Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/189

Rh . At length, in, on the death of , Hildebrand was himself as it were compelled by the tumultuous demands of the mob to accept the vacant (22d ); but he refused to receive  until the sanction of  had been obtained. This did not arrive for more than a, although meanwhile he had been practically exercising many of the functions; finally, however, he was  to the , and some s afterwards (30th ) solemnly   by the title of Gregory VII., a name which he chose in testimony of his veneration for the memory and character of his earliest patron,  Once firmly established on the  , Gregory lost no  in giving the utmost possible practical effect to the two leading ideas of his life, the establishment of the supremacy of the  within the , and the effective assertion of the supremacy of the  over the. In  a  was held in  which condemned the  that had grown so prevalent throughout the, and also ened the old stringent s of  which had become almost a dead letter, especially in  and in the north of ;  or  s were declared to be deposed and their ly functions invalid. The resistance of the to these decrees was utterly in vain;  visited every, and, supported by the popular voice, compelled submission. At a second held in  in   the decrees of the first were confirmed, and the first blow was struck which afterwards resulted in the long protracted s of s. At that  it was determined that any  who in future should accept  from the hands of a  incurred the penalty of deposition, while the secular  who bestowed  was to be. The decree was aimed immediately at certain s, 's personal advisors, but hardly less directly at  himself. , finding his hands at the moment fully occupied with the suppression of a revolt among the, was enough to conceal his resentment for the , and to dismiss his advisers; but as soon as the  had been brought to a close, his defiance found ample expression. Meanwhile Gregory was not unopposed even in, and during the festivities of  a revolt in  itself was organized by , who had placed himself at the head of those  who were opposed to reform; the , however, had the popular enthusiasm on his side, and ultimately the insurgents were compelled to fly. A  was next sent, early in, to  at , citing him to appear personally at  at a  to be held in the second  of , and there answer for his , , and oppression. 's rage at this knew no bounds; he dismissed the s with insult, and at a held at  (24th  ) replied by declaring Gregory deposed on charges of, , and , by sending notification of this fact to the  , and by taking steps for appointing a successor to the ded. Gregory now lost no time in all the s who had attended the  of, in solemnly deposing and  , and in  his subjects from their  of allegiance (22d  ). This counter action produced a powerful effect upon the s and, many of whom had had good cause to resent 's ; one by one the s who had announced their withdrawal from Gregory's obedience now signified their contrition, and at a  held at   the  of a new  began to be discussed. Resistance being in the meantime impossible, resolved upon humbling himself to the utmost; in the dead of  he set out to make his submission; Gregory was in waiting for him at, where (25th to 27th  ) that famous  which  has not yet forgotten was imposed (see . ).  only on condition of his not assuming the  dignity till his case had been investigated and decided,  had no sooner left the  presence than he began to plot his revenge. Throwing himself upon the generosity of his s, he took courage to face the   which was renewed in  ; and in the s which ensued his  were finally successful. of having died soon after the  of  in,  proceeded with a powerful  to escort into   of , who had been chosen at   as Gregory's successor. In three successive s the attack on was renewed, but it was not until  ( 21) that the treachery of some of the  of  opened the  to the invader. Gregory was now at last compelled to take refuge in the of, while  was established on the   as his successor with the title of  After receiving  from ,  determined to return at once to , especially as  was known to be approaching. Released accordingly by the arrival of the, Gregory  once more both  and ; but not deeming himself secure at , where he had reason to know that his power was no longer what it once had been, he in   placed himself under 's protection at , where he died,  25, , after a comparatively brief  of not much more than ten years. His last words are reported to have been, &ldquo;I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in .&rdquo; His  is observed throughout the  on the anniversary of his death. His successor was

