The Medieval Empire and the
Reformed Papacy
The Gregorian Reform and the Investiture
Controversy
Europe around A.D. 1000
Emperor Otto III (980-1002) seated in majesty
(Gospels of Otto III)
• Ottonian
Benedictine abbey of Saint Michael's Hildesheim
1001-31
St. Michael’s, Hildesheim (interior)
Pisa Cathedral, begun 1063
Medieval Bishops and a bishop’s crozier
City Square of Parma with Bishop’s Palace (center tower), on left;
bishop’s throne from Ravenna
Bishops in the Bayeux Tapestry, c. 1075:
Bishop Odo of Bayeux in Battle (left), Bishop Odo seated with his brothers
Duke William and Count Robert (top right), Archbishop Stigand with King
Harold (bottom right)
Temporal Power of 12th-Century English Bishops
Rochester Castle built by William de Corbeil Achbishop of Canterbury, 1127 (on
left) and Bishop’s Palace in Lincoln (on right)
St Anno, Archbishop of Cologne, 1056-1075, as healer
Franckesche Stiftungen Hauptbibliothek, Halle (c.1200)
• Personal confessor to the Emperor Henry II,
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who appointed him archbishop of Cologne
just before Henry’s death in 1056.
Dissatisfied with the regency of the
Empress Agnes, Anno kidnapped the child
king Henry IV in 1062. Forced to share
power with the archbishops of Bremen and
Mainz, Anno maintained charge of the
young king as his tutor.
As chancellor of the kingdom of Italy, Anno
resolved the papal dispute of 1064 in favor
of Pope Alexander II.
Disliked by Henry IV and eclipsed in power
by Archbishop Adalbert of Hamberg , Anno
temporarily left the court until Adalbert’s fall
from power in 1066. Anno returned to court
but never regained his earlier prominence.
Suppressed an uprising against his authority
in Cologne in 1074.
In 1074 Henry IV charged Anno with
conspiring against him with William the
Conqueror of England. Anno cleared himself
of the charges and retired to Cologne.
He was canonized in 1183 by Pope Lucius
III.
Abbey of Cluny, Burgundy (east central France)
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Benedictine monastery founded in AD
910 by Duke William I of Aquitaine
who freed it of all secular dues to him
and placed it under the immediate
authority of the pope.
Cluny differed in three ways from
other Benedictine: in its organizational
structure, in the
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prohibition on holding land by feudal
service (all land grants had to be alms)
execution of the liturgy—chanting the
offices of the day--main form of
monastic labor (opus dei) rather than
manual labor or manuscript copying
Priories rather than independent
daughter houses. Cluny’s subsidiary
houses were priories headed by priors
rather than abbots who answered
directly to the abbot of Cluny. The
model is spiritual subinfeudation and
feudal vassalage.
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Because of its emphasis on the liturgy
and its independence from secular
control, Cluny and its priories came to
exemplify 11th-century piety
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Cluny’s wealth. Because of its
reputation for piety, Cluny became a
popular recipient of arisotcratic
donations.
Pope Urban II (former monk of Cluny) consecrates
the high altar at Cluny in 1096
(12th-century French miniature, Bibliothèque nationale de France Bibliothèque
nationale de France )
Eleventh-Century Monastic Reform: Carthusian Order
Founded by St Bruno of Cologne in 1084 at La Grande
Chartreuse in the French Alps to be a community of
hermits
Emperor Henry III (1039-1056) and Pope Leo IX (10491054)
Early Medieval Kingship
“Doctrine of the Two Swords” (ca. late 8th century)
God
Kings
Pope
Archbishops
Counts
Latin “comites” meaning “companions”
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Priests
Priests
Priests
(non-heritable, not necessarily noble)
Deacons & Sub-Deacons
Peasants
Theocratic Kingship
“Doctrine of the Two Swords”
Late Roman & Byzantine
Claimed by Henry IV (HRE) in 1075
God
Emperor
(Wields both “temporal” sword & “spiritual sword”)
Kings
Patriarch
Pope
(Eastern Church)
Counts
Latin “comites” meaning “companions”
Archbishops
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Knights
Priests
Priests
Priests
(non-heritable, not necessarily noble)
Peasants
Deacons & Sub-Deacons
Early Medieval Kingship
“Doctrine of the Two Swords”
Gregorian Revolution (ca. 1075)
God
Pope (Vicar of Christ)
Emperor
Kings
Kings
Kings
Archbishops
Counts
Counts
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Priests
Priests
Priests
(non-heritable, not necessarily noble)
Deacons & Sub-Deacons
Peasants
Pope Gregory VII (p. 1073-1085) and Emperor Henry IV
(king of Germany, 1056-1106; Emperor 1084-1105)
Pope Gregory VII’s Dictatus Papae (1075
DICTATUS PAPAE, a list of 27 title headings entered into the papal register in
March 1075. The most important of the articles were those that claimed:
a. the supremacy of the Roman pontiff over the entire Church, including the
eastern branch ('That the Roman pontiff alone can with right be called
universal/That his name alone shall be spoken in the churches') and rule over the
episcopate, which entailed the right of deposing and reinstating bishops (a right
that could be exercised even by a legate), the power of organizing diocese, the
right to be the ultimate judge in ecclesiastical cases, and a claim to be exempt
from human judgment.
