Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/312

224 General History of Europe The task assumed by the Pope of governing the whole Western world naturally made it necessary to create a large body of officials at Rome in order to transact all the multiform business and prepare and transmit the innumerable legal documents. The cardinals and the Pope's officials constituted what was called the papal curia, or court. To carry on his government and to meet the expenses of palace and retinue, the Pope had need of a vast income. This was supplied from various sources. 360. Reasons for the Great Power of Clergymen in the Mid- dle Ages. The influence of the clergy was greatly increased by the fact that they alone were educated. For six or seven centuries after the break-up of the Roman Empire very few outside of the clergy ever dreamed of studying, or even of learning to read and write. Even in the thirteenth century an offender who wished to prove that he belonged to the clergy, in order that he might be tried by a Church court, had only to show that he could read a single line ; for it was assumed by the judges that no one uncon- nected with the Church could read at all. It was inevitable, therefore, that all the teachers were clergy- men, that almost all the books were written by priests and monks, and that the clergy were the ruling power in all intellectual, artis- tic, and literary matters the chief guardians and promoters of civilization. Moreover, the civil government was forced to rely upon churchmen to write out the public documents and proclama- tions. The priests and monks held the pen for the king. Repre- sentatives of the clergy sat in the king's councils and acted as his ministers ; in fact, the conduct of the government largely devolved upon them. 361. Excommunication and Interdict. No wonder that the churchmen were by far the most powerful class in the Middle Ages. They controlled great wealth ; they were the most highly educated class ; it was believed they held the keys of the kingdom of heaven and without their aid no one could hope to enter in. By excommunication they could cast out the enemies of the Church and could forbid all men to associate with them, since they were accursed. By means of the interdict they could suspend