GREGORY VII. AND HIS WORK
OUTLINE: I.--Condition of the Church in 1073. II.--Election of
Hildebrand as Pope. III.--Gregory VII.'s matured papal theory
and reform ideas. IV.--His efforts to realise his ideals.
V.--The investiture strife. VI.--Conclusions. VII.--Sources.
In 1073 the Church had been raised from the lowest condition to a
comparatively high moral plane by the imperial reforms, the labours of
earnest German Popes, the Clugniac reformation, and the Hildebrandine
Popes. The papal crown was no longer the plaything of a Roman noble, nor
the tool of the German Emperor, but had become largely independent of
both and a mighty power in Europe. This change was due to the character
of the Emperors and Popes, to the religious enthusiasm of the age, to
the political confusion in Germany, and to the labours of Hildebrand,
particularly in creating the College of Cardinals. A positive reform
movement had also been started in the Church, but it remained to be
continued and completed. The time, therefore, seemed ripe for the work
of a great Pope like Hildebrand.
For twenty-five years Hildebrand had been the power behind the papal
throne. He had largely moulded the policy of eight successive Popes, he
was the recognised champion of reformation in the Church, he had
developed the constitution of the Papacy, he had managed the finances of
Rome, he had become the greatest statesman and the shrewdest churchman
in Europe, and he had formed a powerful party to champion his ideas.
Alexander II. breathed his last April 21, 1073. Hildebrand directed that
the next three days should be devoted to fasting, charity, and prayer,
while the dead Pontiff was being interred, after which the regular
election of a Pope would follow. The next day the funeral rites were
being celebrated in the old church of St. John Lateran. The ancient
structure was crowded to overflowing and Hildebrand, as archdeacon, was
conducting the services, when suddenly a cry burst forth from the crowd,
"Hildebrand, Hildebrand shall be our Pope. St. Peter chooses our
Archdeacon Hildebrand." Rushing to the pulpit, Hildebrand implored
silence, but his voice was drowned in the uproar.
Then Cardinal Hugo came forward, and said:
Well know ye, beloved brethren, that since the days of the
blessed Leo, this tried and prudent archdeacon has exalted the
Roman See and delivered this city from many perils. Wherefore,
since we cannot find any one better qualified for the
government of the Church, or the protection of the city, we,
the bishops and archbishops, with one voice elect him as
pastor and bishop of your souls.
The crowd approved by shouting, "It is the will of St. Peter. Hildebrand
is Pope."[446:1] Then the cardinals led the popular favourite,
protesting still and in tears, to the throne of St. Peter, and invested
him with the scarlet robe and the tiara as Gregory VII. Like Charles the
Great in 800, Gregory VII. pretended to be greatly surprised at this
election, which certainly was irregular, if not uncanonical, because the
customary three days had not yet elapsed, the people had nominated and
the cardinals had ratified--a complete reversal of the decree of
1059,--and the Emperor had not been consulted at all.
Hildebrand immediately assumed all the duties of his office, but at the
same time wrote to Henry IV. stating all the circumstances attending his
election and saying that he would refuse consecration until the Emperor
should approve of his elevation.[447:1] The assertions that he asked
Henry IV. not to confirm his election and that he threatened to punish
the king if made Pope are very improbable.[447:2] Henry IV. was in a
dilemma. He knew that Hildebrand had robbed him of the rights enjoyed by
his father and predecessors; consequently the German nobles and
simoniacal bishops urged him to annul the election and thus nip the
violence of Hildebrand in the bud. He realised the strength of the
Hildebrandine party, on the other hand, and feared the results of an
open rupture with it in the unsettled condition of Germany. The
diplomatic move of Hildebrand, however, seemed to offer a way for
surrender under the garb of victory. Therefore Henry sent a trusted
representative to Rome to demand an explanation of the illegal election
of the Pope. Hildebrand simply stated that the office had been thrust
upon him and that he had refused inauguration until the Emperor should
consent to his election. Hence the Emperor was forced to confirm the
action and forthwith sent his chancellor to witness the installation
(June 30th) of Gregory VII.[447:3]
The papal philosophy of Gregory VII. was based upon the
Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. His conception of the Pope is summed up in
the famous _Dictatus Papæ_ in which he makes the successor of St. Peter
God's representative on earth, the absolute sovereign of the Church, and
the supreme feudal lord of the world.[448:1] This ideal he sought to
realise in every particular. The clergy, according to his theory, were
wholly dependent upon the Pope's will and must be absolutely free from
every vice and worldly influence in order that they might labour only to
save men's souls. Hence, he believed in the great need of reformation
and in the correction of all abuses. The laity, from Emperor to slave,
were entirely subjected to the Pope and his clergy in both temporal and
spiritual matters, and therefore must render absolute obedience to the
commands of the Church. In his reform policy as Pope, Gregory showed
himself more hostile than ever against the crying evils of simony and
the marriage or concubinage of the clergy. But twenty-five years of
effort to cure these evils in the Church had taught him that the real
cause of all the other evils was the subjection of the clergy to secular
power. The solemn denunciations of simony by the Lateran councils were
_nil_ as long as kings and nobles offered each ecclesiastical office for
sale to the highest bidder. It was useless to order the clergy to give
up their luxurious habits and live in ascetic purity as long as they
were tools of a licentious aristocracy. Therefore the papal ax must be
laid at the very root of the evil, namely, lay investiture and the
secular control of the clergy.
