Medieval times, The story of the Roman empire and the choice between Church or State for precedence
Roman Empire
It has previously been said that after the fall of the Roman Empire, the history of thinking about the state and law entered a new era, namely the medieval era.
Usually people think that this medieval era began with the year 476 which is the year of the fall of the Roman-Western empire.
However, Augustine, the great thinker on state and law, who created new teachings at that time, lived half a century earlier, namely in the years 354-430.
Meanwhile, the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which was marked by the closure of the practice of state and law from the Romans, only took place half a century later (counting from the year 476), namely by carrying out the codification of laws by King Justinian of the East Roman Empire.
The collapse of the Roman civilization
With the collapse of the Roman civilization, it was inevitable that the state administration collapsed, while on the other hand the power of Christianity grew steadily, and then replaced it.
Because not a few emperors gave their hearts to the adherents of Christianity, then a church organizational structure emerged which had to do with worldly affairs, namely a worldly power that was initially rejected by the Church, but in its later developments this was a question that cannot be ignored.
In medieval times this did not provide much opportunity for the development of thinking about the state and law, as well as other sciences, because the way people thought in medieval times was less critical.
Everything in this world is always returned to its origin, namely God. So everything happens in this world because God has willed it.
Thus there is no good reason for people to think about the state and law.
The Royal Government allows everything in the field of religion, morals and customs, provided that they do not endanger the kingdom, either directly or indirectly.
What from the beginning attracted special attention from the Roman government towards the adherents of the Christian religion, was their special attitude towards royal government, because they did not want to recognize and accept the prevailing attitude towards other sects, and argued that only they alone have perfect knowledge and are of a higher meaning than the others, and they cannot and do not wish to admit the others are equal.
Thus, Christianity from the very beginning has created new problems, namely the question of church and state.
This, among other things, was considered by the kings as an excuse to pursue, arrest and cruelly investigate the adherents of this religion.
But these things do not kill the religion, but instead increase the number of adherents of that religion.
According to the adherents of Christianity, there is no power in this world that must be obediently obeyed, because first of all what must be obeyed is God's command.
The orders of the ruler can only be obeyed if the orders are not contrary to God's commands. A school that strengthens this religious teaching is the Schoolastik flow, because this Schoolastik flow explains that science must serve religion.
So it has started since the beginning of the medieval era that this view of life was very much influenced by religious teachings, especially after Christianity was recognized as an official religion rather than a state.
And as a result of this recognition, Christianity then established a strong organization, namely the church organization headed by a Pope, as a representative of God to rule in the world.
As a further consequence, people, also Christians themselves, do not have freedom of thought, because everything must be subject to God's commands.
And if there are commandments of God that are not clear. only church leaders, especially the Pope, are allowed to interpret.
Initially, the church only questioned religious matters, only religious matters, but over time it also took part in questioning worldly matters, as well as matters of state.
According to this theocratic view of Christianity, everything that exists in this world exists by the will of God, as well as the state, that in essence, exists is due to God's will.
If there is a conflict regarding the nature and nature of the state, a conflict regarding the nature of power, and so on, then that conflict is actually a conflict or debate between the state and the church, between the king and the Pope.
Whereas the point of the conflict is none other than: Who in this world is considered a representative of God, he emphasizes who in this world has the highest power, who can decide at the highest and last level, whether the state or the church, the King or Pope.
But presumably it should not be forgotten that in fact in medieval times everyone agreed that the one who had the highest authority was God. It's just that the implementation in this world who represents it. King or Pope. This is what is in question.
Regarding this, some say, that the representative of God in this world, so the one who has the highest authority in this world, is the King. But there are that say the Pope.
Legists and Canonists
Those who adhere to the King are called Legists, while those who adhere to the Pope are called Canonists.
On either side of the Legists and Cannonists neither would back down.
All writings and debates revolve around matters of religion and power.
But once again we must remember, that their difference in thinking lies only in: Who is this world, especially in that country, who has the highest authority, who is considered the representative of God the King or the Pope.
Because both of the Legists and the Canonists both argue that the one who has the highest authority, which covers this universe is God, only in the implementation of this world who will represent it.
