The Medieval Church: Its Power and Influence

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The Church Had enormous influence over the people of medieval Europe and had the power to make laws and influence monarchs. The church had much wealth and power as it owned much land and had taxes called tithes. It made separate laws and punishments to the monarch’s laws and had the ability to send people to war. The church controlled the people of Europe's beliefs and determined holy days and festivals. The people who worked in the church were some of the most educate people. It was one of the powerful institutions in Medieval Europe and even had its own hierarchy. The church, because of its large power and influence, caused the Christian religion to be the most widespread belief in the world. The remnants of the once powerful religion can still be found in many places to day.

The Church wielded enormous influence and had an extremely large amount of wealth because of its ability to demand a certain amount of money from anyone. The Christian Church in Europe had a tax called a tithe. The tax consisted of a tenth of a person’s money, land, objects that are owned etc. Lords would often give a large amount of land to the Church to insure their place in Heaven. The Church gained a lot of land all throughout Europe because of nobles wanting a definite place in the Christian heaven. On Christmas day in the year 800 AD the king of the Francs, Charlemagne, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope Leo III. This benefited the Pope and the Church because it gave them the power to choose which people could rule the Christendom, which made the Pope the most powerful person in Europe. The Pope and other members of the church had a certain right to demand things from nobles and in some cases, monarchs, because of their spiritual connection...

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The medieval Roman Catholic church was extremely powerful and influential through their taxes and ability to control peoples beliefs and religious ideas. The Church acted as a sort of over-lord to the monarchs of the European Christendom, encouraging and in some cases forcing rulers to act by their will and influencing the citizens of the country. The Pope gave himself the power to bestow the power of Holy Roman Emperor, a position which gave the emperor power over a large area of Europe. This ability gave the Pope power over the emperor therefore making the Pope ultimate leader of the continent. Because of all the Popes abilities, the Church became an extremely significant institute and force in the middle ages. Although the church is not nearly as powerful as it was, the remnants of its most powerful times can still be found today.

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