Concordat of Worms - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Concordat of Worms, sometimes called the Pactum Calixtinum by papal historians, was an agreement between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...

on September 23, 1122 near the city of Worms

Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...

. It brought to an end the first phase of the power struggle between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

s and has been interpreted as containing within itself the germ of nation-based sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

that would one day be confirmed in the Treaty of Westphalia (1648); in part this was an unforeseen result of strategic maneuvering between the Church and the European sovereigns over political control within their domains. The King was recognized as having the right to invest bishops with secular authority ("by the lance") in the territories they governed, but not with sacred authority ("by ring and staff"); the result was that bishops owed allegiance in worldly matters both to the pope and to the king, for they were obligated to affirm the right of the sovereign to call upon them for military support, under his oath of fealty. Previous Holy Roman Emperors had thought it their right, granted by God, to name the Pope, as well as other Church officials, such as bishops. One long-delayed result was an end to the belief in the divine right of kings

Divine Right of Kings

The divine right of kings or divine-right theory of kingship is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God...

. A more immediate result of the Investiture struggle identified a proprietary right that adhered to sovereign territory, recognizing the right of kings to income from the territory of a vacant diocese and a basis for justifiable taxation. These rights lay outside feudalism

Feudalism

Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

, which defined authority in a hierarchy of personal relations, with only a loose relation to territory. The Pope emerged as a figure above and out of the direct control of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Following efforts by Lamberto Scannabecchi (later Pope Honorius II

Pope Honorius II

Pope Honorius II , born Lamberto Scannabecchi, was pope from December 21, 1124, to February 13, 1130. Although from a humble background, his obvious intellect and outstanding abilities saw him promoted through the ecclesiastical hierarchy...

) and the Diet of Würzburg (1121) in 1122, Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V entered into an agreement that effectively ended the Investiture Controversy

Investiture Controversy

The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was the most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of Popes challenged the authority of European monarchies over control of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such...

. By the terms of the agreement, the election of bishops and abbots in Germany was to take place in the emperor's presence as judge between potentially disputing parties, free of bribes

Simony

Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

, thus retaining to the emperor a crucial role in choosing these great territorial magnates of the Empire. Beyond the borders of the Empire, in Burgundy and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the Emperor was to forward the symbols of authority within six months. Calixtus' reference to the feudal homage due the emperor on appointment is guarded: "shall do unto thee for these what he rightfully should" was the wording of the privilegium granted by Calixtus. The Emperor's right to a substantial imbursement on the election of a bishop or abbot was specifically denied.

The Emperor renounced the right to invest ecclesiastics with ring and crosier

Crosier

A crosier is the stylized staff of office carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates...

, the symbols of their spiritual power, and guaranteed election by the canons of cathedral or abbey and free consecration. The two ended by granting one another peace.

The Concordat was confirmed by the First Council of the Lateran

First Council of the Lateran

The Council of 1123 is reckoned in the series of Ecumenical councils by the Catholic Church. It was convoked by Pope Calixtus II in December, 1122, immediately after the Concordat of Worms...

in 1123.

The Concordat of Worms was a part of the larger reforms put forth by many popes, most notably Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII

Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...

. These included celibacy of the clergy, end of simony

Simony

Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

and autonomy of the Church from secular leaders (lack of autonomy was known as lay investiture).

Inheritance and alienation

The most prized and contested rights that attached to benefices were inheritance and security against confiscation. Benefices were lands granted by the Church to faithful lords. In exchange, the Church expected rent or other services, such as military protection. These lands would then be further divided between lesser lords and commoners. This was the nature of European feudalism

Feudalism

. Inheritance was an important issue, since land could fall into the hands of those who did not have loyalty to the Church or the great lords. The usual grant was in precaria
Precaria
A precaria is a form of land tenure in which a contract grants the right to use ecclesiastical property for a specific amount of time, for the duration of the grantee's life, offered for services rendered to the church. In feudalism the use of church lands to support warriors contributed to the...

, the granting of a life tenure

Life tenure

A life tenure or service during good behaviour is a term of office that lasts for the office holder's lifetime , unless the office holder is removed from office for cause under extraordinary circumstances or chooses to resign.Judges and members of some upper chambers have life tenure...

, whereby the tenant stayed on the land only at the pleasure of the lord. The tenant could be expelled from the land at any time. His tenancy was precarious. Counts’ benefices came to be inherited as counties were broken up and as counts assimilated their offices and ex-officio lands to their family property. In central Europe, kings and counts probably were willing to allow the inheritance of small parcels of land to the heirs of those who had offered military or other services in exchange for tenancy. This was contingent on the heirs being reasonably loyal and capable. Churches in Germany, as elsewhere, were willing to allow peasants to inherit their land. This was a source of profit to both churches and lords when the inheritors were charged a fee to inherit the land. Most bishops had a different attitude toward freemen and nobles. To these peasants, grants were made in precario or in beneficio, usually for a specified and limited number of life tenures. It was not impossible to recover land left to noble families for generations. But the longer the family held church land, the more difficult it was to oust them from the land. Some church officials came to view granting land to noble families amounted to outright alienation. By the twelfth century great churches in Germany, like those elsewhere were finding it difficult to hold out against the accumulation of lay custom and lay objections to temporary inheritance. The Bishop of Worms issued a statement in 1120 indicating the poor and unfree should be allowed to inherit tenancy without payment of fees. It appears to have been something novel. The growing masses of unfree and the marginal were needed for labor, and to bolster the military of both nobility and the church. By the time of Henry IV, bargaining by the peasants for the benefit of the group was the norm.

