The prestige of papacy has faltered many times during the History of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the largest issues with papacy prior to the time of reformation was the influence of France on the church. Throughout history countries or monarchies have often fought for power and influence over the church and state. For a period of time, the papacy left residency in Rome and moved to Avignon, France due to France’s strength influence of the popes of the time. The results of this residency would affect both the church and all people in the surrounding areas. Not only that, but the effects lasted well on past the residency eventually leading to the Great Schism. In order to understand the effect of Avignon papacy it is important to …show more content…
According to The Story of Christianity Vol. 1 by Gonzalez, Celestine V was a very mild pope, with very simplistic rule and views. Boniface III on the other hand was more pretentious. Where Celestine V lacked confidence and power, Boniface made up for. Many were upset with Celestine’s resignation believing that it was Boniface who actually forced him to it. When Celestine died, many believed that Boniface was responsible for his death. Boniface’s election had more disdain than just the supporters of Celestine. The Colonna family in Italy was outraged by his election because they had hoped to secure the papacy for themselves. They were not a strong enemy towards Boniface at this time. He defeated them by exiling them from their lands. One of Boniface’s largest tasks could eventually be seen as foreshadowing for what would come. This task was the tension brewing between England and France. King Philip IV of France and Edward I were close to going to war when Boniface intervened, eventually persuading them to dissolve their concerns. Despite the dissolution, King Philip IV was unhappy with Boniface. According to page on The Avignon Papacy on Encyclopedia Britannica, Philip’s disdain towards the pope, led him to extreme measures. This began the plotting of Boniface III’s imminent demise. King Philip’s plan started well, by him granting amnesty to …show more content…
Clement was a French born pope with close ties to Philip IV. It is easy to deduce that he was the first pope to take up residency in Avignon. Despite being often asked to take up residency in Rome, he refused to leave his home of France. According to The Story of Christianity Vol. 1 by Gonzalez, Clement was the only pope during the Avignon Papacy to elect the most French cardinals. All but of his cardinals were of French descent. By electing almost all French cardinals he was proving to the King of France where his allegiance was and where the papacy should continue. His allegiance towards France did not stop there. As stated above Philip IV had many trials and tribulations with past popes not defending his rule. Clement V did not defend himself again the King as did he predecessors. Clement was weak in leadership. Often when disobeying the ideas of King Philip IV, he was shamed into changing his decisions. An example of his weakness would be his overthrowing of the bulls put into effect by Pope Boniface III. As touched upon above, King Philip IV once had tensions with King Edward I of England. According to Lectures for a Medieval Survey by Nelson, Boniface had issued the bull Clericis laicos. This made it illegal to any member of clergy to support either of the Kings. Later he issued the bull Unam Sanctam, which gave the papacy supreme power. It was this bull that led to his council in Rome to discuss King Philip.
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
Fulcher of Chartres' account of what happened at the Council of Clermont is a great piece, full of detail. Fulcher obviously held Pope Urban II in high regard. Throughout his chronicle, he douses him with compliments saying that he is " a man distinguished in life and character."5 Fulcher, 49. It might not seem like much now to put the Church's interests before all others; however, in the Middle Ages people were extremely religious. The better Christian one was, the better man he was.
Pope Urban II was sought by Alexius Comnenus, a Byzantine Emperor who wanted the papacy to help his army hold off the advancing Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor. The reason for Alexius Comnenus contacting the pope rather than another emperor or monarch wasn’t just the fact they were secular, but because the pope would have more power to persuade the people. The Gregorian movement in 1050-80 was ultimately was responsible for the new instilled power of the papacy’s position over nonreligious rulers. The pope agreed to aid the Byzantine emperor, but he also had his own agenda when it came to the military advances and the new power of his position. The papacy did not intend to only help the Byzantine Empire but to further save all of Christendom from being overrun.
"The Church was in poor shape as well. The popes resided at Avignon, not at Rome, to the scandal of many.
From the beginning of the Christian church, there have been multiple clashes over what powers go to the state and what powers go to the church. One of the most prominent disputes was in the late eleventh century over which side would be able to appoint bishops and other churchmen, otherwise know as investiture. The church and Pope Gregory VII believed they had the right to solely pick churchmen because they believed the church and pope were all-powerful. Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, however wanted this power to protect the state. When Henry IV became emperor he was young which gave Pope Gregory the opportunity to take advantage of Henry and change the church. As Henry grew up knowing this, he became weary of Gregory’s intention and always payed attention to Gregory’s actions. Regarding investiture, the state had the most compelling argument because they had valid evidence while the church opposed values on which they stood and eventually abandoned their claim.
