of the clergy assigned to teach deacons. They may only be priests and are styled "the Very Reverend Father�.

Vicar
Vicars are members of the kingdom who serves as the second in command to the Bishop. There is only one per diocese, and he/she answers only to the Bishop. They may only be a priest and are styled "the Very Reverend ".

The Church: Spiritual Orders

The idea is that all members of the church will belong to an Order. Members are allowed to transfer from one type of Order to another. There are three types of spiritual orders; military, mendicant and canonical orders.

Military Order

A military order is made up of warrior monks who serve the church, and knights who give up all their worldly lands and titles in order to serve their God without the interference of worldly desire. They are granted a charter, live under a Rule, are clergy, and pledge their allegiance to the church in order to serve God uninhibited by the corruption of secular influence.

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Sometimes a military order will have an obligation of obedience to the King (or in our case, the various lords) as they will more than likely be dependent on operating on land which belongs to them. It is possible for a military order to become a sovereign nation (i.e. clan).

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If you are looking to be recognized as a military order, there are requirements which you must fulfil in order to be considered official.

First – A Rule
You must have a Rule which is approved by the church. All a Rule is are the "Rules" by which the organization operates. It includes things like, uniforms, chain of command, obedience, and all sorts of stuff.

Second - Charter
It must be granted a charter by the Ecumenical Council. This is what legitimizes your Order as a military order, and not just a bunch of religious nuts running around trying to cleanse evil.

Third – Ordained Leader
The Grand Master must be ordained by the leader of the diocese. This would be your Bishop. Independent nations would fall under the Archbishop.

Fourth – Approval of Sovereign
You must have the approval of the Sovereign so that he's aware of what you're doing. (If you plan on being an independent nation, not a sub-guild, then this obviously isn't necessary as you are the sovereign).

Fifth – Leader must be a Knight
It must be founded by someone with the rank of knight, or higher. Of course, the Bishop of the diocese can knight you once you accomplish the first four goals. A military order leader is known as Grand Master.

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NOTE: It's possible for a Chivalric Order to become a Military Order. You can't go from a Military Order to a Chivalric Order however. If you did rescind your oath to God, you'd be excommunicated outright.

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Mendicant Order
Here are a few guidelines and things to know that should be referred to when founding an Order of Friars.

By nature, friars are constantly on the move, spreading the word of Auros, and committing good acts in any town they come across. As such, they own no property, or land (even collectively), therefore they must rely on the charity of the towns in which they are passing through. Orders with significant numbers may be granted a monastery used as a HQs, but owned by the church. Otherwise, they will operate out of the diocese.

If you are looking to be recognized as a mendicant order, there are requirements which you must fulfil in order to be considered official. This is similar to that of a military order.

Its Rule must be recognized by the Church
It must be granted a Charter by the Ecumenical Council (Council of Bishops)
Its leader must be ordained by a Bishop.

Failure to meet any of these three criteria will generally result in the Order being declared heretical, and unless it disbands immediately, its members will be hunted down as heretics themselves.

Canonical Order
A canonical order is basically the staff of people who oversee a particular church building. Such an Order will fall under the direction of a vicar or priest and deacons would be members. As such a Parson must be an ordained priest as he would be in charge of the building.

Inquisition
The Inquisition will act as “sheriffs� for the church. They will seek out and expose those members that are preaching heresy or otherwise trying to destabilise the Church. The perpetrators will be delivered to the Ecumenical Council to be tried and judged.

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Some members have expressed concern regarding this position. However, you may be assured that is mostly for role-playing purposes. No member will be disposed, killed or otherwise impaired by an Inquisitor. Such judgements may only be issued by the ecclesiastical or secular courts.

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Your Excellency, a very interesting read (albeit a long one).


How many members of the church are you looking for? There seem to be a lot of ranks that need to be filled and I don't expect we will have enough members for the church and the secular society.

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Originally Posted by Elagost Thego

Your Excellency, a very interesting read (albeit a long one).

How many members of the church are you looking for? There seem to be a lot of ranks that need to be filled and I don't expect we will have enough members for the church and the secular society.

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You must remember there are "social" classes (friars, deacon, priest etc) and "jobs" (cleric, abbot). Most of those ranks do not have to be filled. For example a cleric is a clergyman serving in the ducal court. If there is no friar or priest doing work as a clerk or reeve then there will be no clerics.

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Originally Posted by Elagost Thego

How many members of the church are you looking for? There seem to be a lot of ranks that need to be filled and I don't expect we will have enough members for the church and the secular society.

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Thank you, Sir Rhygar, for answering this question. You are the second person Elagost to ask a question along these lines so I will edit the above posts to try and clarify the difference between "social" class and "job" roles. As far as numbers go, I am hoping that the Church will grow to around 10-20% of Wessexs total size but this is not an exact figure and I will neither recruit nor turn people away for number reasons.

To allay fears of "not enough people" -- I was once a Knight, Priest, and a Grand Master simultaneously.

Important people in feudal societies tended to gather up multiple roles, for reasons of both pride, showing favor and efficacy. The full styling of important officials, whether secular or clergy, could take quite a while to recite. Even today, the remaining nobility of England can carry quite a few titles.

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Some members have expressed concern regarding this position. However, you may be assured that is mostly for role-playing purposes. No member will be disposed, killed or otherwise impaired by an Inquisitor. Such judgements may only be issued by the ecclesiastical or secular courts.

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Aww...

Hmm.. Makes me think it would be convenient if the King was our God.

Then again it could be dangerous to boost that man's ego any more, and solar deities rock. :)