Pope Joan Essay

During the Middle Ages, the church service and the emperor competed for date of the Holy Roman pudding stone. The church building and the emperor ru lead jointly all everywhere the Holy Roman Empire. Although the Church had a great mass of great power, the emperor was equally as mightily in his own appearance. More everywhere, the powers of Church and the emperor butterfly conflicted with all(prenominal) other. This led to a variety of power struggles. The novel pontiff Joan by Donna Wolff Cross explores these power struggles and vividly shows how they make life much difficult for population at all levels of club. This Is very potent and take place theme In the novel.There argon many powers that collide with one virtually other In the novel however, the dominating powers In the Holy Roman Empire are two Institutions that oppose each other the Roman Catholic Church and the emperor butterfly. Both con statusr themselves In charge. The Church declares Itself mor e powerful than the Emperor, and uses Its power to preserve loyalty to the Church and Its power over the multitude. pontiff Gregory demonstrates his power by going to the Emperor to end the feud among the Emperor and his sons. This shows that he, as the pope, has enough power to end wars and disputes with he Emperor.pope Gregory comments on his own power as he prays duteous, Christ Jesus, give me scholarship I need this day Show me the way to avert this mephis conkhelian war and reconcile these rebellious sons to the Emperor their stimulate. (Cross 174) On the contrary, the Emperor arguably does non arrive at as much power as the pope however, the Emperor, Lothario, believes he does. Trust in God, Count Gerald Im Heavens anointed king He forget not fail to grant us victory. (Cross 217) Emperor Lothario believes he is genuinely connected to God. Through bulge by the novel he feels that he should rule over doth his kingdom and the Church.The power struggle between the Pop e and the Emperor leads them to exploit to sabotage each other and increases the misery and fending of their sight. The Emperor tries to charter more power by having the Pope assassinated while the Pope makes sure the Emperors power is in check by killing the Emperors allies. An physical exertion of this is the Popes order to kill Theodore and king of beasts, two of the Emperors allies. Several times they stumbled and almost leave out on the tile floor, slippery with blood The men forced Theodore and Leo to their knees and pulled their heads forward.One man raised a dogged sword over Oleos fuck and with one quick stroke, decapitated him. But Thresh ageings neck was thick It took 3 or four sword strokes to cleave his head from his body. (Cross 44) This shows how the Pope uses blackwash to thwart the power of the Emperor. In addition, It shows how in the struggle for power, even those at the communicate of fiat are not safe. The Emperor and the Church behave diametric w ays to maintain power over their people. These methods of mastery crap consider qualified-bodied misery for the people. The Church retains its power by threatening the people with Hell In the afterlife.It stays In power by qualification the people fear for their souls eternal damnation and this causes a great deal of spiritual distress. For example, a young boy Is despondent as he confesses to Pope Leo well-nigh the Innocent blood he has drip because he fears for his Immortal soul l cannot live with what Eve through. chat me my penance I will bear any Emperor uses his armies and arms to stay in power. It is the loyalty of the Emperors army that enables him to do this. The Emperors troops are so loyal to him and that they are willing and eager to kill anyone. With a haywire shout, a group from he imperial vanguard burst out of formation, spurring their horses into a disorderly run, racing against one another for the halo of being the first to engage the enemy before the e yes of their Emperor. (Cross 219) The Church and Emperor to a fault use equivalent methods to keep their power. For example, both visit their people for crimes in similar ways. The Emperor has knights that manage the law and the Pope has church officials that handle the law. Both of their methods of punishment for crimes are similar and harsh.For instance, in the novel the Emperors lords boil a Nans hand and arm for equivocation about stealing farm animals. An event similar to this relates to how one of the church officials handles a thief by having his workforce cut off, Benedict screamed as his disunite hands dropped to the ground, spurting blood The swordsman nailed Benedicts severed hands to the side of the she-wolf. (Cross 297) The Emperor and the Church both keep their power using similar and different methods of control which cause great pain for their people. Although the Emperor does have power, he always needs to assert it to keep the Churchs power is in check.Emper or Lothario makes many bold attempts to control the Church. In one instance, when the Church does not go through with a consecration, Emperor Lothario wages full out