The Edict of January was the first large step towards religious equality in France. It legalized the Protestant Religion and allowed congregations outside of the cities (Strage 122-123), (Frieda 160-161), (Heritier 180). The Edict was a result of Catherine’s influence and was published January 17, 1562 (Strage 122-123), (Frieda 160-161), (Heritier 180). It was created to oppose the Guise’s power and influence because the de’ Medici family wanted to rule, and the Guises were the only obstacle facing them (Strage 123), (Frieda 160-161). Due to the timing of the edict, neither Pope Pius IV nor Spain took strong action against Catherine de’ Medici or France, though Catherine’s daughter, Elizabeth, threatened to pull out all of Spain’s support if Catherine did not whole-heartedly support Catholicism (Strage 123), (Frieda 160-161), (Heritier 181-182). Due to the increase of rights and the ability for Protestants to hold congregations outsid...
Once in power, John Paul immediately displayed an activist approach which was unprecedented in the papacy. Despite advancements in transportation and technology, his activism in the world was still a remarkable attribute, for popes have historically stated their beliefs and principles r...
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
Charlemange would disagree with Machevelli because he reaped great benefits from friendliness. Charlemange supported and cooperated with the church throughout his reign. In return, the church crowned him Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas day 800. If Charlemange would have repressed or frightened the church, the pope would never have appointed him emperor. Charlemange gave land to his nobles, who provided military services for him, not because they were afraid, but to repay him for the land. He was more successful being loved than he would have been if he was feared.
From the Middle ages, the church faced many problems such as the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism that hurt the prestige of the church. Most of the clergy lived in great luxury while most people were poor and they set an immoral example. The clergy had low education and many of them didn’t attend their offices. Martin Luther had witnessed this himself, “In 1510 he visited Rome and was shocked to find corruption on high ecclesiastical places”
The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. Both of these great time periods are strikingly similar in some ways and totally different in others. This is because the renaissance was a change from religion to humanism whether it is in art or literature; it is where the individual began to matter. However, the reformation was,” in a nutshell,” a way to reform the church and even more so to form the way our society is today. The first half of this paper will view the drop in faith, the economic powers, and the artistic and literary changes during the renaissance, while the second half will view the progresses and changes the church makes during the reformation.
A complex man with conflicting elements that made up his character, Pope Clement VI (figure 1 ) was an accomplished diplomat, connoisseur of the good life and courageous protector of the poor during the Black Death. Born Pierre Roger in 1291 France he quickly established himself as a keen scholar devoting himself to the church at a young age. It was here that he developed his diplomatic skills. When he became Pope in 1342 he attempted to bring an end to the Hundred Year War between England and France. However despite his political skills and friendships with both kings he was only able to bring about a quick truce (Kelly & Walsh, 2010: Online). During his pontificate Clement enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle claiming that those before him ‘had
The Great Schism originated in 1309, when Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Italy to Avignon, just outside of French territory. The move was the result of the constant power struggle in Rome between the Pope and the king. The purpose of the move was to insure the Pope freedom of action, but it appeared that the move allowed the King of France, Phillip the Fair, to wield a great deal of influence over the Pope. Many felt that the presence of the papacy in France compromised the Pope's independence and made it the vassal of the French King. In 1376, Pope Gregory XI made a significant move and returned the papacy to Rome. After his death, the College of Cardinals convened to choose the new Pope. "The people of Rome and the vicinity, turbulent and easily roused, had, under the sway of circumstances, loudly declared their preferences and antipathies, and endeavored to influence the decision of the cardinals" (Knight). The Roman mobs insisted on an Italian pope, and the cardinals elected Urban VI. The French did not approve of the new Pope or the method by which he was chosen, so they elected their own Pope, Clement VII, who would once again rule from Avignon. As a result, "Western Chris...
The Church was organised into a hierarchical system that sustained the Church’s stability and control over the people and lower clergy, by organising them into different groups. First there were the ordinary believers, the citizens of the kingdom who followed the Christian faith. Then there was the clergy, the members who devoted their lives to the church. Each group of the clergy was assigned specific functions by the clergy nobles to help run the Church competently. Amongst all the clergy associates, the Pope was at the top, he had the equivalent if not more power than the ruling monarch and was in charge of all political affairs and administered the clergy. He was able to dictate political laws and even comment on the Monarch’s decisions. Under the Pope, there were the bishops. The bishops directed church courts and managed cases correlated to the public such as marriage, wills and other public predicaments. Priests held religious services that consisted of sacraments, baptisms and the usual Sabbath services. The monks and nuns received manual labour that required helping clean the monasteries and assist the needy. Educated monks copied manuscripts of medieval and ancient knowledge in the Scriptorium. Finally...
Perhaps no other event was as influential to the rise of papacy in Rome as the decline of the Roman empire. With the decline of the empire, the church became the last refuge of stability. Without the protection of the empire, Rome was subject to poverty, disrepair, and attack from enemies.1 The rise of the papacy was a response to this situation. It was further cemented by the leadership of such men as Leo I and Gregory I, the latter sometimes referred to as the father of the medieval papacy.2 Finally, the granting of lands and authority to the bishop of Rome greatly increased the power of the Roman church.3