Christian History Lesson 19

ULC Seminary: Master of Christian History Paper

                              Lesson 19

1. What factors contributed to the collapse of the Carolingian Empire?  

Answer:

A lot of factors contributed to the collapse of the Carolingian Empire. Such factors as;

Charlemagne's offspring did not have the talent to keep the empire together as he did, and it soon crumbled.

And the Inheritance Teutonic Style:

Teutonic inheritance practices played an even more significant role in the crumbling of the Carolingian Empire. Teutonic inheritance called for the division of land among the sons. This was practiced even during the lifetime of Charlemagne's immediate successor Louis the Pious (A.D. 778-840). The Teutonic mind could not fathom the Roman idea of an individual empire. If Louis had adopted the Roman concept, he did not have the personal ability to sort it out. He could not control the powerful aristocracy. His lenient nature undermined control over his rowing family.

Not long after he ascended the throne, Louis proclaimed his scheme to divide the empire among his sons. This scheme had to be tweaked when Charles the Bald was born to him and his second wife Judith of Bavaria to make sure that his new son had an inheritance in the event of his death.

When Louis the Pious died after a tumultuous reign in A.D. 840, the rows fomented among his sons made the collapse of the Carolingian Empire a forlorn conclusion. Louis the German got the eastern part. Charles the Bald got the western part. Lothair got the long center part that stretched from the North Sea to the Adriatic as well as the imperial title. Lothair wanted the whole empire, but the other two were against him. Charles the Bald and Louis the German met at Strasbourg in A.D. 842 and agreed that they would be loyal to each other until they defeated Lothair. This event was important to Western European history because they took their oaths in the native language of their respective peoples thus recognizing those languages.

This was too much for Lothair. The three met in A.D. 843 and agreed to the Treaty of Verdun. What would be modern France was given to Charles the Bald. What would be modern Germany was given to Louis the German. The center part and the imperial title were given to Lothair. This was the beginning of what would be modern France and Germany. The rivalry between these two for possession of the land between them has lasted into modern times and was a sticking point in Western European affairs. By A.D. 870 in the Treaty of Mersen the eastern and western rulers divided the center part between them and limited Lothair's descendents to Italy.

The next is the Feudalism:

Feudalism further sped up the collapse of the Carolingian Empire. In some form feudalism always appears when a central government loses strength and cannot use authority over the territories under its control. The fading of urban life and trade after the fall of the Roman Empire made people go back to an agrarian existence. It had roots in Roman and German customs regarding holding land and service. The chaotic landscape of the 9^th century A.D. encouraged feudalism in Western Europe.

Society was demarcated horizontally rather than vertically. There was very little upward social mobility. People usually lived life in the social rank that they were born into. Society was demarcated into protectors [feudal knights], producers [serfs who were the basis for the feudal economy], and prayers [priests of the church]. The individual was subject to the corporate. Every person had a master in this feudal hierarchy.

Feudalism can be seen as a political system founded on land possession for which one gave military and other services to the lord who granted possession of the land. The local lord gave good government in the immediate area where he owned the land. Before the rise of nation-states in the late middle Ages, this was the only way to maintain law and justice in the face of weak central authority.

Manorialism was an economic system that supported all societal classes after the breakdown of international trade because of the fall of the Roman Empire. The lord and the serf got their livings from the land, and they were self-sufficient except for a few things like salt, millstones, etc. As an area that could support an armed knight, the manor was the land unit in feudalism. The manor was the fundamental economic unit that made feudalism possible.

Land tenure was the bridge that brought manorialism and feudalism together. The knight, the lowest level in the feudal pyramid, relied on the serfs who worked his land for him for his living. In turn, the knight gave his serfs protection.

Feudalism involved personal expressions of loyalty between the vassals and the lords like a certain amount of time for military service, food, and prayers if the vassal was a churchman. Society was structured as a pyramid with each vassal having a lord. The lord at the very top was the king who was ultimately the vassal of God. England was the only place where this was fully realized under William of Normandy [the Conqueror] in the 11^th century. Among the French and Germans, the bonds between vassal and ruler were weak.

Feudalism heavily influenced the church. The church held an enormous amount of land in Western Europe by the late Middle Ages. The church got these lands from people who wanted to gain forgiveness of sins by doing some act of charity as penance. By being a great landowner, the church could not avoid being influenced by feudalism. These gifts were held in feudal tenure by abbots and bishops. As God's servants the clergy could not do military service for their feudal lord. They either had to give part of their lands to vassal knights who could do the military service for them or come up with other services. This made the church more secular, and it took attention away from spiritual things. The ecclesiastical vassal had the dilemma of divided loyalties. Should the primary loyalty go to the earthly lord to whom feudal dues were owed or to the Roman pontiff as spiritual overlord? This stifled the growth of sound spirituality that is essential to the church.

Because the younger sons of nobles could acquire land and prestige by entering the service of the church, great nobles many times rigged the elections to get an abbey or a bishopric for their relatives. Many of these men were worldly and had little interest in spiritual things that went along with the ecclesiastical offices.

The row over whether the feudal lord or the Roman pontiff can invest an ecclesiastical feudal vassal with the symbols of his authority [investiture controversy] plagued the relationships between church and state in the 11^th and 12^th centuries. The ring, staff, and pallium were the symbols of spiritual authority whilst the sword and scepter were the symbols of feudal authority. Occasionally the feudal lord and the Roman pontiff at the same time claimed the right to give all these symbols. This row caused a loss in spiritual life on the part of church leaders. They neglected their spiritual responsibilities. They thought more about worldly affairs than church affairs. The Western church had to fight the influence of feudalism whilst the Eastern church failed to withstand imperial control.