In his first efforts to realise his lofty ideal, Gregory VII. desired to
unite all Christendom under the suzerainty of the Pope and through this
submission to conquer the world for God. On the very day of his
consecration (April 30th) he sent Cardinal Hugo to Spain to replace the
Gothic with the Roman ritual and thus to secure Spain as a papal
fief.[449:1] A few days later he journeyed in person to southern Italy
to secure renewal of the submission of the Normans. When Guiscard
refused to comply with his demands, the Pope called on William of
Burgundy for troops. Finally he had the Council of Rome excommunicate
Guiscard and all his followers and thus forced their fealty.[449:2] He
assumed feudal authority in Bohemia.[449:3] The Patriarch of Venice was
sent to Constantinople to restore the friendly relations between the
Greek and Roman churches.[449:4] He compelled the Italian nobles to
swear to him the oath of allegiance.[449:5] He corrected the church of
Carthage,[449:6] attempted to win over Swen, the King of Denmark, and
forbade the King of Norway to interfere in Danish affairs.[449:7] He
treated the King of Hungary as a vassal and rebuked him for recognising
the King of Germany as his overlord.[449:8] Between the Duke of Poland
and the King of Russia he mediated and had the latter go to Rome to be
crowned.[450:1] He forced the French King to promise obedience.[450:2]
He voluntarily sought to act as arbiter between the German King and the
Saxons.[450:3] He demanded Peter's pence from William the Conqueror. The
pence was paid, but the oath of loyalty was refused. "I have not nor
will I," said William, "swear fealty which was never sworn by any of my
predecessors to yours."[450:4] He wrote an open letter to Christendom
advocating a general crusade against the Mohammedans.[450:5] He asserted
his right to end war and to dictate the terms of peace.[450:6] He
declared it to be his duty to compel all rulers to govern their people
in righteousness on pain of deposition.[450:7] In short, no region was
too remote or too barbarous not to come within his idea of
ecclesiastical unity and of papal suzerainty.[450:8]
As soon as elected Gregory VII. began to purify the Church by urging the
bishops to enforce the laws against simony and celibacy which had been
practically dead letters.[450:9] The King of France was called to
account for his simoniacal practices and under threat of excommunication
forced to promise reformation.[450:10] Early in 1074 a great reform
council was summoned to meet in Rome.[450:11] Four famous reform decrees
were enacted: (1) Churchmen guilty of simony were forbidden to
officiate in religious services. (2) Buyers of church properties were
ordered to restore them and the traffic was prohibited for the future.
(3) Priests guilty of marriage or concubinage were debarred from
exercising clerical functions. Their blessings would be curses and their
prayers sins. This was opposed to "once a priest always a priest." Later
Wycliffe, Luther, and other reformers used this same idea with telling
effect. (4) Laymen were commanded not to receive ministrations from
clergymen guilty of violating these ordinances. Altogether these reform
measures were the most radical yet passed. These revolutionary edicts
were sent to the archbishops of the various countries with instructions
to put them into immediate execution. A special delegation was sent to
Henry IV. to inform him of the results of the council. It was headed by
the Empress Agnes, Henry's mother, now a nun.[451:1] A solemn pledge was
secured from the German King to execute the reform measures and to
dismiss the five councillors, who had been put under the ban by
Alexander II.
It will now be necessary to see how these reforms were received in
the various countries. Celibacy will be considered first.[451:2]
Historically this institution runs back through the Christian era to the
Jewish period. Jewish priests married, but were forbidden to marry
harlots, profane women, or widows.[451:3] The New Testament contains no
absolute prohibition of marriage. The Apostles married[451:4]--even
Peter--and the leaders of churches were advised to take unto themselves
wives,[452:1] but many passages were soon interpreted to favour
celibacy.[452:2] The renunciation of all worldly enjoyments and the
exaltation of the ascetic life above the social led to voluntary vows of
celibacy as early as the second century. It was not long until the
Church came to believe that the unmarried condition was the better for
the clergy.[452:3] This belief soon developed a contempt for marriage;
and the Popes Calixtus I. (221) and Lucius I. (255) are said to have
forbidden the marriage of priests. In 385 the Bishop of Rome enjoined
celibacy on all the clergy, and Innocent I., Leo the Great, and
succeeding Popes followed the same policy. In the fourth century Church
councils took up the question, and the East and the West began to
diverge on the subject. All over western Europe councils and synods
approved celibacy and sought to force it upon the Church over and over
again. Civil law stepped in to confirm these papal and synodical
decrees.
In 1073, although celibacy had been the law of the Church for a thousand
years, it had never been universally enforced. The Hildebrandine Popes
and the Clugniac reformers had made strenuous efforts to execute the
reform edicts but had largely failed. In Italy, nearly all the clergy
were married in Naples, while Lombardy, Florence, and Ravenna championed
the institution; even in Rome itself the clergy were largely married.
The sixty wardens in St. Peter's had wives. In Germany a majority of the
clergy were opposed to celibacy and, consequently, they were ready to
join the Emperor against the Pope. In France the Norman bishops lived
openly with their wives and families and the common priests of course
followed their leaders. This was the situation which the new Pontiff was
called upon to face.
Gregory VII. saw that to realise his theocracy the Church must have an
open, democratic, priestly caste. Marriage would make that caste
exclusive and hereditary, hence corrupt and worldly, and would thus
cripple the Church from priest to Pope.[453:1] He believed that the
enforcement of celibacy would cut the clergy free from the state and wed
them to the Church. They would live with the Church as her protectors
and not with the world. The Church would be both their bride and their
heir. Hence he had the severe measure of 1074 passed and was resolved to
enforce it all over Christendom. But the endeavour to execute this
radical canon--to destroy an institution which many justified on both
moral and natural grounds--to rend asunder ties of the tenderest nature
on earth--"to make wives prostitutes and children bastards"--to break up
families--was strongly resisted all over Europe.
In Germany the Pope was called a heretic and a madman for setting up
such an insane dogma against the teaching of St. Paul. To make men live
like angels was childish, it was declared, and would plunge the clergy
into worse habits. The churchmen declared that they would be men and
give up their priestly offices sooner than desert their families.
