nd
afterwards Otto the Great, revived the idea of a world-empire and
created the Holy Roman Empire, that the world might again be as it
always had been.

But the fact that there were two different heirs to the Roman tradition
placed the faithful burghers of the Middle Ages in a difficult position.
The theory behind the mediaeval political system was both sound and
simple. While the worldly master (the emperor) looked after the physical
well-being of his subjects, the spiritual master (the Pope) guarded
their souls.

In practice, however, the system worked very badly. The Emperor
invariably tried to interfere with the affairs of the church and the
Pope retaliated and told the Emperor how he should rule his domains.
Then they told each other to mind their own business in very
unceremonious language and the inevitable end was war.

Under those circumstances, what were the people to do, A good Christian
obeyed both the Pope and his King. But the Pope and the Emperor were
enemies. Which side should a dutiful subject and an equally dutiful
Christian take?

It was never easy to give the correct answer. When the Emperor happened
to be a man of energy and was sufficiently well provided with money to
organise an army, he was very apt to cross the Alps and march on Rome,
besiege the Pope in his own palace if need be, and force His Holiness to
obey the imperial instructions or suffer the consequences.

But more frequently the Pope was the stronger. Then the Emperor or the
King together with all his subjects was excommunicated. This meant that
all churches were closed, that no one could be baptised, that no dying
man could be given absolution--in short, that half of the functions of
mediaeval government came to an end.

More than that, the people were absolved from their oath of loyalty to
their sovereign and were urged to rebel against their master. But if
they followed this advice of the distant Pope and were caught, they were
hanged by their near-by Lege Lord and that too was very unpleasant.

Indeed, the poor fellows were in a difficult position and none fared
worse than those who lived during the latter half of the eleventh
century, when the Emperor Henry IV of Germany and Pope Gregory VII
fought a two-round battle which decided nothing and upset the peace of
Europe for almost fifty years.

In the middle of the eleventh century there had been a strong movement
for reform in the church. The election of the Popes, thus