Essay 1. The Catholic Church was the main power in western civilization and was landholder in Europe. There were mandatory tithes, which also made the church very wealthy. The church was in control of everything including what language was spoken to education. The pope had claimed total spiritual authority over all Christians and often had political authority over the kings he approved. Although the church had started with a lot of power over the years the power began to transfer. II.) The significance of the crusade marked the transformation of Europe from the Dark Ages. It tested the power of the Papacy and the reach of EU’s power, which also weakened feudalism. The emperor of Byzantine wrote to the pope in 1095 asking for protection of his people and all Christians. In November 1095, pope Urban II asked and audience in Clermont, France to form a voluntary army. The first crusade was mostly the wealthy. The crusaders massacred Jews on the way because they were wealthy and because they were blamed for Christ’s death. The main forces reached Byzantium in May 1097; it was a major victory in Antioch. The second crusade Seljuk’s reorganized and began planning a jihad against the crusaders. Less than fifty years later, the Seljuk’s took back some of the crusader land. The purpose of these lands was to gain holy land. Also, he pope promised salvation for anyone who fought in the crusades. III.) The third crusade (crusade of kings) on, the crusades begin to become more political. Saladin united the armies and recaptured Jerusalem in 1187. At the fourth crusade the religious point was completely lost. The crusaders stopped in Constantinople and sacked and conquered it instead which seriously weakened it for investigable conquest by the Ottoman Turks. The Venetians agreed to provide the necessary ships only on condition that the crusaders first seized Zara on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. Zara was a Christian city, but it was also a naval and commercial rival of Venice. In spite of the pope's protests the crusaders besieged and captured the city. Christian soldiers from west aided the venetians in ransacking Constantinople. They had established a Latin empire in Constantinople which the people resisted and re-established their culture in 1261. IV.) The Babylonian Captivity is exile of the Jews in Babylonia The Babylonian Captivity occurred between 597 and 538 when large numbers of Jews were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of the Chaldeans, and held in Babylon. They were only released because Cyrus who allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple conquered Babylon. After the capture of the city by the Babylonians some thousands, probably selected for their prosperity and importance, were deported to Mesopotamia. V.) Pope Leo X was raising money for St. Peter’s basilica through the sale of indulgences. John Tetzel was the seller of indulgences in Northern Germany who even sold indulgences to cover future sins. When Martin Luther could take it no more he publicly protested by nailing a placard with ninety- five theses criticizing the church doctrine to the door of the church in Wittenberg. These were copied and distributed throughout Germany leading to a slow down of the sale of indulgences. Pope Leo X sent envoys to try to chance Luther’s mind and finally excommunicated Luther in 152.Essay #2 I.) In Europe, people were isolated again because of the plague outbreak. Trade had slowed to a stop. A small portion of people remerged how an economy works, and a small amount of people had survived. Workers were allowed to have more pay rights. This lead to the English peasant war in 1381. Louis XI united as much of France as best he could. Although England and France revolted around English land in France specifically Normandy, England and France had conflicts with their monarchs and governments. II.) Issued was an abaundt English land in France specifically Normand. Edward III laid claim to be the