Who was The head of the church in the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

The leader of a local church was usually a priest.

The leader of a diocese, a group of local churches, was a bishop.

The leader of the main body of the Church, or, after the East-West Schism of 1054, the Roman Catholic Church, was the pope.

The Eastern Orthodox Church was lead by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Answer 2

Among the regular clergy, the workers were monks and nuns; the leaders were abbots and abbesses.

Among the secular clergy, the workers were deacons and priests, the leaders were bishops and popes.

Answer 3

The head of the church in medieval times, as today, was the Pope.

For a little while, though, just from 1378 to 1417, there was a split in the church, called the Papal Schism or the Western Schism, when there were two "Popes" at the same time. What happened was that a Frenchman was elected Pope in 1305, named Pope Clement V, and he refused to move to the Papal Estate in Rome (where all the popes before him had lived) and decided instead to stay in Avignon, France. The next few popes lived in Avignon instead of Rome, but in 1376 Pope Gregory XI decided to move from Avignon to Rome. He died in 1378, and the cardinals (senior church officials responsible for electing the Pope) elected Pope Urban VI as his successor. Urban VI lived at the Papal Estate in Rome, but then the cardinals regretted their decision to elect him Pope, and they elected another man Pope (named Pope Clement VII) and he stayed in Avignon. So from 1378 to 1417, there was both a Pope in Rome and another Pope in Avignon. This meant that the church was divided between those who sided with the Papacy in Rome, and those who sided with the Papacy in Avignon. The church eventually declared the Roman Popes to be the legitimate ones and called the Popes in Avignon after 1378 "Antipopes". But from 1378 to 1417 was a very confusing time in the church, when the leadership was divided.

Answer 4

In the Christian world

Catholicism - Pope based in the Vatican City

Eastern Orthodox - Ecumenical Patriarch - based in Constantiniople

Answer 5

There were many leaders. Look it up in a history textbook.

Answer 6

they where called lords