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Emperor Henry IV (1056-1106), only six years old when his father died, was unable to rule effectively until 1066. In that interim much of the imperial wealth and power had been snatched away by churchmen and powerful laymen in Germany. By 1074 he had regained control but his methods included openly practicing simony in selling abbacies and bishoprics, a practice which his father had abandoned.
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The investiture struggle, beginning in 1075 would not be concluded until 1122. The papacy supported the rebellions of his sons Conrad (1093) and Henry (1104).
Henry IV's first clash with the papacy came under pope Alexander II and was centered in a disagreement over whose nominee would be honored in filling the vacant bishopric of Milan. Henry IV deferred to the Pope on this occasion. Later in 1085 Henry IV extended the "Peace of God" movement over his entire Empire.
In 1073, Archdeacon Hildebrand had himself elected as pope Gregory VII, 1073-1085, on the day after pope Alexander II died. Instead of asking for imperial confirmation from Henry IV, Gregory merely notified him of the election. Gregory VII's pontificate was extremely important for the medieval papacy, for even though Gregory was thwarted in many of his most grandiose schemes he was successful in establishing precedents upon which later popes would be able to build. Hildebrand was a native Italian and a very hard man to get along with. Cardinal Damiani called him "Holy Satan". His supporters in Germany called him "Hellbrand" which means bright fire, while his detractors rather termed him "Höllebrand" which means "hell fire".
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At the beginning of this period the Papacy enjoyed an honored position and was widely recognized as a very ancient and noble office. We have seen how, in fact, the power of the Papacy had been intermittent at best and often little more than assertions and wishful thinking. During this period the Papacy made a concerted effort to become not only the leading church official in Western Europe, but also the most powerful ruler of any type. No secular monarch could boast the wealth nor even a fraction of the influence and effective power exercised by the Bishop of Rome between about 1075 and 1275. In fact, the Papacy became a model government--not that it was perfect, but it was effective--and secular monarchs took lessons from the Pope in order to emulate something of his success.
The mechanism of power for both the papacy and the monarchs, i.e. liege-lords, was "suzerainty". Suzerain is a French term indicating superior rank and authority, more or less synonymous with the ambiguous and much used English word, lord. Here we use the French term to label the strategy of domination employed by these medieval rulers. The effective power of the suzerain was based on the recognized Medieval principle of customary law; namely, any practices that become "customary" have the force of law. Something is considered customary if local witnesses can remember one occasion when the practice was followed. Hence, this strategy begins with the formulation and public advertisement of a new law among the subject populations who are ruled by the suzerain's semi-autonomous colleagues. This new law will be accepted as binding in customary law only if and when the would-be suzerain can successfully enforce his rulings based on it, making them customary. The opportunities for enforcement result from appeals received from individuals subject to the suzerain's semi-autonomous colleagues alleging that thier ruler has not acted in accordance with the law. When the suzerain hears the appeal and enforces the law he has reduced the autonomy of his colleague and advanced his recognition as suzerain. The semi-autonomous colleagues of the monarch are the vassals; those of the papacy are the higher clergy and the secular rulers.
During the decades immediately after the angry confrontation with the Eastern Church leaders in 1054, and on the basis of the traditional interpretation of the poorly preserved records including some completely spurious documents, the Popes soon began to behave as they thought the monarch of all Christendom should act. Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) began to teach that the papacy was the ultimate judge and instructor of all other church leaders and all political leaders as well as, ultimately, all individual believers within Christendom. On that assumption, Gregory launched an ultimately successful effort to gain independence for the papacy from the Germanic Roman Emperor and for churches everywhere in Europe from the interference of state and local political officials or lay proprietors.
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Canon law by the middle of the eleventh century was in a disorganized state. Ancient collections were by no means complete or accurate. Canon law sources included the Bible, decrees of the general councils, provincial synods, decrees of the popes and excerpts from Roman law dealing with Christian matters. Pope Gregory VII was a pioneer in seeing the need for the collection and organization of canon law.
The Dictatus papae is a document commonly attributed to Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085), however it may be as much as a century later. It probably is to be understood as a memo prepared by or for Gregory VII which listed in brief notation the various aspects of papal power. Many assume that it may have been a research memo listing randomly the topics for which supporting canonical documentation needed to be collected and organized. [View the brief document courtesy of Online Resource Book: Middle Ages]
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Gregory VII had three aims during his pontificate. First of all he intended to extend the reform of the church from the top down by removing all clergy who were married from their posts, and by removing all clergy who were guilty of simony. In March 1074 Gregory VII deposed all simoniac priests, that is, those who had obtained their positions in negotiations with laymen involving some consideration. In December 1074 all married priests were excluded from saying mass. Despite the lay and clerical reaction to these decrees he renewed them in 1075.
