15. Chapter 13: The Church in Bondage to the State, 885-1049

CHAPTER 13 The Church in Bondage to the State, 885-1049 1. The Norsemen Plunge Europe into Disorder In 843 the Empire of Charle­magne was divided among his three grandsons. One of them ob­tained the land east of the Rhine known in history as the East Frankish Kingdom; this was the beginning of Germany. Another obtained the land west of the Meuse and the Rhone; this was known as the West Frankish Kingdom and included, roughly, what is now France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The third ob­tained the long but narrow strip of land in between the other two territories. It included Italy and was called the Middle Kingdom.

Charlemagne had created order out of chaos. But his successors did not succeed in protecting their people from new enemies who now appeared. The Slays and Hungar­ians upon their fleet horses at­tacked from the East. From Scan­dinavia in the North came the wild Norsemen in their swift ships. They sailed up the rivers and made landings in the Netherlands and France. Being heathen they took special delight in plundering and burning churches and monasteries. They also murdered many of the inhabitants. For three hundred years there rose from the Chris­tian lands of Europe the prayer:

"Lord, deliver us from the Norse­men."

Europe was again plunged into disorder. Out of the disorder of these times arose feudalism.

2. Feudalism Develops A Knowledge of feudalism is necessary for the understanding of the history of the Church in the Middle Ages, because for a large part of that period the people of western Europe lived their lives under that system. Due to the invasion of the barbarians there were in the early Middle Ages no large cities. Most people lived in the country; and land was the chief form of wealth. Feudalism was a system based upon a peculiar way of holding land. Let us see how it came into existence. The kings who succeeded Charle­magne soon discovered that they were not able to protect them­selves and their kingdoms against the invading barbarians. As a se­curity measure each of these kings divided his kingdom among his leading warriors, on the condition that they give him military aid whenever called upon to do so. Up­on this same condition each of these newly-made kings or princes divided his estate among lesser nobles. These nobles in turn granted sections of land to still lesser tenants, and so on down.

Those who received land upon the condition of military aid and service were called vassals. A vas­sal might in turn give some of the land he had received to others on the same terms. The lands which were held upon these conditions were called fiefs.

It frequently happened that pious people gave land to churches or monasteries. Bishops, archbish­ops, and heads of monasteries (called abbots) in that way became landowners. This also brought them into the feudal system. At last everybody in Europe was in the feudal system. Emperors looked upon the popes as their vas­sals — a fact which foreshadowed serious trouble for the Church. At the top of the feudal system were the men who were nobody’s vassals; they were lords only. At the bottom of the system were the men who were not lords over any­body; they were simply vassals. In the middle of the system were men who were both lords and vassals. They were lords to those below them, and vassals to those above them.

Lords were under obligation to give protection to their vassals, and vassals were obliged to give service, especially in war, to their lords. So feudalism was in effect a system of mutual aid. The political result of feudalism was decentralization. There were no countries unified under a strong central government. Every country of western Europe was broken up into a large number of small principalities ruled over by nobles. These noble lords had the power of a king, each in his own domain. That made a king weak. The king was only the chief noble or lord among many. If a number of lords or nobles combined, they might be stronger than the king. A number of nobles did sometimes combine and fight the king, but more often they fought each other. It is not surprising that the Norse invaders had comparatively easy going in this disorganized territory.

WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY, CALLED WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR
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Lithograph 3. The Normans Make Them­selves at Home

Many of the Norsemen did not go back from their marauding ex­peditions to their homes in Den­mark and Norway. Large bands of them made permanent settlements in northwestern France. They very quickly adopted the language, cus­toms, and religion of the country in which they settled. The Norse­men who settled in northwestern France came to be called Normans, and that part of France to this day is called Normandy. The Normans soon set out on military expeditions of their own. William, duke of Normandy, in­vaded England in 1066, defeated the English in the battle of Has­tings, and conquered their land. The Normans also conquered south­ern Italy.

4. The Popes Become the Football of the Italian feudal Lords

Italy, like the other countries of Europe in which feudalism came to prevail, instead of having one cen­tral government ruling over the entire country, was split up into a large number of small principali­ties, each one ruled over by some lord or noble.

