Christianity

some for the better and some for the worse. During this period in Europe, commonly

known as The Middle Ages, economic reforms took place as well as social, political, and

religious changes. One common theme throughout The Middle Ages consisted of the

relationship between the Church and the State. The Catholic church during this era held a

prominent role in society, and it had an abundant amount of power and authority during

this time. The Catholic Church exercised its authority in many different stages, in which a

response from the people occurred because of the way the Church showed its power.

The nature of the Catholic Church began its reform around the time Charlemagne,

from 768 to 814, took control. He became a Christian emperor and the first great political

leader in Western Europe. His main goal was to promote the Roman Catholic religion

throughout all of the world known to man, and to do this Charlemagne coordinated with

the pope, which in turn the pope crowned him the holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne

strived to reestablish central authority and revive the culture of the Early Middle Ages,

. . .
The Church also had the power to

excommunicate members of the Catholic Church, which holds a sever punishment

especially during the Middle Ages. The pope is obviously claiming higher

authority over the State, especially over the emperor. Charlemagne designed a system in which four archbishops were set up in

four different regions with their headquarters in cities in that particular region. Some of them include: “The pope is the only

person whose feet are kissed by all princes. Because of the problems between the

Church and the State and the challenges that kings laid on the Church, popes had to deal

much more carefully with the governments of Europe. They were

excommunicated because they did not abide by the Church, they preach that they are in no

way under the power of the pope, and they claim that they hold the power of hearing

confessions without even being a member of the Church (Gui p.

Pope Urban II justified his call for a crusade in a plea that he stated. Because an excommunicated person was forbidden

from all social intercourse, this punishment would thus be terrible politically, socially, as

well as economically (Noble p. Although the Christian world learned a great deal

from the Muslims, the Crusades were not a part of this occurrence. This is especially true with the case of Pope

Boniface VIII. These reforms indicate “a lack of division

between religious and secular affairs” (Charlemagne p.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 1653
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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