Description:The system of granting indulgences gained popularity at the time of the First Crusade whereby repentant sinners who prayed for forgiveness and made a personal commitment were offered relief from their suffering in purgatory. Much revenue was raised for the Church in this way, but the system became abused in the later Middle Ages and was famously attacked by Martin Luther.
In 1095 Pope Urban II (1088-95) preached the First Crusade and undertook to bestow plenary indulgences on all who took part, promising that a repentant sinner who took part would be immediately received into heaven on his death. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) extended the system by offering indulgences to all who helped the crusade with money or advice. At the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 the quantity of indulgences which a mere bishop could grant was a hundred for a newly founded church, but only forty for a pilgrimage to an existing church. If a church which perhaps had the burial place of a saint and hoped to encourage pilgrimage by having more indulgences to offer, they had to seek them from the pope. From the early 13th century indulgences became a familiar aspect of Christian life: the remission of sins was promised to an increasing number of people in return for payments or visits to holy places and churches. In 1291 Pope Nicholas IV brought out a tariff of indulgences for pilgrimages varying according to distance. The practice was justified theologically by Pope Clement VI (1342-1352) who argued that Christ had made available by his sacrifice a treasury of merit which popes could draw on on behalf of the faithful.
The desire to obtain indulgences was closely linked to the growing belief in the need for all Christians to seek penitence and to the belief in purgatory. As purgatory, unlike heaven and hell, was thought to exist in time, indulgences could be expressed in terms of days, weeks or years. The concept of purgatory was based on the idea that people must inevitably often die without having made a complete restitution for sins they had committed in their lifetimes. Purgatory was seen as a sort of limbo where those who had died in a state of grace could expiate any remaining faults before passing on to heaven. Purgatory was temporary, but could be a time of acute suffering. The length and intensity of this suffering could be lessened by indulgences. In theology to be effective indulgences required confession and contrition and could not in themselves remove guilt, but popularly they were seen as a method of blotting out past sin. By the 15th century there were various ways of gaining indulgences in addition to pilgrimages.
The Hospital of Bridgnorth was granted to the canons in 1471, but the reason for the link at the time of this deed is not known.
To learn more about Medieval life in Shropshire, follow the link below to the article 'Aspects of Medieval Life: The Lilleshall Collection' written by Dr. Sylvia Watts and Robert Cromarty.
The transcripts and translations of Medieval deeds in the Lilleshall Collection and the stories written about Medieval life were produced by Dr. Sylvia Watts and Robert Cromarty at Shropshire Archives.