Chapter 41 The Second Scholastics Chapter VII The Papacy in the Dark Times

During the four hundred years from Gregory the Great to Sylvester II the papacy underwent many astonishing vicissitudes.It was from time to time subject to the emperors of Greece; Or sometimes to the emperors of the West; and at other times to the local Roman aristocracy: nonetheless, in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., some shrewd and capable popes took the opportunity to establish the tradition of papal power.The period from 600 AD to 1000 AD is of great significance for understanding the medieval church and its relationship with the state. The popes owed their independence from the Greek emperors more to the Lombard force than to their own efforts—for which, of course, the popes expressed no gratitude.The Greek church has always been subordinate to the emperor to a large extent. The emperor believes that he is qualified to decide on matters of faith, and has the authority to appoint and dismiss bishops and even archbishops.The monks also struggled for independence from the emperor, for which they sometimes sided with the Pope.The Archbishops of Constantinople, though willing to submit to the Emperor, never recognized themselves in any degree under the authority of the Pope.The Emperor, who from time to time needed the aid of the Pope, against the barbarians in Italy, was always more friendly to the Pope than the Archbishop of Constantinople was to the Pope.

After Byzantium was defeated by the Lombards, it was not without reason that the popes feared that they would also be conquered by these powerful barbarians.They allayed this fear by allying themselves with the Franks.At that time the Franks had conquered Italy and Germany under the leadership of Charlemagne.This alliance gave rise to the Holy Roman Empire, which had a charter presupposing coordination between pope and emperor.The Carolingian dynasty declined rapidly.The Pope was the first to profit from its decline, and at the end of the ninth century, Nicholas I raised the power of the Pope to unprecedented heights.The general anarchy in the country at the time led to the de facto independence of the Roman nobility, who took control of the Holy See in the tenth century, with a most unfortunate end.How the Holy See and the general church passed a great reform movement to get rid of the subordination to the feudal aristocracy will soon become the subject of the next chapter.

In the seventh century A.D., Rome was still ruled by force of the emperors, and the popes would suffer if they disobeyed.Some popes, such as Honorius, went so far as to conform to heretical views; others, such as Martin I, finally rebelled and were imprisoned by the emperor.Most popes between AD 685 and 752 were Syrian or Greek.As the Lombards annexed Italy more and more, the power of Byzantium gradually declined.The emperor Leo the Isaulian promulgated the iconoclasm decree in 726 AD, which was considered heresy not only by the entire West, but also by most people in the East.The popes opposed the ban vigorously and effectively; the heresy of iconoclasm was abolished in the Eastern Roman Empire in 787 AD under Empress Irene (initially regent).At the same time, however, events in the West ended forever Byzantine control of the Holy See.

Around 751 AD, the Lombards captured Ravenna, the capital of Byzantine Italy.This event, though the pope was greatly threatened by the Lombards, also removed them from full subordination to the Greek emperors.The popes preferred the Greeks to the Lombards for several reasons.First, the power of the emperors was legitimate, and barbarian kings were regarded as usurpers unless they were canonized by the emperors; second, the Greeks were civilized; third, the Lombards were nationalists, and the Church It still maintains its Roman internationalism.Fourthly, the Lombards were once Arians, and after their conversion they still carry a certain unpleasant smell.

In 739 AD, the Lombards under the leadership of King Leutplan attempted to conquer Rome, but they were strongly resisted by Pope Gregory III who asked for help from the Franks. The descendants of Clovis, the Merovingian kings had lost all real power in the Frankish Kingdom; the state power was in the hands of the Grand Chancellor.The prime minister at the time, Charles Martel, was a very shrewd and able man, and like William the Conqueror, King of England, he was also a bastard.In 732 AD he defeated the Moors at the decisive battle of Tours, saving France for Christendom.The Church of Rome should have thanked him for this, but his financial necessity took some of the church's estates, and thus lowered the church's evaluation of his merits.But he and Gregory III died in 741 AD, and his successor, Pepin, made the church very satisfied.Pope Stephen III traveled across the Alps to Pepin in 754 to escape the Lombards, and concluded an agreement that proved to be extremely beneficial to both parties.The pope needed military protection, and Pepin needed what only the pope could bestow: formal recognition that he would take the legitimate title of king in place of the last Merovingian monarch.In gratitude, Pepin gifted to the Pope Ravenna and all the districts of the former Byzantine governors in Italy.Since this gift could not expect the recognition of the authorities in Constantinople, it meant a political separation from the Eastern Roman Empire.

