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kings ruled by "divine right", the popes gave, or endorsed divine right. they approved or dissapproved marriages, threatened monarchs with ex-communication if they would not come to heel with the wishes of the church. the church was THE authority in western Europe.
start with "Dungeon Fire and Sword" by John J. Robinson. it gives a good overview of the crusades, the church invovlement in it, your own country, their involvement and how they were completely manipulated by the pope.
quite honestly every entry level college European History class discusses this at length, and the books are full of many many details. some are textbooks, and some assigned reading. I've read countless numbers of them. so I decided to google "the papacy and europe" to see if some of the more outstanding books popped up. what popped up was pages and pages of what I have been talking about. have a look, and then if you have more questions, let me know.
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