Constantine did not require all Romans to adopt Christianity (given that Christians were still a minority, this would have been too radical a measure for the time) but his sponsorship, in Lactantius' eyes, and his own, personal faith was seen as evidence that God himself had blotted out the bad emperors who had killed Christians and taken their land -- the land subsequently restored by Constantine.

During the 10th century, however, a far less sanguine view of the influence of religion in politics was articulated in Gregory VII's Dictatus Papae (323) and Henry IV's "Letter to Hildebrand" (323-324). In these documents, the two leaders are clearly fighting for political power. The Holy Roman King Henry IV was struggling to retain the ability of secular authorities to have direct influence over church appointments. The Roman Emperor had previously had tremendous power over every facet of medieval life -- powers the Church...
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