Europe Emerges From The Darkness

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, Europe fell into what historians have since called the Dark Ages, when law and order supposedly vanished from the once great continent. History also tells us that hundreds of years later, the Catholic Church and the Christian Emperor Charlemagne pushed Europe back into the light of civilization. The union of these two great forces occurred in Rome, on Christmas Day, after Charlemagne crushed a rebellion set against the Church. When Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the alliance between church and monarch had been born, and would become the constant trend of feudalism in the Medieval Ages.

Feudalism, by definition, was a system of rule that depended heavily on the "divine right" of kings, or the belief that God had given kings the divine right to rule over other human beings. Due to its inherent characteristics, feudalism provides us with a good example of a caste system, a system that states that when a person is born, he or she will remain in a certain class throughout the whole of their lives.

The Medieval Church, like Medieval governments, also partook in feudalism. Like society in general, the Church sponsored its own heirarchial system, beginning with God, then the Pope, followed by cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, and so on and so forth. The Church became the wealthiest land owner during the Medieval Ages. That accumulation of wealth led to internal and external criticism, and many people began to call for reform.

The Medieval Ages is a time period difficult to completely comprehend. The above information pertains to general trends and concepts, but doesn't even begin to touch on the important events, such as the Norman Conquest, Crusades, Hundred Years' War, and the Black Death. Still, the Church and the State were the most important elements of anyone's life during the Medieval Ages.

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