The High Middle Ages
1. The renewal began at the monastery of Cluny in the 900s was slowly dislodging the Church from the feudal system, whereby bishops and abbots did the bidding of secular lords and kings. The papacy had suffered mightly from being at the whim of Roman nobles. The pope was hardly an independent spiritual leader at that point.
2. Powerful sorces were reshaping the west creating a European world that would look quite different from the relatively disorganized, lawless world of feudal Eurpope's Dark Ages. The Church had a key role in shaping that world.
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