The modern idea of the division of church and state was thought of as absurd

during the Middle Ages in Europe. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, individuals

assumed that rulers established their power from a godly source. However, during the

Middle Ages, this led to of great disagreement between many leaders in Europe. Pope

Gregory VII and King Henry IV were the forefront of this disagreement. Most of the

conflict arose from Church versus State, in particular over which one was more important

and had power over the other. Both parties had very strong ideas to back up their opinion

of whether Church or State was truly more important and should have more power. Each

individual had their own opinion, which led to many heated arguments and even

individuals being banned from Europe. This controversy led to what is known today as

the Investiture Conflict. The Investiture Conflict greatly impacted the relationship

between the Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire in Europe during the time of.

the Middle Ages by creating competition between Church and State for power.

In Power and the Holy in the Age of the Investiture Conflict, Maureen C. Miller

makes it evident that the Investiture Conflict was a contest between the Roman Church.

and the Holy Roman Empire. The Investiture Conflict was based on the arguments and

confrontations between Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV. The Investiture Conflict

began late in the eleventh century and continued into the twelfth century. It was a time of

great controversy between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV. This conflict was

considered a power struggle between both Gregory VII and Henry IV. They had a great

difference of opinion regarding whom the majority of the power belonged to: the Roman

Church or the Holy Roman Empire. I. S. Robinson described this well in the book,

Reform and the Church, when he stated, “We hope through [God’s] serenity to renew the

lost light of truth and justice; to restore the health of the whole church, weakened to the

point of ruin; to reform this iron age to one of gold with the hammer of just government”

(Robinson, Page 268). This controversy divided Europe for many years. This dispute

was not resolved until 1122, many years after the deaths of both Pope Gregory VII and

King Henry IV (Miller, Page 1-2). This disagreement became extremely intense at times

and even led to Civil War: “In 1076, when Henry IV withdrew allegiance from the Pope.

Gregory responded by excommunicating Henry, declaring him deposed, and urging his

subjects to rise up against him” (Miller, Page 1). This caused the entire empire to break

out into civil war. This civil war continued long after the deaths of both Henry IV and

Pope Gregory VII. By the end of the eleventh century, both the Pope and Emperor were

fighting over control of the bishops, who were involved in both religion and governing.

The opinions of Henry IV and Gregory VII did not mesh. This conflict concerning who

gave the bishops their authority and whom they answered to led to a civil war, which

lasted many decades, and left Europe divided.

As Pope Gregory VII was traveling he decided to search for an individual to take

King Henry IV’s place in Europe as an “antiking”. Henry IV wanted to return to the

Roman Church; he stood barefoot outside the church for three days in hopes of being

reconciled with the Roman Church. Although Pope Gregory VII allowed him back,

Gregory VII still found someone to take King Henry IV’s place as Emperor. In Reform

and the Church, I.S. Robinson states, “Gregory VII announced that his aim was ‘to

rebuild God’s righteousness with new counsels” (Robinson, Page 270). In doing so he

elected an “antiking” named Rudolf of Swabia. Henry IV continued to install in office

new bishops, which forced Pope Gregory VII to excommunicate him for the second time.

After that incident, the monarchs believed that Pope Gregory VII was not suited for that

position. The situation took away their faithfulness to the Pope and they proceeded to

elect Clement III “antipope”. Henry IV took matters into his own hands and proceeded to

defeat the new “antiking” Rudolf of Swabia, and then chased Gregory VII from Rome

and instated the “antipope”, Clement III as Pope. Not long after this upheaval, in 1085,

Gregory VII died. But this did not stop the Investiture Conflict from continuing for many

years. The civil war ended up out lasting both Gregory VII and Henry IV. Unfortunately,

it did not have the end result that they had both hoped for. As Miller points out, “It was

messy—war usually is—and tragically unsuccessful in the short run” (Miller, Page 2).

The Investiture Conflict did not solve the problem that Pope Gregory VII and King Henry

IV had been arguing over for many years.

The Investiture Conflict greatly affected the relationship between the Roman

Church and the Holy Roman Empire. Both of their rulers had extremely different

opinions on who should be considered more powerful: Church or State. It was obvious

that Pope Gregory VII believed that the church deserved to be considered more.

important than state and the exact opposite belief could be attributed to King Henry IV.

