The Power of the Church

Slide 1: 

1. Amid the weak central government in feudal Europe the church emerged as a powerful institution
2. Shaped the lives of people from all social classes
3. Expanded its political role, strong rulers began to question the pope’s authority
4. A dramatic power struggle would unfold in the Holy Roman Empire

Slide 2:

1. Crowning charlemagne as the roman emperor in 800 the church sought to influence both Spiritual and political matters
2. Three years before in 500: Pope Gelasius I recognized the conflicts that could arise between The two great forces: the church and the state
3. Gelasius suggest an analogy to settle the conflict

Slide 3:

1. Suggested God created two symbolic swords
2. One sword was religious, held by the pope and the other political, held by the emperor
3. Pope held the spiritual one and the emperor the other  
4. Gelasius thought the pope should let the emperor decided political matters and he in return Lets the pope decide religious matters
5. If each ruler kept authority in his own realm, the two leaders could share power in harmony
6. In reality, they disagreed on the boundaries of either realm and would compete for power

Slide 4:

1. Church had its own organization like feudalism
2. Different ranks of clergy: religious officials
3. Pope in rome headed the church
4. Clergy including bishops and priests fell under his authority
5. Bishops supervised priests, the lowest ranking members of the clergy
6. Bishops also settled disputes over church teaching and practices
7. For most people only person they came into contact with was the local priest

Slide 5:

1. Feudalism and the manor system created a division among people
2. Shared belief brought them together.
3. Church was a stable force during an era of constant warfare and political turmoil
4. Provided christians with a sense of security and of belonging to a religious community

Slide 6:

1. Medieval christians everyday lives were harsh, but could all follow the same path to salvation in heaven
2. Priests and other clergy administered sacraments: important religious ceremonies
3. Rites paved the way for achieving salvation
4. For example through the sacrament of baptism, people became part of the christian community.

Slide 7:

1. At the local level, the village church was a unifying force in the lives of most people
2. Served as a religious and social center
3. People worshipped together and met other villagers.
4. Religious holiday, like christmas and easter were occasions for festive celebrations

Slide 8:

1. Church’s authority was religious and political
2. Provided a set of unifying set of spiritual beliefs and rituals
3. Church created a system of justice to guide people’s conduct
4. Everyone was subject to canon law or church law, in matters such as marriage and religious practices.

Slide 9:  

1. Church also established courts to try people accused of violating canon law
2. Two of the harshest punishments that offenders faced were excommunication and interdict
3. Excommunication or banishment from the church helped church officials control the king
4. Disobedient king’s quarrel with a pope might result in the king being excommunicated or being denied salvation
5. It also freed all the king's vassals from their duties to him
6. An excommunicated king continued to disobey the pope, the pope, in turn, could interdict him

Slide 10:

1. An interdict, means sacraments and religious services could not be performed in the king’s lands
2. Christians believed without sacraments they would be doomed to go to hell.
3. These two threats would force a german emperor to submit to the pope’s demands

Slide 11:

1. Most effective ruler in medieval germany was Otto I, known as Otto the Great.
2. Otto followed policies of Charlemagne by forming a close alliance with the church
3. Built up his power base by gaining support from bishops and abbots (head of monasteries)
4. Dominated the church in germany and used his power to defeat german princes
5. Otto also invaded italy on the pope’s behalf
6. Pope then crowned him emperor in 962

Slide 12:

1. German-Italian empire was first called the Roman Empire of the German Nation
2. Later known as the Holy Roman Empire
3. Remained the strongest state in Europe in 1100
4. Otto’s vision to revive charlemagne’s empire caused trouble for future leaders

Slide 13:

1. Church wasn’t cool with king, such as otto, having control over clergy and their offices
2. Resented the practice of lay investiture, a ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials
3. Whoever controlled lay investiture held the real power in naming bishops, who influenced the clergy that kings sought to control

Slide 14:

1. Church reformers thought kings should not have that power.
2. Pope Gregory VII banned lay investiture
3. This made german emperor Henry IV angry and he called a meeting of German bishops he appointed.
4. Emperor ordered gregory to step down with their approval.

Slide 15

1. Gregory then excommunicated henry
2. German bishop and princes sided with the pope
3. Henry tired to win the pope's forgiveness

Slide 16: 

1. Henry crossed the alps to italian town of Canossa (Kuh-NASH-uh) approached the castle where gregory was a guest
2. Pope forgave any sinner who begged so humbly
3. Greg kept henry waiting for three days before ending his excommunication
4. Their meeting resolved nothing
5. Pope humiliated henry, the proudest ruler in europe
6. Henry felt triumphant and rushed home to punish rebellious nobles

Slide 17:

1. Successors to gregory and henry fought over lay investiture until 1122
2. Then representatives of the church and the emperor met in German city of Worms
3. Reached an agreement known as the concordat of worms.
4. Church alone could appoint a bishop, but the emperor could veto the appointment

Slide 18:

1. King frederick I would resume the battle to build royal authority
2. Nicknamed Barbarossa for his red beard
3. First ruler to call his land the holy roman empire.
4. Region was a patchwork of feudal territories

Slide 19: 

1. Forceful personality and military skills enabled him to dominate the german princes
2. Whenever he left the country though disorder returned
3. Frederick repeatedly invaded the rich cities of italy.
4. This made italian merchants to unite against him, also angered the pope, who joined the merchants in an alliance called the Lombard League

Slide 20: 

1. Foot soldiers of the lombard league faced fredericks army of mounted knights at the battle of legnano in 1176
2. Italian foot soldiers used crossbows to defeat feudal knights for the first time in history
3. In 1177 frederick made peace with the pope and returned to germany
4. Defeat undermine his authority with german princes
5. He drown in 1189 and his empire fell apart

Slide 21:  

1. German kings after frederick included grandson frederick II and they tried to revive charlemagne's empire and his alliance with the church
2. Policy led to wars with italian cities and clashes with the pope
3. One reason why states of germany did not unify during the middle ages
4. Another reason was that the rulers controlled fewer royal lands to use as a base of power than french and england kings of this period