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Also in 1075, February, he issued the first decree against laymen being involved in the investiture of any churchman. This was designed to remove simony from the higher clergy: bishops, archbishops and abbots. And it also countermanded the established policies of the young Salian King of Germany and aspiring Roman Emperor, Henry IV, as well as the policies of the Capetian royal family in France and William the Conqueror in Normandy and England.
In the fall of 1075 Henry IV made the usual type of arrangements to fill the vacant archiepiscopal diocese of Milan. In December Pope Gregory VII sent him a bombastic warning. Henry IV and his bishops met at Worms in January, 1076, and decided to depose Gregory VII. The Emperor's letter in January, 1076, began with these words:
Gregory VII's response to this challenge was to excommunicate Henry and suspend him from his office. The pope wrote the German clergy prescribing what action to take against the excommunicated king. Gregory was on a roll. He had already excommunicated several for their refusal to accept his decrees obediently, including the Capetian king of France, Philip I. The churchmen of Germany met in October and considered the pope's instructions and moderated them only slightly. They gave Henry IV until their next meeting in February 1077 to get himself back in the good graces of the Church or they would depose him from the German kingship.
Gregory VII made plans to attend the meeting in February at Augsburg. In January 1077 Gregory made a rest stop along the journey to Augsburg and was the guest of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany at her mountain chateau at Canossa (in north slopes of the Apennines south of the Po River). A barefooted-penitent wearing sackcloth covered with ashes appeared before the chateau gate one morning in ankle deep snow asking to see the pope. When the lowly penitent was identified as King Henry of Germany Gregory's first reaction was disbelief followed by an admirable compassion. He spoke with Henry, forgave him and lifted the excommunication. Was Henry sincere in his repentance or was he merely buying time?
Henry IV's quick action had averted his being deposed, but a number of German nobles who had been scarcely able to contain their joy at the prospect of being rid of him felt that the pope had betrayed them. These disaffected princes proceeded to declare Rudolph of Swabia as King of Germany in place of Henry. The forces of Rudolph and Henry struggled in bloody civil war until it became evident that Henry could indeed win. At that point in 1080 Henry once again dared to exercise his investiture powers over a major church post. Gregory promptly excommunicated Henry and declared him deposed from his royal seat and recognized Rudolph as the true German king, Roman Emperor, and loyal vassal. This action is totally without precedent. It was clearly revolutionary.
Rudolph for his part flatly refused to accept the pope's actions, but it made no difference since Henry defeated and killed him shortly thereafter. Henry IV then called his German clergy together and they deposed Gregory VII and named in his place Clement III. Leading a German army into Italy, Henry besieged Rome for three years unsuccessfully before taking the city and forcing Gregory and his supporters to defend themselves in the Castle San Angelo while Henry IV's anti-pope Clement III crowned Henry IV as Emperor. Leaving the city in peace Emperor Henry lead his troops back north in 1084.
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Gregory VII's second aim was to reclaim Spain from the Muslims. He was not only successful in the latter endeavor he was able to force the recovered Spain and several other kingdoms of Europe--Hungary, Sardinia and Corsica--to recognize themselves as fiefs held from the papacy. Although he also asserted such rights over England on grounds similar to those in the case of Spain, Corsica and Sardinia, namely, that the conquering army had been blessed by the pope. However, William the Conqueror not only ignored the pope's claims he forbade the circulation of papal decrees in England without his approval.
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Gregory VII's third aim was to acquire the submission of the eastern church leaders to his alleged supremacy as the Bishop of Rome over the entire church. The Normans of southern Italy were part of the equation. Gregory's relations with these papal allies in southern Italy could not have started at a lower point. He excommunicated and condemned the Norman leaders in 1074, but it did not stop their depredations. In 1077 they began a relentless conquest of the south Italian Lombard areas. When Henry IV's armies invaded Italy about 1080 Gregory VII reversed his position and lifted the excommunications. He then approved the conquests of Robert Guiscard and the other Norman warlords of south Italy and pointed them in another direction. When a usurper, Nicephorus III Boteniates, (1078-1081), had dethroned the Byzantine Emperor Michael VII (1071-1078), Gregory VII responded to Michael's plea for help and excommunicated Nicephorus III as well as his successor Alexius Comnenus (1081-1118). He also authorized Guiscard to invade the east. Guiscard's forces crossed the Adriatic, conquered Dyrrachium (October, 1081), and proceeded eastward into Thessaly as far as Larissa by 1082.
