Hi everyone! Me again with the weirdly specific questions.
I was watching the show Wolf Hall on BBC a little while ago. Cardinal Wolsey was discussing King Henry with Thomas Cromwell. Since the divorce with Catherine of Aragon was a big issue, Wolsey was saying that Pope Clement would look to him to "keep Christendom" together.
I've heard of referring to the Western Christian Kingdoms in the Middle Ages as Christendom before, but only in history classes, and it's use in the show seemed somewhat anachronistic. Did people like Wolsey really use such a term, and think of Western Catholic Chrisitiany as a real, unified entity?
It's completely plausible. The Old English word cristendom or cristendome referred to the state of being a Christian, or Christianity. By the 14th century (Middle English), it had taken on the geographic connotation as well--the state of nations being Christian, one might say. The sometimes-contrast was "heathenesse" (heathen-ness).
Medieval Islam developed a parallel idea of a dar al-Islam and dar al-harb, world/house of Islam and world/house of war.