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A G E O F C H R I S T E N D O M : 5 9 0 - 1 5 1 7 A. D .
The Age of Christendom was a time when Christianity gained spiritual, moral, political and military power over all of
Europe. Christianity had dominion over everything. There was no separation of church and state. It was the realization
of Augustine’s City of God, but was also marked by serious corruption, leading up to the Great Reformation.
Period Timeframe
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590 A.D. is when Gregory the Great became the first recognized Pope.
1517 A.D. is when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the wall at the church at Wittenburg, Germany.
Introduction
After the fall of the Roman Empire, you were left with two dominant cities: Constantinople (East) & Rome (West). These
cities were divided by distance, language (Latin and Greek) and hard feelings in general. Rome had the Pope, but no
army. Constantinople had political power, but no spiritual power because its bishop was considered subordinate to the
Pope.
The Rise of the Holy Roman Empire
From the 400’s to the 700’s, people dreamed of “Christendom” - a reunited Roman Empire where Rome and the church
worked together to bring about the God’s Kingdom. They wanted to realize Augustine’s City of God .
During the 500-600’s, one of the barbarian tribes becomes ascendant: the Francs (France), lead by King Clovis. When
Clovis died, he divided his kingdom among his children, who then began to fight. In the vacuum of power this fighting
created, a new political position arose. The Mayor of the Palace was a powerful aristocrat who superseded royal
authority, much like the current Prime Minister in Great Britain. There were 3 men to hold this position:
1. Charles Martel
(Charles the Hammer) had to face a new threat: the Muslims. Islam began in the 600’s when an Arab camel driver
claimed to have a vision where an angel of God told him that God’s name was Allah, that his chosen nation was
not Israel (Isaac) but the Arabs (Ishmael), and that the holiest scriptures were to be the Koran. Charles Martel
was able to defeat their attempt to take over Europe at the Battle of Tours in Spain in 732 A.D.
2. Pepin the Short
He took over from his father Charles. The Pope crowned him “Chosen of the Lord.” The mayor of the palace was
now officially sovereign of the Frankish Kingdom. In return, Pepin cast out the Lombard tribe in Italy and gave
their land to the Pope. This land is still the Papal state (the donation of Pepin) today.
3. Charles the Great (Charlemagne)
Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, turned out to be the greatest leader of them all. When Charles began conquering the
tribes (Muslims, Bavarians, Slavs, Lombards), Pope Leo III realized that he had found the muscle he needed. On
Christmas Day in 800 A.D., Pope Leo crowned him “Charles most pious, crowned Augustus by God” and laid
prostrate before him in homage. Leo in effect made Charles ruler of the resurrected Roman Empire, now known
as the Holy Roman Empire. The double-edged sword of church (ideas) and state (muscle) now ruled Europe
together. When he died, division occurred again.
The Rise of Feudalism
The infighting that began after Charlemagne’s death allowed individual landed conquerors to come to prominence. These
Lords would allow people (vassals) to live on their land if they would take care of it and his other ventures (cattle, castles,
etc) for him. The men would also show their “homage” (allegiance) to the Lord by fighting for him in his surrounding “fief”
when needed, alongside his professional fighters called knights.
Churches had to also pay homage to the Lord and pay him to exist on his land. This system of lay investiture meant that
a layman was investing a spiritual leader with the authority to minister. In today’s terms, this would mean that your pastor
would have to be appointed by the mayor. What a mess! This also led to simony where unspiritual men would cozy up
to a Lord in order to get spiritual power. You could even pay the Lord for this power. Bishops were often replaced at a
whim, often with one of the Lord’s family members (nepotism). Simony and nepotism corrupted the church all the way
up to the Pope. By the 9th century, the state had taken control of the Church!
Reform
The initial rumblings of reform began in the 900’s when 300 French monasteries declared their freedom from homage.
They held that the church doesn’t derive its authority from the state, but vice versa. They called for an end to simony and
for a board of spiritual men to elect the pope rather than feudal lords doing so.