Meanwhile, Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus (1081-1118) had succeeded to the throne in Constantinople. At that point the Seljuks had a fleet in the waters around Constantinople and their allies, the Pechenegs, were attacking the northern frontier, while the Italian Norman army under Guiscard's command was pushing into Thessaly.
In about 1082 Emperor Alexius Comnenus who was in search of aid to help repel the Seljuks contacted Pope Gregory VII. Gregory's reply was positive provided reconciliation could be worked out between eastern and western churches and the pope's authority recognized. Indeed, Gregory VII announced publicly that he was going to personally lead an army of 50 thousand men to Constantinople and deliver that city from the Seljuk threat, and preside there over a council that would re-unite the church. The still excommunicated Alexius found other aid and Gregory had problems closer to home.
In 1083 Gregory VII found himself barricaded in the Castle San Angelo at Rome by the troops of Henry IV. Much in need of powerful allies, Gregory VII turned to the Norman warlords of South Italy. Robert Guiscard responded to Gregory VII's request, left Bohemond in command at Larrisa and returned to Italy. He gathered an army and marched to the relief of Rome in 1084 just as the German army had left the vicinity retreating to the north. As Gregory VII's allies, Guiscard's troops, including some Saracens, were allowed access to the city--which they promptly sacked! Better than 1/3 of the city was burned to the ground, and the Roman love and respect for Pope Gregory wafted away in the smoke. The Normans had to protect Gregory VII from Roman mobs intent on shedding his blood. They kept Gregory VII in protective custody and transported him to Salerno where he died the next year (1085).
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Conditions in the western church were so split that the reforming party was able to secure the election of its candidate to the papacy in May 1086. They chose as Victor III, a former monk of Monte Cassino and sometime Lombard prince of Beneventum named Desiderius, who flatly refused to assume the office for a whole year and then ruled only a few months (from May till September, 1087). Victor appears to have excommunicated the anti-pope Clement III, but the latter continued to assert his claims until 1100 when he too died. Victor also renewed the decrees against simony and lay investiture and the excommunication of Emperor Henry IV. In 1088 a French nobleman, former Cluniac monk and more recently Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, was elevated as Pope Urban II with the support of the Norman princes and Countess Matilda of Tuscany. He continued Gregory VII's reform program.
Meanwhile Bohemond's forces in Thessaly had been expeditiously driven out of the Balkans before the end of 1082 by the English (Anglo-Norman) mercenaries hired by Alexius. Alexius had the help of Venice, who in respect to her involvement in the market at Constantinople, was also hired to liberate Dyrrachium from the Normans in 1082. Robert Guiscard was killed in 1085 attempting to again establish a beachhead in the Balkans.
The churches in southern Italy were still claimed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, but in fact, the Normans regularly filled the higher offices with Latin churchmen. Greek bishops and priests continued to serve under Latin archbishops. The Normans were tolerant of the Greek clergy but wished the Greek liturgy would be suppressed. Pope Urban II lifted the excommunication of Alexius Comnenus and requested that the Latins in Constantinople be allowed to use their Latin liturgy. Alexius and his new Patriarch, Nicholas III, even agreed to restore the Pope's name on the liturgical diptychs if a general council could be held in Constantinople to settle the differences. Urban's Norman advisors were not in favor.
Emperor Alexius Comnenus' problems were not over. The Pecheneg threat was increasing. In desperation Alexius confiscated the treasuries of the churches in Constantinople, melted them down and minted fresh coin to purchase the aid of some northern warriors, the Cumans--natural enemies of the Pechenegs--among others. In 1091, the Cuman army virtually annihilated the Pechenegs whose forces had stood before the western walls of Constantinople since 1090. All the other threats were also at least temporarily quiet, and Alexius was now ready to take aggressive moves against the Suljuks who in the meantime had taken control of the vast majority of Asia Minor including several cities directly across the Bosporus from Constantinople. The Seljuks also moved their capital westward from Iconium to Smyrna in 1092.
