The Church Wields The Church Wields PowerPower

• After crowning Charlemagne in After crowning Charlemagne in 800, the church’s goal was to 800, the church’s goal was to influence both spiritual & influence both spiritual & political issuespolitical issues

• In 500, Pope Gelasius I believed In 500, Pope Gelasius I believed that the pope should yield to the that the pope should yield to the political sword and the emperors political sword and the emperors should do the same to the should do the same to the religious sword.religious sword.

• But everyone had their own But everyone had their own agendaagenda

• ClergyClergy – – religious religious officials officials

• The order The order went Pope, went Pope,

Bishops, Bishops, PriestsPriests

• For most For most people their people their

chief chief contact contact

would be would be the priestthe priest

POPE

CARDINALS

ARCHBISHOPS

BISHOPS

PRIESTS

MASSES (US)

• SacramentsSacraments – important religious ceremonies – important religious ceremonies• An example of a sacrament would be baptism and An example of a sacrament would be baptism and

performing the Eucharistperforming the Eucharist• Canon LawCanon Law – the law of the church which provided a – the law of the church which provided a

system to guide people’s livessystem to guide people’s lives

• The most powerful tool the Pope The most powerful tool the Pope possessed was excommunication possessed was excommunication – banishment from the Church.– banishment from the Church.

• One could not enter heaven, nor One could not enter heaven, nor could one commune with others could one commune with others at church.at church.

• On top of that if the king or ruler On top of that if the king or ruler was excommunicated then most was excommunicated then most sacraments could not be sacraments could not be performed in that kingdom (and performed in that kingdom (and this would upset the entire this would upset the entire population!)population!)

• Village’s daily live revolved around the church. There were many festivals

celebrating the different saints

Canon Law

• Canon Law is the law of the Church.• Created to direct people’s conduct in

matters such as marriage and religious practices.

• The harshest punishments were excommunication (no longer in communion) and interdict (which is the same thing but against an area or country

The Holy Roman Empire

• One of the greatest of the

Holy Roman Emperors was Otto I, or the

Great• But Otto controlled the

Church of Germany

(which other emperors

would assume was their right

• Italian nobles resented

German rule and the popes feared their

power

• During Otto’s reign the issue of lay investiture surfaced. This is where kings & nobles appointed church officials. Power ultimately was had by whomever made the appointments. In 1075 Pope Gregory VII banned lay investiture.

Otto I final resting place

in Magdeberg,

Germany

• Pope Gregory VII (shown) banned the Pope Gregory VII (shown) banned the practice of lay investiturepractice of lay investiture

• Henry IV shot back and ordered him Henry IV shot back and ordered him to step down as Pope.to step down as Pope.

• Gregory in turn excommunicated Gregory in turn excommunicated HenryHenry

• Gregory’s remains (it is a wax coating Gregory’s remains (it is a wax coating over the bones)over the bones)

• In a humbling act, Henry begged at the doors of the castle of Canossa where the Pope was a guest.

• Gregory made him wait in the snow for 3 days before seeing him and lifting the excommunication

• At Worms Germany the two sides came to an agreementAt Worms Germany the two sides came to an agreement

The church would The church would appoint officials, appoint officials, but the emperor but the emperor

had the veto had the veto power to prevent power to prevent the appointment the appointment

of a bishopof a bishop

But the issue wasn’t resolved (Gregory actually was forced into exile and died and

Henry would lose his crown to his son)

• The German king, Frederick I,

(Barbarossa)• He was actually the

1st to call the lands Holy Roman Empire

• He loosely held the German lands and whenever he left there was trouble

brewing• To raise money he

would raid Italian cities

He drowned to

death on his way to

the 3rd Crusades

Eventually they did battle at

Legnano in 1176 where the Italian

foot soldiers using

crossbows defeated an

army of Knights for the 1st time in history.

• Germany continued to use election vs. domination in choosing their

kings. • This would be the major reason why

Germany was never unified and the position of king was always weak

(basically they were obligated to all the princes that elected them. Those

that didn’t elect them would sometimes not play nice.