Overview:
In the wake of the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the corresponding collapse of political cohesion throughout Western Europe in the fifth century, there arose numerous small kingdoms whose rulers came to rely on bishops and other leaders of the Church to help provide regional administrative order. The growth of royal power and the close interactions of Church and state officials gave rise to two fundamental political issues of the Middle Ages, which remain relevant even today: what constitutes the appropriate relationship between secular and spiritual authority, and what is the proper relationship between government and the governed.