The Role of a Christian King Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.” Politics and religion have been intertwined since the first man knelt down to pray to his god or gods. Throughout the rise of the early church kings attempted to govern their domains as effective rulers and good Christians. However, this raised the question of what are the duties of Christian king? Charles the Great and Henry the IV were emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, but had different perspectives on what the role of a Christian king was. Ultimately, Charles the Great and Henry IV defined the role of Christian king through the religious and political influence of the Papal States at the time of
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Throughout his reign as Holy Roman Emperor Charles constantly worked to spread the Christian faith throughout Europe, by offering pagans the opportunity to convert or die. For example, in the Life of Charles, author Enhard discusses how Charles set out to conquer the Saxon and save them from their false gods and devil worshiping. He writes, “At last, after conquering and subduing all who had offered resistance, Charles took ten thousand of those that lived on the banks of the Elbe, and settled them.” The quote above references Charles mercy towards those individuals who converted to Christianity after the conflict, and illustrates one example of how Charles attempted to expand Christianity throughout his …show more content…
Through out his reign Henry IV instituted the practice of simony, which allowed him to create a faction of loyal clergymen and bishops. Additionally, this practice allowed him to create a loyal political faction that would support him rather than the pope. However, when Pope Gregory implemented his Gregorian reforms that stripped all state appointed bishops and clergymen of their church titles. At this point Pope Gregory was stepping out of the religious field and into the political battleground. The Gregorian reforms forced Henry to act, because he needed to defend his political power as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Thus, Henry was fulfilling his duty as a Christian king, by protecting his political authority against Pope
Throughout his reign as Holy Roman Emperor Charles constantly worked to spread the Christian faith throughout Europe, by offering pagans the opportunity to convert or die. For example, in the Life of Charles, author Enhard discusses how Charles set out to conquer the Saxon and save them from their false gods and devil worshiping. He writes, “At last, after conquering and subduing all who had offered resistance, Charles took ten thousand of those that lived on the banks of the Elbe, and settled them.” The quote above references Charles mercy towards those individuals who converted to Christianity after the conflict, and illustrates one example of how Charles attempted to expand Christianity throughout his …show more content…
Through out his reign Henry IV instituted the practice of simony, which allowed him to create a faction of loyal clergymen and bishops. Additionally, this practice allowed him to create a loyal political faction that would support him rather than the pope. However, when Pope Gregory implemented his Gregorian reforms that stripped all state appointed bishops and clergymen of their church titles. At this point Pope Gregory was stepping out of the religious field and into the political battleground. The Gregorian reforms forced Henry to act, because he needed to defend his political power as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Thus, Henry was fulfilling his duty as a Christian king, by protecting his political authority against Pope