> The Church didn't "beat authoritarian competition That is not what I wrote. I would appreciate responses to what I actually wrote. Authoritarianism - there

> 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).