Power of Kings and Popes

Summary

Period: 750 to 1400

The Catholic Church was one of the strongest and largest organizations at the time and individuals like popes and kings used it to their advantage to get power. The Church and kings could set laws in place and implement taxes to pay for the crusades they initiated - the same crusades that gave them more power.

Charlemagne is Crowned

800

Charlemagne was only granted the title of the Holy Roman Emperor after Pope Leo III gave it to him. This scenario set a precedent that kings/emperors have no true authority unless specifically granted by a pope.

Charlemagne Spreads His Influence

810

Charlemagne takes advantage of his position as Holy Roman Emperor and expands his kingdom. As his kingdom grows, he declares himself as their ruler instead of appointing and controlling an official in that region.

(Approximate Time) Taxes

1000

The Catholic Church had the authority in the Middle Ages to tax citizens. As the head of the Church, the pope held a lot of power because he could demand the people to tithe.

(Approximate Time) Divine Right

1000

Many times, kings could claim it was their divine right to ascend to the throne. They would claim that their right to rule came from God and it could not be disputed, especially when they established close connections with the pope (like Charlemagne had done). This concept displayed how powerful religion was at the time, both the kings and popes benefitted.

(Approximate Time) Hierarchy of the Church

1000

Just as kings were granted power through divine right, popes were granted even more power in many cases because they were acknowledged as a direct source of God and His word. Some people use the comparison that if the church was a country, the pope would be the prime minister; the highest position in the Catholic Church hierarchy.

Laws of William the Conqueror

1066

William the Conquerer enforced a set of rules, to list a few: God was to be the only god worshipped in England, all freemen had to swear their loyalty to the king, and different fines and taxes would be enforced for offenders. William displayed the strength of the king and of the church by enforcing these laws.

Banning Lay Investiture

1080

Lay investiture is when secular individuals, like kings, choose who to select to be official clergymen or even popes. This practice was banned because it was declared that members outside of the Church could not interfere; the Church was then in greater control of itself.

Pope Urban II

1095

Pope Urban II initiates the first of the Crusades in 1095. Urban clarified that popes had vast military power and that religion was deeply involved with politics.

Pope Alexander III

1171

Pope Alexander III was another pope that authorized a crusade (of the Northern Crusades). The pope could do this to exercise his authority as the head of the church, yielding military power.

Effects of the Crusades

1200

When the Crusades were taking place, nobles could pass away before naming an heir so their land would be passed to the king. Men left their employment on farms to fight and were gone for long periods of time or were killed, leaving the farms to fail and be given to the king.