<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Church and state in medieval Europe includes the relationship between the Christian church and the various monarchies and other states in Europe, between the end of Roman authority in the West in the fifth century and the beginnings of the Reformation in the early sixteenth century . The relationship between the Church and the feudal states during the medieval period went through a number of developments . The struggles for power between kings and popes shaped the western world . </P> <P> The Church gradually became a defining institution of the Roman Empire . Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 proclaiming toleration for the Christian religion, and convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 whose Nicene Creed included belief in "one holy catholic and apostolic Church". Emperor Theodosius I made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica of 380 . </P> <P> After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, there emerged no single powerful secular government in the West . There was however a central ecclesiastical power in Rome, the Catholic Church . In this power vacuum, the Church rose to become the dominant power in the West . The Church started expanded in the beginning 10th century, and as secular kingdoms gained power at the same time, there naturally arose the conditions for a power struggle between Church and Kingdom over ultimate authority . </P>

The power of the church in medieval europe