The church did try to lessen the evils of feudal warfare. In the early 11^th century the church was able to get the feudal lords to accept the Peace of God and the Truce of God. The Peace of God banned private rows, banned the attack on unarmed persons, banned robbery and violence, and banned the pillage of sacred places. The Truce of God banned the feudal class from fighting from sunset on Wednesday to sunrise on Monday of each week, and it banned fighting on church festival days. This left less than 100 days in the year for feudal fighting. It also provided that churches, cemeteries, monasteries, and convents would be sanctuaries where refugees would be safe from harm in times of trouble. Women, peasants, and clergy were not to be harmed. These things reduced the brutality of feudal warfare in the Middle Ages.

The last was the Vikings, Slavs, and Magyars:

The Vikings, Slavs, and Magyars had significant sway in this also. Hailing from Scandinavia, the Vikings caused havoc in Western Europe from the late 8^th century A.D. to the 10^th century. Any town or monastery along the coast or navigable river would get a visit from the Vikings. The Vikings, many of them, finally settled in England and after much fighting joined their kinsmen the Anglo-Saxons who had come earlier. As a result the Christian culture that had been established in Ireland and England during the Dark Ages was destroyed or at least set back. Other Vikings settled in Normandy from whence they came to conquer England under William of Normandy in 1066. Others journeyed across Eastern Europe and gave the foundations for Russia. Still others settled in Sicily and Southern Italy where occasionally they threatened the earthly power of the Roman pontiff. The Slavs and Magyars settled in South-Central Europe.

 

 

2. What is feudalism? How was the church influenced by feudalism? How did the church attempt to lessen the excesses of the feudal lords?

Answer:

Feudalism is the medieval social system which was a legal and social system that existed in medieval Europe, in which vassals held land from lords in exchange for military service. It can also be said to mean a political system founded on land possession for which one gave military and other services to the lord who granted possession of the land. Feudalism can also be said to be a form of governance which always appears when a central government loses strength and cannot use authority over the territories under its control.

How the church was influenced by feudalism: The chaotic landscape of the 9^th century A.D. encouraged feudalism in Western Europe. The fading of urban life and trade after the fall of the Roman Empire made people go back to an agrarian existence.

Society was demarcated horizontally rather than vertically. There was very little upward social mobility. People usually lived life in the social rank that they were born into. Society was demarcated into protectors [feudal knights], producers [serfs who were the basis for the feudal economy], and prayers [priests of the church]. The individual was subject to the corporate. Every person had a master in this feudal hierarchy.

The local lord gave good government in the immediate area where he owned the land. Before the rise of nation-states in the late middle Ages, this was the only way to maintain law and justice in the face of weak central authority.

How the church attempt to lessen the excesses of the feudal lords: The church did try to lessen the evils of feudal warfare. In the early 11^th century the church was able to get the feudal lords to accept the Peace of God and the Truce of God. The Peace of God banned private rows, banned the attack on unarmed persons, banned robbery and violence, and banned the pillage of sacred places. The Truce of God banned the feudal class from fighting from sunset on Wednesday to sunrise on Monday of each week, and it banned fighting on church festival days. This left less than 100 days in the year for feudal fighting. It also provided that churches, cemeteries, monasteries, and convents would be sanctuaries where refugees would be safe from harm in times of trouble. Women, peasants, and clergy were not to be harmed. These things reduced the brutality of feudal warfare in the Middle Ages.

1.     What was involved in the investiture controversy? How did this plague church-state relation in the Middle Ages?

Answer:

Feudalism heavily influenced the church. The church held an enormous amount of land in Western Europe by the late Middle Ages. The church got these lands from people who wanted to gain forgiveness of sins by doing some act of charity as penance. By being a great landowner, the church could not avoid being influenced by feudalism. These gifts were held in feudal tenure by abbots and bishops. As God's servants the clergy could not do military service for their feudal lord. They either had to give part of their lands to vassal knights who could do the military service for them or come up with other services. This made the church more secular, and it took attention away from spiritual things. The ecclesiastical vassal had the dilemma of divided loyalties. Should the primary loyalty go to the earthly lord to whom feudal dues were owed or to the Roman pontiff as spiritual overlord? This stifled the growth of sound spirituality that is essential to the church.

Because the younger sons of nobles could acquire land and prestige by entering the service of the church, great nobles many times rigged the elections to get an abbey or a bishopric for their relatives. Many of these men were worldly and had little interest in spiritual things that went along with the ecclesiastical offices.

The row over whether the feudal lord or the Roman pontiff can invest an ecclesiastical feudal vassal with the symbols of his authority [investiture controversy] plagued the relationships between church and state in the 11 th and 12 th centuries. The ring, staff, and pallium were the symbols of spiritual authority whilst the sword and scepter were the symbols of feudal authority. Occasionally the feudal lord and the Roman pontiff at the same time claimed the right to give all these symbols. This row caused a loss in spiritual life on the part of church leaders. They neglected their spiritual responsibilities. They thought more about worldly affairs than church affairs. The Western church had to fight the influence of feudalism whilst the Eastern church failed to withstand imperial control.

 

Thanks,

Yours in Him,

Ikpenwa, Chizoba Gabriel

Universal Life Church