During Medieval times, the clergy (the body of all people ordained for religious duties) and the Church were very influential. The kings and local lords appointed members of the clergy including the bishops and priests, and in return, the clergy would play a great role in establishing the rules of the land. However, priests were not as influential as Bishops and Archbishops who, most of the times, came from rich and powerful families.
During medieval times, priests were exempt from paying taxes as their work was considered holy and noble. They were entrusted (by either The Pope or in some cases by the ruling body (King/Emperor) due to differences in investiture) with holding Masses in parishes, baptisms, and weddings as they were educated, provided community care and held religious events. They also offered spiritual guidance and absolved sins from sinners. Also, to those dying they performed final rites. Other than spreading faith, holding Masses and other religious duties as priests, they were also an important body of education, usually the only source of education in the given place. They were given a task to establish and run a school within their parishes as the rulers realized how important education was to the prosperity of their realms. Even though what they taught was very basic, they would take those they recognize potential in under their wing and teach them Latin, religious studies, rhetoric and philosophy. Other than religious duties and education, they were also in charge of streamlining local government processes. As such, they would be appointed as clerks to handle local government transactions, kept records and accounts and duplicated title deeds. It was the priests at this time that pioneered the concept of civil service, which later became an integral part of European society. Priests also presided over business transactions that required a witness to affirm the obligations of both parties to the transaction. Additionally, noblemen would hire priests as their personal secretaries.
Together with the bishops, the priests in the middle ages made a living from tithes, a fee that parishioners paid from working in the fields. The total amount of tithe a person would pay would be a tenth of their earnings or their harvest. Thus, peasants would contribute a tenth of their meat and a tenth of their harvest to the church. The clergy would use one-third of the contributions for their own upkeep, while the Bishop and the poor in the community would share the remaining contributions. The money that was given to, or collected by the church was used for repairs within the church, for purchasing books and candles. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, priests who served in the parish were generally allowed to marry and to have children. Priesthood in the middle ages was hereditary so that the priest’s son would take over the church when his father died. Women were not permitted to become priests. The Church attempted to keep priests and bishops from marrying and having children. These attempts to impose celibacy deterred some people from aspiring to become priests. Many who were already priests and bishops began to live with a “hearth woman” or a concubine, a woman to whom they were not married. Other priests and bishops did not mind paying the fine that the Church had made obligatory if they chose to marry. In effect, the Church required that members of the clergy obtain a license and pay a requisite fee if they marry. Additionally, the Church made it obligatory for priests who did not shave their heads as per Roman tradition, to pay a fine. The structure of the priesthood, just like in society had hierarchies. The village priest was lower in the hierarchy. He might be just a local boy who went to the monastery to study religion. There often was no difference between the village priest and the parishioners. Higher on the priesthood hierarchy was the parish priest who oversaw the church and even though he still interacted with the community, he was viewed as having a higher status. Compared to the village priest and the local parishioners, a parish priest would be more educated, but illiterate nevertheless.