Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/313

 Popes, Emperors, and Princes in the Middle Ages 225 all religious ceremonies in a whole city or country by closing the church doors and prohibiting all public services. 362. Chief Sources of Difficulty between Church and State, But as the period of feudal disorder drew to an end, and the kings and other rulers got the better of the feudal lords and established peace in their realms, they began to think that the Church had become too powerful and too rich. Certain difficulties arose of which the following were the most important : 1. Should the king or the Pope have the right of selecting the bishops and the abbots of rich monasteries? Naturally both were anxious to place their friends and supporters in these in- fluential positions. Moreover, the Pope, like the king, could claim a considerable contribution from those whom he appointed. 2. How far might the king venture to tax the lands and other property of the Church? Was this vast amount of wealth to go on increasing and yet make no contribution to the support of the government ? The churchmen usually urged that they needed all their money to carry on the church services, keep up the churches and monasteries, take care of the schools, and aid the poor, for the State left them to bear all these necessary burdens. The law of the Church permitted the churchmen to make vol- untary gifts to the king when there was urgent necessity. 3. Then there was disagreement over the cases to be tried in the Church courts and the claim of churchmen to be tried only by clergymen. Above all was the habit of appealing cases to Rome, for the Pope would often decide the matter in exactly the opposite way from that in which the king's court had decided it. 4. Lastly, there was the question of how far the Pope as head of the Christian Church had a right to interfere with the govern- ment of a particular state when he did not approve of the way in which a king was acting. The powers of the Pope were very great, everyone admitted, but even the most devout Catholics differed somewhat as to just how great they were. We have seen some illustrations of these troubles in the case of the popes and the German emperors. Many others might be given were there space to do so.