There were three major examples of the Medieval Christian Church controlling political and military behavior of Kings, and I think that, over time, the Church’s power grew. This is most exemplified by the Benedictine Monastery at Cluny and church reform, the First Crusade, and the Investiture Conflict of 1075. First is the Benedictine Monastery at Cluny, founded in 910 by the Duke and Duchess of Aquitaine. The Monastery soon became rich after it received several gifts, pushing for the authority of the newly appointed Pope. The reason that so many people had such veneration and reverence for this specific Monastery is that it was given under the protection of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, should anybody ever choose to try to overrule it. The Benedictine Monastery at Cluny was just one of many examples of church reform, where people wished to strip the church of its ties to kings and nobles, so that they may be governed on their own. This was contrasted by the previous system, where churches were supported and protected by kings, in return for the ability to appoint bishops and have control over the Pope. …show more content…
The church had been granting people “indulgences,” in return for those who chose to fight Muslims in Spain. Since the view of the public had shifted towards the importance of salvation, this was incredibly meaningful to the common man. Seljuk Turks (Sunni Muslims) began threatening the Byzantine territory, and the church was able to use that threat to mobilize people into fighting them, but at first, it didn’t really work. There was no real organization, but once they were able to coordinate large groups, they were able to defeat the Turks and capture Jerusalem. This show of power helped prove that the church no longer needed military or political protection or support from kings and
Question 2: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the absolute monarchy was all the rage throughout the European continent; to consolidate and increase their power, various absolute monarchs shared a bunch of similar methods. First, most of the absolute monarchs tried to control every aspect of his/her people's life, including social, political, and economic aspects. For instance, Elizabeth I of England had decided the religion of the country, and claimed that no law could be passed without her consent; she also executed her own cousin, due to his disloyalty to her. Second, the Church often played a pivotal role within the societies of the time, because the absolute monarchs usually used religion as a tool to control the people.
Everyone was petrified of Hell. Since the church ruled over the people, the Church continued to tell them that Hell was terrible. Throughout the medieval times, the Catholic Church was the center of attention. The land was led by the Pope. Knights needed to serve their lord but keep their faith.
Religion and its various ideologies played a key role in advancing the authority of the Ottoman and Catholic Europe; it also influenced the way they confronted outside powers and people from other religions. The Ottomans where an Islamic ruled empire which brought about a certain ideology that gave them the God given rights to the earth. Catholic Europe also had this ideology from where God gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven and endowed upon them earth as well (Matt 16: 19). The catholic church in Europe seemed to have their hands in the cookie jar of European Medieval Government and some what controlled the kings and nobles.
Between 1300 and 1600, King Henry the VIII was having a conflict with the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church. While being married to Catherine of Aragon, Henry was hoping for a son to eventually take over the kingdom. After having a baby girl, and realizing that Catherine was getting older, Henry was not so interested in staying married to her. King Henry tried to get divorced, even though the Pope said it was not allowed, he was having different ideas. Henry finally decided to make a church of his own, to where he could get a divorce.
The sack of Constantinople in the April of 1204 was a truly horrific event in both the history of the Byzantine Empire and of the Catholic Church. Christianity has been a driving force for many historical events, both negative and positive, and the sack of Constantinople is a perfect example of the bad acts. To fully understand the what, why, and how’s of the sack of Constantinople, one has to look to the Byzantine Empire before the event. Prior to the Crusades, the Byzantine Empire was under a lot of attacks that weakened the Empire. Some of these attacks came from the Seljuk Turks and the Balkan states.
Throughout the Middle Ages, religion was a strong, pervasive force in society. Most individuals were more concerned with God and the possibility of the afterlife than they were with current human affairs, says Encylopedia Britannica. By the time the Renaissance occurred, this social attitude was beginning to change. Religion was still practiced, but people began to be more focused on secular or humanist values, rather than spirituality, at this
King henry V11 of england declared himself leader of the church in england because the pope refused to divorce. Before becoming a professor of biblical scripture , Martin Luther had pursued the religious life as a priest and a vermont. After closing all the monasteries in
In anger, King Henry broke from the church and made himself head of the church of England. King Henry could do whatever he wanted, because the people of England had lost their freedom. Laws were created which forced people to stop practicing the Catholic religion and turn to Protestantism, which resulted in a great loss of souls. While all of this was
In holding off the various attacks, the Byzantines kept Western Civilization Christian instead of it being converted to Muslim. The Christian Church of Constantinople and the Christian Church of Rome also split due to an argument over some spiritual interpretations of the Bible. If it was not for the Byzantines most of Western Civilization would be Muslim and not Christian.
The Crusades had a major impact with the State and Church in the High Middle Ages as it led to territorial expansion, a new economy, and the establishment of a monastic society. The Crusades had a major impact on territorial expansion with the State and Church in the High Middle Ages by it resulting in the formation of the crusader states in Levant, or the eastern Mediterranean. It was initially governed, and in
The conflict causing the schism in 1054 was known as an investiture controversy. An investiture controversy describes a dispute between the popes and the Holy Roman Empire over who held ultimate authority over the bishops in imperial lands. Popes of this time were corrupt and desired power. They started the Crusades to establish their power over the rightful rulers of Western Europe. The Crusades were armed pilgrimages to the Holy Land by Christians determined to recover Jerusalem from Muslim Rule.
However, the Byzantines did not just cease to exist. Instead the empire saw a short but quick resurgence in their economic fortunes due to the Crusades and the exchange of goods and gold from Muslim lands and the coastal trading towns that began to pop up in the Mediterranean. However, this financial resurgence did not last and the empire fell into financial decline within a few hundred years after the Wars. Interestingly, it is believed that Pope Urban II was in fact motivated to initiate the First Crusade partly to avoid internal fighting among the European rulers and the nobility and instead fight a common enemy – the Muslims.
As a result, a massive Christian force came into existence, uniting the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches under one common goal: retake the Holy Land from the Muslim inhabitants (History.com staff,
Many people assume in medieval Europe that the crown is more powerful because it involves the king and the king rules everything. But however, it is very debatable by many historians who really took the win over who was most powerful. The Catholic Church has just as much and even more power than the government in Europe. This is demonstrated especially in the cases of Thomas Becket vs King Henry II, Pope Urban’s call for the crusade and Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV, in each case the Catholic Church won over the European government.
Rome to Renaissance Essay What do the sources for this course tell us about the Church and politics in the middle ages. During the Middle Ages, various events caused the Church to become gradually powerful and dominant as it was the only universal European institution. The fall of Rome resulted in the Rise of Christianity. As Rome ceased to be the political centre and was replaced by Milan and Nicomedia, Christianity slowly began to rise to prominence and by 325AD, Christianity was made the preferred religion of the empire. By 380, Christianity became the official religion.