Europe in the Middle Ages Kings and Popes Essay

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Church and State in the Middle Ages

As Vidmar (2005) makes plain, a vigorous "spiritual energy" had taken over Europe, which had "come of age" so to speak by the time of the Middle Ages, 11th century AD (p. 119). This spiritual energy was directed not only at art, architecture, science and music but also in way in which the state viewed the Church and vice versa. Since Charlemagne had been crowned Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas day in 800 AD by Pope Leo, after protecting the Pope and Rome from the marauding Lombards, a special relationship had developed between the head of Christendom and Europe's most prominent Christian defender. As the faith spread, so too did the sense among statesmen that the heads of state owed a duty to the head of their spiritual faith -- and while this came by way of cultural consent, it was, as the late Middle Ages showed, a relationship that was tenuous and reliant upon mutual respect: once the respect went, so too did the relationship (the excommunication of Henry VIII of England is one such example).

Prior to Charlemagne's unification of the Germanic realm, Europe had been plagued by division among and attack by the barbarian tribes.

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Charlemagne waged war against them and won the approbation of Pope Leo in the process, bringing back into the European consciousness the unification of the idea of kingship and religious/spiritual principle or impetus. Constantine had done the same in the 5th century AD upon his "in this sign you shall conquer" conversion, which led to his winning of the throne of Rome and his patronage of the early Church. Now by 1000, the unification under the protecting arm of the state and the ideology of the Church allowed Europe to flourish in a new, creative, artistic, scientific and militaristic way. The Crusades became a rallying point for the newness that was Christendom: the mission to do to the Moors what Charlemagne had done to the Lombards. However, as Vidmar notes, the Crusades were by and large a great disappointment as they accomplished little in military terms -- but in cultural terms, they fostered the spirit that was being manifested in the creation of the great cathedrals -- and they also impacted and helped establish new trade routes, the success of which would ultimately flood Europe with so much money that it would change the face,….....

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