|Part of the series on| |The Middle Ages| Medieval Politics
revolved around the affairs of monarchy and nobility and ties in
with the practice of feudalism. Under feudalism, every member of
society knew his or her place and social upward mobility was
either extremely difficult or impossible depending on your
circumstances. The order of hierarchy came as follows in the
feudal state: Clergy were very often were members of the noble
class, and monastic orders were regularly as rich if not richer
than the king in question. Role of the Clergy Religion --that is
the Catholic Church--played a major part in government and many
bureaucrats were drawn from among the clergy. In Europe,
Monastic orders such as the Cistercians wielded considerable
political power, with the co-founder st. Bernard being a
particularly important figure responsible for rallying support
for the Second Crusade. During the eleventh century papal reform
movement, attempts were made to separate church and state as
Medieval monarchies wielded great