Several of the bishops headed the anti-celibacy party and openly defied
the Pope to enforce his law. The Archbishop of Mainz, as primate, called
a council at Erfurt. When he read the decree he was greeted with howls
and threats, and nearly lost his life. Other bishops who tried to
promulgate the act were treated in a similar manner. The threats of
Gregory availed nothing.[454:1] The laity, however, probably incited by
the Pope, made several outbreaks against the married priests, but
without any decisive results, and the evil went on. In France the
opposition exceeded that in Germany. A Paris synod repudiated the decree
and an abbot who defended the Pope was beaten, spit upon, and dragged to
prison.[454:2] The Archbishop of Rouen attempted to enforce celibacy but
was stoned and compelled to flee.[454:3] The Pope fairly foamed with
anger in letters to the French prelates,[454:4] but the hated edict was
not enforced. In England the Pope made no special effort to enforce this
reform measure.[454:5] Lanfranc held a council to reform the Church, but
nothing further was done.[454:6] In Spain the papal legate was menaced
and outraged by the clergy, when he tried to enforce celibacy.[454:7] In
Hungary there was shown the same refusal to conform to the new order of
things.[454:8] In Italy, Guiscard, the Norman ruler, led the
anti-celibacy party in the south and prevented the execution of the
order. In Lombardy, Florence, and Ravenna the hostility was very fierce.
Milan defiantly quoted St. Ambrose as authority for a married
priesthood.[454:9] Even in Rome itself the decree was executed only with
the greatest difficulty. But in the face of all this opposition Gregory
did not waver. Many of the reform party likewise laboured incessantly
with him to cure the evil. Ultimately, but not in his life time, the
principle he fought for was to dominate.
Simony, one of the most wide-spread evils of the Middle Ages, originated
with Simon Magnus who wished to buy the power of the Holy Spirit with
money.[455:1] The term was gradually extended in its meaning from the
buying or selling of the power of ordination to the purchase or sale of
any ecclesiastical office or privilege. As early as the third century a
rich matron bought the bishopric of Carthage for her servant.[455:2]
This evil practice slowly grew in the Church, until Charles the Great
made Church offices objects of eager desire to the worldly, then the
crime spread to a fearful extent. The feudalisation of the Church made
the evil very common from the Pope to priest and even gave it the
appearance of legality.[455:3] Conrad II. openly offered bishoprics and
abbeys for sale to the highest bidders.[455:4] In the time of Hildebrand
the papal office itself was openly bought and sold. His own teacher,
Gregory VI., had purchased the empty honour for one thousand pounds of
silver. Archbishops purchased their sinecures and in turn compensated
themselves by selling minor benefices to their subordinates. Bishoprics
and abbacies were commonly sold to the highest bidders by the kings and
nobles. The most ordinary ecclesiastical positions and even
consecrations to the priesthood were sold. So wide-spread indeed was the
practice that it was generally viewed as normal and legitimate.[455:5]
Opposition to the evil early appeared and, from the fourth century,
councils and synods denounced it. In 829 the Council of Paris asked the
King to destroy "this heresy so detestable, this pest so hateful to
God."[456:1] All of the good Popes from Gregory I. to Gregory VII.
attacked the abuse. Even the Emperor Henry III. attempted to root it
out.[456:2] The _corpus juris canonicis_ supplemented by the civil law
made it a crime and designated the penalties. Priests were to be
deprived of their benefices and deposed from orders; monks were to be
confined in stricter monasteries; and laymen were to be subjected to
penance. Every reformer and reform movement began by making an attack on
simony. But simony was too deeply rooted as a part of the social,
political, and religious world to be materially affected before the time
of Gregory VII., who knew that it would be impossible to realise his
earthly theocracy so long as this sin demoralised and secularised the
clergy, and subjected them to worldly control. The edict of 1074,
therefore, threw down the gauntlet and declared war.[456:3] This had
often been done before, but Gregory now attacked the chief sinners in
selling Church offices, namely, the King of France, who gave excuses and
promised amendment,[456:4] and the King of Germany, who confessed his
sin and declared his intention to repair the evil.[456:5] But this edict
like that prohibiting celibacy was not enforced simply because the
secular rulers and the clergy alike were infected with the disease. The
Pope resolved, therefore, to wage the war in person and to strike at
the very source of all simony. For success he relied upon the
thunderbolts of his office.
The investiture strife next engaged the attention of Gregory VII. and
tested his power and ability to the utmost. Lay investiture, like so
many other practices in the Church, had its origin back in the formative
period of the ecclesiastical organisation. Under the Roman Empire the
Emperor exercised much power in the appointment of Popes and
bishops.[457:1] The Merovingians and the Carolingians, following the
earlier precedents, both exercised the right of nominating bishops in
the Frankish kingdom.[457:2] Under Charles the Great and his
descendants, prelates became identified with barons--the hierarchical
governors of the Church with the feudal dignitaries of the
Empire,--hence arose the universal custom of ratifying the episcopal
elections by regal investiture. The bishop, or abbot, when elected, gave
pledges of fidelity and devotion and later paid the feudal fee. The king
then invested him with the emblems of the office, namely, the sacerdotal
ring signifying his marriage to the Church, and the pastoral staff
indicating his protection of his flock. Then he was consecrated by the
metropolitan. When the bishop died, the ring and staff were returned to
the king, or to the local secular authority. In Germany the bishoprics
and abbacies almost ceased being ecclesiastical and became little more
than political divisions of the kingdom. They bore the same relation to
the sovereign as did the secular feudal fiefs. The holders had the
rights of coinage, toll, market, and jurisdiction; they attended court
and exercised military powers like nobles. By the time of Hildebrand
the vast ecclesiastical states all over Europe were feudalised and kings
and nobles controlled the appointment of all bishops and abbots. The
higher clergy were recruited mostly from the worldly nobility, who
united their religious with their civil duties. This lay investiture was
the cause of the wide-spread, brutalising sin of simony and must be
annihilated if the Church was to be purified, and to fulfil her high
mission on earth.[458:1] The French king and the favourites of Henry IV.
