The Church was extremely influential during the medieval ages. They held the ability to disperse information because churches were scattered all over Europe. This enabled their network of monks and priests to share information very fast. Furthermore, they collected taxes from peasants very often in the form of goods (farm produce for example), this made them very rich. They also had control over decisions which different rulers did as they could exile them which wasn't something any ruler wanted.
Pride, power, military, and the assassination of this person I can't remember