war on the Church. One of Pope Egregious lookers comes to Serious and bellow to him, His soldiers plunder all before them, ransacking the farms, carrying off the livestock, pulling up the vines by their roots. They take what they want, and what they do not want, they burn. Those who get in their way they kill without mercy- women, old men, babes in arms- none are spared.The horror- (Cross 273) This action led by Emperor Lothario does not succeed, but it causes many people to suffer and die. Another attempt to decrease the Churchs power occurs when Emperor Lothario conspires with Anastasia to make the people supporting the Church pledge their loyalty to the Emperor. An oath is only words. The people need a Pope who can lead them back to their old ways- to the Freakish Empire, and to you, my liege. (Cross 291) The last attempt that Emperor Lothario makes toward the Church is the assassination of the commandant of Pope Jeans militia, Gerald The men abruptly heeled, pulled weapons from the hidden folds of their garments, and came at Gerald. (Cross 402) In this attempt, the Emperor succeeds, and kills two birds with one stone. The Emperor weakens the militia by killing its gallant, craft leader and kills the Pope by putting her under a protract period of stress. This causes her to have a premature birth and she dies in labor. Emperor Lothario makes many attempts to decrease the power of the Church, and is successful in the end but a considerable personal cost to many. Both the Church and the Emperor dominate the Holy RomanEmpire, but Anastasia who is able to play both sides against each other. Anastasia has ties with the Church and the Emperor. Anastasia uses both connections to his advantages, which grant him powerful positions among the two. Because Anastasia knows how politics work, he is able to wrap the Emperor around his finger and earn rewards. Once Lothario was vest in his fathers place, he would know how to reward Anastasia for the work he had done here. (Cross 176) Anastasia has helped one day help make him Pope however, Anastasia never reaches the patronage of Pope.Anastasia has power that that accompanies wealth and also possesses the power of persuasion and shrewdness. Anastasia with his intellect is able to earn high positions within the Church which allow him to be an informant to the Emperor. Soon after Egregious election, Anastasia would be appointed Bishop of Castellated, a sodding(a) position from which to ascend the papal throne after Serious (Cross 242) Anastasia also uses his fathers influence to persuade his adversaries to vote him Pope. Before God the priest is lying Surely my countrymen will not believe the word of foreigner over that of a fellow RomanAnastasia uses his adversaries to vote for him as Pope, but Joan accuses him of being corrupt ed. Even though Anastasia never reached Pope, he had power that helped him in the Church and with the Emperor. Anastasia is one of the people in the novel who has power and who is usually circumspect about using it. Although there are many different power struggles in the novel between the Church and the Emperor, there are some people who were not able to gain their desired power. One nipper character that never regained their power was Jeans father, the Canon. When he lost his position asCanon, he asked his daughter to get him a position in the Church again but he died shortly afterwards. Mimi have lost your position? Joan inquired Reluctantly, her father nodded. But Doe violent, I have the strength and skill to do Gods work yet. (Cross 210) One person who never gains their full power over the Church was Anastasia. Anastasia never becomes Pope because Emperor Lothario dies before making him Pope. Lothario was long dead (Cross 407) Another person who never gains full power over the Holy Roman Empire was Lothario. He dies and is never able to control the Church from within with one of his adversaries. .. Having died after a few months of departure Rome. His throne had gone to his first son Louis II We see how these characters are unable to fulfill their destinies because of the viscous competition for power. The novel, Pope Joan, encompasses many different kinds of power struggles. The main power struggle is between the Church and the Emperor. Although both have the same religious views, they have very different views on who is in charge. Pope Joan illustrates the many different forms of power and power struggles raise during the medieval era of the Holy Roman Empire.In addition, the novel shows how these power struggles collide with people at all levels of society to varying degrees. Those at the top may suffer death, be disenfranchised or be discredited. Soldiers willingly charge to their deaths in blind devotion to their Emperor. Those at bottom of s ociety may suffer death, disfigurement or cruelty at the hands of unsympathetic soldiers or harsh magistrates. Pope Joan shows how the conflict at the top between the Church and the Emperor permeates down through all levels of society making life during the Middle Ages more difficult for everyone.