The Papacy

1178 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The rise, heiht and decline of the papacy

Throughout history there has been conflict of power between government and church. As religion became instilled into people 's daily lives, the church slowly began to accumulate power. Pope 's used the devotion and loyalty of people as means of authority. At the same time, monarchs held power over people however they did not have their loyalty, which led them to use the Papacy 's popularity to encourage people to follow monarchal rule. The Papacy once held great power, despite their various attempts to maintain that power, they continued to struggle until their ultimate decline to monarchs who would thereafter hold all the power.

On December 26, 795, Pope Leo III succeeded Pope Adrian I. On April 25, 799, during the Greater Litany, he was accused of misconduct by Adrian 's supporters, including his predecessor 's nephew, they attacked him by trying to cut out his tongue and blind him1. Their unsuccessful attack …show more content…

The document was said to be a gift from Constantine to Pope Sylvester I, showing Constantine 's gratitude for converting him over to Christianity and curing his leprosy5. The Donation of Constantine said, "It declared the pope the recipient of the fourth-century emperor Constantine 's crown, cloak, and military rank along with 'all provinces, palaces, and districts of the city of Rome and Italy and of the regions of the west6" '. Pope 's could cite this document to challenge the authority of emperors by showing them an official document claimed they held honorary power equal to that of the emperor. Until it was exposed as a forgery by Lorenzo Valla, who analyzed the concepts presented in the document and the language used to express them7. The Papacy 's attempt to claim power only set them back in a negative position, as it showed that not only were they after power, but would forge documents to gain that

Show More
Related

  • Assess the value of Fulcher of Chartres’s account of the council of Clermont for understanding Urban II’s message.

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dana C. Munro, “The Speech of Pope Urban II. At Clermont, 1095”, The American Historical Review, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Jan., 1906), pp. 231-242

    Read More

  • The Influence of Pope Urban II

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Saint Leo The Great And Attila The Hun Analysis

    339 Words  | 1 Pages

    Saint Leo the Great was the pope in the fifth century. He served as pope for twenty-one years. This century was the time in history when barbarian armies were ravaging the once mighty Roman Empire. Pope Leo strived to increase the influence of the pope. He had the hard job to defend the church from threat of heresy. When Attila the Hun who had already sacked Northern Italian cities and towns was marching toward Rome, Pope Leo headed north to meet him and try to stop the attack. Pope Leo met up with Attila the Hun in the neighborhood of the river of Mincio. It is said that Pope Leo said this to Attila "The senate and the people of Rome, once conquerors of

    Read More

  • Essay On Ecclesiastical Despotism

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    In short, disestablishment is the most literal form of separation of Church and State; it prohibited the state from funding or establishing a religion. This was a continuation of the fight for the freedom on conscience. James Madison was very influential in this fight, “Religion was not invented by human policy” thus he argued that it should never be subjected to human policy (Maddison, 120). Maddison expresses that a person’s religion is to be determined by his own conviction and conscience, “and it is the right of every man to exercise it” (Maddison, 118). Freedom of religion, the first amendment, existed before disestablishment, but in it’s entirety was dependent on disestablishment. Establishment was achieved through imposing taxes on

    Read More

  • Rebels in Medieval Times

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    The church because of its governmental power was able to do many more things in the Middle Ages than are currently possible, today the churches in the United States are not able to control any part of our government as stated by the constitution as a separation of church and state. The Catholic C...

    Read More

  • History Of The Vatican

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    She helps illustrate a very important issue in the Catholic Church. Women have begun to populate positions within the Church, but none have broken through a “Glass Ceiling,” that keeps them from entering positions of power. The Church has long been Male Dominated for a number of reasons, not allowing women into teaching positions or positions of authority. She is the first non-ordained person to have power and jurisdiction within Vatican city. She also exemplifies a cultural shift that started with John Paul II, ended briefly with Pope Benedict XVI, and was restarted by the newest Pope, Francis. This cultural shift is probably tied to feminism…

    Read More

  • The Papacy

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    discussions. Leo the Great set new standards for the bishop of Rome and left poeple to

    Read More

  • The Reformation

    1917 Words  | 4 Pages

    A reformation is often defined as the action of change for improvement. The Protestant Reformation is a movement that began in 1517, which split the unity of the Western Church; and later established Protestantism. The three main factors that impacted the reformation were political, sociological and theological. Martin Luther and John Calvin, two protestant Reformers who reformed Catholicism, strived to define salvation and impact the church as a whole. How do Martin Luther’s reforms compare to John Calvin’s through their struggle to define salvation, how people viewed them, and how the church was affected as a whole? Martin Luther and John Calvin both had a huge impact on the reformation and were both regarded with great respect; however, Martin Luther’s strive for salvation and the reformation of the church was more successful than Calvin’s.