had filled their pockets through the most notorious simoniacal
dealings.[458:2]
Before the time of Hildebrand, simony, but not lay investiture, had been
attacked. In 1063 a Roman synod forbade the clergy receiving churches
from the laymen. Milan and the German court in 1068 came into collision
about the appointment of a bishop. Hildebrand, immediately upon his
election, found occasion to praise Anself for refusing installation from
Henry IV. In 1075 he called a council at Rome and had this famous
revolutionary decree passed:
If any one shall from henceforth receive any bishopric or
abbey from any layman, let him not be received among the
bishops or abbots, nor let the privilege of audience be
granted him as to a bishop or abbot. We, moreover, deny to
such person the favour of St. Peter and an entrance into the
Church, until he shall have resigned the dignity which he has
obtained both by the crime of ambition and disobedience which
is idolatry. And similarly do we decree concerning the lesser
dignities of the Church. Also if any Emperor, Duke, Marquis,
Count, secular person or power, shall presume to give
investiture of any bishopric or ecclesiastical dignity let
him know himself to be bound by the same sentence.[459:1]
This edict was immediately sent to all the bishops of the Empire and no
doubt all over Christendom. It began the struggle which rent both the
Empire and the Church into two hostile parties and continued long after
Gregory VII. died in exile. It was unquestionably revolutionary, because
Pope after Pope had recognised the right of investiture by laymen and
the matter was generally treated as authorised by public law.[459:2]
The Pope opened the skirmish through the council by citing many bishops
from Germany, England, France, and Italy to answer to him for
ecclesiastical offences, chiefly simoniacal; by continuing the curse
laid on Robert of Apulia; by threatening the King of France with
interdict, unless he repented and made reparation; by deposing the
bishops of Pavia, Turin, and Piacenza; by treating the German prelates
with unusual severity; in repeating the excommunication of the German
King's ministers; and in putting under the ban the bishops of Speyer and
Strassburg and the Archbishop of Bremen.
The conflict centred about Henry IV., who entirely disregarded the law
of lay investiture.[459:3] He looked upon investiture as a royal
prerogative, hence he invested the Bishop of Liege (July, 1075),
appointed his chaplain Archbishop of Milan against the Pope's nominee
(Sept., 1075), named a Bishop of Bomberg without consulting Gregory
VII.,[459:4] chose the Abbot of Fulda (Dec., 1075) and also for
Lorsch,[460:1] disposed of the churches of Fermo and Spolita in the same
way, and reached the climax when he attempted to force his own candidate
into the archiepiscopal seat of Cologne.[460:2] Gregory viewed these
acts as an infraction of the King's promises and as showing contempt for
the law of the Holy See and its prerogatives. Hence he summoned the
Archbishop of Milan to Rome to answer for his intrusion.[460:3] After
the next appointments were made by the King (Dec., 1075), he wrote a
stern letter of admonition to the king.[460:4] Finally, after the
Cologne affair, the Pope cited the king to answer for his sins at Rome
before a certain date or "Be cut off from the body of the Lord and be
smitten with the curse of the anathema." The legates who carried this
information to the king were insultingly dismissed.[460:5]
Henry IV., backed up by the German clergy and nobility and joined by the
anti-sacerdotal and anti-reform parties in Italy, felt powerful enough
to defy the command of the Pope.[460:6] To offset the summons to Rome
Henry called the Diet of Worms (Jan. 25, 1076), at which twenty-four
bishops and two archbishops were present. Cardinal Hugo, who had helped
to make Hildebrand Pope but who was now under the ecclesiastical ban,
brought forged complaints from Italy and read a false life of Gregory
VII. The Emperor and the bishops renounced their allegiance to the Pope
and formally impeached him on seven grave charges ranging from the
grossest licentiousness to the assumption of the functions of God
Himself.[461:1] The king immediately sent letters announcing this action
to the prelates and cities of Lombardy, where the news was received with
joy; to the Romans calling upon them to expel "The enemy of the Empire,"
"The false Monk Hildebrand," the "Usurper of the Holy See"; and to the
Pope himself to whom the letter was delivered in the very Lateran
Council to which the king had been summoned.
The royal herald addressed the Pope in these words: "My lord, the King,
and the bishops of the Empire, do by mouth command you, Hildebrand,
without delay to resign the Chair of Peter, for it is unlawful for you
to aspire to so lofty a place without the royal consent and
investiture." Incensed by this insolent address, the lay attendants of
the Pope would have drawn their swords upon the herald had the Pope not
covered him with his mantle.[461:2] When the tumult had subsided Gregory
spoke to the council in these words:
Let us not, brethren, disturb the Church of God by noise and
tumult. Doth not the holy scripture teach us to expect
perilous times--seasons in which men shall be lovers of
themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to fathers, unthankful, unholy, not rendering
obedience to their teachers? . . . The word of God calleth to
us, "It must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man
by whom the offence cometh." And unto us it is said, in order
to instruct us how we ought to demean ourselves in the sight
of our enemies: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the
midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless
as doves." And what though at this very time the forerunner of
anti-Christ hath risen up in the Church, yet we, under the
instructions of the Lord and of the holy fathers, have long
since learned how duly to combine both these virtues.[462:1]
The council now amidst the greatest indignation urged the Pope to depose
the insolent king and to put him and his accomplices under the ban. The
king was formally excommunicated and his subjects absolved from all
allegiance to him.[462:2] The churchmen who acted as the king's tools
were likewise outlawed and a letter to "all defenders of the Christian
faith" announced the curse laid on Germany.[462:3] This was the first
instance of the deposition of a king by a Pope and was based on the
false decretals and the assumption that this power was an undoubted
prerogative of the Chair of St. Peter.[462:4] As a result of this action
both Germany and Italy were divided into two great parties, the papal
and the imperial. Hoping to save himself by a counter blow,[462:5] Henry
had one of his bishops pronounce an excommunication and anathema upon
Gregory and induced a servile synod at Pavia to reiterate the curse.
Civil and ecclesiastical discord broke out throughout the Empire.
Disaffected nobles took this occasion to conspire against the king, and
to plot with the papal party. Prelates fell over each other in their
eagerness to desert the outlawed ruler and to seek reconciliation with
the Pope. The German papal party held a great convention (Oct. 14, 1076)
at Tribur on the Rhine. The king was in camp just across the river at
Oppenheim with his army. The Pope sent his representatives to purify the
convention and to guide the proceedings. All the sins of the age were
charged against the king and all allegiance to him was renounced, while
it was declared that the crown would be forfeited within a year unless
the king obtained absolution. He was ordered to retire to Speyer as a
private gentleman until the question was settled and the Pope was urged
to hasten to Germany to pass sentence on the royal head.
