Oath of King Henry

I, King Henry, on account of the murmuring and enmity which the archbishops and bishops, dukes, counts and other princes of the realm of the Germans, and others who follow them in the same matter of dissension, bring to bear against me, will, within the term which our master Pope Gregory has constituted, either do justice according to his judgment or conclude peace according to his counsels—unless an absolute impediment should stand in his way or in mine. And on the removal of this impediment I shall be ready to continue in the same course. Likewise, if that same lord Pope Gregory shall wish to go beyond the mountains [i.e., into Germany], or to any other part of the world, he himself, as well as those who shall be in his escort or following, or who are sent by him, or come to him from any parts of the world whatever, shall be secure while going, remaining, or returning, on my part, and on the part of those whom I can constrain, from every injury to life or limb, or from capture. Nor shall he, by my consent, meet any other hindrance that is contrary to his dignity; and if any such be placed in his way I will aid him according to my ability. So help me God and this holy gospel.

50. The Concordat of Worms (1122)

The veteran Emperor Henry IV. died at Liège in 1106 and was succeeded by his son, Henry V. The younger Henry had some months before been prompted by Pope Paschal II. to rebel against his father and, succeeding in this, had practically established himself on the throne before his legitimate time. Pope Paschal expected the son to be more submissive than the father had been and in 1106 issued a decree renewing the prohibition of lay investiture. Outside of Germany this evil had been brought almost to an end and, now that the vigorous Henry IV. was out of the way, the Pope felt that the time had come to make the reform complete throughout Christendom. But in this he was mistaken, for Henry V. proved almost as able and fully as determined a power to contend with as had been his father. In fact, the new monarch could command a much stronger army, and he was in no wise loath to use it. In 1110 he led a host of thirty thousand men across the Alps, compelled the submission of the north Italian towns, and marched on Rome. The outcome was a secret compact (February 4, 1111) by which the king, on the one hand, was to abandon all claim to the right of investiture and the Pope, on the other, was to see that the ecclesiastical princes of the Empire (bishops and abbots holding large tracts of land) should give up all the lands which they had received by royal grant since the days of Charlemagne. The abandonment of investiture looked like a surrender on the part of Henry, but in reality all that he wanted was direct control over all the lands of the Empire, and if the ecclesiastical princes were to be dispossessed of these he cared little or nothing about having a part in the mere religious ceremony. This settlement was rendered impossible, however, by the attitude of the princes themselves, who naturally refused to be thus deprived of their landed property and chief source of income. The Pope was then forced to make a second compact surrendering the full right of investiture to the imperial authority, and Henry also got the coveted imperial coronation. But his triumph was short-lived. Rebellions among the German nobles robbed him of his strength and after years of wearisome bickerings and petty conflicts he again came to the point where he was willing to compromise. Calixtus II., who became pope in 1119, was similarly inclined.

Accordingly, in a diet at Worms, in 1122, the whole problem was taken up for settlement, and happily this time with success. The documents translated below contain the concessions made mutually by the two parties. Calixtus, in brief, grants that the elections of bishops and abbots may take place in the presence of the Emperor, or of his agents, and that the Emperor should have the right to invest them with the scepter, i.e., with their dignity as princes of the Empire. Henry, on his side, agrees to give up investiture with the ring and staff, i.e., with spiritual functions, to allow free elections, and to aid in the restoration of church property which had been confiscated during the long struggle now drawing to a close. The settlement was in the nature of a compromise; but on the whole the papacy came off the better. In its largest aspects the great fifty-year struggle over the question of investiture was ended, though minor features of it remained to trouble all parties concerned for a long time to come.

Sources—(a) Text in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, Leges (Pertz ed.), Vol. II., pp. 75-76.

(b) Text in Michael Doeberl, Monumenta Germaniæ Historica Selecta, Vol. III., p. 60.

(a)

I, Bishop Calixtus, servant of the servants of God, do grant to thee, by the grace of God august Emperor of the Romans, the right to hold the elections of the bishops and abbots of the German realm who belong to the kingdom, in thy presence, without The provision for elections simony, and without any resort to violence; it being agreed that, if any dispute arise among those concerned, thou, by the counsel and judgment of the metropolitan [i.e., the archbishop] and the suffragan bishops, shalt extend favor and support to the party which shall seem to you to have the better case. Moreover, the person elected may receive from thee the regalia through the scepter, without any exaction being levied;[393] and he shall discharge his rightful obligations to thee for them.[394]

He who is consecrated in other parts of the Empire[395] shall receive the regalia from thee through the scepter, within six months, and without any exaction, and shall discharge his Investiture with the scepter rightful obligations to thee for them; those rights being excepted, however, which are known to belong to the Roman Church. In whatever cases thou shalt make complaint to me and ask my aid I will support thee according as my office requires. To thee, and to all those who are on thy side, or have been, in this period of strife, I grant a true peace.