The High Middle Ages was a time period between the years 1000-1300 during which the European civilization that was formed in earlier years began to thrive. Multiple invasions and internal dissension during the Early Middle Ages put this civilization through strain, however the people recovered from this as time passed and began to regroup as the kings of the time enforced a need for central authority. With this centralization and time of peace many new advances in agriculture were made to benefit the European people and they began to flourish. Areas such as politics, the economy, spiritual life, and social life began to get more notice as the people worried less about obtaining food and supplies. People began to focus on these areas and make
…show more content…
European monarchs slowly became aware of this idea of centralized power and started to put great effort into gaining it for themselves by “developing new kinds of monarchial states that were based on the centralization of power rather than the decentralized political order” that was the norm prior to this revelation. This political revival happened across Europe. For instance in England it started with William of Normandy defeating King Harold and the Anglo-Saxons in the Battle of Hastings on October 14th of 1066. William of Normandy then “began a process of combining Anglo-Saxon and Norman institutions that would change England forever.” He also demanded that all people be loyal to him and made …show more content…
Already a major part of European lifestyles, Christianity began to grow in importance as popes became more involved with federal matters. The popes “came to exercise control over the territories in central Italy that came to be known as the Papal States” giving them political leverage. People with religious affiliation were becoming intertwined with the political world and gaining more power for the church everywhere. The church fought for power in every aspect, even trying to stop the tradition of lay investiture, which was the practice of lords appointing church officials. Pope Gregory VII was one of the leading voices in trying to stop this practice. He claimed that “the pope’s authority extended over all of Christendom, including its rulers” thus no one could appoint him or anyone when God had already done so. The Investiture Controversy was born from this as the actions Pope Gregory VII took to fight this practice led him to conflict with King Henry IV of Germany. The Investiture Controversy “was one of the great conflicts between church and state in the High Middle Ages.” An agreement was settled upon in 1122 between the new pope of the time and the new king of Germany. This agreement was called the Concordat of Worms and stated that an elected bishop would pay “homage to the king as his lord”, but a representative of the pope “invested the new bishop with the symbols of his
European monarchs slowly became aware of this idea of centralized power and started to put great effort into gaining it for themselves by “developing new kinds of monarchial states that were based on the centralization of power rather than the decentralized political order” that was the norm prior to this revelation. This political revival happened across Europe. For instance in England it started with William of Normandy defeating King Harold and the Anglo-Saxons in the Battle of Hastings on October 14th of 1066. William of Normandy then “began a process of combining Anglo-Saxon and Norman institutions that would change England forever.” He also demanded that all people be loyal to him and made …show more content…
Already a major part of European lifestyles, Christianity began to grow in importance as popes became more involved with federal matters. The popes “came to exercise control over the territories in central Italy that came to be known as the Papal States” giving them political leverage. People with religious affiliation were becoming intertwined with the political world and gaining more power for the church everywhere. The church fought for power in every aspect, even trying to stop the tradition of lay investiture, which was the practice of lords appointing church officials. Pope Gregory VII was one of the leading voices in trying to stop this practice. He claimed that “the pope’s authority extended over all of Christendom, including its rulers” thus no one could appoint him or anyone when God had already done so. The Investiture Controversy was born from this as the actions Pope Gregory VII took to fight this practice led him to conflict with King Henry IV of Germany. The Investiture Controversy “was one of the great conflicts between church and state in the High Middle Ages.” An agreement was settled upon in 1122 between the new pope of the time and the new king of Germany. This agreement was called the Concordat of Worms and stated that an elected bishop would pay “homage to the king as his lord”, but a representative of the pope “invested the new bishop with the symbols of his