Henry saw that the tide was against him and resolved to follow the one
course open to him, namely, to throw himself at the feet of the Pope and
beg forgiveness. He dismissed his court and his ministers, publicly
repudiated every act against the Holy See, promised satisfaction to the
Pope and reformation,[463:1] begged a permit to visit Rome to sue for
pardon, and started for Italy in 1077 to meet the Pope. His accomplices,
probably at his suggestion, took the same course but by another route.
Meanwhile the Pope was hastening northward to Germany. With excellent
tact and courage Henry made his way over the Alps in the midst of a very
severe winter into northern Italy, where he was given a hearty welcome,
and then hastened on to Canossa, a strong castle belonging to the
Countess Matilda where the Pope had broken his journey. Meanwhile the
companions and ministers of Henry who had fallen under the papal
displeasure outstripped the king and, with naked feet and clothed in
sackcloth, presented themselves to the Pope, humbly imploring pardon
and absolution from the terrible anathema. With some hesitation, the
Pope granted their petition. After a brief penance, the penitents were
dismissed with an injunction not to hold any communication with the
king, until he should in like manner have been released from the bonds
of the Church.
With his natural impetuosity Henry resolved to have the humiliating
scene over with as soon as possible. To plead his case he had secured
the good offices of his mother-in-law, several powerful noblemen, the
Abbot of Clugny, and a few other influential orthodox members of the
papal party. He had even persuaded the Countess Matilda to induce the
Pope to give his case a merciful consideration. The Pope's severity was
softened by the entreaties coming from so many persons, and it was
finally agreed that the king should appear before the Pope on a certain
day; that he should fully admit his guilt; that he should express
sincere repentance for the insults he had heaped upon this successor of
St. Peter; that he should profess full contrition for all his sins and
crimes; and that he should promise to atone for all former vices by
obeying papal commands in the future and by submitting to such
conditions as the Pope should impose. Henry accepted these terms and
prepared for the act of shame and humiliation.
On the stated day he appeared before the outer gate of the castle of
Canossa, was admitted into the outer court and told to divest himself of
every vestige of royalty. He was then dressed in a garment of sackcloth
and stood in the outer court barefooted and fasting from morn till
night.
And thus [says the biographer of Hildebrand] for three entire
days, he ceased not, with much weeping and many supplications,
to implore the apostolic commiseration, until the bowels of
all the spectators yearned with compassion, so that with tears
in their eyes they earnestly besought the pontiff to have
mercy--nay, even so that they exclaimed against the stern
severity of the man of God as smacking of cruelty: then at
length, overborne by the solicitations of all around him, he
resolved to admit the penitent into the bosom of the Church;
but only upon terms which should either crush him effectually,
or for the remainder of his days convert him into the passive
instrument of the papal policy.[465:1]
The stipulations of absolution accepted by Henry were: (1) That he
should appear for trial before an imperial synod to answer all charges,
and that if proven innocent should retain his crown; but if by the laws
of the Church he should be proved guilty he would surrender all claims
to the throne. (2) That until the trial, he should lay aside royalty and
perform no active government. (3) That until acquitted he should collect
no more taxes than was absolutely necessary for the sustenance of his
family. (4) That all contracts with his subjects should be invalid until
after the trial. (5) That he should dismiss from his service all
councillors designated by the Pope. (6) That if freed of guilt, he
should promise obedience and aid in reforming the Church. (7) That the
violation of any of these terms would _ipso facto_ invalidate the
absolution.[465:2] Then followed the solemn act of absolution and the
sacerdotal purgation which was taken by the Pope but declined by the
king. The king was then admitted to communion and sumptuously feasted
by the Pope, after which he was dismissed to rejoin his followers
awaiting him at the castle gate. The trying ordeal of Canossa was over.
The mighty Pope of small, wiry stature and physically weak had
compelled, by the sheer force of the spiritual weapons in his hands, the
powerful German ruler to humbly bow before him and beg forgiveness and
absolution. Apparently it was a great victory for the Pope, but the
sequel makes the result look like a defeat.[466:1]
Henry's humiliation alienated his Lombard adherents. By opposing Rome he
had lost one kingdom; by submitting to Rome he was about to lose
another. No sooner was he beyond the castle walls of Canossa with the
heavy curse removed from his head than he began to plot to remove the
effects of his apparently disgraceful defeat. From now on the king
becomes the aggressive champion of secular supremacy, while the Pope
assumes the defensive. A trap was laid to catch the Pope at the Council
of Mantua and he was practically held as a prisoner at Canossa.
Meanwhile Henry openly violated his agreement, by assuming the rule of
Lombardy, and denounced the Pope in strong terms. The rebellious princes
in Germany, urged on by the papal party and taking advantage of this
situation, called the convention of Forscheim, and there elected Rudolph
of Swabia as King of Germany. He promised to abolish simony, to renounce
the right of investing bishops, and to recognise the law of heredity, so
was crowned March 26, 1077. Under these circumstances Henry IV.,
supported by the Lombard party and the strong imperial party in Germany,
returned to his kingdom to regain his crown through civil war. Gregory
VII., hoping to profit by the situation, demanded that both kings refer
their cause to him as arbiter and, finally, when Henry proved obstinate,
in a council held at Rome in 1080 the Pope renewed the excommunication
of Henry, and again deposed him.[467:1] The German crown was bestowed by
apostolic authority upon Rudolph. In the same council the edict against
lay investiture was renewed in a harsher spirit than ever. War to the
knife was now inevitable. Rigid party lines were again formed. Henry
gradually recovered his mastery of Germany. The German clergy in June,
1080, blaming Gregory VII. for the ruinous civil war, once more
retaliated by deposing the Pope.[467:2] A council held at Brescia the
same year elected Clement III. as anti-Pope. Gregory's efforts to raise
up allies were all in vain. Henry IV. laid siege to Rome with a big army
and at last after a long struggle was master of it. Clement III. was
installed as Pope and on Easter Day, 1084, Henry IV. received as his
reward the imperial crown. Gregory VII., defeated by the German warrior
and rescued from the Eternal City with difficulty by the trusty Normans,
withdrew to Salerno to die with the curse of the Emperor on his lips,
saying: "I have loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in
exile" (May 25, 1085).
