ABSTRACT
What most distinguishes medieval Latin Europe from all other societies and cultures throughout the ages is the role of the ecclesiastical order, and especially the leadership of the Roman church. Churchmen regarded Christendom as governed by princes or magistrates submissive to the pope. Lay governments were to serve the Church. The clergy wanted to be judged only by other clerks, to choose their own officers and to be exempt from secular taxes. In Scandinavia's Carolingian-style state churches, courts Christian were not separate from secular tribunals and, as late as 1247, the clergy's right to trial in their own courts did not exist in Sweden. The king was willing to let trials be conducted in a church forum, but insisted on his right to punish guilty clerks. Churchmen won part of what they wanted by surrendering activities judicable in secular tribunals. Local churchmen complained about growing central government, even about general.
