CHURCH AND STATE IN CONFLICT

In the last session we studied the monarchs of England and France and their attempts to restore power to themselves.  In contrast, the Holy Roman emperor, unable to control his nobles, fiercely wrestled power from primarily two other sources, the pope and the cities, but often with negative results.  The failure of the Holy Roman emperors to achieve this goal only added to feudalism's decline, which had been speeded up by the development of trade and commerce and towns that practiced a different social, economic, and political way of life from the rural areas.  The Holy Roman emperors were dealt another blow by the Roman papacy which conspired to make them weak.  Historically, European churches, with their vast land endowments, often became big lords with many vassals, and churches often got involved in secular matters.  On the other hand, kings and emperors who could not manage their own secular vassals often resorted to taxing and controlling churches and monasteries, leading to conflicts between the church and the state.  Today we focus on the examples of French kings and Holy Roman emperors and how their conflicts with the papacy affected the politics of the Roman church.  Problems besieging the church would eventually lead to intellectual movements challenging all accepted values and practices beginning from the late 14th century.

1. The overlapping of the church and state authorities: the Carolingians:

The Carolingians not only maintained a very close relationship with the church but they also blended the authority of the church and the state to a great extent: Charlemagne used both secular and religious people as his representatives, and claimed to govern both.  Read his letters of instruction.

2. The many functions of the church in European society:

Since the 4th century when Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire, churches tried to influence the lives of the Europeans through involvement in people's daily lives, including the government of marriage, abortion, and divorce.  Their secular involvement was also reflected in their administration over large tracts of land.  Church leaders often in actual fact became vassals to feudal lords who themselves also owned many vassals.

3. The Holy Roman emperors and lay investiture 

The Holy Roman emperor was not only elected (as the king in France), which weakens him, but also an honorary title conferred by the papacy that could be revoked, while the nobles contended for that title.  To strengthen themselves, the Salian kings from Swabia, Henry III (r.1039-56 ) and Henry IV (r.1056-1106) and the Houhenstaufens Frederick I (Barbarossa) (r.1152-90), and later his grandson Frederick II, tried to strengthen their power through lay investiture: lay appointments of church positions.  The Holy Roman Emperors also tried to consolidate their rule through the control of the papacy, including inserting their own candidates as popes.
Period of imperial domination. After their fights failed to realize their goals, the Holy Roman imperial power went on a decline.

1. The Salian kings, Henry III (r.1039-56 ) and Henry IV (r.1056-1106): tried to exercise a certain edge over the nobles.

Use of bishops and abbots to check on the nobles.
Henry IV’s two fights with Pope Gregory VII.

The growth of the emperors’ power coincided with the maturity of the Christian church and the assertions of the popes over the kings.

Gregory VII was the first pope to fight against lay investiture.

Henry IV’s disagreement with abolishing lay investiture led him to march onto Italy. Gregory VII excommunicated him.  Gregory's deposition of Henry IV.

Henry repented, and Gregory accepted it.

Henry continued lay investiture, and Gregory’s declaration of crusades against him.

German bishops’ renunciation of Gregory (after 1077).

Concordat of Worms: compromise between pope and Emperor Henry V.

2. the Houhenstaufens: the last stance of imperial power

Frederick I (Barbarossa) (r.1152-90): wanted to control Burgundy, Swabia, and Lombardy. Badly defeated by the Lombard merchant league. Eventually died in a crusade to the Near East.

Frederick II (r.1215-50), was born of a Neapolitan mother and the Holy Roman Emperor. He inherited the crown of Naples and the HRE, which eventually led to his downfall as the pope feared he wanted to unify the HRE and southern Italy.

Like I, the II attacked the Lombard cities and took over papal territories, leading the pope to depose him in 1245, plunging Germany into a civil war.

3.The consolidators: the Habsburgs

In the 1260s, Germany was divided into many principalities after Frederick II died.
The successor to the Hauhenstaufens were the Austrian Hapsburgs. Rudolph Hapsburg 1273-1291.
the Hapsburgs' real power was in their collection of lands, leading eventually to the Austrian Empire after the HRE fell in 1648.

4. Significance of the pope-state conflict on the HRE

The papal-imperial conflict lead to the weakening of the Holy Roman Empire and eventually 
the nation state became the prototype for future states in Europe.

5. The French kings and the pope

Philip IV (r. 1285-1304) and Pope Boniface VIII (r.1294-1303)

• Philip IV’s quarrel with Boniface over the taxation of the French clergy.
• Boniface’s claim of the supremacy of the church over the king and his kingdom.
• Philip’s arrest of Boniface.
• The college of cardinals elected Clement V, a French cardinal, as pope, who chose to stay at the French city of Avignon, starting a period of papal administration there for seventy years..

6. Impact of the conflict on the church: The Avignon Exile (1304-74)

From Clement V to Pope Gregory XI, papal residence at Avignon was characterized by a more efficient papal administration and a more secular lifestyle.

The lavish lifestyle led Italian poet Petrarch call this era of papal rule the "Babylonian exile."

7. Return to Italy and the Great Schism (1378-1417)

• The French dissent with the newly elected Italian pope Urban VI led to the election of a French pope Clement VII, starting the Great Schism of the church.
• The election of a new pope in 1409 led to the coexistence of three popes.
• The Great Schism was over with the election of Martin V in 1417.
• The Avignon Exile and Great Schism led to much disrepute of the Catholic church and much criticism toward it.

8. Significance of church-state conflict in Europe

• The conflict between church and state firmly established that church and state were distinct entities.
• Since both church and state delved into Roman law for reason to justify their power, the study of Roman law was furthered in Europe.
• The image of the church was severely tarnished by the Avignon exile and the Great Schism, and in a way, it never recovered from it.  Church authority went on a decline.