If the successive popes were subordinate to the Greek emperors, the development of the Catholic Church would be very different.In the Eastern Church, the Archbishop of Constantinople never achieved independence from lay authority, or the superiority over other clergy that the Pope achieved.At first all bishops were considered equal, and this view has remained to a considerable extent in the East.Especially in Alexandria, Antioch, and the cities of Jerusalem there were other Eastern archbishops, but in the West the Pope was the only Archbishop (a fact which has lost its significance since the Moslem invasion, however).In the West—not so in the East—the laity has been largely illiterate for centuries, and this has given the Western Church conveniences not found in the East.The reputation of Rome is above any city in the East, because Rome has both the tradition of the empire, and the legends of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, and the fact that Peter was the first pope.The emperor's prestige might have been equal to that of the Pope, but no Western monarch could do so.The emperors of the Holy Roman Empire often lack real power; moreover, the accession of the emperor has yet to be crowned by the Pope.For these reasons, the emancipation of the Pope from Byzantine rule was essential to the independence of the Church from the secular kingdom and to the decisive establishment of the papacy to govern the Western Church.

There are some extremely important documents in this period, such as: "The Donation of Constantine" and the Pseudo-Decres, we need not deal with the Pseudo-Decres, but we must say something about the "Donation of Constantine" matters.In order to give Pepin's bequest a cloak of ancient legality, the clergy forged a document, presenting it as a decree from the Emperor Constantine, to the effect that, when he founded the new Rome, he Old Rome and all its western territories were given to the Pope.This gift, which was the basis of the pope's secular power, was believed to be true by the people of the later medieval times.It was not until 1439 AD during the Renaissance that Lorenzo Valla denounced it as a forgery.He had written a book "On the Grace of the Latin Language," which was, of course, lacking in eighth-century writings.After he had published this book refuting the "Donation of Constantine" and his other treatise in praise of Epicurus, it is strange that he should be regarded by the contemporary Pope Nicholas who loved the Latin style more than the church. La V appointed as Secretary of the Holy See.Although the pope's jurisdiction over the ecclesiastical lands was based on that pseudo-gift, Nicholas V did not propose to give up the ecclesiastical lands.

The content of this famous document was C.Dalyle Burns outlines it as follows: After outlining the Nicene Creed, the Fall of Adam, and the Birth of Christ, Constantine said he was leprosy, and after unsuccessful attempts at medical treatment went to the "priests of the Temple of Jupiter." They advised him to kill Some babies were bathed in their blood, but because of the tears of their mothers, he set them back.That night Peter and Paul appeared to him and told him that Pope Sylvester was hiding in the cave of Soracte and that he would heal him.So he came to Soracht, when the "pope of all nations" told him that Peter and Paul were not gods, but apostles; and showed him their portraits, and he recognized them as the ones in the last apparition. character, and confessed it before all his governors.So Pope Sylvester appointed him to a period of atonement in a horse-sweater; he was then baptized.Then he saw a hand from heaven touching him.So he was cured of leprosy, and he gave up idolatry ever since.Later, he and all his governors, the nobles of the senate, and the whole people of Rome considered it best to cede the supreme power to the Holy See of Peter in Rome, and make it superior to Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople. above.He then built a church within the Lateran Palace.He gave the Pope the crown, the triple crown, and the royal robes.He put the triple crown on the pope's head and held the reins for the pope.He "ceeded to Sylvester and his successors Rome, and all the provinces, counties, and cities of Italy in the West; perpetually the dominion of the Church of Rome"; Where the bishop's authority and the head of Christianity have been installed, the secular emperor is no longer fit to reign."