These Italian feudal lords were continually fighting each other for supremacy. The popes became their football. Whichever noble family gained control of Rome for a time, dictated the appointment of the pope, for the popes were elected by the clergy and people of that city. Often very wicked men, entirely unfit for office in the Church, were elected popes. This was especially true during the tenth century. It was then that the papacy touched its lowest point. The Church was in bondage to secular rulers. A few of the incidents which took place at that time will give us an idea of the confusion of the pe­riod.

Stephen V, who was pope from 885 to 891, was compelled by the Italian lord Guido, duke of Spoleto, to grant him the title of emperor. The next pope, Formosus, was forced to crown Guido’s son, Lam­bert, emperor. In former times the popes, when hard pressed by the Lombards, had appealed for help to the kings of the Franks (ch. 11, sec. 1). Now Pope Formosus in despair turned to Arnulf, king of the Germans. Arnulf came across the Alps and captured Rome. In return for his aid Formosus crowned him em­peror. But this proved to be no more than an empty gesture. Only a few months later Lambert re­gained Rome. In the meanwhile Pope Formosus had died and Lam­bert made Stephen VI pope. Stephen had the body of Formosus dug up and condemned by a synod which he had called. Then he caused the body of the late pope to be shamefully treated. But a riot broke out in Rome and Pope Stephen VI was thrown into prison. There he was strangled. The Roman nobles continued to struggle for the mastery of Rome. Now one noble family, then another would get the upper hand. The noble who won out deposed the pope elevated to the office by the noble who had been in control be­fore. Then he would put a new man on the papal throne. In this way one pope followed another in rapid succession. Between the death of Stephen VI in 897 and the accession of John XII in 955 there were no less than seventeen popes. This was indeed a time of shame, disgrace, and confusion for the Church.

5. The Popes Become Dependent upon the German Emperors

Once more the pope looked long­ingly beyond the Alps for aid. This time it was Pope John XII, who called to his aid Otto I, king of the Germans. This Otto was a strong man. Many of the dukes of Ger­many acted as independent sover­eigns, but Otto made them his vas­sals. He accomplished this with the help of the bishops and the abbots of the large monasteries. These bishops and abbots con­trolled extensive landed estates. Their forces joined to those of the king were strong enough to put down any combination of dukes. Down to the time of Napoleon the bishops and abbots of the Catholic Church in Germany were not only office-holders in the Church, but also temporal rulers. Otto’s power as king rested upon his control over the appointment of bishops and abbots. Naturally he always appointed as bishops and abbots men who were willing to support him. This Otto came to the rescue of Pope John XII. The pope showed his appreciation by crowning Otto emperor on February 2, 962. Thus was restored the Empire in the West, which had collapsed under the weak successors of Charle­magne. From that time on it was known as the Holy Roman Empire. The Empire was henceforth con­nected with Germany. It continued to exist until 1806, when Napoleon made an end of it (ch. 22, sec. 1). By calling Otto I, king of Ger­many, to his aid John XII opened a new era in the history of the papacy.

Until this time the popes had all been Italian. Now this tradi­tion was broken. Otto III placed his tutor, Gerbert, archbishop of Rheims, upon the papal throne in 999. He was the first French pope, and the most learned man of his time. Gregory V, who had pre­ceded him, was the first German pope.

6. The Papal Office Is Sold

Now the Church was once more to be plunged into the depths of disgrace. The Italian party, the nobles of the Tuscan family, which happened to be in control at the time, made John XIX pope, and after him Benedict IX. This Bene­dict was only twelve years old at the time, and he turned out to be one of the worst characters ever to occupy the papal seat. His con­duct was so bad that the nobles of the Crescenzio family, who were rivals of the Tuscan party, were able in the year 1044 to drive him out of Rome. In his place they made Sylvester III pope. Soon, however, Benedict came back and resumed the papal office. But after a time he grew tired of it and brazenly sold the office of pope for one thousand pounds of silver to a man who now became Gregory VI. News of this shameful transaction leaked out. There was a loud out­cry. As a result Benedict refused to surrender the papal office which he had sold. There were now three popes—Sylvester III, Benedict IX, and Gregory VI.