The pope and the organized Church were a force to be reckoned with during the High Middle Ages (1000 - 1250 c.e.). How did the Christian Church become so powerful? This essay will address that question by describing four of the many sources of that great power: papal leadership, sacraments, canon law, and military leadership. 

One source of the Christian Church’s power is the pope taking greater control of the church from the secular rulers. Prior to the High Middle Ages, kings were thought of as chosen by God, so they had “the right to control the church in [their] territory” (page 264). For example, rulers appointed the religious leaders through exchange of gifts. Clerics who wanted a position gave gifts for the position. The view that there is “a great deal wrong with secular power over the church” (page 265) initiated the shift in power to the church. The Gregorian reform changed that power balance starting with the Investiture Conflict (which started in 1075) which refers to a dispute between the king and the pope of the time (Henry IV and Gregory VII, respectively) over who gets to appoint religious posts. It quickly escalated into Henry telling Gregory to step down as pope, which caused him to excommunicate Henry. Henry had to wait in the snow and beg for forgiveness until Gregory eventually accepted him back into the Church. This shows just how powerful the pope had become; at that time, he was more powerful than the king himself. The Gregorian Reform established a “clear church hierarchy headed by a pope who could enforce a single doctrine and discipline” (page 304). The Concordat of Worms, created in 1122, ended the Investiture Conflict with a compromise between the pope and the king (page 268). The compromise essentially gave the church the power to select their clerics, even though secular rulers maintained some of their authority. Another Illustration of the power of the church is that Portugal’s ruler was “officially recognized” as king in 1179 after “he put Portugal under protection of the papacy” (page 307). With the rise of the pope’s power, it is not hard to see how the church managed to grow so much.

A second source of the Church’s power came from the sacraments. A sacrament is defined as an important rite to the Christians, “such as baptism, the Eucharist...and marriage” (page 269). Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the priest’s role in sacraments became more and more important. Priests became in charge of delivering the sacraments to the people (page 269). For instance, priests performed the rite of marriage and had jurisdiction over disputes in marriage (page 270). One example of the church’s power over the sacrament of marriage is that when the pope found out that Louis VII’s marriage to Eleanor did not adhere to canonical laws, he dissolved their marriage, and both were free to marry someone else (page 277). Through the sacraments, the priests gained more power because they were set apart from the other members of the church. 

A third source of power during the High Middle Ages was the codification and implementation of canon law. Clerics gained power from church law, such as priests presiding over the sacraments, and new laws were created over time further increasing their power. One example of the church’s laws was the Decretum by Gratian in 1140 that took information from the Collection in 74 Canons, which was a compilation of canon law for the church that gave the pope yet more power (page 270). The pope’s power also grew by becoming its own legal system for church-related incidents and privileges as indicated by “The pope, with his law courts, bureaucracy, and financial apparatus, had become a monarch.” (page 271). For example, in the source document Formula for Conducting the Ordeal of Boiling Water it describes the priest being completely in charge of a trial and all the religious measures taken when someone was put on trial during the 12th or 13th century. The trial took place in the church, and incorporated religious rituals and rites, including an “ordeal mass” before the accused was to plunge their hand in boiling water to see if they were innocent or guilty, determined by whether their hand burned or not. This is important because it proves that the church enforced laws not necessarily related to events of the church, which previously fell under the jurisdiction of other courts of law.

A fourth source of power was military leadership, which grew during the crusades (1096-1229). Kings had been in charge of armies. Then in 1095, when Pope Urban II told a church council to “wrest [the Holy Land]” from the Muslims, he “placed the papacy in a new position of [military] leadership” and got a positive response (pages 274, 275). Now the pope has the church’s own army through the “religious fervor” of the laypeople. The crusades were also a display of the church’s power, because even though they were mostly unsuccessful in their goal for Christian control of the Holy Land, it exhibited the church’s new ability to call crusades and rally people to their cause.

In conclusion, the church grew steadily more powerful throughout the High Middle Ages (1000-1250). It accomplished this in several ways mentioned: through its laws, the crusades, newfound control over the monasteries, and the pope taking power from the king. This is how the church grew in power.