Pope Gregory VII

politics will always be intertwined because religious and political leaders end up balancing each other out, creating an equal share of power. In medieval Europe, Pope Gregory VII, the Crusades, and Justinian all show examples of political figures acting more like religion based topics. Even though Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII were two different leaders, they still influenced each other. In 1065, Henry the…

In feudal Europe, the Catholic Church created hegemony by using excommunication to establish political control over the kings of Europe. At the end of the 10th century, Pope Gregory V condemned King Robert II of France for marrying his first cousin. Incest was considered a sin by the Catholic Church; therefore the pope did not approve. After the threat of excommunication, Robert “obeyed and married another, and his obedience affirmed Gregory’s authority.” This demonstrated how the Catholic…

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…

in the day kings and emperors were actually not the only rulers that consolidated their power in the high Middle Ages; popes also did, and that was through a series of measures that would make the church more independent of secular control. “Under the leadership of a series of reforming popes in the eleventh century, the church tries to end this practice” (p.267). It was the popes’ efforts that were sometimes challenged by the medieval kings and emperors, in which the wealth of the church came…

found missionaries, schools, universities and seminaries all around Europe. Saint Ignatius Loyola was significant because he and his Jesuit followers were used by the pope to help reconvert new protestants back to Catholicism in a positive non-violent manner. Saint Ignatius and the Jesuits were very successful in this act, and the pope rewarded them with…

control of lands and peoples. For a king or pope to be successful, not only did they need support from their people, they needed support from other people in power. Alliances allowed rulers to share resources and influence to gain more political and religious power. Papal authority during the Middle Ages was heavily influenced by their relationships with monarchies. When a pope had a strong relationship with a powerful king such as the alliance between Pope Stephen II and King Pippin III, they…

army and himself to the pope so they could all be baptized and convert to Christianity. Throughout Charlemagne’s journey of expanding the kingdom, he did not only conquer more land, but he also helped spread Christianity. By…

of Clermont (1095) and their lack of support to Pope Urban’s project, the quest for power in Rome came to a crucial turning point after the Great Schism. Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) initiated a new conception of the Church and the role of the papacy within it. His ideas and reforms about the supremacy of the Roman pontiff and that the popes were responsible for the right order in the world, which could only be obtained through righteous Christian violence directed by the papacy, forms the basis…

King Charlemagne and Pope Leo III, the church and government were connected. Charlemagne offered protection to the church, and the church taught loyalty to the king. If people were breaking the rules in term of faith and not conforming the king would deal with it. Together church and government controlled the masses. For years the alliance between the two bodies kept the people controlled, but when Pope Leo IX decided that the wealthy and the kings should no longer choose the Pope a crack…

Both historians and Catholics believe that Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory VII as some of the greatest figures in history because they thought of everything in religious terms. More importantly, using their powers, they were able to achieve their goals of saving the welfare of the Church and Christian civilization. The Middle Ages was known as a period of European history, from the 5th to the 15th century, that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and preceded the Early Modern…