The Lombards did not obey Pepin and the Pope, but they were defeated by the Franks in many wars.In 774 AD, Pepin's son Charlemagne finally entered Italy, completely defeated the Lombards, considered himself their king, and then occupied Rome, where he confirmed Pepin's gift.Popes Hadrian and Leo III found it advantageous to promote Charlemagne's plans in every way.Charlemagne conquered most of Germany, converted the Saxons to Christianity with strong persecution methods, and finally restored the Western Empire alone, and was crowned emperor by the Pope on Christmas Day in 800 AD.

The founding of the Holy Roman Empire marked an epoch in medieval theory, but far from it in medieval practice.The Middle Ages was a time of particular fascination with legal fictions, which asserted that the western regions of the former Roman Empire were still legally subordinate to the emperor of Constantinople, who was considered to be a co- sole source of legal authority.Charlemagne, the master of legal fiction, once argued that there is no one to inherit the throne of the empire, because Irene who rules the East (she calls herself emperor and not queen) is a usurper, because women cannot be emperors.Charles found legal basis for his claim from the Pope.Therefore, the pope and the emperor had a wonderful relationship of dependence from the beginning.No matter who he is, he cannot be an emperor without being crowned by the Pope;The theory of medieval right depended on the decisions of both the emperor and the pope; both parties were troubled by this dependence, but it was inevitable for centuries.They are constantly at odds with each other, and this friction is now in favor of one and now in favor of the other.In the thirteenth century AD, the struggle between the two sides finally reached the point where there was no way to reconcile.The pope was victorious, but soon after he lost his moral authority.Both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor coexisted for centuries, the Pope until the present day; the Emperor until the time of Napoleon.However, the elaborate medieval theory of the respective powers developed by the fifteenth century lost its validity.The unity of the Christian world advocated by this theory was destroyed by the power of monarchies such as France, Spain, and England on the secular side; on the religious side, it was destroyed by the Reformation.

