Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/116

 INVESTITURES

86

INVESTITURES

pope should excommunicate his rival, otherwise he would set up an antipope. Gregory answered by ex- communicating and deposing Henry for the second time at the Lenten Synod of 1080. It was declared at the same time that clergy and people should ignore all civil interference and all civil claims on ecclesiastical property, and should canonically elect all the candi- dates for ecclesiastical office. The effect of this second excommunication was inconsiderable. During the preceding years the king had collected a strong party; the bishops preferred to depend on the king ratlier than on the pope; moreover, it was believed that the second excommunication was not justified. Gregory's party was thus greatly weakened. At the Synod of BrLxen (June, 1080) "the king's bishops listened to ridiculous charges and exaggerations, and deposed the pope, excommunicated him, and elected as antipope Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna, otherwise a learned and blameless man. Gregory had relied on the support of the Normans in Southern Italy and of the German enemies of the king, but the former sent him assistance. Thus when in October, 1080, his rival for the throne was slain in battle, Henry turned his thoughts on the papal capital. Four times, from 1081 to 1084, he assaulted Rome, in 1083 captured the Leonine City, and in 1084, after an unsuccessful attempt at a com- promise, gained possession of the entire city.

The deposition of Gregory and the election of Gui- bert, who now called himself Clement HI, was con- firmed by a synod, and in March, 1084, Henry was crowned emperor by his antipope. The Normans arrived too late to prevent these events, and moreover proceeded to plunder the town so mercilessly that Gregory lost the allegiance of the Romans and was compelled to withdraw southward with his Norman allies. He had suffered a complete defeat, and died at Salerno (25 May, 1085), after another ineffectual renewal of excommunication against his opponents. Though he died amid disappointment and failure, he had done indispensable pioneer work and set in motion forces and principles that were to dominate succeeding centuries.

There was now much confusion on all sides. In 1081 a new rival for the crown, the insignificant Count Herman of Salm, had been chosen, but he died in 1088. Most of the bishops held with the king, and were thus excommunicate; in Saxony only was the Gregorian party dominant. Many dioceses had two occupants. Both parties called their rivals perjurers and traitors, nor did either' side discriminate nicely in the choice and use of weapons. Negotiations met with no success, while the synod of the Gregorians at Quedlinburg (April, 1085) showed no inclination to modify the principles which they represented. The king, therefore, resolved to crush his rivals by force. At the Council of Mainz (April, 1085) fifteen Gregorian bishops were deposed, and their sees entrusted to ad- herents of the royal party. A fresh rebellion of the Saxons and Bavarians forced the king's bishops to fly, but the death of the most eminent and a general incli- nation towards peace led to a truce, so that about 1090 the empire entered on an interval of peace, far differ- ent, however, from what Henry had contemplated. The Gregorian Ijishops recognized the king, who conse- quently withdrew his support from his own nominees. But the tr\ice was a purely political one; in ecclesias- tical matters the opposition continued unabated, and recognition of the antipope was not to be thought of. Indeed, the political tran<iuillity served only to bring out more definitely the hopeless antithesis between the clergy who held with Gregory and those who sided with the king.

There are yet extant numerous contemporary polem- ical treatises that enable us to follow the warfare of opinions after 1080 (of the preceding period few such documents remain). These writings, usually short and acrimonious, were widely scattered, were read

privately or publicl}^ and were distributed on court and market-days. They are now collected as the " Li belli do lite iniperatorum et pontificum", and are to lie f(i\ui(l in tlie " Monumenta Germania- historica". It is Init natural that the principles advocated in these writings should be diametrically opposed to one an- other. The writers of Gregory's party maintain that unconditional obedience to the pope is necessary, and that, even when unjust, his excommunication is valid. Theking's writers, on the other hand, declare that tlioir master is above responsibility for his actions, being the representative of God on earth, and as such over- lord of the pope. Prominent on the papal side were the unbending Saxon Bernhard, who would hear of no compromise and preferred death to violation of the canons, the Swabian Bernold of St. Blasien, author of numerous but unimportant letters and memorials, and the rude, fanatical Manegold of Lautenbach, for whom obedience to the pope was the supreme duty of all mankind, and who maintained that the people could depose a bad ruler as rightfully as one would dis- miss a swineherd who had failed to protect the drove entrusted to his care. On the side of the king stooil Wenrich of Trier, calm in diction, but resolute, Wido of Osnabruck, a solid writer, afterwards bishop, whose heart was set on peace between the emperor and the pope, but who opposed Gregory for having unlawfully excommunicated the king and for inducing the latter's feudatories to break their oath of allegiance.

On the royal side, also, was a monk of Hersfeld, otherwise unknown, who reveals a clear grasp of the real issue in his pamphlet " De unitate ecclesise ", wherein he indicates the matter of supremacy as the real source of the conflict. Monarchy, he said, comes directly from God ; consequently, to Him alone is the king responsible. The Church, on the other hand, is the totality of the faithful, united in one society by the spirit of peace and love. The Church, he goes on, is not called to exercise temporal authority; she bears only the spir- itual sword, that is, the Word of God. Here, how- ever, the monk went far beyond the age in which he lived. In Italy the adherents of Gregory outmatched their rivals intellectually. Among their number was Bonizo of Sutri, the historian of the papal side, a valu- able writer for the preceding decades of the conflict, naturally from the standpoint of the pontiff and his adherents. Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, and Cardinal Deusdedit, at Gregory's request, compiled collections of canons, whence in later times the ideas of Gregory drew substantial support. To the royal party be- longed the vacillating Cardinal Beno, the personal enemy of Gregory and author of .scandalous pamphlets against the pope, also the mendacious Benzo, Bishop of Alba, for whom, as for most courtiers, the king was answerable only to God, while the pope was the king's vassal. Guido of Ferrara held more temperate opin- ions, and endeavoured to persuade the moderate Gregorians to adopt a policy of compromise. Petrus Crassus, the only layman engaged in the controversy, represented the youthful science of jurisprutlence and strongly advocated the autonomy of the State, maintaining that, as the sovereign authority was from God, it was a crime to war upon the king. lie claimed for the king all the rights of the Roman emperors, con- se<iuently the right to sit in judgment on the pope.

In 1086 Gregory was succeeded by a milder charac- ter, Victor III, who had no desire to compete for the supreme authority, and drew back to the position that the whole strife was purely a (luestion of ecclesiastical administration. He died in 1(IS7, and the contest entered on a new period with l'rl)an II (1088-99). He shared fully all the ideas of Gregory, but endeavoured to conciliate the king and his party and to facilitate their return to the views of the ecclesiastical party. Henry might perhaps have come to some arrangement with Victor, had he been willing to set aside the anti- poiJe, l)ut he clung closely to the man from whom he