Until the thirteenth century, every lord was able to carry on warfare against another if he saw fit, and every city could be aggressive if it preferred. National governments were overshadowed by the medieval empire and the medieval Church. The real political awakening came with a nationalistic uprising against the temporal authority of the papacy. It was the arrogance of the papacy that brought this about. The Church used various means to take money from the people to meet its lavish expenses. Papal legates provoked popular indignation in different quarters because of their arrogance and greed. No open opposition broke out until near the close of the thirteenth century, however. Late in the thirteenth century, France and England found themselves at war and in need of money. The Church in each country claimed immunity from taxation, though it had extensive lands in both. When the kings ventured to demand money from the clergy, the pope refused. The King of France, Philip the Fair, made the quarrel a national issue and rallied the people about himself. Soon French emissaries went to Rome to tell Boniface VIII in person that he was no longer the overlord of France. Meanwhile King Edward I demanded a contribution from the clergy to help wage war against France. In 1366 England refused to pay the papal tribute any longer. Soon Germany joined the rebellion against Rome when, in 1338 at a meeting of the German electors, it was declared that the emperor, not the pope, was divinely ordained to rule Germany. Marsiglio, a canon of Padua in Italy, wrote an influential pamphlet called Defensor Pacis. Here he stated that Christ exercised no coercive jurisdiction and neither should the pope. Soon the idea of a secular sovereign became accepted in Europe.
Impact: With the spirit of nationalism came the rise of absolute monarchs like the Tudors and the Bourbons whose sole interests were in maintaining their power rather than advancing the cause of the Church.