The history of Europe was tied up with papal authority throughout the temporal and spiritual life of Christendom. Christianity gave Europe identity in this life and the next.
Due to Augustine of Hippo this identity transcended mere politics with the Church being immortal and able to survive the rise and fall of kings and empires. A church itself symbolised this other-worldly importance. The architectural design was not simply that of a cross.
BODY OF CHRIST
When you walked into a church you walked into the very body of Christ, prostrate on the Cross. When the Christian took Eucharist, he shared in the imbibing of Christ’s blood and body. But really there was much in the real world that intercepted with the authority of the pope – the political aspirations of kings, and also the rising power of many bishops.
Such bishops came from rich families patronised by dukes and princes, and often the post was hereditary. This local power took power away from Rome and was available to local leaders, allowing them to force compromise on the pope.
But in 1073 Gregory VII became pope without imperial assent, beginning the Investiture Contest. He declared Rome the only authority that could invest a bishop, taking this power from local leaders, going on to summon the emperor Henry IV to Rome to answer charges of misconduct.
Henry responded by calling a Synod to depose Gregory, who countered by excommunicating Henry. Without papal support Henry found it impossible to rule and he had to go to the pope. He was made to wait barefoot in the snow for penance.
POWER OF THE POPE
Future popes went on to define Catholicism, improving the morality and spiritual authority of clerics whilst transferring power to Rome. Celibacy was imposed on clerics, taking away loyalty outside the Church and destroying the ability of wealthy clerics to pass their power to offspring.
Absolution through Confessional became standard practice, giving a cleric absolute moral power over local politicians, but absolution led straight back to the pope. Transubstantiation – the idea that the body and blood of Christ was actually present in the bread and wine – gave clerics immense local influence, filling up churches, but making the pope the absolute authority.
Orders of friars such as the Franciscans and Dominicans were created. Politically, they answered directly to the pope. Hence, if a local bishop preached counter to the pope, friars went to the area and counter preached, Rome again subverting the bishops.
Dissent still existed in the form of heresies. In 1233 friars formed the Inquisition to put heretics on trial, torturing them for confessions and then punishing them, including burning them at the stake.
The Inquisition also turned against the people, beginning the witchhunts, attempting to stamp out paganism, still rife in the villages, beginning one of the bloodiest periods of European history.
CHRISTIAN MEDIA
This was important to the system, for papal authority could only be maintained by the belief in Christ in the populace. Christendom itself was a basic agrarian society, the year ruled by the annual celebrations of Christ’s life.
These were chosen to reflect His life in terms of agriculture, His death and Resurrection at Easter, corresponding with agricultural rebirth at Easter. But more than this, they corresponded with the solstices and equinoxes of previous pagan worship, thus usurping paganism. Even churches were placed atop pagan sites, beginning with the first church atop Glastonbury Tor in England.
Most people were peasants living in rudimentary villages and towns. The only real building projects were castles, monasteries, churches and cathedrals. The latter were huge, built in Romanesque then Gothic styles, dominating the cities, making it clear who was in charge.
CHRISTIAN LIFE
Life for the Medieval European was a prelude to a more perfect life after death. In life there was a choice between good and evil. Evil was all around, internally through paganism which was the work of the Devil; and externally through the Infidel Muslim, the Crusades the war against this devil?
Life was ruled by the Ten Commandments, disobeying of which was against God and the authorities. And being Divine in nature, retribution was from God, not merely man. It was a potent use of superstition.
This was furthered by Hell. In the Bible, Hell is like sleep, but this held little fear. Hence, a powerful symbol arose of a fiery, nasty place where for eternity all hope was to be abandoned, best exemplified in Dante’s Divine Comedy, completed in 1321.
FEUDALISM
Such metaphysics spilled into the life of the Medieval peasant. Originating from the Franks, the feudal system spread throughout Europe, reaching England with the Norman Conquest. A system of total regulation, at the apex of a society was the king, given authority by the pope, thus ruling by Divine Right.
He owned all land and directed foreign and military policy. Lords and barons were granted land by the king in return for obedience and military service. They lived in castles or manor houses and were responsible for local affairs, often appointing an official called a sheriff.
Under the lords were the knights and serfs. Knights offered military service to the lord, and therefore the king. Serfs worked the land for the lord and were available for military service.
MEDIEVAL LIFE
Alongside this system were the bishops and monasteries, providing professional and spiritual services in return for patronage and produce from the land.
Agriculture was based on a 3 year, 3 field crop rotation, each field annually growing a summer crop, a winter crop, then left fallow. It was a trinity that expressed the Trinity of God.
Knights were reinforced by the concept of chivalry. A code of gallantry and honour, it demanded virtues which echoed those of the Bible – piety, honour, valour, courtesy, chastity and loyalty.
Spiritual literature remained in Latin so the peasantry couldn’t understand other than church ritual. Other literature enforced chivalry with legends such as King Arthur, exemplifying the purity of the knight, armed with the righteousness of the Bible and power of the sword.
Jousting became the highlight of the knightly social year, forever perfecting his skills at warfare. Thus the knight enforced military power as good to supplement the superstition of an all-powerful God, interpreted by the pope. But as we shall see in the next post, such a system could not last forever.
© Anthony North, August 2007
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