The European Church was hard-pressed with corruption during the 10th and 11th centuries. Lay control infiltrated every church office. While feudalism had its benefits in causing power decentralization, giving lords and vassals increasing prominence and kings less, it also became an obstacle for the church.
The lords exercised supreme power over their lands. Monasteries were built on that land, and the lords treated them like fiefs under their rule. As a fief, they possessed the power to depose monastery abbots. It was the classic merger between state and church power. As a result, monastic discipline dwindled, and the monks became increasingly lenient, living in quasi-luxury. The Rule of St. Benedict, which was formerly the standard for appropriate monastery behavior, was abandoned. Moreover, the magnitude of luxury in the monasteries advanced the corruption, as the lords often treated them as their private retirement homes. Through lay control, the pure purpose of the monasteries was inadvertently perverted.
However, lay control extended beyond monasteries and into direct church affairs. In addition to appointing monastery abbots as vassals, they also appointed bishops/pastors over churches. Many of these appointments were political and not spiritual. The issue worsened because people with political aspirations sought church offices for self-gain. The combination of unfit candidates seeking the office of bishop and lords seeking to appoint political allies created the European mesh between church and state during the 10th and 11th centuries. But worst of all, it caused a spiritual decline in church offices.
The corruption did not stop with the bishop and abbots. It extended to the head of the church: the pope. Due to the cultural and political significance of the papacy, aristocratic families constantly contended over the position. Winners usually appointed family members or close associates to solidify their power. Many unethical men were appointed as pope because of their connections. The papacy, during this time, fell into disarray and spiritual insignificance. Pope John the 12th was one immoral example. Popes were supposed to lead the church in righteousness and be a proper example of biblical morality. John the 12th was far from that. He was a well-known drunkard, known for his scandalous behavior. Alcohol and women constantly surrounded the man. While that might have been the ideal picture for a mafia boss in a Hollywood movie, it was disgraceful for the head of the church. Under the lay control, the abbots, bishops, and popes were tainted, politicized, and corrupted.
The pope, Saint Leo the 9th (r. 1049-1054) advanced moderate reform, a movement to choose qualified candidates to be bishops and the pope. He did not want to be the pope. He was against it. However, the king chose him since he was a German which disconnected him from the aristocratic lords who threatened the king. Simony was when people purchased church offices. Under his papacy, Saint Leo heavily opposed Simony, calling it immoral. Instead of selling church offices, he called on the laymen to choose godly men. That is why this event was called the moderate reform. The radical reform attacked the concept that laymen (nonordained kings and nobles) had the right to choose the pope. However, that was part of the radical reform under Pope Nicholas, Humbert of Moyenmoutier, and Pope Gregory the 7th. The moderate reform pushed for the laymen to pick qualified candidates as bishops and the pope, and Saint Leo the 9th headed the moderate reform.
In conclusion, during the 10th and 11th centuries, the church was infiltrated by lay control. It perverted monastery abbots, bishops, and the papacy. In all those offices, the aristocratic nobles jockeyed for political allies. Saint Leo the 9th led the moderate reform, seeking qualified candidates in each office. He wanted to depoliticize the church. While it partially worked, the moderate reform was insufficient. A complete divide between the church and the state was necessary for advancing Western liberty.
Asher Sisneros 