Holy Roman Emperors like Frederick II, the Kings of France and England, and even some noblemen saw themselves as having religious responsibilities in the political realm. When this was combined together with an exaggerated love for pagan Roman Law and Aristotle, it could lead to the idea that religion and the Church had to be guided by a spiritually-minded State. Also, the growth in appreciation for chivalry was accompanied by some other pagan temptations. It was the French Monarchs and the Dukes of Anjou who would most fall prey to these various temptations by the late 1200's. Dr. John Rao shows that the Papacy often indirectly encouraged these temptations as part of an effort to fend off the power of the Holy Roman Emperors. Taken from: Christianity in the Late Middle Ages-Early Renaissance - 1996 VonHildebrand Institute