In what ways did monarchies try to increase their power over the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages

Question

This is the only question I'm having trouble with, I somehow forgot to take notes on it. I do award best answer!

Answer 1

2 things:

1)Investiture Controversy - Conflict between Pope and Holy Roman Emperor (Germany region) over who had right to appoint bishops.

2)Avignon papacy - French king appoints a Pope to be his puppet, sets him up in a palace in Avignon.

If you research these events - sorry, a bit complex - you'll be well on oyur way.

Answer 2

  Probably securing influence with the Pope.

Answer 3

The most important aspect  of the relationships between the ruling monarchs and the Catholic Church was that the majority of European monarchs believed in the Divine Right of Kings - thaty kings were answerable only to God and it was sinful for subjects of the king to resist their authority . England was ruled by the Scottish King James Vl ( James l ) who succeeded Elizabeth.  He and his the Stewart successors were strong supporters of the Divine Right .Time  however was running out and the Dutch Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary ( James  daughter ! ) were " invited " to take over ruling the Kingdom of  Britain and Ireland . They had to promise to Parliament that they would obey the laws passed by Parliament . This was the so called " Glorious Revolution " which really ended Catholic influence in Britain .

Point of correction on the submission that “ Catholicism was outlawed by the English when they took over Scotland  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Âœ This  appears to be a reference to the ‘45 Jacobite uprising  . Nonsense ! Catholicism in Scotland  had been on the back foot since John Knox led the Reformation  150 years earlier ! The ’45 was a clash not between  Scotland and England  but between the Protestant Hanoverians led by the Duke of Cumberland ( the Butcher ) and the mainly Catholic Jacobites led by the not so Bonnie Prince Charlie . In fact their were more Scots Clans on the Hanoverian side than on the Jacobite side !

Answer 4

By giving Priests positions of relative power.  They also gave the church tons of money and support to "win" over, by force if necessary, people from other religions.  Catholicism was outlawed by the English when they took over Scotland.  The Red Coats called them "bead rattling papists"

Answer 5

The primary way was to promote the Church careers of clerics sympathetic to their interests. Quite often, this actually involved having family members become senior members of the Church hierarchy, in the case of the Borgias and Medici, this meant actually becoming Pope.p

In England, before Henry VIII broke with the Church, he had elevated Cardinal Wolsey to the highest offices in the land and did his best to have Wolsey a candidate for Pope. Then, of course, he fell out with Wolsey himself over the split with Rome. Thereafter, the drill for Henry was to confiscate the lands of the Church in England.

Answer 6

We studied Medieval Europe last term, especially feudalism and the Church, so I know a bit about this.

It was difficult for monarchies to increase their power over the Church, because everyone in Europe at that time believed in God. Especially with the witch hunts, commoners on villages all over Europe had to make a good impression that they were strong believers of the Catholic faith so that they wouldn't be burnt.

Monarchies over Europe didn't want to increase their power, though. It was dangerous for their establishment if they did because of one reason: people were prepared to fight for God. In the Middle Ages, the Pope had much more power than any King, Queen, Baron or Knight put together. The Pope was considered God in human form after all. Anyone, anywhere, would go to war for him (a clear example of this was the Crusades, when Pope Urban II ordered Christians all over Europe to try and gain control of the Holy Land Jerusalem). We know that monarchies in Europe suuported the Pope (particularly the British monarchy) because on all manors (agricultural villages) there were churches where the peasants would attend Mass every Sunday. This proves to us that the Monarch would have supported the Church, simply because manors were controlled by the lord... and the lord worked for the King himself. So, why would a manor have a church if it was controlled by the King? Because the King supported the Catholic Church and wouldn't dare say anything against the Pope.

The Pope's Bishop's were stationed all over Medieval Europe on manor's (mainly in France and England). Bishop's were always in contact with the lord, baron or King. The King was always the leader of the country, as he was the head of the feaudal system... however the Pope had much more influence. Naturally, the monarchies of Europe didn't want to increase their power because of threat of uprisings amongst their peasant's ordered by the Pope or Bishops.

I suppose their might have been some monarch's who 'tried' to gain more power than the Catholic Church... I can think of one straight away, actually. Henry VIII. Except, Henry didn't want to gain more power than the Church, he just wanted everyone in Britain to convert to his new religion, 'The Church of England' (known better today as the Anglican or Protestant Church). No wars happened over that though, and although the whole of England literally became protestant over the next 150 years, the rest of Europe remained strictly under the control of the Catholic Church (particularly Spain).

Hope this helps!

-Tim :]

Answer 7

Monarchs claimed their power was granted through the power of god and so their words were the same as the word of god making them the absolute authority