1 Primary Source 3.9 BONIFACE VIII, THE BULL UNAM SANCTAM (1302)1 Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) believed that all authority derived from God, and that the pope, as the Vicar (or lieutenant) of Christ, was the highest embodiment of his will on Earth. As...
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1 Primary Source 3.9 BONIFACE VIII, THE BULL UNAM SANCTAM (1302)1 Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) believed that all authority derived from God, and that the pope, as the Vicar (or lieutenant) of Christ, was the highest embodiment of his will on Earth. As such, he believed that papal authority was superior to that of secular rulers, who Boniface argued derived their right to rule from God and therefore from the pope, to whom every human being should be subject as to the caretaker of their souls and the assurance of their salvation. His belief in papal supremacy brought him into frequent conflict with secular rulers and divided Europe into factions that either supported papal supremacy or favored the separation of church and state. The most important clash pitted Boniface against the centralizing monarch, Philip IV the Fair of France (1285–1314), in a struggle for control of the church’s revenues and for authority over the clergy in France. To build support for his resistance to the pa
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