Name: _____________________

The Church in the Dark Ages Worksheet
chapter eight, pp. 468-483

Fill in the blank

1. When Pope Nicholas I died in 867 A.D., Italy was sliding into _________. The South depended on ______________, the North on the __________, and the central provinces on the ______________.
2. Muslims from ____________, the Aghlabite dynasty, came to consider ___________ and southern ____________ as their hunting ground. The entire island was taken by the Muslims in the tenth century.
3. The ____________ called the Muslims into Italy in ____ A.D. to help them against the __________________.
4. After ‘liberating’ Naples, the Muslims staged a series of __________ raids into the heart of central __________.
5. The Muslims in 846 A.D. pillaged the basilica of _____________, but the thick ________ of Rome prevented further conquest.
6. The Muslim attack was seen as a divine _______________.
7. The Emperor ordered the levying of _______ to pay for the restoration of the basilica.
8. Pope Leo IV undertook the construction of an enormous defensive _______ designed to protect the basilica form future attacks.
9. Pope ___________ had been married before becoming a _____________, and allowed his ___________ and ___________ to love in the papal palace. They were later ______________.
10. The man who helped drive the Muslims out of Italy was King __________, who saw his actions as a religious _____________.
11. When the Muslims once again came within 25 miles of Rome, Pope ___________ (872-882 A.D.) led the charge against them in person. He captured _____ of their ships and took _____ prisoners.
12. The Pope chose the sovereign of France, ____________, to take the crown of Charlemagne. he was consecrated emperor on Christmas day _____ A.D., seventy-five years after his grandfather.
13. The Pope also gained him the crown of ___________, which meant the king was now emperor of ______________ and _______________.
14. _____________ the German was not pleased with the arrangement, and he defeated Charles in battle.
15. Still, the Pope begged Charles to come to __________ to protect Italy from the Saracens (Muslims), but he __________.
16. After the death of Charles the Bald, Pope John VIII went to ___________ to seek a new emperor and protector. He chose _________ the __________, son of ___________ the German.
17. When this new protector died, Pope John VIII appealed to the conscience of _____________ and spoke of their collective _____________ to the Church.
18. Pope John VIII saw _____________ as the only force that could stop the Muslims in Italy. Yet they had just proclaimed the principle of their _________ over Rome! The plan worked, however.
19. For all his efforts, in _____ A.D. Pope John VIII was forced to take ___________ and was finished off by ___________ him to death with _________ blows.
20. After Pope John VIII’s death, Western Civilization went into a steep ______________.
21. In 881 A.D., the Norse occupied and destroyed Charlemagne’s palace at ___________________ and used the famous chapel as a ____________.
22. Many local _____________ appeared at this time.
23. As the influence of kings declined, the system of ____________ gained ground proportionately.
24. The ___________ of church property by feudal ___________ skyrocketed.
25. At the end of the ninth century, Popes seemed to ___________ quickly. One lasted only ______ days.
26. When Pope ________ died in 896 A.D., his enemies took his ______ and seated it on a ________ to be ___________ by an ___________ presided over by the new Pope, ___________. As punishment for his ‘crimes,’ his ________ were cut off and the body thrown by the _______ into the _________. Later his ________ washed up on the riverbank.
27. After the death of Berengar, the imperial throne was to be vacant for ____ years. For ____ years the Papacy was in the hands of a faction of _____________.
28. The Synod of Trosly, held in 909 A.D., wrote: “The __________ are depopulated, the _________ ruined and burned; the good land turned into _________....today everyone does what seems _______ in his own sight...the __________ oppress the weak; the world is filled with violence toward the _______________ and the ______________; and men steal the good which belong to the church. Men _________ one another like the _________ of the seas.”