Legists say that it is not only the church that has ethical duties and goals, to maintain justice and law order, but the state also has it, even if the state is prior to the Church. So the highest power in this world must be in the hands of the king.
Meanwhile, Canonists say, that the real power in this world lies with the Pope, and that the King only gets that power from the Pope. So the King doesn't really have real power.
By Canonists the power that is in the Pope and that is in the King, is likened to something like: the sun with the moon. That the original light is on the sun, while the moon only gets rays from the sun.
With the emergence of the conflicts mentioned above, then as a result there are two kinds of laws, namely :
- The law which regulates matters of state or worldliness.
- Laws regulating religious or religious matters.
Thus there are also two kinds of codification of law, namely :
- Codification of law administered by King Theodosius and also by King Justinian. This is a codification of the regulations issued by the state. This codification is called Corpus Juris.
- Codification organized by Pope Innocentius. This is a codification of the regulations issued by the church. This codification is called Corpus Juris Canonici.
What is important to us is Corpus Juris. Because this is about the regulations of the country.
The Corpus Juris consists of four parts, namely :
- Instituten. This is a teaching, but has a binding power like a law. If there is no regulation in the law regarding something, then the regulation regarding that matter can be seen in the earlier Instituten.
- Pandecten. This is really just a scholarly interpretation of a regulation.
- Codex. These are the rules or laws established by the King.
- Novellen. It is in addition to a regulation or law.
If in the past, the philosophy of the Greeks had produced four major schools, namely Plato, Aristotle, Stoic, and Epicurus, then now that many conflicts arose, a school was born that combined the various teachings into a new teaching. , or what is called eclecticism.
Neo-Platonism by Plotinus
After that, the flow of Neo-Platonism was born, pioneered by Plotinus, who lived in 205 270.
This teaching of Plotinus served as a bridge to the transition from Greek philosophy to the realm of theocratic (Christian) thought in medieval times.
For Plotinus, God is the only supreme essence, from which all things arise and which cannot be explained in words.
In addition to this element of Deity there is Plato's Code of Ethics which teaches that one should strive to increase one's knowledge to pure science, by releasing all the bonds of the five senses.
We must make every effort to see God, which cannot be achieved by thinking alone, but must be by extasing (meditating).
Thus Plotinus pioneered the path of religion. Christianity, he is the last great classical thinker whose teachings are difficult to understand by the people, as previous thinkers.
The place where Greek philosophy with Christianity meets is in Alexandria, the city where Neo-Platonism was born.
As for the one who created in the outline of the medieval world of thought, from the Christian mindset and ancient times, was Augustine, thus Augustine is a bridge between two periods in history, namely the medieval era and the previous period.
Thus the teachings of statehood, thinkers of the state and law in medieval times were divine, theocratic in character.
To clarify once again that this theocracy theory developed in medieval times.
And what is meant by medieval times is the era after the fall of the Western Roman empire in the fifth century (476) to the XV century (1453 years of the fall of the Byzantine Empire), or until the Renaissance.
In its development in the Middle Ages, this theocratic theory had a close relationship with the development of religion that was just emerging at that time, namely Christianity, this religion emerged at the beginning of the year AD.
The Roman belief in Pantheism, God is based on mythology
Before the advent of Christianity, in Rome there was an understanding, or teaching about deity based on mithologies, namely that according to their assumption there were gods, who were no different from humans.
It's just that the gods are more powerful and have supernatural powers that exceed the power that exists in humans.
So the belief held by the Romans at that time was Pantheism (belief in many gods).
Therefore it is not surprising that then a religion emerged that taught the existence of one God, namely Christianity.
At first Christianity was a forbidden religion, its followers were always being chased, then banished or killed.
Therefore, this religion was originally adopted and carried out secretly.
What is the reason why Christianity was originally banned ?
The reason is that, as has been said above, Christianity teaches the existence of belief in one God, this is contrary to the belief held by the Romans at that time, namely Pantheism.
Also, early Christianity taught a view of life that threatened the power and authority of the King, for example, people did not need to obey state regulations that contradicted their beliefs, especially if state regulations were against religious teachings.