Regarding the character of Charlemagne and his entourage, Dr. Gerhard Zellig has summed up the following: A magnificent life unfolded in Charles' court.There we find luxury and genius as well as immorality.Charlie never paid attention to the people who beckoned around him.Being himself not a model, he allowed the greatest liberty to whomever he liked or found useful.Although he is called the "Holy Emperor", his life does not appear to be sacred.Arukun had called Charlie in this way, and praised the emperor's beautiful daughter Rochud as a gracious woman, even though she had a son with Rodrik, Count Rodrik of Main.Charlie was inseparable from his daughters, and he would not allow them to marry, so it had to happen to him.Two boys had been born between another daughter, Berta, and Ann Gilbert, the pious abbot of St. Richier.In fact Charles' court was a center of a life of wantonness. Charlemagne was an energetic barbarian, politically allied with the Church, but he was not concerned with personal piety.He could neither read nor write, but he started a renaissance.He is bohemian in life, and at the same time dotes on his daughter too much.But he spared no effort to encourage his subjects to live a holy life.Like his father Pepin, he used the zeal of the missionaries to expand his power in Germany and managed to make the Pope obey his orders.The popes obeyed his orders contentedly, because at that time Rome had become a barbarian city, and the pope's own safety would not be guaranteed without external protection, and the previous pope elections had long since turned into chaotic factional struggles. .In 779, local opponents arrested the Pope, threw him in prison, and threatened to blind him.Charles, who seemed to start a new order during his lifetime, left nothing but a theory after his death. The interests of the Church, and especially those of the Holy See, were more secure than those of the Western Roman Empire.England was converted to Christianity by a body of monks under the orders of Pope Gregory the Great, so that England was more submissive to Rome than countries that had bishops but were accustomed to self-government.The German conversion was mainly due to the achievements of the English missionary St. Boniface (680-754 AD).He was an Englishman, had been a friend of Charles Martel and Pepin, and had devoted all his allegiance to the Pope.Boniface founded many monasteries in Germany.His friend St. Gore established a monastery called St. Gore in Switzerland.According to some authorities, Boniface performed the anointing of King Pepin according to the ritual of the First Book of Kings. St. Boniface was of Devonian origin and was educated at Exeter and Winchester.He went to Frisia in 716, but returned shortly thereafter.In 717 AD he went to Rome.And was sent to Germany by Pope Gregory II in AD 719 to persuade the Germans to convert, and to fight against the influence of Irish missionaries (it can be recalled that: Irish missionaries once had the date of Easter and the form of haircut made a mistake).After his considerable achievements, he returned to Rome in 722 AD, where he was appointed bishop by Gregory II and took an oath of obedience to the Pope.The Pope gave him a letter to Charles Martel and appointed him to suppress heretics, in addition to his mission of converting them.In 732 AD he was promoted to archbishop; in 738 AD he made a third visit to Rome.In 741 AD Pope Zacharias appointed him as the papal envoy and ordered him to reform the Frankish church.He founded the monastery of Fleda, and gave it a stricter set of rules than that of the Benedictine order.Then he had a dispute with Virgil, an Irish bishop of Salzburg.Virgil was also a canonized figure, though he argued that there were other worlds beyond our own.In 754 AD, Boniface returned to Phrygia with him and was massacred by pagans.German Christianity became Pope and not Irish mainly because of his exploits. Some of the abbeys in England, especially those in Yorkshire, are of great contemporary importance.The British civilization during the Roman rule has long since disappeared, and the new civilization introduced by Christian missionaries is almost all concentrated in the Benedictine monasteries that are fully dependent on Rome.The Venerable Bid was a monk of Jarrow.His pupil Eckbert, the first Archbishop of York, established a church-affiliated school that educated Aruquin. Aru Kun is an important figure in contemporary culture.On his way to Rome in 780 AD, he met Charlemagne in Parma.The emperor hired him to teach Latin to the Franks, and to educate the emperor's family.He spent most of his life at Charlemagne's court, teaching and founding schools.In his later years he became Abbot of St. Martin in Tours.He wrote a number of books, including a History of the Church of York in verse.Although the emperor was uneducated, he believed in enlightenment, and he temporarily eased the darkness in the dark age.But his work in this area was short-lived.The culture of York was gradually destroyed by the Danes, and that of France by the Normans.The Saracens raided southern Italy, conquered Sicily, and even Rome in AD 846.All in all, the tenth century A.D. was one of the darkest ages in Western Christendom; for the ninth century was saved by some monks in England, and by that eminent man, John Scotus. Regarding the latter, I will give a more detailed introduction soon. The decline of the Carolingian dynasty after Charlemagne's death and the division of the Charlemagne Empire first brought benefits to the Holy See.Pope Nicholas I (858-867 AD) raised the power of the pope to an unprecedented height.He quarreled with the emperors of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires; with Charles the Bald of France; with Rota II, King