The Roman Catholic Church In The Middle Ages

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Western Europe in the 11th century was largely a land of chaos. Following the collapse of Charlemagne's empire and the Viking invasions, the Roman Catholic Church had come increasingly under secular control and the papacy had lost much authority within the Church. Many religious institutions were controlled by noble families. Throughout most of Europe, what little political authority that existed was in the hands of local lords. Most of the population were peasants or serfs, trying to earn a subsistence living working the land. What little learning there was could be found in the Church. But the Church was largely under the control of local lords. Most churches and monasteries had been founded by members of the nobility who often exerted control over the institutions they had established. The Cluniac reforms had begun a revival movement within the Church, but it had had little effect on the institutional structures of the Church. This changed in 1073 when a Cluniac monk was elected pope and took the name Gregory VII. Upon assuming office, Gregory began a…show more content…
This would have furthered the goal of bringing order to the chaos of society and, assuming that the emperor was a good Christian, could also have contributed to reform of the Church. This was the direction taken in the Byzantine Empire. Beginning with the Emperor Constantine, the Byzantine Emperor has assumed authority over not just the government, but also over the Church. Eusebius, in his biography of Constantine, presents an image of Constantine as a divinely appointed ruler, much as David was the divinely appointed ruler of the Hebrew kingdom. This idea, often known caesero-papism, is also seen in the mosaic Justinian and his Courtiers. In this work, Justinian is pictured as a Christ-figure, centered between representative of both the Church and the
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