Gregory VII. was a man of unquestionable ascetic purity. The charges
made against him by his enemies are probably untrue. His relations with
Matilda, Beatrice, and Empress Agnes were of the purest character. In
his efforts and ideas he was undoubtedly sincere and firmly believed
that he really was the representative of God on earth. It must be
remembered, however, that his conceptions of veracity, justice, honour,
and charity were those of a mediæval despot. He was one of the greatest
politicians of the Middle Ages, but a policy man controlled by the
loftiest purpose. To attain his ecclesiastical ideal, policy and
principle were one and he almost acted as though the end justified the
means. After Charles the Great and Otto the Great before him and
Innocent III. after him he had the greatest organising mind of the
Middle Ages. Few other men can compare with him. He comprehended the
grand _Civitas Dei_ of Augustine and through the false decretals he
attempted to create the great universal papal theocracy in which the
state should be subject to the Church, the Church purified and subjected
to the Pope, and the whole Church ruled by _Lex Christi_. Nature endowed
him with an indomitable will, a restless energy, a clear perception, a
dauntless courage, an imperious temper, an instinct for leadership, a
stern inflexible disposition, a haughty insolent bearing, and a power to
draw and to repulse. These native talents were intensified by monastic
education which taught him both the virtue and necessity of obedience,
trained him to subordinate all affections, opinions, and interest to the
one great object, and made him a true child of the mediæval Church with
the highest ideas of her prerogatives and mission on earth. The
churchman completely swallowed up the man.
Hildebrand was a wily religious autocrat and not a theologian or a
moralist. His ideas came from Augustine and Pseudo-Isidore. His
Christianity was based on tradition and historical evolution rather than
on the Bible. He denounced simony and advocated celibacy, but not on
moral grounds so much as because of his sincere conviction about their
effect on his great ecclesiastical machine. The Church to him was a
grand secular power, resting on spiritual foundations, which had to
employ worldly means against the other secular powers. Europe was a
chessboard and with the hand of a skilled master he moved kings, queens,
knights, and bishops. His schemes were worthy of the plotter--his
courage became defiance in danger--his forces were handled with
consummate skill--his fatal thrusts were driven home with his teeth
clenched--if he seemed to yield it was only to gain a greater advantage.
As Pope he was over all, the source of all law, judged by none, and
responsible to God alone. Under this conviction, intensified as the
years passed, he lived in perpetual conflict, and died a refugee from
the capital of his great ecclesiastical Empire.
Napoleon once said: "Si je n'etais Napoleon, je voudrais être Gregoire
VII." There were many points of resemblance between these two great
characters. Both were of obscure birth and low origin. Both possessed
the same indomitable character and threatening ambition. Both were
reformers. Gregory established a hierarchy which still lives; Napoleon
created an administration which still survives. Gregory wanted to make
the Church the master of the world; Napoleon, France. Gregory made the
_Lex Christi_ the basis of all; Napoleon, the revolution. Both wanted to
make feudal vassals of the world's rulers. Both had an indomitable
enemy--Henry IV. and England. Both used the power of excommunication.
Gregory had his Canossa; Napoleon his Moscow. Italy was invaded and Rome
sacked; France was invaded and Paris taken. Salerno and St. Helena in
each case closed the drama.
Gregory VII. was the creator of the political Papacy of the Middle Ages
because he was the first who dared to completely enforce the
Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. He found the Pope elected by the Emperor,
the Roman clergy, and the people; he left the election in the hands of
an ecclesiastical College of Cardinals. He found the Papacy dependent
upon the Empire; he made it independent of the Empire and above it. He
declared the states of Europe to be fiefs of St. Peter and demanded the
oath of fealty from their rulers. He found the clergy, high and low,
dependent allies of secular princes and kings; he emancipated them and
subjected them to his own will. He reorganised the Church from top to
bottom by remodelling the papal curia, by establishing the College of
Cardinals, by employing papal legates, by thwarting national churches,
by controlling synods and councils, and by managing all Church property
directly. He was the first to enforce the theory that the Pope could
depose and confirm or reject kings and Emperors. He attempted to reform
the abuses in the Church and to purify the clergy. Only partial success
attended these efforts, but triumph was to come later on as a result of
his labours. His endeavour to realise his theocracy was grand but
impracticable as proved by its failure. It was like forcing a dream to
be true; yet Innocent III. almost succeeded in western Europe a little
more than a century later. The impress of Gregory VII.'s gigantic
ability was left upon his own age and upon all succeeding ages.
The strife over lay investiture was carried on by the successors of
Gregory VII. Victor III. (1086-1087) renewed the investiture decrees but
died too soon to accomplish anything. Urban II. (1088-1099), imbued
with the zeal and ability of Hildebrand, drove Henry IV. out of Italy
and had his son, Conrad, crowned King of Italy (1093). Pope Urban gave
all his strength to the crusading mania and made little progress with
the Hildebrandine reform. Paschal II. (1099-1118), a Clugniac monk and
cardinal under Gregory VII., renewed the excommunication of Henry IV.,
and plotted with Henry V. to induce him to revolt against his father
(1104) and thus to force him to surrender his crown. The aged Henry IV.
died under the awful curse of the Church and at war with this traitorous
son. Paschal II. took up the question of lay investiture, likewise, and
had the practice condemned in the Council of Troyes (1107) and
promulgated the prohibition all over Christendom. Henry V. was forced to
abjure investiture before he could again receive his imperial crown from
papal hands. At length in 1111 Paschal II. entered into an arrangement
with Henry V., who had appeared before Rome with a large army, by which
the Pope promised that clerical princes in the Empire should give up all
temporal rights and possessions received since the time of Charles the
Great. The Church and its clergy were to live on the tithes and the
gifts of pious persons. The Emperor, for his part, agreed to surrender
all claim to nomination, election, and investiture, and to guarantee to
the Papacy the full enjoyment of all its possessions and rights. This
agreement was fair and just, though the German clergy objected to such a
wholesale change without their consent. The compact was publicly
proclaimed in St. Peter's before the imperial coronation of Henry V.
