LECTURE 4 HST 111 9 10 12 CLASS NOTES The Roman Catholic Church is not only a religious organization but also a political organization The Church tries to take power from governments They do this through the threat of sending people to Hell The Church collects taxes on a Europe wide basis the clergy only pays taxes to the Catholic Church and Rome Governments and rulers want the clerical tax to come to them Poland and Lithuania formed an alliance which created a super state in the middle of Europe This alliance ensured that Russia Muscovy could not expand into the West The super state also blocked any German advances to the East So this made Russia under Ivan the Great aka Ivan III really control itself Ivan called himself the czar or the reincarnation of the Roman Empire In 1453 Constantinople present day Instabul fell the last part of the Roman Empire The dominant figure in Europe at this time is Mehmed Constantinople was deliberately populated with different groups Jews Greeks Christians Armenians and Muslims Each of these groups had a separate area of the city and they were allowed to live according to their own customs Mehmed supported this because he wanted to make Constantinople the crowning jewel of the Ottoman Empire the population grew rapidly At this time the city was renamed to Instanbul As the Ottoman Empire grew it came into conflict with the other great power Spain In 1469 Ferdinand heir to the Kingdom of Aragon married Isabella the daughter of the King of Castille In 1474 Isabelle became the Queen of Castille in 1479 Ferdinand became the ruler of Aragon and Spain was united The Union of Crowns In summation Eastern Europe dominated by Polish Lithuania alliance Russia breaks free of the shackles of Mongolian rule introducers the tsar Vast expansion of Ottoman Empire and capture of Constantinople in 1453 Unification of Spain in 1479 start of inquisition expulsion of Jews and Moors Ferdinand and Isabella were both strong Catholics and wanted to purify Spain from heretical influence Started the Inquisition began to expel Jews from Spain and drove out much of the Moor population Southern part of Spain Inquisition was very much a religious and ethnic cleansing Many parts of Italy in the late 15th century are run by foreign nations Naples in the south was run by the Spanish The middle of the nation was under direct control of the Papacy Milan Venice Florence The Big 3 states of the North In the 14th and 15th century these states became larger and much more powerful and swallowed up neighbors Milan had several advantages First it sat in the Po Valley which had lots of natural food resources most of the European trade flowed through Milan this gave Milan wealth This wealth fueled ambition to becoming a larger strong state In Florence it was slightly different Florence became a merchant city Popolo grasso fat people Popolo minuto small shopkeepers and craftsmen Florence then expanded into Tuscany so it became a power Venice 200 merchant families ran the state In summation Dominance of the three large northern powers Milan Venice Florence Rule by oligarchy importance of merchants and bankers Control of trading routes and trade The Catholic Church wanted fullness of power This means the Pope claimed not only spiritual power but authority over Kings and queens This claim became unrealistic quickly Italy and France got into a fight over the papacy Initially of Phillip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII It starts over taxation France is in the midst of the 100 Years War so they needed money To get that money Phillip claimed the right to tax the French clergy 10 of the French population Boniface rejected because the clergy s allegiance was to Rome not to Paris In response Phillip was excommunicated Phillip sent French troops to capture the Pope but on the way out of Northern Italy a group of Italian nobles killed the French and rescued Boniface Boniface was traumatized from this and died soon after there was a vacancy in the papacy Phillip had effectively beaten the Church Popes are elected by a college of cardinals Phillip threatened to kill the cardinals The next Pope elected was a Frenchman Not only did Phillip get a French Pope but he moved the Papacy to just outside the French border at Avignon it remained there for 72 years This development showed a decline in the respect for the Papacy as well as French dominance When new Cardinals were elected over 100 of the 144 chosen were French Avignon became known as a place of immense luxury In order to live this lifestyle taxes on the clergy had to be instituted Eventually the papacy was moved back to Rome A threat that the next pope had to be Italian was instituted Urban VI was Italian However the French elected a new Pope Clement VII Urban stayed in Rome Clement went to Avignon This became known as the Great Schism two Popes Which pope you supported depended on your position in the 100 Years War France Scotland Poland supported the Avignon Papacy England Scandinavia supported the Roman Papacy The Schism had many effects Many started to question the role of the Pope Finances were down because they were spit between popes Each Pope denounced the other as the anti Christ The only was forward was to find a new way to explain the Papacy This was done through conscillianism This had two parts first that the Church would concentrate on spiritual things and leave governing to Kings and Queens this meant the overall authority of the Church rested with its members not the Papacy In 1409 a council removed both Popes and elected another Problem both Popes refused to give up their jobs Between 1409 1418 the split continued but this time with 3 popes instead of 2 It ended in 1418 when the Roman Emperor was able to draw a truce and elect a new Pope The Church lost many of its followers in the 14th century it divided Catholics and countries In summation Great Schism Conflict between religious and secular authorities War need for taxation French control of Papacy Support for Popes runs broadly along the 100 Years War conflict lines Decline in moral authority and secular power of Church Increasing criticism of the Church s role in society and the non godly ways of the clergy End result a shift in the Church toward spiritual rather than temporal matters