Comparing The Conflicts Between King Philip IV Of France And Pope Boniface VIII

The feud between King Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII represented a time in medieval Europe as nations sought to consolidate power under the monarch of the country. However, Pope Boniface VIII opposed this change in Europe, instead trying to maintain the great influence the papacy had reached under the rule of Pope Innocent III almost 100 years before. Another factor in the feud were the constant disputes between France and England, which required a large amount of money to fund. King Philip IV helped pay for these wars by taxing the clergy of France, which usually required the consent of the pope. In a display of power, Pope Boniface VIII released the bull Clericis Laicos, which gave the pope the power to excommunicate any monarch who taxes his clergy with the pope’s consent.

Unfortunately for Pope Boniface, in King Philip’s efforts to consolidate France, he refused the clergy from any ability to administer law. Therefore, Clericis Laicos had little effect in France. After a few back and forth disputes between France and Rome, Pope Boniface sought to weaken France by proclaiming Albert I and the Holy Roman Empire supreme over all other nations in Europe. He followed this act up with the papal bull Unam Sanctam.

Boniface claimed that the Catholic Church is a requirement to achieve salvation, and that the pope must be the head of the Church. However, all people must submit to the Church to reach salvation, even monarchs. I find these claims unreasonable, because they seem to be an attempt to force the monarchs of Europe to realize the Church’s power by weakening their own. Naturally, King Philip, who already disliked the pope from their feuds, would be justified to ignore the bull, because it would have forced him to weaken his power and submit to the pope, exactly what he had tried to avoid during the entire feud. King Philip IV’s rebuttal to Unam Sanctam earned him a excommunication from Boniface. Instead, King Philip brought up twenty-nine accusations against Pope Boniface, which would eventually led to his untimely death. The issues between France and Rome also caused problems in England, where King Henry II struggled against Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury in an attempt to avoid having to submit to the pope’s authority. Becket claimed that the clergy could not be tried by the laws of England, only through the

Church. This mirrors Boniface’s claim that the clergy is free from taxation from monarchs. As Becket fell out of favor in King Henry’s court, he was eventually forced into exile. When he returned to England, he immediately excommunicated bishops that had aiding King Henry. This angered the king so much that four knights went out to murder Becket. As was the case with the dispute between Philip IV and Boniface VIII, the feud between Henry II and Becket escalated from small disputes over the power that the Church should have over the clergy and over the monarchs. Unfortunately for the Church, monarchs in the Middle Ages began to realize that the Church has become an interference with their power, leading to violent feuds between Church and state in France and England.