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The issue of lay investiture did not die with Gregory VII. Pope Victor (1087) reiterated the excommunication of Henry IV and excommunicated the anti-Pope, Clement III, for good measure. Pope Urban II (1088-1099) had likewise renewed the excommunication of Henry IV who was struggling in vain to subdue forces of the Countess Matilda in Lombardy after 1090. The Pope also encouraged Henry IV's son, Conrad, to rebel in 1093. The Pope arranged for Conrad to marry the daughter of a leading Norman, Roger of Sicily. The Lombard cities now crowned Conrad as their king (1093-1101) and he assisted Matilda's forces in driving his father, Henry IV out of Italy by 1097. On his part Henry IV remained fairly strong in Germany. Urban meanwhile has not forgotten the issues. At the Synod of Piacenza in 1095 he confirmed a canon banning any clergyman from entering a vassalage contract with a layman. This was aimed at the widespread practice of the kings and proprietors as well as Emperor Henry IV requiring bishops, archbishops and abbots to do homage. The next year at the Synod of Clermont where Urban II had launched the first crusade, he condemned lay investiture, simony, concubinage and forbade clerics to take the oath of fealty to laymen.
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William I the Conqueror who ruled England from 1066 to 1087 was just as determined as Henry IV to have control over the bishops and abbots. He insisted that they become his vassals. He regularly managed episcopal elections and invested each new bishop with the ring and staff, the symbols of spiritual office. William not only brought along Lanfranc, the very learned Abbot of Bec, in Normandy, to be his Archbishop of Canterbury, he filled most other vacancies with Norman churchmen. In a few strategic cases he created the vacancies by removing the English incumbents.
William II (1087-1100) had gotten on well with Lanfranc until his death in 1089, after which he neglected to fill the position declaring that he would be his own archbishop. In fact, he was accused of fleecing the churches. William II would neither recognize Pope Urban II or the anti-Pope Clement III. He did manage the election of Anselm, successor to Lanfranc at Bec, to the vacancy at Canterbury, but regretted it almost at once. When he tried to oust Anselm from office because of Anselm's loyalty to Urban, the Archbishop insisted on appealing to Pope Urban II. William's desire to satisfy Anselm led him to negotiate with Urban II. Urban II's fear of provoking William to recognize his opponent, Clement III, resulted in his granting William almost total control over the church in England in return for William's recognition. William's appropriation of what Anselm considered the property of his office provoked the Archbishop to request permission to leave England. William finally gave his permission in 1097. Anselm sent his letter of resignation to Pope Urban II, but the Pope would not accept it. Instead he invited him to present his case in a general council where actions could be taken against William II. The Council of Bari, in southern Italy, was held in 1098 and was prepared to excommunicate William. Anselm, who was in attendance, prevailed on them not to.
The Council of Bari's most important accomplishment was bringing together 185 Greek and Latin speaking churchmen representing the divided church of south Italy and with Anselm's help securing their approval of the use of the filioque in the Creed. The assembly met in the crypt of the Church of St. Nicholas in the presence of the casket containing the revered bones of the saint recently transported from the ruined church at Myra in what is now Turkey. The legend of St. Nicholas is frequently cited as one of the sources of the modern Christmas fantasy.
When King Henry I (1101-1135) succeeded he invited Anselm back to England but demanded that he swear his loyalty to him. When Anselm refused to take an oath of fealty and refused to consecrate bishops who had already sworn loyalty to Henry before being invested, Henry forced Anselm to leave England again in 1103. Meanwhile a number of scholars in England and on the Continent were offering their suggestions for solution. Some were radical like the Anonymous of York (England) who argued that all divine authority derives from the king including that of the clergy, or Manegold of Lautenbach (Germany) who argued that the Papal power exceeded any and all worldly powers. Kings, he said, were merely administrators appointed by the people and subject to removal by them. The very learned Ivo of Chartres (France) began urging compromise as early as 1097. Hugh, Bishop of Fleury (France) suggested that using the ring and the staff as symbols for investiture was the confusing point because these symbols were too closely identified with the spiritual office to symbolize the temporal considerations at the same time. Out of the discussion it became obvious that the church wanted to exclude laymen from the conveyance of the spiritual office, and the rulers wanted to insure the loyalty and subservience of the clergy.
Henry I allowed Anselm to return to England in 1106 under the threat of excommunication. A settlement with Henry I was negotiated in 1107 that Pope Paschal II (1099-1188) reluctantly approved. It was not everything the reform party wanted, but it was obviously a start in the right direction. The King would no longer invest the bishops with the traditional symbols of spiritual office, the ring and the crozier (staff). On his part Anselm agreed to take the oath of fealty since it was not exactly the same as doing homage though it had been long associated with it. So it was understood that bishops should be canonically elected, that is by the clergy of the diocese. Later in 1164 it was determined that archbishops would be elected in the king's chapel by the assembled clergy of the province. After the election the bishop or abbot must be presented to the king for his approval, take the oath of fealty and receive from the king any of the royal perks, properties and licenses pertaining to the position. These latter are typically called the regalia. Then the churchman would receive the symbols of his spiritual office and be consecrated by the appropriate church officials.
