"During the ninth and tenth centuries the church had become deeply involved in secular affairs.
The extensive lands of the bishops and abbots were held of lay lords by feudal services, and the prelates had to perform the worldy functions of vassals either personally or by deputy.
Some doughty bishops led their troops in battle wielding a mace, which they insisted did not violate canon law as it drew no blood, but most had secular agents called advocates to head their levies. But the prelates were appointed by the secular lords and invested by them with the insignia of their holy office. They served the lords as counselors and administrators.
As we have seen, the Capetian monarchy owed what little power it had to the prelates it controlled and the German empire was based on an episcopacy devoted to the emperor. This situation was harmful to the spiritual functions of the church."
This blog quotes form Baldwin, M. W. (ed.): The first hundred years (1969); source illustration thinglink.com
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