Earl Cairnes, Ph.D.: "Christianity Through the Centuries," Ch. 19--Holy ...
19. The Emergence of the Holy Roman
Empire, 207-214. The Carolingian Empire goes into decline with weak governance and
squabbling heirs and offspring. Charles the Bald of the east and Louis the German
of the east, two brothers, unite against a third son, Lothair. The Treaty of Verdun
of 843 allots Europe into thirds. Feudalism as a political and economic system brought
further fragmentation and social stratification with little-to-no social mobility.
Feudalism benefitted the church as lands were bequeathed to churches and monasteries.
This, by turns, brought secularization of greater degree into the church as Churchmen
became land owners and businessmen. The Vikings and Hungarian invasions also contribute
to chaos along coastlines and down rivers. Dr. Cairns argues for a 10th
century revival of the fragmented Empire calling attention to the difficulties of
unification, geographical barriers, tribal rivalries. Henry the Fowler and Otto,
his son and successor, was able to unity the Dukes, establish peace in the troublesome
Italian peninsula, and get crowned by Pope John XII as “Emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire in 1962” (214). This will be the set-up for the historic battles, ebbings
and flowings of power between Pope and Emperors to come.
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