The Catholic Church and The Holy Roman Empire

 

The Catholic Church

and

The Holy Roman Empire

 

The Catholic Church

·        It was a very powerful and a wealthy organization in the medieval Europe

·        The positions of priests varied from Archbishops, cardinals, bishops etc. with Pope as its head

·        It had its own laws called the Cannon law and collected taxes from people

·        Many people had the simple belief that if they do good they would go to heaven and if they do bad they would go to hell.

·        They also believed if they couldn’t attend the mass or do the services in the correct way they might go to hell.

·        That time people in Europe were exhausted with battles, diseases and short life spans. They sought refuge and comfort in God.

·        For them the church (and the local priest) was the link to God.

·        The Church looked after their “body and soul” (body – human needs such as food, clothing, tending to the sick, education and soul – spiritual comfort)

·        However towards the end of the medieval times people started to think out of the box, they had question of what was taught by the priests.

 

 

Reasons for the people to like and dislike the church

Likes	Dislikes
Provided food and clothing for the needy	Pope and bishops were leading luxurious lives
Tended the sick	The clergy used expensive clothing and goods
Provided education	They collected a lot of taxes while being still so rich
Wrote religious books by hand	Kings and princes disliked the Pope interfering with the affairs in their own countries
Provided religious refuge and comfort	Pope owned lands (papal states)

 

 

The Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire comprised modern day Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium, and the Netherlands as well as large parts of present day Poland, France and Italy.

Europe in the early 1500s was very different from Europe today in the following aspects:

·        Some countries did not exist as countries with clear borders (eg: Italy, Germany)

·        The borders were often changing

·        People didn’t have the sense of belonging to one nation (but was loyal to the existing ruler who ruled their state)

Rulers came to power normally through inheritance (that is the crown being passed to the eldest son from father). But during this time many became the rulers of others states through invasion. Some of these lands were far away and was difficult to control. With the increasing criticism to the Church, there was a need to defend Catholicism. To satisfy all these needs a Holy Roam Emperor had to be appointed.

Many powerful and wealthy European kings and princes competed for this title. Francis I of France and Charles I of Spain were the strongest contenders.

The Emperor was appointed by a bench of Electors (an odd number of German princes and archbishops). Both parties bribed them and Charles had bribed them more.

Jacob Fugger, a rich German family of bankers helped Charles bribe them. It was one way of the Church and prices to make money.  

Charles was appointed Holy Roman Emperor – Charles V