Charles The Fat Controversy

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Charles the Fat, the successor of Charles the Bald, took control of the empire in 885 CE when he reunited the Carolingian Empire once again. While they entered a brief revitalization period, it was not enough to save the empire as the issues, namely size and outside pressure, that governed the old empire still proved powerful. Charles the Fat paid a ransom to allow invaders to continue to fight, just in a different location. This action simply put the end of the empire on hold, not removed the threat of collapse. In 887, the nephew of Charles the Fat, Arnulf, deposed him and the Carolingian Empire was officially over.
The alliance between the government and the papacy fell with the Carolingian Empire. The loss of power within the centralized …show more content…

When the Roman empire split apart and, later, fell apart, the Pope became the main source of power in the West. However, in the East, the Patriarch was subordinate to the Emperor and followed his commands. Because of this, the Pope had more freedom to increase power and standing than the Patriarch. Photius rose to the position of Patriarch in a period of five days during the Iconoclastic Controversy. Pope Nicholas I refused to recognize Photius as Patriarch after his hasty entrance into the position, and excommunicated him, essentially cutting the final remaining ties between the East and the West. To further destroy the relationship, in 867 CE, Photius held a synod that condemned the actions of Pope Nicholas I, and went as far as to depose and excommunicate him. Pope Nicholas I died before the news reached him, and due to the shattered idea of reconciliation, the newly chosen Pope was subordinate to a powerful Italian noble family, and marked the beginning of noble control of the Papacy. The development of power in the ninth and tenth centuries, led to families who ruled for hundreds of years.
As the power of both parties increased, they became increasingly intertwined. For example, the Lateran Palace, a noble-owned and built property, was the home of the church for 400 years before the Vatican. With the addition of land and payment to the advantages of being pope, the nobles …show more content…

Although the position of Archbishop of Bulgaria became available to him, he was unable to take it due to the issue of translation-- a bishop can transfer from one diocese to another, an issue that would haunt him, even after his death. He helped excommunicate Photius, although he found himself excommunicated in 876 for conspiracy and papal ambitions. His followers, called Formosiani, became traitors in the eyes of Rome, and it was not until Pope Marinus I erased his charges and reinstalled him as the Bishop of Porto, that they began to gain their reputation back. In 891, the title of Bishop of Rome, or Pope, fell to Formosus, once again bringing up the issue of translation. During his time as Pope, he crowned both Guy III’s son, Lambert and Arnulf as emperors and in the process, made enemies of the Spoleto family, who opposed Arnulf. He died in 896 and placed to rest in St. Peter’s Basilica, though he would people exhumed and reburied him twice more before returning to his final resting

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