Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/310

 222 General History oj Europe 358. Conditions in Germany and Italy. With the death of Frederick II in 1250 the medieval German Empire may be said to have come to an end. Rudolph of Hapsburg was made king in 1273, but Germany was not really a country but a confused mass of duchies, counties, archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbacies, and free towns. They paid little attention to their kings, who con- tinued to claim the title of emperor but rarely went to Rome to be crowned. Italy was also divided up into practically independent states, the Lombard towns to the north, the papal possessions across the middle of the peninsula, and, to the south, Naples, which re- mained under its French dynasty for a time, and the kingdom of Sicily, which drifted into the hands of a Spanish house. III. ORGANIZATION AND POWERS OF THE CHURCH 359. General Character of the Medieval Church. In the preceding pages it has been necessary to refer constantly to the Church and the clergy. Indeed without them medieval history would become almost a blank, for the Church was incomparably the most important institution of the time, and the popes, bishops, and abbots were the soul of nearly every great enterprise. We have already had abundant proofs that the medieval Church was very different from our modern churches, whether Catholic or Protestant. 1. In the first place, everyone was required to belong to it, just as we all must belong to some country today. One was not born into the Church, it is true, but he was ordinarily baptized into it when he was a mere infant. All western Europe formed a single religious association, from which it was a crime to revolt. To refuse allegiance to the Church, or to question its authority or teachings, was regarded as treason against God the most terrible of crimes and was punishable, according to the laws of the time, with death (395). 2. The medieval Church did not rely for its support, as churches usually must today, upon the voluntary contributions