The death of Henry III, which left the Empire in weak hands, gave the Papacy a chance to escape the control of the secular power. In 1059 A.D. a church council held at the Lateran Palace decreed that henceforth the right of choosing the supreme pontiff should belong exclusively to the cardinals, who represented the clergy of Rome. This arrangement has tended to prevent any interference with the election of popes, either by the Roman people or by foreign sovereigns.
FEUDALIZING OF THE CHURCH
Now that the Papacy had become independent, it began to deal with a grave problem which affected the Church at large. According to ecclesiastical rule bishops ought to be chosen by the clergy of their diocese and abbots of by their monks. With the growth of feudalism, however, many of these high dignitaries had become vassals, holding their lands as fiefs of princes, kings, and emperors, and owing the usual feudal dues. Their lords expected them to perform the ceremony of homage, [34] before "investing" them with the lands attached to the bishopric or monastery. One can readily see that in practice the lords really chose the bishops and abbots, since they could always refuse to "invest" those who were displeasing to them.
LAY INVESTITURE FROM THE CHURCH STANDPOINT
To the reformers in the Church lay investiture appeared intolerable. How could the Church keep itself unspotted from the world when its highest officers were chosen by laymen and were compelled to perform unpriestly duties? In the act of investiture the reformers also saw the sin of simony [35]—the sale of sacred powers—because there was such a temptation before the candidate for a bishopric or abbacy to buy the position with promises or with money.
LAY INVESTITURE AS VIEWED BY THE SECULAR AUTHORITY
The lords, on the other hand, believed that as long as bishops and abbots held vast estates on feudal tenure they should continue to perform the obligations of vassalage. To forbid lay investiture was to deprive the lords of all control over Church dignitaries. The real difficulty of the situation existed, of course, in the fact that the bishops and abbots were both spiritual officers and temporal rulers, were servants of both the Church and the State. They found it very difficult to serve two masters.
PONTIFICATE OF GREGORY VII, 1073-1085 A.D.
In 1073 A.D. there came to the throne of St. Peter one of the most remarkable of the popes. This was Hildebrand, who, on becoming pope, took the name of Gregory VII. Of obscure Italian birth, he received his education in a Benedictine monastery at Rome and rose rapidly to a position of great influence in papal affairs. He is described as a small man, ungainly in appearance and with a weak voice, but energetic, forceful, and of imperious will.