Why did the catholic pope get so powerful in the medieval times?

[Lonck]

Did the countries let him so they thought they could control him and unleash his wrath on rivals or did they underestimate the pope and he became powerful by himself?

[Lysimachus]

Well he's the closest connection they have to God so what do you expect? His decisions were pretty much divine mandate.

[Machiavelli25]

I think of the medieval papacy as almost a continuation of the roman empire. When the Romans converted, they built the papacy, and the papacy replaced the Romans as the central powerhouse of the ancient world.

[Praetorian_BGX]

It was the only intact institution after the fall of western roman empire. They had Frankish tribe on their side so basically they had army to fulfill their military demands. Franks were sword of Rome during that period.

[hellheaven1987]

It was the only intact institution after the fall of western roman empire. They had Frankish tribe on their side so basically they had army to fulfill their military demands. Franks were sword of Rome during that period.

Yes, in fact it was because Carolingian was Christian and on the side of Rome; the recognization of "Holy Roman Empire" further improved that relation and put a firm base that the new "Roman Empire" should be Christianity that firmly supporting Rome.

[motiv-8]

I think of the medieval papacy as almost a continuation of the roman empire. When the Romans converted, they built the papacy, and the papacy replaced the Romans as the central powerhouse of the ancient world.

Oh dear.. Don't let one of the numerous Orthodox posters around here catch you saying that.

The Papacy was utterly powerless from the beginning of the office through at least the 8th century. The first instances we see of the Pope taking prerogative is in the mid-seventh century, through conflicts with the still Roman Emperor in Constantinople. The Emperor, through negligence or merely circumstance, was unable to properly govern and secure the territory of Italy and the city of Rome, straining relations between the two. Shortly afterward the iconoclast controversy began, straining relations further and prompting the Papacy to begin making good on its claims as head authority (claims that date back to the fourth century). Meanwhile, the political situation continued to stagnate until Pope Stephen II traveled over the Alps to visit the newly-crowned King Pepin of the Franks and enlist his aid against the Lombards. The Romans/Byzantines, and later Orthodox Christian observers (who of course at the time were all one in the same) saw this as nothing short of treachery, claiming that the Pope as an imperial subject had no right to act as such. The Papacy, however, owing to the turmoil of the previous generations, saw things differently.

When the Franks invaded Italy and squashed the majority of Lombard power, the land that was seized -- previously part of the Roman Exarchate of Ravenna, was not returned to imperial control, but to the Papacy to hold in trust. Further agreeements -- based mainly on one of the greatest forgeries of all time, the Donation of Constantine -- laid forth the division of Lombard lands and served as the power base of the Papacy. As time went on and the alliance between the Pope and the Franks continued, the Pope found himself strong enough, as the head of Rome and what were referred to as the Roman lands, Romagna, to venture to crown an Emperor himself, beginning a dynamic relationship between Pope and crown that elevated each to higher positions with each passing generation, though bringing with it new conflict.

That's at least a very rough and brief introduction into where the Papacy established itself as a temporal and material power. It's highly contentious as well, owing to the religious and political discord of the time with a certain weakened, but still powerful polity to the east. The legality of the Pope's moves is extremely fuzzy.

[Claudius Gothicus]

Once the church started to separate from it's eastern Orthodox part, the Bishop of Rome(The Pope) became an unifying figure among the barbarian kingdoms of Western Europe since he was the chief of Catholicism one of the few thing that this barbarians had in common.

[Sphere]

When the Romans converted, they built the papacy

The position of Pontifex Maximus predates Christianity. The idea of consentrating ultimate religious and secular power under one person was long standing in Roman society. Over time the Catholic Papacy drifted away from this, with much clearer divisions between secular and religous power.

[Stavroforos]

...The Pope wasn't "so powerful" in medieval times, compared to the powers which the office would acquire later.

[tonymurphy1888]

He was like god's voice on earth and back then people were scared of god so to appease the poe is to appease god...i think.

[Lysimachus]

He was like god's voice on earth and back then people were scared of god so to appease the poe is to appease god...i think.

Of course the idea of paying to atone for one's sins basically made the Catholic Church corrupt and basically meant the nobility could do as they please and simply pay them off.

[Tiberios]

As far as I know (and I'm probaly wrong) he got powerfull because he could weild power in Italy at a time where the Eastern Roman Empire, who was the nominal rulers of Italy, could not effectively control it. The Papcy became increasingly powerfull as they were the only real alternative to the Eastern Romans.
So later in the early medieval times the Papacy had become powerfull and did not want to be subject to the Emperor in the East and a conflict resulting in the Great Schism slowly broke out.

Just my thoughts

[Stavroforos]

What time period are we defining as "medieval" anyway?

[Tiberios]

I'm thinking 1000 A.D and up to about 1450/1500

[Stavroforos]

That works a bit better then, I was thinking of an earlier starting date.

[Dr. Croccer]

After the death of Charlemagne, really. Prior to that the the Pope made declarations but he had little political power, especially seeing as the Franks, at that time the most powerful Catholic state, ignored him.

[Stavroforos]

After the death of Charlemagne, really. Prior to that the the Pope made declarations but he had little political power, especially seeing as the Franks, at that time the most powerful Catholic state, ignored him.

He still had little power after Charlemagne's death, especially considering the office became a point of competition amongst Roman noble families.

[Dr. Croccer]

He still had little power after Charlemagne's death, especially considering the office became a point of competition amongst Roman noble families.

Yeah. It wasn't really untill the 1100s that he became as powerful as we remember him to be.

[Stavroforos]

And even then, that was just the beginning of his power, definitely not the apex of it.

[Odovacar]

The zenith of the papal power was during Innocentius III as far as I know.