Robinson states, “The circumstances of the Investiture Contest increased the difficulties

of communication” (Robinson, Page 326). This was a constant debate with no easy way

to come to a decision. In Maureen C. Miller’s book, Power and the Holy in the Age of

the Investiture Conflict, she writes: “If Holy Power, Spiritual Power, is greater than

worldly power, is the pope’s power by nature greater than the Emperor’s?” (Page 4)

This is a question that no one in the Middle Ages was able to find an answer to. Although

this question was never answered, individuals constantly attempted to prove that their

opinions were correct. Nevertheless, it was a constant battle between Papacy and the

Holy Roman Empire. The battle negatively affected their relationship by causing constant

war, deceitfulness and betrayal.

In The Western Empire Under the Salians, Hanna Vollrath states, that Gregory

VII, “had virtually dedicated himself to church reform” (Vollrath, Page 56). In 1075,

The Dictatus papae was found. It consisted of a list of twenty-seven guidelines

concerning the Roman Church that were written by Pope Gregory VII. These assertions

were not distributed to anyone, but were thought to have been prepared incase Henry IV

came to Rome and became emperor. Miller writes: “In exchange for his coronation,

Henry would have been required to acknowledge the rights of the Roman Church”

(Miller, Page 81). These guidelines consisted of points stating information about the

Roman Church and who controlled it. For example, rule number one states, “The Roman

Church was founded by God alone” (Gregory VII, Page 81). He clearly lets Henry IV

know that God was the sole creator of the Roman Church. Another one of the assertions

that Pope Gregory states is, “That among other things, we ought not stay in the same

house with those excommunicated by him” (Gregory VII, Page 81). Pope Gregory VII

most likely felt that Henry IV had to know these rules when he became king in order to.

remind him of the importance of the Roman Church. According to The Papacy, “One of

the clauses of the dictatus papae stipulates that papal legates, even if of inferior rank,

would preside over bishops at councils and could depose them, clearly transferring papal

prerogatives to the legate” (Blumenthal, Page 25). It is very important to remember that

even thought these assertions were likely intended for King Henry IV, they were not seen

by anyone until many years later.

Meanwhile in 1075, the Saxon War was not going well for the Crown. Henry IV

decided to adopt a peace-making position with Gregory VII. Unfortunately for Gregory

VII, this idea changed that summer when Henry IV won the war against the Saxon rebels

at Homburg. Miller writes: “Now with the position of strength, he resumed his campaign

to restore royal authority” (Miller, Page 83). Henry IV and Gregory VII had almost made

peace between the Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire, but Henry IV became

selfish. He did not consider anything except the chance to be in control once again. The

two rulers of church and state had almost settled the disputes that had been going on for.

many years, but they were then right back where they started. This setback had the

potential of ending the period of the Investiture Conflict.

Pope Gregory VII wrote an admonition to Emperor Henry IV on December 8th,

1075. In this, he explained to King Henry IV that he must confess his sins to a Bishop in

order to avoid strict judgment by God. He stated that:

We marvel exceedingly that you have sent us so many devoted letters and.

displayed such humility by the spoken words of your legates, calling yourself a

son of our Holy Mother Church and subject to us in the faith, singular in

affection, a leader in devotion, commending yourself with every expression of

gentleness and reverence, and yet in action showing yourself mostly bitterly

hostile to the canons and apostolic decrees in those duties especially required by.

loyalty to the Church. (Gregory VII, Page 85)

It seemed as thought Pope Gregory was complimenting Henry IV, but in fact he alleged

that Henry IV did not show loyalty to the Church. He continued to state, “Not to mention

other cases, the way you have observed your promises in the Milan affair, made through

your mother and through bishops, our colleagues, whom we sent to you, and what your

intentions were in making them evident to all” (Gregory VII, Page 85). Throughout this

entire letter, he is spoke of Henry IV’s misdeeds and advised him to make them right so

that God would be pleased with him.

After reading the letter that Pope Gregory VII had written, Henry IV became

outraged. He could not believe the proclamations made against him. He called together a

meeting of bishops and princes to convene at Worms. There, “they renounced their

allegiance to Gregory as Pope, declaring him an arrogant usurper of the Holy See”

(Miller, Page 87). From there, Henry IV proceeded to write two letters for different

individuals. One letter was written and sent out to all of Germany, to make them all

aware of his actions. Miller states: “He refers several times to Gregory’s proclivity—in

Milan through his support of the Pataria and in several German sees—to call upon the

common people to disobey ecclesiastical lords whom the pope opposed” (Miller, Page

88). The second letter that was written was sent to Pope Gregory VII with a copy of the

Worms renunciation.