b. The power to issue canon law
c. the sanctity of the pope qua pope (through the merits of St Peter)
d. Supremacy over the princes of the earth ('That he alone may use the
imperial insignia/That of the pope all princes shall kiss the feet'), with the
practical and revolutionary claim 'that he may absolve subjects from their
fealty to wicked men.' [There is an indication here of Gregory's view of the
pope as the final judge over the entire feudal system; in his treatment of Henry
at Canossa there is some indication that he conceived of himself as being the
ultimate feudal overlord. The feudal claims of the papacy is a topic that deserves
to be explored in more depth.]
Early Medieval Kingship
“Doctrine of the Two Swords”
Gregorian Revolution (ca. 1075)
God
Pope (Vicar of Christ)
Emperor
Kings
Kings
Kings
Archbishops
Counts
Counts
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Bishops
Lesser nobility
Knights
Priests
Priests
Priests
(non-heritable, not necessarily noble)
Deacons & Sub-Deacons
Peasants
Pope Gregory VII excommunicates German bishops
• Matilda of
Tuscany (1046 – 24
July 1115)
• principal Italian
supporter of Pope
Gregory VII during
the Investiture
Controversy. Matilda
controlled most of
Lombardy as well as
lands in Upper
Lorraine in
Germany. She
provided both
financial and
military aid to the
reform papacy.
Donzio presenting Matilda with a copy of the “Life of Matilda”, 11111116 (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome)
• Emperor Henry IV asks Countess Matilda of Tuscany and Abbot Hugh of
Cluny to intercede on his behalf with Pope Gregory VII
From manuscript of Donzio’s of the “Life of Matilda”
(1111-1116) Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome
Emperor Henry IV submits to Pope Gregory VII at Canossa
(northern Italy) in 1077
• In late 1076 the German dukes
were in revolt against Emperor
Henry IV and planning to elect a
replacement as king of Germany.
Gregory VII was on his way to
attend the election but took refuge
in Matilda of Tuscany’s castle of
Canossa when he heard that
Henry IV was in the vicinity. When
Henry IV and his entourage
arrived on 25 January 1077, the
Pope discovered that he had come
as a penitent. According to letters
written by both Gregory and
Henry in the following years),
Gregory VII kept Henry IV waiting
by the gate for three full days.
During this time, he allegedly wore
only his penitent hair shirt and
fasted. When he was finally
admitted, the Emperor knelt
before Pope Gregory VII and
begged his forgiveness. Gregory
absolved Henry IV and lifted his
excommunication—leaving the
German dukes hanging out to dry!
King Henry IV drives Pope Gregory VII out of Rome,
who subsequently dies in exile (1084-1085)
Two contemporary “portraits” of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
(king of Germany 1152-1190/Roman Emperor 1155-1190)
Frederick Barbarossa flanked by his two sons (“Welf
Chronicle,” ca. 1179/1190)
Frederick Barbarossa reliquary-head
(containing bone from head of St. John),
Cappenberg Abbey, c.1155)
Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)
Portrait of Innocent III with papal bull donating revenues to Subiaco Monastery, by Master Conxolus (c.1220)