Catholicism's Role in the Middle Ages

Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church
As Urban II made clear in his Speech at the Council of Clermont in 1095, the Church was meant to be a bulwark against the effects of the devil among men—and when men tried to force their way into and to the head of the Church, by machinations, political intrigue, and corruption, that bulwark was split apart and the faithful Christians of Europe were turned against one another. Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church played a significant role in shaping political relationships, overseeing warfare, and supporting notions of political authority in the High Middle Ages. Indeed, the Church had done so from the time Europe began to climb its way out of the Dark Ages, with the crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in 800 AD.
In Urbran’s Council address, he stated of the Church that it is “our mother, as it were, at whose bosom we were nourished, by whose doctrine we were instructed and strengthened, by whose counsel we were admonished” (160). By imploring Christian foot soldiers and knights and “men of all ranks” to defend the Christian people and their holy mother Church from the invading Persians—the Turks—Urban was demonstrating the extent of the relationship between the Church and the Christians of Europe and the call to arms: Europe was Christendom in the High Middle Ages, and an attack upon Christendom by a “vile race” bent on destroying the Church and its Christians warranted such a call to arms (Urban II 163). As head of the Church, spiritual authority of the realm, and supporter of those emperors and leaders whose aims aligned with the Church’s, the Pope could exercise this privilege, as he did throughout the course of the Holy Wars.
Internally, Christianity was the bond of faith that united the various peoples of the various European nations. It was this bond, based on teachings, beliefs, practices, religious observances, and a common culture that allowed them to look to Rome for guidance both in spiritual and in political matters (to a certain extent). Externally, the threat of attack from the Turkish people, with their foreign religion which was viewed as an antagonist to the Christian faith, also served to unite the people of Europe and rally the Christians together. William of Tyre represents how this external threat moved certain Christian soldiers to put their services to use for the good of the Church and for the Lord: “In 1118, certain pious and God-fearing nobles of knightly rank, devoted to the Lord, professed the wish to live perpetually in poverty, chastity, and obedience” (86). One sees in William’s History how the thread of the Faith could link men of various classes and backgrounds during the High Middle Ages and shape their political relationships, the interest in warfare, and their notion of political authority in this way. If today’s media is the modern pulpit responsible for shaping modern culture and people’s beliefs on authority, politics and war, the pulpits of the High Middle Ages were the real thing—the original pulpits wherein the faithful followers of the Church of Rome were taught what to think and how to live.
Yet, the Faith could also be twisted by human nature towards evil ends—just as Gunther of Paris recounts in the sack of Constantinople. His depiction of Martin the abbot stealing holy relics from a church, out of covetousness, is a perfect example of how the Faith could be used to inspire Christians to fight for the Holy Lands on the one hand while on the other hand, the temptation to loot and plunder from one’s brethren remained quite strong. Martin the abbot’s theft of valuable holy relics that in less violent times would have been honored appropriately instead of treated like loot or booty or plunder shows the extent to which the teachings of the Church were often muted in times of warfare, even if that warfare was propagated as something that was done in support of the Church. Abuse of relics was certainly not an action that would support the Church, but it was one that could come about as a result of the instability and chaos resulting from warfare on behalf of the Church. Such abuses necessitated a strong rebuke from Pope Innocent III who stated, “It was your duty to attend to the business of your legation and to give careful consideration, not to the capture of the empire of Constantinople, but rather to the defense of what is left of the Holy Land and, with the Lord’s leave, the restoration of what has been lost. We made you our representative and we sent you to gain, not temporal, but rather eternal riches” (239). This type of stern rebuke was a reminder of how the Faith was meant to serve Christians in their service of God—not for earthly treasures but for a heavenly reward.
In conclusion, the role of Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church was, in principle, meant to facilitate the Church and its followers in their seeking the road to Heaven. All politics, relationships, wars, and crusades were meant to be oriented towards this one aim: salvation. Fighting the Turks was supposed to be done—not for worldly gain—but rather for Heavenly reward and to allow the Christian people to worship freely and in peace, and to protect those shrines and Holy places that honored God. Yet, when this Christian purpose was used to front ulterior motives—such as the kind of theft and looting engaged in by Martin the abbot, as described by Gunther of Paris, the necessary rebuke was given. Of course, the impact of this rebuke was only felt as strongly as one’s faith in the authority of the Church was held. If one disregard one’s pope was insignificant, the extent to which a letter from Innocent III would move a reprobate was unlikely to be very far.

Works Cited
Gunther of Paris. “Documents on the Sack of Constantinople: Chapter Six: The Age of
Innocent III.”
Innocent III. “Documents on the Sack of Constantinople: Chapter Six: The Age of
Innocent III.”
Urban II. “Speech at the Council of Clermont.” From Julius Kirshner and Karl F.
Morrison, eds., University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, volume 4: Medieval Europe. University of Chicago Press, 1986.
William of Tyre. History. From Chapter Three: The Crusader States.