However, due to the steadfastness and tenacity of its adherents, over time, this religion does not die or disappear, but instead gets a wider living environment, and eventually becomes embraced by state officials and is then recognized by the state as the official religion rather than the state.
Later emperors gave their attention to these Christians.
Emperor Commodus, who lived from 180-192, was the first to accept Christianity, and to allow its followers to be around him.
After Christianity was accepted as the official religion rather than the state, then a church structure grew, as a form of organization rather than that religion, which had to do with worldly and state matters, a power which was initially completely rejected by the church, because at first the church was only involved in religious matters only, however, gradually worldly and state matters in the subsequent development of religion are something that cannot be ignored.
The organizational structure of the church, which is led by a Pope, has organs similar to those of the state organization led by the king.
It was from then that the real issue arose, the subject of discussion of scholars in medieval times, theocratic scholars.
The subject matter or topic of discussion is none other than what has been mentioned above, namely who in this world is considered a representative of God, so who holds the highest authority? King or Pope! or in other words, how is the balance between the position and power of the state and the church ?
Which of these two organizations has the highest power ?
Because between these two organizations there are always problems and conflicts only!
But why are these questions discussed ? It has been answered above, namely by the formation of a church organizational structure whose organs are the same as those of the state organization, then in this world there are two organizations of power, namely:
- An organization headed by a king.
- A church organization headed by a Pope.
Even though the two power organizations have the same subject, namely humans.
So if it was said that between the two power organizations there were always conflicts, that conflict was a conflict about the power between the state and the church, on its subject.
Strictly speaking, who has the highest authority in this world over its subjects, namely humans ?
This conflict occurs, for example when the two organizations issue conflicting regulations, even though the two regulations issued by the two organizations regulate the same thing; for example about marriage, inheritance and so on.
So which rules must be obeyed by the subjects earlier ?
This is what always causes confusion!
Yet at that time the church organization did have equipment like those of state organizations. For example: statutory bodies, courts, finance and so on.
And each of these regulations, both from the state and from the church, has a binding character which can be said to be the same, and if it is not obeyed it can result in certain sanctions.
This question later will be discussed by scholars in medieval times to find a solution.
Medieval times before and after the Crusades
But before discussing the teachings of these scholars, let it be known in advance that the medieval era that developed for about ten centuries, namely from the fifth to the seventeenth century, was actually divided into two periods, two ages.
The division was marked by the existence, or the occurrence of a major event, namely the crusade.
The two ages are :
- Medieval times before the crusades, century V to XII century.
- Medieval times after the crusades, the XII century to the XV century.
In these two ages there are different teachings about the state and law.
In medieval times before the crusades, teachings about the state and existing law were very theocratic.
Everything is based on God's will
This happens because with the recognition of Christianity as the official religion rather than the state, people or citizens are very obedient to religious teachings, without any problems, in short, everything in this world exists by the will of God.
So the result is that there are no critical views of everything that happens in this world.
All actions at that time were aimed at defending religious and church interests.
Whereas in the medieval era after the crusades, the teachings of state, state and law teachings, which have been heavily influenced by the teachings of ancient Greek scholars, for example the teachings of Plato and Aristotle.
This is because at the time of the crusade, many of the Christians who went to the Middle East, among others, to Palestine, with the intention of defending and saving the graves of Christians that were under threat.
And this is where they began to get to know the culture of Ancient Greece, including the state teachings of Plato and Aristotle earlier.
After the crusade was over they returned to their respective countries with the ancient Greek culture, which had never been known before in the western world.
In this way they then began to think critically about the circumstances around them, including their teachings about the state and law, and religion.
So from then on, the ratio element entered the teachings of state again.
This caused a change in their way of thinking, from thinking that was absolutely theocratic (in the middle ages before the crusade) to thinking that was critical-theocratic (in the middle ages after the crusade).
From this medieval era, the teachings about the state and the law that will be discussed are not many, we will only take the points that can be considered to represent the teachings of that time.
From medieval times part I, medieval times before the crusades, from century V to century XII, are the teachings of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
While from the medieval era part II, medieval era after the crusades, from the XII century to the XV century, are the teachings of Marsilius.
