HIS109Y1 Lecture Notes - Excomm, Moral Authority, Jan Hus
Document Summary
Until reformation: there was only one recognized christian church in west (roman catholic church) If you were outside, you were pretty much outside of society. Issue of sovereignty in middle ages was v. significant. Constantine decided to move capital of empire to constantinople from rome & b/c pope cured him of leprosy, he decided to give rule of western empire to the pope (papal/ecclesiastical sovereignty) Dual sovereignty led to friction between those who believed emperor vs. pope should have control (to complex, against medieval mindset: looking for clarity) Mutually exclusive: church thought they had right to control people on earth, but imperial party thought that the church was responsible for people getting into heaven. Emperor wanted to resurrect roman imperial rule (famous case: emperor charlemagne) By 13th century, debate turned into warfare & division (between guelf [papal]/ghibelline. Popes began to make greater & greater claims of sovereignty, roman empire was weak & divided (pope got away w/ a lot)