of Lorraine; .Monks in many areas were already attached to local princes, and he set out to reverse this situation.His two major disputes were over the divorce of Rota II and the illegal removal of Archbishop Ignatius of Constantinople.Throughout the Middle Ages, the power of the church often intervened in the divorce of the royal family.Kings are headstrong men who regard the indissolubility of marriage as a canon restricted to their subjects.However, only the church can conclude holy marriages. If the church declares a marriage invalid, it is likely to cause disputes over the succession of the throne or dynastic wars.The Church thus held an extremely powerful position against royal divorces and illegitimate marriages.In England the church lost this status under Henry VIII, but regained it under Edward VIII. When Rota II filed for divorce, he obtained the consent of the monks in his country.But Pope Nicholas removed the bishops who had acquiesced in this matter, and completely refused to recognize the king's divorce application.Rota's brother, the Emperor Louis II, marched on Rome in an attempt to intimidate the pope; but retreated as superstitious fears grew.So the pope's will finally triumphed. The incident with Archbishop Ignatius is of great interest, as it shows that the Pope can still assert his power in the East.Ignatius was dismissed from the position of archbishop because of his hostility to the regent Bardas; Phercius, who was originally a layman, was promoted to archbishop, and the Byzantine government asked the Pope for approval. The pope sent two envoys to investigate; when they arrived in Constantinople, they were intimidated into assenting to the fait accompli.The matter had been concealed from the Pope for some time, but when the Pope learned of it, he took drastic measures. and called a synod at Rome to discuss the matter; he deposed an envoy from the bishopric, and at the same time deposed the archbishop of Syracuse, who had consecrated Phseus; All those who were ordained by Forsius also restored those who had been dismissed for opposing Forsius.Emperor Michael III was very angry about this. He wrote an angry letter to the pope, but the pope replied: "The days when the king was also a priest and the emperor was also a pope are over. Christianity has separated these two functions. Now, the Christian Emperor needs the Pope in the question of eternal life, but the Pope needs no Emperor except in matters of the world." Phseus and the Emperor also called a synod in revenge, at which the Pope was broken and Rome was declared Church is heresy.A short time later, the Emperor Michael III was assassinated, and his successor, Bachel, restored Ignatius to his office, and in this matter openly recognized the authority of the Pope.This victory occurred shortly after Nicholas' death, and was almost entirely due to the outbreak of the court revolution.After Ignatius' death, Forsius was restored as archbishop, thus widening the rift between the Eastern and Western churches.Nicholas' policy in this matter, therefore, cannot be said to have been successful in the long run. It was more difficult for Nicholas to impose his will on bishops than on kings.Archbishops consider themselves very great beings, and they would not submit to a ecclesiastical monarch.Nicholas, however, maintained that the existence of bishops was mainly due to the pope, and he succeeded in generalizing this view during his lifetime.In these centuries there were great doubts as to how bishops should be appointed, who were originally elected orally from the diocesan cities by the faithful; It is also sometimes chosen by the king or the pope.Bishops can be removed for serious reasons, but it is not clear whether they should be judged by the Pope or by local synods.All these uncertainties always make the power of such a post dependent on the perseverance and tact of those in charge.Nicholas extended the papal power to the maximum attainable at the time; but under his successors it sank back into a low ebb. In the tenth century AD, the Holy See was completely placed under the rule of the local Roman aristocracy.At this time there was no established system concerning the election of popes; the selection of popes depended sometimes on popular approval; sometimes on emperors or kings;At this time, Rome was different from when Pope Gregory the Great was alive. Rome was no longer a civilized city.Factional wars take place here from time to time; some wealthy and famous families seize the ruling power from time to time through a combination of violence and corruption.The disorder and decay of Western Europe had at this time reached such a degree that all Christian nations were almost brought to the brink of ruin.The Emperor and the King of France had been unable to check the anarchy created within their borders by feudal lords who were still nominally their vassals.The Hungarians raided northern Italy, and the Normans invaded the coast of France until Normandy was given to them in AD 911, in exchange for their conversion to Christianity.The greatest danger in Italy and southern France, however, came from the Saracens, who neither accepted Christianity nor respected the Church.About the end of the ninth century they conquered all Sicily; they settled on the banks of the Garrigoriano near Naples; they destroyed Monte Cassino and other great monasteries; they had a colony on the coast of Provence, and From there he plundered Italy and the valleys of the Alps, and cut Rome off from the north. The Saracens' conquest of Italy was stopped by the Eastern Roman Empire, which defeated the Saracens of Garrigoriano in AD 915.But its national power is not enough to rule Rome as it was when Justinian conquered Rome.For nearly a hundred years, the