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The Church didn't "beat authoritarian competition." The Church was Europe's authoritarian religious dictatorship. Kings and local war lords were its executives,

The Church didn't "beat authoritarian competition." The Church was Europe's authoritarian religious dictatorship. Kings and local war lords were its executives, not its competitors. Have you not wondered why the Divine Right of Kings was so heavily promoted? Or why - until Henry VIII - the Pope could veto any aristocratic marriage he disapproved of? The Church had an almost total lock on political power, moral authority of all kinds, class relationships, and intellectual enquiry. It was at the top of the feudal hierarchy - the biggest landowner, the biggest collector of feudal tribute (both voluntary and forced), the sole repository of all knowledge, and the biggest organiser of military campaigns (the Crusades.) Which is why it maintained power across Europe for a millennium.

nosianu 4y ago
> The Church didn't "beat authoritarian competition That is not what I wrote. I would appreciate responses to what I actually wrote. Authoritarianism - there is one absolute power. I pointed out that this was far from true in Europe, church being just one of the things I mentioned. > Kings and local war lords were its executives, not its competitors. Of course they were competitors! They were both! That is the point! Of course they did not have only eternal war between them, that is the magic. They cooperated and were competitors. The Walk to Canossa only being the most famous example, it usually didn't end that spectacularly. Even within the church there was struggle, there even were two competing popes once (Western Schism).