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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Buttercup" data-source="post: 1734956" data-attributes="member: 990">I can only add a few bits and pieces to the excellent information in this thread.First, literacy.  Consider that most peasants and even many nobles were illiterate.  Learning outside the church was almost nonexistent.  All the amazing stained glass windows you see in medieval churches were put there to show bible stories to the unwashed masses.  The power of literacy, then, was another one the church had. Second, consider that children were sometimes given to the church at a very young age.  Usually not the oldest son, but a younger one, and also daughters might be given over to the church with a sort of dowery.  So many clergy weren't voluntary members in the way we would think of it--they had never known anything else.   If you want to read some fiction that presents a medieval monastery pretty accurately, look for the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters.  In fact, many of these could be mined for adventure ideas, especially if your players haven't read the books!</blockquote>