"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."
Stalin famously asked, "How many legions has the Pope?" The answer to his cynical question is: more than one would think. Between 1095 and 1291, the Pope was able to amass vast armies on several occasions, for the purpose of reclaiming the holy land, essentially welding all the power of the former Western Roman Emperors. It was not love for Jesus that inspired thousands of soldiers to march against larger armies of fierce Muslim warriors, as Napoleon claims. In fact the primary motivation for many was fear -- fear of hell, to be exact. And yet, if Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon's empires were all founded upon the same basis of fear as the Catholic Church, why has the church been so enduring while the other empires have been so fleeting? Because there is a vast difference between fear of a mortal man who calls himself King, Emperor, or ruler, and fear of an imaginary omniscient and omnipotent figure (God). A king may be overthrown through uprising. An emperor may fall ill. An army can be defeated by strength alone. But if you believe what the Church would have you believe, then there is no escape from Hell. God's wrath cannot be overcome by any army, no matter how great. And belief is the key to the power of the Church. The Church is founded upon faith and belief. The Pope does not need legions to control the world, because he controls his follower's perception of the world. This is a power much greater than any king has ever held. This fear of God is often masked as love, but love could never inspire a man to kill another.
Many rulers in Modern Early Europe (and throughout history) recognized this power possessed by the Church, and attempted to borrow some of that power. In the 5th century, Clovis strengthened his rule over a Christian populace by converting to Christianity. He was baptised and crowned as a "Christian King" by St. Remi, a bishop. The story of his conversion was related to that of Constantine, the Roman Emperor who, recognizing the power of a monotheistic religion, adopted Christianity in the early fourth century. Two centuries after Clovis, Pippin the Short allied himself with the Church in exchange for being anointed king by Pope Zachary, deposing the last Merovingian King and leading the way for Pippin's son, Charlemagne, to declare himself a Christian Emperor. Charlemagne was extremely charismatic, and perhaps through love he was able to become even more powerful than the Pope, asserting the idea that the king's job was to execute the will of God, while the role of the clergy was simply to pray for the king's success. This charisma, however, was apparently not hereditary, and Charlemagne's successors had problems maintaining a position of power over the church.
It was not always so clear whether the secular state had power over the church or vice-versa, and these times were often causes of great conflict. The height of this conflict was the Investitures Contest between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV in the 11th century. Pope Gregory spent his entire life trying to give the church supreme power over all states. He believed that the Catholic Church's role was to execute God's will throughout the world. With this in mind, he vastly revamped Catholicism with a number of reforms. He solidified the power of the Pope as the head of the Church by reforming the ritual for Papal elections, establishing the first conclave. Avoiding election by secular rulers, the office of Pope gained more autonomy and power. A more powerful Pope, as a direct link between men and God, would be able to exert more power over kings and emperors. Pope Gregory was also worked hard to abolish simony, and establish the Pope as the sole entity responsible for the assignment of Bishops. Meanwhile, Emperor Henry was trying to establish power for himself to assign bishops within his own territory. This created the basis of the Investitures Contest. Henry sent a letter to Rome, claiming to have denounced the Pope and removed him from his position of power. Gregory responded in sort, by excommunicating Henry and deposing him as Emperor. Greed, a form of fear, inspired the lords of Henry's empire, under religious pretenses, to take up the side of the Pope and make a dash to grab some of Henry's imperial power. Henry had no choice but to step down from his contest with Gregory, and rally his (military) forces to reclaim his own former lands. The effects of the contest reverberated throughout the following years with the division of Europe into Guelfs (supporters of the Pope) and Ghibbelines (supporters of the emperor). There were frequent battles between the opposing sides all the way into the 14th century, and this civil war defined a large period of Central European history.
Church and state, though different in appearance, are similar in their essence, which is to rule the common people. Either fear or love can be used to rule. Fear is more easily utilized, and there are different types of fear which inspire varying degrees of obedience -- even to the point of suicide bombings -- whereas love, while extremely difficult to obtain, cannot inspire obedience but instead engenders love in return.