(Feb. 12, 1111)[471:1] and aroused a great tumult. Therefore Henry V.
repudiated the treaty, captured the Pope, carried him together with the
cardinals off as prisoners, and wrung from him ignoble terms of peace
(Apr. 12th) which stated that the clerical princes in Germany were to
retain all their possessions, that the Emperor was to have the full
right of investiture, but without simony, and that the higher clergy
were to consecrate the nominees after their investiture.[472:1] At the
same time Paschal crowned Henry and promised never to excommunicate him.
After the Pope's release, he had a Roman synod repudiate the treaty and
of course the excommunication of the Emperor followed (1112) and civil
war was continued.
Calixtus II. (1119-1124), a Clugniac monk of the royal Burgundian house,
settled the perplexing question of lay investiture in 1122 by the
Concordat of Worms.[472:2] The Pope agreed (1) that the election of
bishops and abbots in Germany should occur in the Emperor's presence and
without simony or violence; (2) that the Emperor should decide all
disputed elections and enforce his decisions; (3) that the Emperor
should invest with the lance and receive homage; (4) that bishops or
abbots consecrated in Italy or Burgundy should also be invested by the
Emperor and render homage within six months; (5) and that papal aid
should be given to the Emperor whenever requested. The Emperor for his
part promised (1) to surrender all investiture through the ring and the
staff to the Church; (2) to grant "canonical elections and free
consecration" in all churches in the Empire; (3) to restore "all the
possessions and regalia of St. Peter" to the Holy Roman Church; (4) to
secure the return of property held by others; (5) and to give the Pope
all needed aid and justice.[473:1] The concordat was in character,
therefore, a compromise. It spared both the Emperor and the Pope the
humiliation of defeat because now both made the appointment--one
politically, the other spiritually. The Emperor retained but half of his
former rights, yet could control the elections. The Pope gained "the
ring and staff," yet fell far short of what Gregory VII. had demanded.
The document was full of ambiguity and who was victor--Pope or
Emperor--has been a much disputed question. The concordat lasted down
through the centuries as the basis for settling all these appointments
until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806. It was frequently violated
by both Emperor and Pope, but on the whole gave general satisfaction and
determined many menacing disputes. It was modified by Lothair in 1183 so
as to permit the Emperor to send a delegate to the election.
SOURCES
A.--PRIMARY:
1.--Colby, C. W., _Selections from the Sources of English
History_. N. Y., 1899, No. 14, 16.
2.--Finch, G., _A Selection of the Letters of Hildebrand_. Lond.,
1853. 40 important letters.
3.--Gee, H., and Hardy, W. J., _Documents Illustrative of English
Church History_. Lond., 1896.
4.--Henderson, E. F., _Select Historical Documents of the Middle
Ages_. N. Y., 1892.
5.--Lee, G. C., _Leading Documents of English History_. Lond.,
1900. Sec. 50, 51, 52, 57.
6.--Ogg, F. A., _Source-Book of Mediæval History_. N. Y., 1908.
7.--Robinson, J. H., _Readings in European History_. I., 266-290.
8.--Thatcher and McNeal, _A Source Book for Mediæval History_,
132-160.
B.--SECONDARY:
I.--SPECIAL:
1.--Bowden, J. W., _Life and Pontificate of Gregory VII._
Lond., 1840. 2 vols.
2.--Greenwood, T., _Cathedra Petri_. IV., 139-609. Lond.,
1861.
3.--Greisley, Sir R., _The Life and Pontificate of Gregory
VII._ Lond., 1832.
4.--Gurney J. H., _Four Ecclesiastical Biographies_. Lond.,
1864.
5.--Lea, H. C., _Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church_.
New ed.
6.--McMichael, N., _Hildebrand and His Age_. Edinb., 1853.
7.--Schefer, G. L. I., _Historical Notice of the Life and
Times of Pope Gregory VII._ Lond., 1851.
8.--Stephen, Sir J., _Essays on Ecclesiastical Biography_.
Lond., 1867.
9.--Stephens, W. R. W., _Hildebrand and His Times_. N. Y.,
1898.
10.--Villemain, A. F., _Life of Gregory VII._ Lond., 1874. 3
vols.
11.--Vincent, M. R., _The Age of Hildebrand_. N. Y., 1897.
II.--GENERAL:
Adams, _Civ. dur. M. A._, 240 _ff._, 267, 393, 414. _Med.
Civ._, 82 _ff._ Allen, ii., ch. 3. Alzog, ii., 253-336,
342-367, 481-510. Bryce, ch. x. Butler, ch. 70-72. Creighton,
i., 16. Crooks, ch. 33. Darras, iii., 107 _ff._ Döllinger,
iii., pd. 4, ch. 2, sec. 1. Emerton, ch. 8. Fisher, pd. 6, ch.
1. Fitzgerald, ii., 54-67. Foulkes, ch. 2. Gibbon, v., 61,
477; vi., 426. Gieseler, ii., sec. 23; iii. Gilmartin, ii.,
ch. 1-3. Gregorovius, bk. vii., ch. 5, 6. Hallam, ii., ch. 5.
Hardwick, ch. 6, sec. 1; ch. 10, sec. 1. Hase, sec. 181.
Hurst, i., ch. 37. Jennings, ii., ch. 11. Knight, ch. 12.
Kurtz, sec. 94, 96, 101. Milman, iii., 140 _ff._ Moeller, ii.,
255-265. Mosheim, cent. 9, pt. 2, ch. 2. Neander, iv., 82, 86,
123, 131, 134, 146, 194, 206, 233. Platina, _Lives of Popes_,
ii., 1-12. Ranke, _Hist. of Pap._, i., 29 _ff._ Riddle, ii.,
ch. 4, 5. Robertson, bk. 5, ch. 1, 2. Robinson, ch. 13. Tout,
_Emp. and Pap._, ch. 5, 6. Wilkes, _Hist. of Popes_. Workman,
ch. 4.
