The ecclesiastical reform movement and the Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy
This term stands for the power struggle between the Pope and the King during
the 11th and 12th century.
In the 11th and 12th century the conflict between church and state escalated
about the role of the secular sovereign within the installation of bishops and
abbots. Most controversial was the presentation of the holy symbols of annulus
and wand to the clerical dignitary by the King. The lay investiture arose within
the feudal system's environment in which clerical dignitaries were profane sovereigns
and therefore vassals of the King at the same time. The emperors and the kings
tried to oblige the rich and powerful clerical dignitary by offering protection
in return. Moreover, the obligation of the church to the earthly government
was enforced by the awarding of land within the realm and secular rights (jurisdiction,
mint marking, authorization to tariff). Bishops and abbots were committed to
deliver financial and military services to their secular sovereigns. The celibacy
of the ecclesiastical dignitaries excluded a dynastic succession. Hence the
King could assign his devotees to positions within the church. The bishops'
and abbots' loyalty was more important to the secular rulers than their moral
integrity. This way, the clerical and the secular authorities were linked tightly
under the King's governance.
The separation of this bonding, the liberty of the Church and the secular power's
submission under the Pope's reign were the papacy's intentions.
The Reform of the Church
The reform of the monasteries served as a preparation for the reform of the
Church. Most of its devotees were members of the Cluny monastery, Italian groups
of hermits, and reformed branches of the Benedictine Order. The reformers criticized
that the lay investiture did not comply with the original laws of the Church.
Along with that, they attributed to the lay investiture the ethical decline
of the clergy, particularly its leniency towards the breach of celibacy, the
widespread simony (ecclesiastical crime and personal sin of paying for offices
or positions in the hierarchy of a church) as well as the trade with relics.
The ecclesiastical reform movement considered simony to be the fundamental evil
of that time, thereby extending the use of the term to any appointment of a
cleric to an ecclesiastical office by a layperson.
During the papacy of Leo IX the reform of the Church gained ground in Rome.
In 1059 Pope Nikolaus condemned lay investiture. By outlawing lay investiture
in excommunication during the Gregorian Reforms in 1075, Pope Gregory VII enraged
King Henry IV.
Passau's Church got involved into the conflict when the struggle between secular
and ecclesiastical power about the leadership of the Christendom reached its
decisive stage. Bishop Altmann (1065-1091, Passau) uncompromisingly followed
the anti-royal opposition and took on the leadership of the Gregorians.
The Assembly of the Realm in Worms
1076
At the assembly of the realm (January 26th, 1076), which was attended by the
secular princes as well as the bishops loyal to the King, Henry IV accused the
Pope of interfering with the affairs of the church of the realm and thereby
snatching away his sovereignty. The Pope took any power from the bishops and
assigned the administration of ecclesiastical matters to the low public, he
said. Huge parts of the German episcopacy viewed Gregory's attempts of confining
simony as unfavorable and therefore supported King Henry IV, who now refused
obedience to the Pope. The Synod, that held its meeting at the same time, presiding
under archbishop Siegfried of Mainz decided on disobeying Gregory as well. Not
much later, the Lombard bishops also broke away from the Pope at a synod in
Piacenza.
The monarch derives his powers opposite to the papacy from his exclusive nobility
by birth ("Patriziat"). He underlines the sacral character (divine
right) of the secular sovereignty: The King being the anointed representative
of the Lord, and therefore not to be judged by anyone but God and only in the
case of fall from belief. The canonical rule of the Pope being free of jurisdiction
also applies to the King.
Pope Gregory's Response
In Febuary of the same year at the abstinence synod in Rome, Gregory enjoined
the King from the governance of Germany and Italy, released all his subjects
from the oath of allegiance they once took, and excluded him from the community
of the Church. By cleverly grading the penalty of those German Bishops who wanted
to force him to resign from office in Worms, he was hoping to break open their
consistent front and to make at least some of them return.
The support for Henry IV diminished in the following year. Therefore he traveled
to Canossa in 1077. When he appeared in his penitent dress before Gregory's
residence, the Pope had no choice but to reincorporate the remorseful sinner
in the community of the Church.
Only with the differentiation between secular and ecclesiastical rule of a bishop
made by Ivo of Chartres the struggle eased up. In 1104 the King of France abstained
from the privilege of investiture. So did the King of England in 1107. The conflict
was ultimately settled by King Henry V and Pope Calixt II with the Worms concordat
in 1122.
edited by: Simon Dirscherl
translated by: Susanne Kipke
(23.5.2005)