The Church in the 8^th Century

Previous

Next

The History Index

Theology

Home Page

Contact me

It is fortunate for the Western Church that the losses of the 7^th century did not carry on unabated into the 8^th. That is not to suggest that there were no problems for the church in that century but the church was aided both by strong Churchmen and by strong secular leadership.

In the earlier part of the 8^th century we see two strong Popes, both called Gregory. During the time of Pope Gregory II (715-731), there was considerable missionary activity in Europe. In particular, two English missionaries have to be mentioned.

Missions

Boniface, from Devonshire, made great advances for the Church in Central Europe. He was, for a time, the Archbishop of Mainz after he had done much work for the Church in Bavaria. Meanwhile Willibrord from York worked in the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

The Franks

The Church in Frankish Gaul (France) had been deteriorating for some time. The Frankish kings, although ineffective politically, had interfered with the government of the Church in Gaul and the clergy had declined spiritually, morally and intellectually.

The revival of the Frankish Church in the 8^th came about through a combination of influences. Anglo-Saxon and Celtic missionaries from England and Ireland played a large part. But so did the advance of Islam into France. For this advance called into being a new political force.

Charles Martel, who was Mayor of the Frankish Royal Palace, raised a strong force who were able to defeat the Muslim armies at Tours (central France) in 732. The Muslim forces (mainly Moors) were swept back into Spain. Charles became known as Charles the Hammer.

Although Charles Martel never became king of the Franks, his son Pepin was anointed by Boniface as king in 751, becoming the first of the Carolingian Dynasty which reached its height under Charlemagne during the following century.

A new relationship began to grow between the Papacy and the Frankish kings which was to have far-reaching effects for the Church. One of those effects was the weakening of ties between the Roman Church and the Eastern Empire based in Constantinople.

The Iconoclastic Controversy

Meanwhile, the Church in the East had been undergoing internal problems. The Emperor, Leo III, had banned the use of images and icons in 726. Pope Gregory II rejected and ignored the Emperor's edict, as he could because Rome was already distant from Constantinople. But the Eastern Church had far closer ties to the Byzantine Emperor. In the east, the "Iconoclastic Controversy" raged for around 125 years before the supporters of icons finally had their way.

The Father of History

In the midst of all this controversy and warfare, another Englishman was quietly working in Northumberland. He was a monk named Bede, eventually to be known as "The Venerable Bede". Bede wrote numerous books on the Bible but his greatest work, that for which he is still famous, was his "Ecclesiastical History of the English People." This book has earned Bede the title of "Father of English History."

The work of the 8^th century Popes, the English and Irish Missionaries and the new Carolingian Dynasty in Gaul combine to make way for a new era in the Roman Church.