Western European Political Decline

After the collapse of Rome, Western Europe began to experience social, economic, and political decline. From about 500 to 1000, it was politically divided, rural, and essentially cut off from advanced civilizations in the Middle East, China, and India. Many different invaders swept across the region, trade slowed significantly, towns emptied, and classical learning was practically nonexistent. For these reasons, this period in Europe has sometimes been called the Dark Ages. Today, this time period is referred to as the Middle Ages. Something needed to be done to reunite Western Europe. The answer was the Church. The social, economic, and political decline experienced by Western Europe led to the rise of the Church as a religious and secular
Eventually, medieval popes claimed papal supremacy. Churchmen were often highly educated, so feudal leaders appointment them to government positions. The Church developed its own body of laws, known as canon law, as well as its own courts. Canon law governed many aspects of life, including wills, marriages, and morals. Anyone who disobeyed Church law faced a range of penalties. The most severe and terrifying was excommunication. Those who were excommunicated could not received the sacraments or a Christian burial, which condemned them to hell for eternity. The Church actually became the most powerful force in Medieval Europe due to the political unrest after the fall of Rome. The rise of the Church as a religious and secular authority in Medieval Europe was due to the social, economic, and political decline experienced by Western Europe after the collapse of Rome. In a time of great need, the Church stepped in and provided the spiritual guidance and support that was much needed during this time. In fact, no single state or government united the European people. Instead, the Catholic Church became the most powerful institution of the Medieval