Of the several grievances against the Church, "[t]he first and sorest was that she loved money, and had too much of it for her own good" (Durant 17). Documents on the exact wealth of the Church in the Middle Ages simply do not exist. Historians, however, speculate that the Church's share of the wealth made up anywhere from a fifth to three-quarters in each of England, France and Germany. "In Italy, of course, one third of the peninsula belonged to the Church as the Papal States, and she owned rich properties in the rest" (Durant 17).

The clergy was notorious for sucking money out of the people any way they could. They were known to have sold false relics to unsuspecting belie

The daily lives of the Catholic clergy were filled with intemperance. Their financial, political and social corruptions made it practically impossible to serve their positions truly. In essence, the clergy almost wasn't even really clergy at all. They were just ordinary people in religious clothing.

Mee, Charles L. White Robe,Black Robe. New York: GP Putnam Sons, 1972.64-5,

temporary hell. The indulgence began to replace prayer, pilgrimage and alms as penance to escape a short piece of their term in purgatory.

Another grievance that eventually became a driving force behind the Reformation, was the sale of indulgences. Priests are authorized to absolve a confessor from the guilt and punishment of sins in hell, but not from earthly penance. If all penances are not performed, the balance would have to be paid in purgatory, a kind of

Strayer, Joseph R. Dictionary of the Middle Ages. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983. Vol 3. 440-5, Vol 6. 446-50.

Had he Church been using the skimmed/scammed money for legitimate Church purposes, it may not have been so insulting. However, it was blatantly obvious that the cash was going to the clergy, who were becoming worldlier by the day. Even the papacy, the highest representative of God's church on Earth, had become almost mortally corrupted. Pope Clement VI's "luxurious court and gorgeous retinue were those of a secular prince, not a prince of the church" (Kelly 220). Even literature of the period portrays the clergy as being over-wealthy. There are several examples in Chaucer's famed Canterbury Tales. Chaucer first describes a Prioress bedecked with beads, brooches and other trinkets who makes sure her little dogs are fed with "roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread' (151). Such refined things were not meant for nuns, let alone their pets. Next described is the Monk. The tale says his favorite pastime is hunting, whereas a monk should spend his days in prayer and labor. His clothes are trimmed "With fine gray fur, the finest in the land, / And on his hood.../He had a wrought-gold cunningly fashioned pin" (Chaucer 198-200). The dress of the clergy was rare

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