The Church's Attempt at Reform in the 11th Century

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In the 11th century, the Catholic Church was not yet a powerful and unified organization. Instead, it consisted of local bishoprics and religious rulers who were under the control of local lords. The church was fragmented and messy, with many bishops opposing the reform program launched by Pope Gregory VII and others. These bishops didn't want to give up their control and profitable side deals, and they served as local administrators and judges. This led to a struggle within the church over the reform program, as well as a struggle between the church and secular rulers.

When it comes to the development of Western Europe there was religion and then there was science. That is how the story is generally told but Anna Gryzmala Busse believes that modern Europe owes more to the religious part of that than is generally appreciated. She has written Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State (Princeton UP, 2023) and talks to Owen Bennett Jones about religion and the European state.

Owen Bennett-Jones is a freelance journalist and writer. A former BBC correspondent and presenter he has been a resident foreign correspondent in Bucharest, Geneva, Islamabad, Hanoi and Beirut. He is recently wrote a history of the Bhutto dynasty which was published by Yale University Press.

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