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Philip I Capet (1060-1108) had survived as King because he had the manpower and money from four archbishops (Rheims, Sens, Tours, Bourges) and twenty-some bishops. He was so weak his vassals ignored him unless they needed him for something.
It was clear that Philip I must retain the loyalty and control of his churchmen. Gregory VII had threatened to excommunicate him, considering him one of the worst examples as royal proprietors go. Philip cleaned up his act for a while but got in trouble with the church again in 1092 when he sent his wife, Bertha, away and abducted Bertrada, the wife of Count Fulk Réchin of Anjou. He was excommunicated by the papal legate in 1094 and then again in 1095 by Pope Urban II at Clermont. Later Pope Paschal II excommunicated him a third time, but lifted the excommunication in 1104 when he agreed to separate from Bertrada. In 1107 Philip I also adopted essentially the same compromise that Anselm had presented to Henry I.
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Henry IV had regained his strength in Germany by 1085, but it gradually declined thereafter. In 1104 Henry IV's second son, Henry, revolted against his father and established his connections with Pope Paschal II making his base of operations in Lombardy. Within a year the German princes had met and voted to set Henry IV aside and replace him with Henry V. Henry IV retained the loyalty of only the cities of Germany until his death in 1106. His excommunication prevented his body being buried on church property. Eventually, in 1111 his body was moved to the crypt of the Cathedral at Speier.
When the anti-Pope Clement III died in 1100 that part of the church opposed to the reformers proceeded to elect a series of successors: Theodoric (1100-1102), Albert (1102), and finally, Sylvester IV (1105-1111). Henry IV had nothing to do with these elections and their support had begun to dwindle rapidly from the successes of the pro-reform Pope, Urban II, after 1088.
Emperor Henry V (1106-1125) had to fight to retain control of Germany and Italy and to preserve his position. In Italy the towns resisted and in Germany the Dukes and princes busied themselves usurping royal prerogatives. In 1110 he marched into Italy to negotiate with Pope Paschal II. The Pope agreed to crown him Emperor if the investiture issues could be resolved. Paschal II's first solution was the complete separation of church and state. He ordered all the clergy in the realm to surrender to the crown all rights of possession over properties (cities, duchies, marches, counties, mints, tolls, markets, manors, armed forces and castles) which had been received since Charlemagne's time. This would greatly strengthen the new Emperor, but it would impoverish many powerful church positions. The clamor of opposition was extensive; churchmen from the Cardinals on down repudiated Paschal II's ruling and refused to surrender.
Henry V took the Pope and thirteen cardinals into protective custody and when it became obvious that Pope's ruling was not going to be accepted. Henry demanded and got from Paschal a full approval of the old investiture procedures limited only by guarantees for canonical elections. Henry V was crowned in April 1111. As soon as Paschal II was out of Henry V's reach he readily joined the chorus of churchmen who were condemning the agreement. Synods in France and Germany excommunicated Henry V.
By 1115, however, negotiations began to reach a compromise based on the understanding that churchmen in state service actually held two separate jobs, one from the church and the other from the state. Henry came to Rome in 1116 to negotiate, but Paschal II had retired to southern Italy and there died. Pope Gelasius II (1118-1119) continued the negotiations but Henry was not pleased. Henry established Anti-Pope Gregory VIII (1118-1121) in Rome. Gelasius excommunicated both Henry and Gregory VIII and took refuge at Cluny where he died. The cardinals who had fled to Cluny with Gelasius II elected Pope Callistus II (1119-1124). Callistus II consolidated his position in France and returned to Rome, deposing Gregory VIII, and sending a committee of Cardinals to negotiate with the Emperor at Worms.
The Concordat of Worms, 1122, was the formal agreement that ended the struggle over imperial investiture of churchmen. It differed from the two earlier settlements only in the fact the all elections were to be held in the presence of the emperor or his agent and it was the royal prerogative to settle all disputed elections. In Germany the Emperor could exercise a veto over the election by refusing to invest the elected candidate with the regalia. Once invested the candidate would then be consecrated. In Italy and Burgundy the consecration preceded the conveyance of the regalia.
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