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The influence religion had on western civilization
The Rise of the Medieval Papacy
Catholic church power in medieval europe
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The rise of the church had a great impact in medieval society. The great belief of Christianity began with Jesus of Nazareth who presented public preaching’s of a friendly and forgiving God as he claimed he was the Messiah. According to Jesus, god’s command was for all human kind to love, cherish, and focus their lives to the Lord. The love that was expected for humans to have for God was to adore him with all of their hearts, minds, and souls. He also preached to the early people of how one should love one another. A friendly and forgiving God would later attract many sacredly inspired communities to worship him. People of the medieval world placed great belief in Christianity causing the rise of the church to impact many aspects of the society including government, family, and architecture. Government of the medieval society was impacted greatly by the rise of the church. As time passed after Jesus’s crucifiction, preaching’s of his heroic sacrifice for human’s sins intrigued many people including leaders from different places. “In the latter part of the Middle Ages, the pope, as head of the church, had much influence over the king and total control of the clergy” (The Middle Ages). Knowing the belief that common folk had in Christianity, many leaders seemed to take advantage or work with religious role models like popes, bishops, priests, etc. for ways of taking control of people or simply being crowned emperor. In 800, Charlemagne “was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day” (Charlemagne). The pope was appealed to Charlemagne (also known as Charles the Great) for protection against the Lombards. Though this appeared to be a mutual trade, it is interesting as to how Pope Leo III had the power to crown someone to be e... ... middle of paper ... ...n Society In Medieval Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 20 Feb. 2014. "Charlemagne." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. Deanesly, Margaret. A History Of The Medieval Church, 590-1500. London: Routledge, 1969. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 20 Feb. 2014. Orme, Nicholas. "Arriving ." Medieval children. New Haven: Yale University Press, 20032001. 13-14. Print. Orme, Nicholas. "Church ." Medieval children. New Haven: Yale University Press, 20032001. 200. Print. "The Middle Ages | Feudalism." The Middle Ages | Feudalism. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. Van Liere, Frans. "Was the Medieval Church Corrupt?" The ORB. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. .
The Web. The Web. 23 Nov. 2011. The "Middle Ages - Information, Facts, and Links." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans.
- - - The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. London, England, Penguin Books, no publication
Einhard, in his The Life of Charlemagne, makes clear the fundamental integration of politics and religion during the reign of his king. Throughout his life, Charles the Great endeavored to acquire and use religious power to his desired ends. But, if Charlemagne was the premiere monarch of the western world, why was religious sanction and influence necessary to achieve his goals? In an age when military power was the primary means of expanding one's empire, why did the most powerful military force in Europe go to such great lengths to ensure a benevolent relationship with the church? One possibility may be found in the tremendous social and political influence of Rome and her papacy upon the whole of the continent. Rather than a force to be opposed, Charlemagne viewed the church as a potential source of political power to be gained through negotiation and alliance. The relationship was one of great symbiosis, and both componants not only survived but prospered to eventually dominate western Europe. For the King of the Franks, the church provided the means to accomplish the expansion and reformation of his empire. For the Holy Roman Church, Charles provided protection from invaders and new possibilities for missionary work.
...ope.” In Crabtree, Pam J. Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Medieval World. New York. Facts on File, Inc., 2008. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts on File, Inc. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, became the undisputed ruler of Western Europe, “By the sword and the cross.” (Compton’s 346) As Western Europe was deteriorating Charlemagne was crowned the privilege of being joint king of the Franks in 768 A.D. People of Western Europe, excluding the church followers, had all but forgotten the great gifts of education and arts that they had possessed at one time. Charlemagne solidly defeated barbarians and kings in identical fashion during his reign. Using the re-establishment of education and order, Charlemagne was able to save many political rights and restore culture in Western Europe.
