Church/State relations in the Middle Ages

I’m taking a great class called the History of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. I find it so engaging that I almost forget I am in a classroom.

Anyway, I think it is really interesting to learn that the Church actually owned a large chunk of land that is now Northern Italy and how the Church allied itself with other empires for military protection.

One key event in Church history is Christmas Day 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of Rome. It set up the Church to keep the land that was just given to them by the Franks and also set a precedent that the pope had the power to crown emperors. It made the Church hugely powerful in Europe and dealt a blow to the Byzantine Empire.

Basically the Byzantine Empire was the surviving part of the old, fallen Roman Empire, but it took on its own unique character that deviated so much from the Roman Empire that they decided to give it a different name. The people at Byzantine thought that they were in charge, but this reasserted the authority of the bishop of Rome.

That’s about all I know for now and please feel free to correct me where I am in error. I just learned about this so it may need to be smoothed out a bit. ” title=”Smile” />