Popes

 Brady Gazar

In the Middle Ages, there were men even more powerful than kings! The name of the men were the Popes. Pope comes from the word "popacy" which comes from the Italian root "papa"which means father. Popes had so much power of Europe, they practically owned it. This was do to the fact that all Christians were bound to the Church as there was only one in the MIddle Ages. Since the Church was located in Europe, Christians were bound to Europe as well. A crucial part in the power of the Pope was the fact that they he could read while towns people and kings could not. He could tell them to give up their money and land to the Church and they would be forgived for their sins. Another part where this happended was when the Crusades accured. The Pope told the knights and towns people if they fought for the Holy Land and died fighting there, that they would go straight to heaven reguardless of what they had done. The reason the Church and Pope had so much power over the king was because they could make the king pay a large some of money to the Church.If the king did not agree, then the Pope would have him //**EXCOMMUNICATED**// (band from the Church). When this happened, it didn't take the king long to be kcked out off the throne because people didn't want him interfering with their religious values. Many popes were very corrupt and indeed used their power for their own selfish needs. However, there were also popes who really did take their mission popacy seriously. **Popes and the Church taught that when you died, god weighed your good and bad deeds to see if you were going to be carried to Heaven by angels or dragged to Hell by demons. Pope and the Church gained a lot of power from this because for people in the middle ages, Hell was very real.**

Pope Leo 3rd crowned Charlemagne emperor of Rome. This was a smart move on his part fore Charlemagne became a great leader who accomplished many things throughout his rule. Pope Leo 3rd Charlemagne

The oldest pope to have lived was Pope Adrian 1st. He was elected to be the Pope at the age of **//__ 80! __//**
 * On the year of 1000, many Christians gathered in Rome to watch the end of the world. Many predicted the Apocalypse was going to happen for it was a chaotic year. Many brought goods and riches to monastaries in hope of being weighed fairly by God and sent to Heaven. When nothing happened at midnight, Pope Sylvester 2nd came out, blessed everyone, and sent them home .[[image:http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:48VdoNG755eJSM:http://www.mps.mpg.de/images/forschung/sonne/sonne002.jpg width="148" height="148" link="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mps.mpg.de/images/forschung/sonne/sonne002.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mps.mpg.de/en/forschung/sonne/index_print.html&usg=__lDTR2I_RHPTKW8k0mux67DbSjks=&h=945&w=945&sz=127&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=48VdoNG755eJSM:&tbnh=148&tbnw=148&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dearth%2Bblowing%2Bup%26hl%3Den%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8"]]



Benedict lX was the youngest pope elected. He became Pope when he was 18 to 20 years old and was elected in the year 1032.

POPES OF THE MIDDLE AGES WERE A VERY DIVERSE GROUP WITH A LOT OF POWER. THEY COULD USE THIS POWER FOR GOOD OR BAD. EVEN KNOW THE POPES THAT WERE CORRUPT TRICKED THE PEOPLE OF EUROPE AND MANIPULATED THEM, THEY BENEFITED OUT POPES TODAY BECAUSE THEY CAN LEARN FROM THE PAST, AND PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE. :)