In 1073, Hildebrand became Pope, changed his name to Gregory VII and started to shake things up. He claimed papal
infallibility and began exerting unprecedented authority. He declared simony illegal, prohibited lay investiture, and
threatened excommunication to anyone who performed them. Gregory even accused the Holy Roman Emperor himself,
Henry IV, of simony. Gregory demanded that Henry appear before him. Henry refused and called for a council to remove
Gregory. Military options were considered. This standoff between church and state is one of the most pivotal events in
church history. Pope Gregory countered by declaring in interdiction, forbidding all bishops and priests from serving
communion in Henry’s country (France and Germany). By cutting Henry’s country off from communion, Gregory was
essentially sending everyone there to hell! Needless to say, all of Henry’s subjects were in hysterics. The people’s entire
path to God was through the clergy. No one dared to even imagine they could refute the pope! Henry IV eventually
succumbed to pressure from German nobles and went to Gregory’s home in the Alps to see him and seek forgiveness.
Gregory refused to see Henry until he had done penance for his sins, so for three days, Henry stood outside Gregory’s
home in the snow with only a burlap covering. Gregory humiliated and mocked him the whole time, but forgave him in the
end and allowed his country to once again receive communion (1073 A.D.). The Pope had now found the ultimate
weapon – the ability to send people to heaven or hell!
The Zenith of the Papacy.
From this point through the 13th century, Popes continued Gregory’s ideas and exerted complete control over Europe.
They led the attempt to erect Augustine’s City of God. Emperor’s were mere shadows of Charlemagne, sovereigns of
clusters of kingdoms, but answerable to the Pope. One Pope, Boniface VIII, famously said “I am Caesar.”
The Corruption of the Papacy
Errors and departures that began centuries earlier had become blatant.
1. Transubstantiation: This held that communion was the actual body and blood of Christ.
2. Sacerdotalism: This was the belief that the priests were your mediators to Christ. You could not pray
directly to Christ or read the Bible for yourself or take communion. The priests had to do all this for you.
3. Sacramentalism: This held that only the priests could administer the 7 sacraments (baptism,
confirmation, communion, penance/confession, extreme unction, marriage, ordination) or bestowings of
grace. This was not biblical!
4. Purgatory: The church held that purgatory was an intermediary place where you were punished for your
sins after death.
5. Indulgences: The church held that there were some Christians who were so good that they had extra
good deeds that you could draw off of by giving. This led to people not only paying off their own sins, but
those of their loved ones who were in purgatory! You could even give now for sins you might commit
later! Priests would urge people to give money to the church by saying, “when a coin in the coffer rings, a
soul from purgatory springs.” The people didn’t know any better and did as they were told. St. Peter’s
Cathedral was built from money from indulgences (by John Tetzel).
6. The via moderna: This held that salvation gave one the ability to serve God, which brought greater
grace. This cooperation between grace and human effort brought salvation. Greater grace shortened
your time in purgatory. This is synergistic act of salvation (not monergistic).
7. Papal infallibility: Boniface issued edict, Unam sanctum. He only was holy and in authority over all.
8. The veneration of Mary: Jesus was seen as fierce and wrathful. You don’t want to come to someone
who is wrathful, so you would come to the saints (they are nicer). The nicest of all the saints was mama –
Mary - and the people worshiped her.
By the 1400’s, power and leadership had replaced piety, tradition had replace truth, syncretism had replaced grace alone
(monergism), pronouncements had replaced scripture, and the kingdom’s extension and expansion had replaced true
conversion of a soul. The Crusades most clearly showed this. There were seven military movements over 200 years in
an effort to take the Holy Land from the Muslims. People were “brought to faith by the sword.” Rumblings, reforms,
th
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challenges and protests will grow from the 14 and 15 centuries.
The Beginnings of the Protestant Reformation – NEXT WEEK!