The letter from Henry IV to Pope Gregory VII stated that Gregory VII had

betrayed everyone including God. In this letter, Henry IV states:

After you had first snatched away with arrogant boldness all the hereditary.

dignity owed me by that [Apostolic] See, going still further you tried with the

most evil arts to alienate the kingdom of Italy. Not content with this, you have not

feared to set your hands against the most reverend bishops, who are united to us

like most cherished members and have harassed them with most arrogant affronts.

and the bitterest abuses against divine and human law. (Henry IV, Page 88)

By this statement he meant that Pope Gregory VII tried everything to get rid of Emperor.

Henry IV. No laws stopped him from attempting to get Henry IV out of Europe and

claiming the Roman Church was more powerful than the Holy Roman Empire. In Henry

IV’s admonition he also stated:

Since their sentence seemed just and righteous before God and men, I also give

my assent, revoking from you every prerogative of the papacy which you have

seemed to hold, and ordering [you] to descend from the throne of the city whose

participate is due me through the bestowal of God and the sworn assent of the.

Romans. (Henry IV, Page 88)

In this letter, he told Pope Gregory VII that he would no longer have any power; Gregory

had done too many detrimental things that were not in favor of the individuals of Europe.

Therefore, he would not be in control of anything due to his selfishness.

Although Henry IV was able to get Pope Gregory VII’s throne taken from him,

that is not where the conflict ended. The Investiture Conflict did not end until 1122,

which was after the death of both Gregory VII and Henry IV. It is believed by some that

the conflict may have gone differently in Europe during this time if the pope and king.

had worked together more instead of constantly going against each other’s thoughts and

actions. I. S. Robinson states in Reform and the Church that, “The duty of purifying the

church of these evils belonged to the king; but it could be fulfilled only by a king who

showed total obedience to the pope” (Robinson, Page 268). It is very possible that this

idea is true because with working together comes compromise, and that is the main

aspect that Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV did not follow. If one of them

wanted something done one way, the other person wanted it done the opposite way. It is

much like their views of the Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire; they were

never consistent with each other. Adding to that issue is the fact that they would blatantly

disobey orders from each other. For example, “The treatise of 1109, which argued

against the validity of the decrees of Gregory VII and his successors forbidding kings to.

invest bishops with their offices” (Robinson, Page 276-277). This is not the only time

that they ignored each other’s orders or requests. Each time this neglect occurred one

individual found it necessary to punish the other person for disobeying him. This is the

same kind of outmaneuvering that occurred when Pope Gregory excommunicated Henry

IV.

Some people believe that the events of the Investiture Conflict simply forced back

by a number of years other events that were going to happen at some point. Michael C.

Horowitz supports this argument in his book, Long Time Going Religion and the

Duration of Crusading, by stating that:

Internal conflicts within Catholicism, such as the Investiture Controversy between

Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV, did not cause the Pope to launch a Crusade

as a “diversionary” war against a foreign threat in an effort to bolster his support.

Rather, the Investiture Controversy may have delayed the onset of the Crusading

era by diverting resources and time from a Crusade that Pope Gregory VII meant.

to launch in 1074. (Horowitz, Page 176)

This statement may or may not be true, but there is also no way for one to really know if

this is true or not. All that we do know is that the Investiture Conflict greatly impacted

the relationship between the Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire during the.

Middle Ages. If it was not for the constant disagreements between Pope Gregory VII and

King Henry IV, it is likely that the Investiture Conflict would not have happened or that

it would not have been as an intense time as it turned out to be.

In the time of the Investiture conflict, there was extreme tension between the

Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire. This tension was due to Pope Gregory VII

and King Henry IV. They disputed whether Church or States held more importance. This

argument went on for years and during this time events unfolded. Individuals were

excommunicated, words were shared between the Pope and the King, and power was

even forcibly taken away. If it were not for the Investiture Conflict, the Roman Church

and the Holy Roman Empire may have been in agreement over smaller issues, and these

events therefore may have been avoided. We will never know for sure if the Investiture

Conflict would have existed if Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV had gotten along.

Clearly, the Investiture Conflict would not have occurred if the two men worked together

in the spirit of compromise and shared their power. Instead, they engaged in a back and

forth competition for supremacy.