    Read More

  • Christinaity In Middle Ages

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ecline of papal power. The First Crusade was a successful venture for the papacy as it was considered an "armed pilgrimage" (325). To gain the support of the Christian community, Urban II promised an afterlife without purgatory and a direct ascent to heaven for Crusade participation. This "plenary indulgence" (325) made the First Crusade a favorable undertaking. On the other hand, the papal monarchy suffered from the additional Crusades that forced people to question the unity of the Christian Church. Christianity was an effective theme in the Middle Ages because it implemented most people and events of the time period. Socially, Christianity effected people's daily lives because faith offered another consideration for how life progressed. The introduction of new intellect and innovative advancements were growing with religious influenced. Politically, the emperor's were aided and impaired. The support of the papacy was useful in the coronation of emperors and the influence over the common people. On the counter-side, the papal monarchy offered competition for power. Christianity was always present in the Middle Ages, and it changed concepts and faith for all.

    Read More

  • Byzantine Iconoclasms

    2024 Words  | 5 Pages

    Power is something that everyone craves and desires to have for their own benefit or to help others. The leaders among people hold a great deal of that power, and are forced to compete with each other or make compromises if they want more power. Around the time between 700 A.D and 900 A.D, the church was an influential source of power that was constantly gaining it. The emperors of the Byzantine Empire were also an influential power who still wanted more power. The pressing strength of the church was looming over them, and the emperors felt that a way they could gain more power would be to take over the church and control it. This lead up to the first and second Byzantine Iconoclasm. An iconoclasm literally means image-breaking. This iconoclasm was the emperors banning and destroying all of the images, icons, statues, or any other form of representation other than the Holy Eucharist in the church and anyone who defended those images. Although there were two iconoclasms, they played out almost exactly the same, with the emperors and the Popes taking the same actions and it being resolved by an empress ending the conflicts by restoring the images. One of the main differences in it was that the second time around was the end of it. The emperors of the Byzantine Empire attempted to gain power through subjugating and controlling the church by using the iconoclasms.

    Read More

  • The Reformation and the Church

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.

    Read More

  • The Influence Of The Catholic Church In The Middle Ages

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    In some cases the church was more powerful than the king, since church had the power to excommunicate or to exclude from the communion of believers and from the privileges and public prayers of the church (Dictionary.com). For example, Henry the fourth, Holy Roman Emperor was excommunicated from church by Pope Gregory the seventh. Harold the second, king of England was also excommunicated by Pope Alexander the second (Biography.com). It gave the Pope tremendous influence over the monarchies, and anyone who turned against him, would be excommunicated from church and were believe to go to...

    Read More

  • The Rise Of The Papacy

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    To understand the rise of the papacy in Rome, it is imperative to recall that the center of Christianity had been destroyed in 70 AD when the army of Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Looking for leadership, Christians immediately sought out those in Rome as it was the center of power and the capital of the Empire. In the first and second centuries, all roads did indeed lead to Rome. Another reason that Christians looked to Rome for leadership is because they believed that the church would come from Peter. Many understood Jesus’ statement in Matthew 16:18, “You are Peter” to literally mean that the church would form from Peter and he was associated with Rome. Therefore, church leadership would evolve in Rome and its leader would bear the title pope. In the following six centuries a sequence of events would eventually lead the bishop of Rome and the papacy to great spiritual and political power in Western Europe. The emergence of papal power and its impact on the Western Empire was more likely due to a confluence of divinely inspired historical events, than to the apostolic succession of Peter. The growth of the papacy is revealed through an assessment of how the popes rose to power, an analysis of the contributing factors, and their impacts on society.

    Read More

  • The History of The Church

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Church had held sway over medieval society for centuries, but it began to lose its grip in the fourteenth century. It was not only that it could not explain nor prevent the calamities that swept through the century, it was enduring its own calamities.

    Read More

  • THE RISE OF THE PAPACY

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    Early in history, the Roman papacy consolidated its power. It became one of the most influential organizations in the medieval period. This rise to power resulted from the decline in the Western Empire, the leadership of Roman bishops, and special grants that gave the church land holdings. This rise to power caused some positive ramifications, such as the protection of the church from heresy. However, the absolute power of the pope also caused corruption and abuses, many of which would eventually spark the reformation.

    Read More

More about The Papacy

Open Document