position of the Pope has become a reward of the Roman aristocracy or the princes of Tuskeram. The most powerful Roman in the early tenth century AD was the "senator" Diopheract and his daughter Marousia, the Pope was almost hereditary to the family.Not only did Ma Rouxia have several husbands in succession, but she also had countless lovers.She elevated one of her lovers to the title of pope, known as Selgios II (904-911 AD).Their son is Pope John XI (AD 931-936); her grandson is John XII (955-964), who became Pope at the age of sixteen, "he made the fall of the Pope to the bottom." Possessed, with her dissolute life and extravagant banquets, soon brought the Lateran Palace into the limelight." Marocia may have been the source of the legend of Pope Joan. The Popes of this period, of course, lost all the power in the East which the previous Popes had had.They lost Pope Nicholas I's effective rule over the bishops north of the Alps.Synods everywhere declared complete independence from the pope, but they could not maintain independence from despots and feudal lords.Bishops were increasingly assimilated by secular feudal lords. "Thus the Church itself is a victim of the same anarchy as secular society; evils of every kind and variety proliferate without end; monks who care a little for religion and for the salvation of the souls of believers are all afflicted by the present general decadence. and lamented, and they directed the faithful to behold the vision of the end of the world and the final judgment." In the past, it was thought that there was a kind of terror prevailing at that time, that is to say, people feared that the year 1000 would be the year of the end of the world.However, this idea is wrong.Because Christians have believed in the imminent end of the world since St. Paul, and they still go about their daily work. For convenience, the year 1000 A.D. may be considered the year in which the decline of Western European civilization reached its climax.From then on began the cultural uplift movement that lasted until 1914 AD.Initially, this progress was largely due to the reforms of the monks.Most of the monks outside the monastic order had become violent, corrupt, and worldly; the corruption of these monks by wealth and power from the alms of pious followers was not uncommon even among the monastic orders, but Whenever moral power decays, some reformer revives it with fresh zeal. The year 1000 is a turning point in history for another reason.Around this time, Muslims and northern barbarians at least ceased their campaigns in Western Europe.Goths, Lombards, Hungarians, and Normans invaded successively; tribes converted to Christianity, but each weakened the traditions of civilization.The Western Empire was divided into many barbarian kingdoms; the kings lost dominion over their subjects; and a general anarchy with wars, often large and small, prevailed.In the end all the tribes of the mighty northern conquerors were converted to Christianity and settled everywhere.The Normans, the last of the invaders, showed especially civilized ingenuity when they took back Sicily from the Saracens and thereby defended Italy from the Moslem threat.They brought back to Rome the large chunks of England that the Danes had split off from the Roman Empire.As soon as they settled in Normandy, they allowed the revival of France and gave it substantial assistance. Our use of the term "Dark Ages" to describe the period from 600 AD to 1000 AD means that we are overemphasizing Western Europe.This period coincides with China's Tang Dynasty, which is the heyday of Chinese poetry, and it is also the most outstanding period in many other respects.From India to Spain, the glorious civilization of Islam prevailed.At this time, the loss of the Christian world not only does not mean the loss of world civilization, but just the opposite.No one at the time could have imagined that Western Europe would later leap to dominance in terms of force and culture.It seems to us that only Western European civilization is civilization, but this is a narrow view.Most of the cultural content in our Western European civilization comes from the east coast of the Mediterranean, from the Greeks and Jews.On the subject of force: the period of dominance in Western Europe stretched from the Punic Wars to the fall of Rome—about six centuries between 200 BC and 400 AD.Since then, no Western European country has been able to compare with China, Japan or Muslim countries in terms of martial arts. Since the Renaissance, our superiority has been owed partly to science and technology, and partly to the political institutions slowly built up in the Middle Ages.From the nature of things, there is no reason for this superiority to last.Russia, China and Japan have shown great military power in the current war.All of these countries combined the technology of Western countries with the ideology of the East - Byzantine, Confucian or Shinto ideology.If India is liberated, it will also contribute another Eastern factor.If civilization continues, in the centuries to come it will surely exhibit a diversity never seen before in the Renaissance.There is a cultural imperialism that is more difficult to overcome than political imperialism.Long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire—even up to the Reformation—all European culture retained a touch of Roman imperialism.Today's culture, for us, has an aura of Western European imperialism.If we are to live more comfortably in the world after the present great war, we must recognize in our minds not only the political but also the cultural equality of Asia.I don't know what changes this event will cause, but I am sure that these changes will be of extremely deep and extremely important significance.