To What Extent Did The Church Experience ‘Crisis’ Essay

To what extent did the Church experience ‘crisis’ in the later medieval period?

During the medieval period the Church had a very important role in European politics. A common metaphor of the Medieval period likens society to a human body, in this metaphor the church is often referred to as the ‘head and eyes’   and in John Salisbury’s version as the soul. Many historians view the later Middle Ages as a time of crisis. The European continent was going through a period of upheaval as famine, disease and war ravaged the population. During such trying times you would expect people to turn to their faith and church all the more. However during this time the Catholic Church was to a large extent going through its own crisis. Starting with the conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France in 1296 that launched a period of papal uncertainty that lasted well into the 15th century. This uncertainty at the head of the church created divisions in Christendom that would last for a long time, divisions that would sow the seeds of the reformation, increase strength of national churches and lead the way to the creation of The Church of England. The crisis of Church in the later medieval ages was one of role, increasingly secular government was coming to the forefront of administration, where before the Church ‘had fulfilled many of the functions of the modern state’

The 18 years of Pope Innocent III’s pontificate is viewed by many as the height of the papacy in the medieval era. Innocent believed that the Pope controlled the spiritual world of man in Gods stead. He realised that to do this the Pope would have to have control of the temporal world as well. Innocent pursued these claims very successfully and Margaret Deanesly argues that ‘he was a greater force in the secular politics of Europe than either emperor or national king’.   After Innocents death in July 1216 it was not until the pontificate of Pope Boniface VIII in 1294 that a Pope pressed the...