The Roman Catholic Church greatly influenced the lives of many people during the medieval times. At the head of the Roman Catholic Church was the pope. Followers believed that the pope was the representative of Jesus on earth. The spiritual classes below the pope were the cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops, and finally the local priests. This was a very efficient system where each class ruled, and directed each class below them. Peasants, of course, were all the way at the bottom of the social class system, but took up 95% of the population. Their lives were very closely tied to their local churches. The main responsibility of the Roman Catholic Church was to serve the spiritual needs of medieval society, and to get people to heaven. This slowly started to change as soon as the Church turned to their corrupt ways to control the people. The Church owned everything from land, to even peoples souls! Going against the Roman Catholic Church was absolutely unacceptable. Not only would you be
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, reigned during a time of much turmoil and upheaval in Europe during middle ages. Charlemagne’s background and family history contributed much to his rise to power. The triumphs of his past lineage prepared him to take on the task of governing the Frankish Empire, and defending it from invaders. Charlemagne accomplished much during his supremacy. He not only brought education back into medieval Europe, but also invented an efficient way to govern his people. His conquests against the many adversaries of the Holy Roman Empire expanded his empire across the majority of Europe. His conquests also formed strong ties between the Catholic Church and the State. Charlemagne’s drive to convert Europe’s primitive and pagan tribes to Christianity nearly effaced the Saxons, whom he battled with for the majority of his reign. The crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor created a turning point in history. Within years after his death, however, his once great empire amounted to nothing. Charlemagne’s reign as King of the Franks and as Holy Roman Emperor greatly influenced the course of Europe during the middle ages.
"The Experiences of Life in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1650." Civilization in the West. Pearson Education, 1995-2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
Shawna Herzog, History 101-1, Class Lecture: 11.2 Society in the Middle Ages, 27 March 2014.
The Holy Roman Empire was an empire in central Europe consisting of many territories and ethnicities. Once very powerful, the empire’s authority slowly decreased over centuries and by the Middle Ages the emperor was little more than a figurehead, allowing princes to govern smaller sections of the empire. Though the various ruling princes owed loyalty to the emperor, they were also granted a degree of independence and privileges. The emperor, an elected monarch, needed the allegiance of the princes and other aristocracy to support him, in turn giving them power or money. This tenuous allegiance between powers was greatly strained in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as religious reform dominated Europe and religious tensions divided the empire. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the empire’s power significantly declined because of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation split the empire’s states into Protestant and Catholic divisions, straining the peace between territories. Though the relationship between the princes and the emperor had already been tenuous, the princes, seeing the religious divisions, sensed weakness in the empire and further challenged imperial authority. The Holy Roman emperors battled Protestant princes in Germany into the seventeenth century, where tensions were still high from the Reformation and wars of religion – initially contained to the German territories – began to include other territories and states. As more European states joined the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire continued to deteriorate. From the early sixteenth to the mid seventeenth century, the Holy Roman Empire’s power declined greatly because of its internal religious rifts, conflicts (in particular the Thirty Years War, whic...
Pope Leo III was struggling to maintain and keep out invaders from Rome. As a result of this he asked Charlemagne for assistance. Charlemagne helped put many unwanted raiders into jail, fulfilling the pope’s wishes. In return for the help, Pope Leo crowns Charlemagne in 800 on December 25th making him the emperor of Rome, (Ellis, Esler 2009). After this coronation Charlemagne became known as the “Holy Roman Emperor” and Rome became united under Christianity, (english-online). This act revived Pope Leo’s plan to convert Rome to Christianity, “which came to be called Christendom”, (Ellis, Esler 2009). In addition to the other positive outcomes of this crowning of Charlemagne, it resolved many of the struggles for power between the popes and germanic leaders. Even though this coronation had countless positive outcomes, it enlarged the divide between the Eastern and Western parts of the Roman Empire, especially enraging the emperor in the east. In order for Charlemagne to fulfill his goal of creating a Christian Europe he worked very hard with the Church. Numerous Saxons and Slavs were converted to Christianity. Charlemagne appointed “powerful nobles” called missi dominici, (Ellis, Esler 2009). These nobles basically spied and gathered information that heard on the streets and later reported it to Charlemagne. The last way Charlemagne succeed in trying to unify a Christian empire is by
Roger Babusci et al. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1994. 115-136. Print. “The Medieval Period: 1066-1485.”
Religion played a major role in medieval society. The church provided stable leadership, administered education and encouraged good morals. Until the church stepped in, Medieval Europe was crumbling, and Barbarian tribes began to carve out their own kingdoms, leaving Medieval Europe in a declining state. The church took care of the poor, sick and elderly. As a result, many people relied heavily on the church,and because
Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.
On Christmas day, 800a.d, there was an emperor in the west for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. But this emperor, Charlemagne, was different from all his predecessors. He was not a native Roman, nor Greek. In fact, he was what they would consider a barbarian. He was the king of the Franks, a Germanic tribe which gained dominance over much of the old western empire. Charlemagne’s coronation would lead to the birth of a new western European identity, one that was separate from the old Roman and Germanic ones that predated it. The coronation gave Charlemagne the legitimacy he needed to unite these two vastly different cultures under one nation.1 The coronation would also solidify his relation with the Catholic church,