THE ROMAN CHURCH
A preceding chapter dealt with the Christian Church in the East and West during the early Middle Ages. We learned something about its organization, belief, and worship, about the rise and growth of the Papacy, about monasticism, and about that missionary campaign which won all Europe to Christianity. Our narrative extended to the middle of the eleventh century, when the quarrel between pope and patriarch led at length to the disruption of Christendom. We have now to consider the work and influence of the Roman Church during later centuries of the Middle Ages.
TERRITORIAL EXTENT OF THE CHURCH
The Church at the height of its power held spiritual sway over all western
Europe. Italy and Sicily, the larger part of Spain, France, Germany,
Hungary, Poland, British Isles, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland
yielded obedience to the pope of Rome.
THE CHURCH AS UNIVERSAL
Membership in the Church was not a matter of free choice. All people, except Jews, were required to belong to it. A person joined the Church by baptism, a rite usually performed in infancy, and remained in it as long as he lived. Every one was expected to conform, at least outwardly, to the doctrines and practices of the Church, and anyone attacking its authority was liable to punishment by the state.
THE CHURCH AS INTERNATIONAL
The presence of one Church throughout the western world furnished a bond of union between European peoples during the age of feudalism. The Church took no heed of political boundaries, for men of all nationalities entered the ranks of the priesthood and joined the monastic orders. Priests and monks were subjects of no country, but were "citizens of heaven," as they sometimes called themselves. Even difference of language counted for little in the Church, since Latin was the universal speech of the educated classes. One must think, then, of the Church as a great international state, in form a monarchy, presided over by the pope, and with its capital at Rome.
TWOFOLD DUTIES OF THE CHURCH
The Church in the Middle Ages performed a double task. On the one hand it gave the people religious instruction and watched over their morals; on the other hand it played an important part in European politics and provided a means of government. Because the Church thus combined ecclesiastical and civil functions, it was quite unlike all modern churches, whether Greek, Roman, or Protestant. Both sides of its activities deserve, therefore, to be considered.