D., after the collapse of the Roman Empire in Western Europe and the barbarian invasions, between 200 and 300 great noble families came about. These families were also called the aristocracy. They owned at least eighty percent of the arable land in Europe and ruled over millions of dependent peasants. The sons of these nobles governed the church as bishops and abbots, while the daughters staffed the nunneries. Some of the nobles took on fancy political titles as in emperors, kings, dukes, and counts. Soon enough, all these political figures came together to make up a staff of bureaucrats that imposed a system of laws and taxation on society. It was like another triangle; but this time, the kings were the base, and the peasants were below them. This triangle is described as feudalism. Feudalism was now the basis of society (Cantor, ed. 3).
But no matter what the aristocracy did, whether it was politically or religious; it was military valor, personal strength, and courage that made the nobility powerful during the Middle Ages (Cantor 3). But nobility was not the only thing that was powerful during this era.
The Medieval church consisted of thousands of people. There was the Pope on the top all the way to the friars at the bottom. Everyone in the church was held together by a common commitment to service society's religious, moral, and educational needs. Much like today, the people of the Medieval church were very diverse. It had everyone from idealists and scholars to scoundrels and materialists (Cantor, ed. 28).
About three-quarters of the Medieval clergy were derived from noble families. The Parish clergy consisted of the same amount of people from peasant families. On issues dealing with militarism and heroism, the bishops were more like the secular nobility. Even though the church officials were from the higher nobility, they had a much different outlook on the world. While nobility's militarism and heroism stemmed from society, the church was more on the theoretical side (Cantor, ed.
