Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans.

Episode 16, Germany in the Year 1000, Part 2.

Last week we discussed the economy and the infrastructure of Germany in the year 1000,

and we looked at the first two social strata of the Middle Ages, the laboratories, who did all the year 1000, and we looked at the first two social strataes of the Middle Ages,

the Labarataurus, who did all the useful stuff, and the Bellatoris, those who fight.

Today we will look at the third and the officially highest ranking group, the Oratoris,

those who pray, and then we'll discuss the role of the king emperor in the Otonian realm,

the institutions, if there are any, and how they differ from other polities of the time.

But let's first talk about the oratoris. This is the most heterogeneous group,

ranging from the simple country parson to major European political operators.

At the lowest level, you have the village priest. As always in this time period we have little consistent

data on how many priests there were, whether there were places of worship in most

villages, how the priest was paid, etc. But best guess is, there were many priests,

and in the outlying villages,

the priest would show up once a month,

or even only once a year, to do the major sacraments,

like baptisms and marriages.

The training of the priest should have happened predominantly

in the cathedral schools that were attached to a cathedral. These were often

very prestigious institutions. The bishop would quite regularly take on the role of teacher

within the cathedral school. We for instance know that Gerbert of Oriak went to Rouse to run the

cathedral school and he would later become an archbishop, and finally even the Pope.

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