FOOTNOTES:
[446:1] Muratori, iii., 304.
[447:1] Greenwood, bk. x., p. 249.
[447:2] Bonizo, 311.
[447:3] The assumption of the name Gregory VII. was a blow at imperial
power, because Henry III. had deposed Gregory VI., Hildebrand's old
master.
[448:1] Emerton, 242; Henderson, 366; Robinson, i., 274; Thatcher and
McNeal, No. 69; Ogg, No. 45. It is now pretty clearly established that
the _Dictatus_ was written about 1087 by Cardinal Deusdedit.
[449:1] Lib., i., 7, 64; iv., 28; Bowden, i., 334; Thatcher and McNeal,
No. 69, 71.
[449:2] Lib., i., 46, 47; Harduin, vi., 1260, 1521; Johnson, _Normans in
Europe_.
[449:3] Lib., i., 45; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 70.
[449:4] Lib., i., 18.
[449:5] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 67, 68.
[449:6] Lib., i., 22, 23.
[449:7] Lib., vi., 13.
[449:8] Lib., ii., 13, 63; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 72.
[450:1] Lib., ii., 73, 74; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 73.
[450:2] Lib., i., 35; ii., 5, 18, 32; v., 17.
[450:3] Lib., i., 39.
[450:4] Lee, 121; Colby, 37; Freeman, _The Norman Conquest_.
[450:5] Lib., i., 49; ii., 31.
[450:6] Lib., i., 39; ii., 70; vi., 13, 14.
[450:7] Lib., ii., 51, 57; iii., 8.
[450:8] Lib., ii., 51.
[450:9] Lib., i., 30.
[450:10] Lib., i., 35, 36, 75.
[450:11] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 60, 61, 62.
[451:1] Lib., i., 85.
[451:2] Lea, _History of Celibacy_.
[451:3] Levit. xxi. 7, 8, 13; Exod. xix., 15.
[451:4] Mat. viii. 14; 1 Cor. ix., 5.
[452:1] 1 Cor. ix., 5.
[452:2] 1 Cor. vii., 38.
[452:3] Hermas, i., Vis. 2, ch. 3; _Ign. to Polyc._, ch. 5.
[453:1] Pertz, _Leg._, ii., 561; Labbe, ix., ann. 937.
[454:1] Lib., ii., 29, 40; iii., 4.
[454:2] Mansi, xx., 437; Mabillon, vi., 805.
[454:3] Mansi, xx., 441.
[454:4] Lib., ii., Ep. 5, 18, 32.
[454:5] Lib., i., 70, 71.
[454:6] Harduin, vi., 1555.
[454:7] _Ibid._, vi., 1605.
[454:8] Mansi, xx., 758, 760.
[454:9] Greenwood, iv., 434.
[455:1] Acts iii., 18.
[455:2] Gibbon, ii., 457.
[455:3] Bowen, i., 289.
[455:4] Greenwood, iv., 277.
[455:5] Bowen, i., 289.
[456:1] Harduin, iv., 1302.
[456:2] _Cf._ Fisher.
[456:3] Thatcher and McNeal, No. 60, 61; Robinson, _Readings_, i., 275;
Henderson, 365.
[456:4] Lib., i., Ep. 9, 11, 35, 75.
[456:5] Lib., i., 29, 30.
[457:1] See Chapter XIV.
[457:2] Greenwood, i., 484, 485.
[458:1] Lib., i., Ep. 92, 119; ii., 12, 18.
[458:2] Greenwood, iv., 281.
[459:1] Harduin, vi., 1551; Pertz, viii., 412; Lib., iii., 367;
Henderson, 365.
[459:2] Greenwood, iv., 244, 245.
[459:3] Henry's humble letter of 1073 should be borne in mind. Bowen;
i., 340.
[459:4] Pertz, v., 219.
[460:1] Pertz, v., 236, 237.
[460:2] _Ibid._, v., 241.
[460:3] Lib., iii., Ep. 8; Greenwood, iv., 362.
[460:4] Lib., iii., Ep. 10; Greenwood, iv., 365; Bowen, ii., 75; Ogg,
No. 46; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 74; Henderson, 373.
[460:5] Greenwood, iv., 365 to 369; Pertz, v., 241; Robinson,
_Readings_, i., 276; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 74; Henderson, 367.
[460:6] Greenwood, iv., 371; Bowen, ii., 81; Henderson, 372; Robinson,
_Readings_, i., 279; Ogg, No. 47.
[461:1] Pertz, ii., 44; Mansi, xx., 466; Greenwood, iv., 379; Henderson,
373; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 76.
[461:2] Muratori, iii., 334.
[462:1] Bowen, ii., 101; Greenwood, iv., 385.
[462:2] Bowen, ii., 108; Greenwood, iv., 386; Harduin, vi., 1566;
Thatcher and McNeal, No. 77; Henderson, 376; Robinson, _Readings_, i.,
281; Ogg, No. 48.
[462:3] Henderson, 380; Bowen, ii., 110; Greenwood, iv., 388; Lib.,
iii., Ep. 6.
[462:4] Greenwood, iv., 389.
[462:5] Henderson, 377.
[463:1] Henderson, 384; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 78.
[465:1] Henderson, 385; Robinson, _Readings_, i., 282; Thatcher and
McNeal, No. 80.
[465:2] Henderson, 385; Thatcher and McNeal, No. 81; Ogg, No. 49.
[466:1] Pertz. v.; Bowen, ii., 161; Greenwood, iv., 411.
[467:1] Greenwood, iv., 507; Henderson, 388.
[467:2] Henderson, 391, 394.
[471:1] Henderson, _Hist. Docs. of the M. A._, 405; Matthews, p. 61;
Thatcher and McNeal, No. 83, 84.
[472:1] In 1115 the famous donation of Matilda was made.
[472:2] Henderson, _Hist. Docs. of the M. A._, 408; Thatcher and McNeal,
No. 85, 86; Robinson, _Readings_, i., 292; Ogg, No. 50.
[473:1] At the great Lateran council of 1123 this Concordat of Worms was
confirmed.