Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/340

 292 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE secrated, must be invested with his temporal fiefs by the king or emperor; while in the Kingdoms of Aries and of Italy the secular ruler must invest the bishop with his temporalities within six months after his consecration. This made the Italian clergy practically independent of the emperor, whereas the German Church was likely to remain still under his control. For England the question was com- promised in about the same way as for Germany, but in France the Church came nearest to settling the questions of ecclesiastical elections and investitures to suit itself. In 1 1 39 a papal decree that bishops should henceforth be elected by the clergy of their cathedral chapter excluded the people of the episcopal city from participating in the election, but does not appear to have lessened royal inter- ference much. Of the three reforms which Hildebrand and his pred- ecessors and successors in the papal chair had attempted. Results of they had been most successful in regard to celi- brandi!? 6 b ac y of the clergy- Simony had been partially reform and temporarily checked, but was an abuse movement t ^ at cou ^ scarce i y ever be prevented entirely. Against lay investiture they won only a limited success and one that was not even so considerable as it at first seemed. But in a general way the Church and the Papacy had shown vast strength and endurance; as a whole their power and prestige had greatly increased, and were to continue to do so for another century. For another century, too, the popes and emperors were to be at bitter strife. The chief reason for this was the Continued occasional appearance of the Holy Roman strife of the ~. .T, _ , ' , • Papacy and bmperor in Italy. As a result he kept getting Ron!an y into difficulties with the Papacy and usually Empire bore the brunt of the pope's displeasure, while the English and French monarchs were able to exercise a control over church affairs that the pope might not have tolerated, had his attention and energy not been so absorbed by the emperor. William of Normandy, for example, although he had con-