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Originally posted by Theodoric
I'm sure you're right. I was just quoting the 'official' version, as it were. What went through the mind of a mediaeval peasant, especially as all the church services were in Latin, I don't really know.
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What Rome intended to go through the minds of the peasants was 'hmm, this is all too mysterious for me, I'd better trust the priest and do what he says.' Therein lay the source of their corrupt power. Wycliffe's translation of the Bible into English in the late 14th century got him in serious trouble with the Pope because it allowed the peasants to read the Bible (or, rather, have it read to them) and find out they were being taken for a ride by the clergy.