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Relationship Between Monarchs & the Church

The purpose of this brief essay is to compare and contrast the treatment of the relationship between monarch(s) and the Church in The Life of Charlemagne by Einhard and Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks. The two writer describe an interdependent Church and monarchy in which the religious or spiritual intensity of a given ruler was often less significant in shaping Church-State relationships than other matters. Both books demonstrate that Church and kings interacted for mutual advantage and because, in the wake of the dissolution of the Roman Empire and throughout the so-called "Dark Ages," the monarchy and the Church emerged as the only two normative institutions in a fragmented social system.

Gregory (p. 33) has commented that among the early kings of the Franks, Childeric was "excessively wanton." Though a ruler, this early king was in no sense as religious as his son Clovis, who also experienced conflicts with the Church and despoiled many of the Church's sanctuaries until he became uninvolved in "heathen error" (Gregory, p. 37). Gregory (pp. 40-41) comments that Clovis was introduced to Christianity at the urging of his wife and helped to accept the Church through the agency of Saint Remi, Bishop of Rheims. From that time on, Gregory argues that Clovis became a more successful king and warrior and better able to care for the needs of his people. He built numerous churches and enjoyed the support of the Church, which was anxious to extend its own control and helped Clovis crush the heretics by its aid and extend his kingdom over all the Gauls (Gregory, p. 53).

Conversely, Gregory (p. 53) points out that rulers like Alric, Godegisel, Gundobad, and Godomar did not accept the Church and "at the same time lost their country and their souls." Under King Chilperic, says Gregory (p. 128), the Church was sorely threatened, its properties and sanctuaries defiled, and its clergy and religious martyred. It is his beli...

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Relationship Between Monarchs & the Church. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:53, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1701206.html