Pope & Monarch Struggle for Power
In medieval europe there were two types of leaders The pope and the king or monarch. The pope had spiritual power and the kings had political power. These two people controlled most of the european land and society but some times had fights over who had more power.
The popes power
In medieval times the pope was the head of the Christian church had had the final say in the church in western europe. In this time just about everyone was part of the catholic church the pope had a lot of power in their life. People thought of the pope as the representative of god. They thought of him as someone who they could go to for help and anything they needed like how to live and how to pray properly to get god's help. Since the pope was a father figure of the church he would have to choose what the church would do and what it would teach to the people. So every once and awhile he would write a letter called a bull to tell a teaching that would then become a church policy.
The pope could also had the authority to punish when he thought someone wasn’t following the churches rules. The pope could choose many different punishments from as big as not letting him in the church ever again and little things as well. Although the pope had great spiritual power a lot of popes had a lot of political power.
The monarchs power
Like today europe was divided into many small countries and many of these were ruled by the king. In this time the throne was given to the oldest son of the family.
The pope and monarch fight for power
Soon the pope worked hard to gain more power over the king which soon created conflict. An example of this is the king thought he could choose who should be the bishop in their countries but the pope thought differently. The pope thought that he should get to choose the religious leaders and officials. All of this began to happen when Pope Gregory VII came, he disapproved of one of the bishops the Emperor had choose. After this the king got made because of what the pope thought questions his authority the king convinced the bishop that they should not let the pope be pope anymore. But the pope did not like this and overthrow the king from the church.
Then the king decided he wanted to stay in power so went to Italy to see if the pope would forgive him but the pope did not want to see him and did not let him come in. The king begged in harsh weather for three days the finally the the pope accepted his apology and let him back in the church and at this time the pope had shown that he had more power than the king.
This argument over who got to choose the bishops continued after the pope and king died but eventually they came up with an agreement. The pope got to choose the bishops and abbots but those people would still follow the emperors rules. Although this helped a lot of conflict there was still fights over power throughout all of the middle ages.
The popes power
In medieval times the pope was the head of the Christian church had had the final say in the church in western europe. In this time just about everyone was part of the catholic church the pope had a lot of power in their life. People thought of the pope as the representative of god. They thought of him as someone who they could go to for help and anything they needed like how to live and how to pray properly to get god's help. Since the pope was a father figure of the church he would have to choose what the church would do and what it would teach to the people. So every once and awhile he would write a letter called a bull to tell a teaching that would then become a church policy.
The pope could also had the authority to punish when he thought someone wasn’t following the churches rules. The pope could choose many different punishments from as big as not letting him in the church ever again and little things as well. Although the pope had great spiritual power a lot of popes had a lot of political power.
The monarchs power
Like today europe was divided into many small countries and many of these were ruled by the king. In this time the throne was given to the oldest son of the family.
The pope and monarch fight for power
Soon the pope worked hard to gain more power over the king which soon created conflict. An example of this is the king thought he could choose who should be the bishop in their countries but the pope thought differently. The pope thought that he should get to choose the religious leaders and officials. All of this began to happen when Pope Gregory VII came, he disapproved of one of the bishops the Emperor had choose. After this the king got made because of what the pope thought questions his authority the king convinced the bishop that they should not let the pope be pope anymore. But the pope did not like this and overthrow the king from the church.
Then the king decided he wanted to stay in power so went to Italy to see if the pope would forgive him but the pope did not want to see him and did not let him come in. The king begged in harsh weather for three days the finally the the pope accepted his apology and let him back in the church and at this time the pope had shown that he had more power than the king.
This argument over who got to choose the bishops continued after the pope and king died but eventually they came up with an agreement. The pope got to choose the bishops and abbots but those people would still follow the emperors rules. Although this helped a lot of conflict there was still fights over power throughout all of the middle ages.