Medieval Theocracies It Has Been Term Paper

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Therefore, Islamic monarchies did not make claims of actual divinity.

Despite their differences, Christian and Islamic theocracies shared the same concept of expansion. Central to both religions was the concept that world religious domination was a religious and political duty. In fact, while crusading is now associated solely with Christianity, the fact is that early crusading began with Islamic crusades in the early middle Ages. The Islamic crusades and the later Christian crusades were both religious and political efforts to spread religion. Both were based on the notion that areas that did not share the religion in question were somehow unjust or unholy. Furthermore, while these crusades targeted other religions, they also resulted in increased wealth and political power for the rulers of the theocracies. According to scholars like Arlandson, Pope Urban II's call to crusade against the Muslims was purely a reaction to earlier Muslim aggression against Christians. (Arlandson). However, the reality is that, just like the earlier Muslim crusaders, the Christian crusaders obtained benefits far beyond religious conversion and reconquering the Holy Land. As in modern times, these wars resulted in the large-scale conversion of the control of certain areas of land. However, the religious change that resulted from the theocracies was not due merely to wars, but also to complex political systems that made faith an essential part of everyday life.

For example, by the sixth century a.D.

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, Christendom comprised a very small segment of the globe, and was largely confined to the western portion of Eurasia. (Latourette). This distribution change dramatically during the middle Ages. While the crusades certainly played a role in the spread of Christianity, other aspects of Christian theocratic government also played an important role. For example, in the early middle Ages, Danish and Viking leaders were oftentimes required to accept baptism as a condition of continued peace. This practice demonstrates that the countries demonstrating military might were theocracies. This practice solidified when Canute, the King of Denmark and England, "commanded all his Danish subjects to learn the Lord's Prayer and to go to Communion three times a year." (Latourette). Although the Islamic theocracies had practiced religious tolerance for other "people of the Book," meaning Jews and Christians, during the Dark Ages, this practice changed with the increased religious tensions of the middle Ages. Like the Christian theocracies, the Islamic theocracies began to engage in the practice of conversion by sword.

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