Gregorian Reform

The Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

s of Ottonian Dynasty, when they came to the throne, believed they should have the power to appoint the pope. They also believed they should appoint minor church officials. The result was that, more often than not, bishops, abbots of monasteries, and even the pope were not independent, but resembled lackeys or sycophants of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. This attitude was bolstered by the general conception that the Holy Roman Emperor and all other European Kings were chosen by God to be leaders.

For temporal secular reasons, the kings did nothing to dispel this attitude. It meant more power for them. A series of popes began to directly challenge this condition. The most vocal and strident was Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII

. Reform took a century, but brought greater autonomy for the papacy and the Church in general.

In the period immediately after 1000, two figures appeared to lead Western Christendom, the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. Antagonism between the two dominated the next century. After the death of Pope Silvester II

Pope Silvester II

Pope Sylvester II , born Gerbert d'Aurillac, was a prolific scholar, teacher, and Pope. He endorsed and promoted study of Arab/Greco-Roman arithmetic, mathematics, and astronomy, reintroducing to Europe the abacus and armillary sphere, which had been lost to Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman...

in 1003, the papacy fell under the influence of the nobility in Latium, and then after 1046, under the influence of the German emperors. The reality for the west in the Middle Ages was not only the fact that government was split up into small particles but also the fact that vertical and horizontal powers were entangled. People in the Middle Ages did not always know to which of the many lords, the Church and the individual churches, the towns, princes, and kings, they were subordinate. This can be observed in the complexity even at the administrative and judicial level in the jurisdictional conflicts that fill medieval history.

The Church endeavored to become disengaged from the German control. An example of this secular politicization is seen when Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor

Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor

Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...

supported Pope Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX , born Theophylactus of Tusculum, was Pope on three occasions between 1032 and 1048. One of the youngest popes, he was the only man to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have sold the papacy.-Biography:Benedict was born in Rome as Theophylactus, the...

, the most corrupt of any of the popes of the era. It took more than a century to end this manipulation, and was never complete. In the process, the whole Church emerged freed from the grip of all lay lords. This was known as the Gregorian Reform

Gregorian Reform

The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...

, which takes its name from Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII

, (1073–85) . It was merely the latest and most visible of reforms that tended to move the Church back to its roots. It was a question of restoring the autonomy and power of the priestly class in the face of increasing control by the warrior class. The clergy was forced to renew and define itself. There was a battle against simony

Simony

Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

. The roadmap to celibacy was drawn, if not immediately enacted. Monarchs were excluded from selecting popes. This had been decreed by Pope Nicholas II

Pope Nicholas II

Pope Nicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...

in 1059. Afterward, only cardinals could elect the pope. Gregorian Reform reiterated this notion. There was to be no more lay interference in the selection of clergy. The aim was to deprive emperors and their under-lords the right to nominate and invest bishops. The effect was to deprive lay kings power over the Church and increase both spiritual and temporal power in the Vatican and the bishops.

Gregory VII appeared to have succeeded when the emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...

was humiliated at Canossa in 1077. There, Henry begged in the snow to be let back into the good graces of the Church, having been excommunicated the year before by Gregory. The penitent and humbled emperor did not remain in that state. Soon Henry IV took his revenge. He named his own pope Antipope Clement III

Antipope Clement III

Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna was a cleric made antipope in 1080 due to perceived abuses of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, a title that lasted to his death....

in the old manner of the Holy Roman Emperors. Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...

, more prudent than Gregory sidestepped the issue using a Crusade to gather Christian Europe together under his authority. A compromise was reached in Worms in 1122, by which the emperor abandoned investiture “by ring and staff” to the pope, and promised to respect the freedom of elections and consecrations, but kept for himself the right to invest bishops with the temporalities of their sees “by scepter”. Though the Emperor retained some power over imperial churches, his power was damaged irreparably because he lost the religious authority that previously belonged to the office of the king. In France, England, and the Christian state in Spain, the king could overcome rebellions of his magnates and establish the power of his royal demesne because he could rely the Church, which, for several centuries, had given him a mystical authority. From time to time, rebellious and recalcitrant monarchs might afoul of the Church. These could be excommunicated, and after an appropriate time and public penance, be received back into the communion and good graces of the Church.

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

was one of those monarchs who found himself excommunicated. After 1080, he never showed any indication of repentance, and therefore remained excommunicate for twenty-six years (1080–1106). He was unrepentant to the end. The issue had revolved around the problem of investiture. The German Kings had been the worst offenders, naming not only bishops, but popes as well. Gregory VII condemned lay investiture. Henry in turn called a council of bishops who proclaimed Gregory illegitimate. Gregory excommunicated Henry in 1076. In the process, he released all subjects of Henry from obedience to him. It led to a great political struggle with many barons rising against Henry in open rebellion. Henry made his way to the Canossa where the Pope was staying in the castle of Countess Matilda. Henry wished to repent. The pope was suspicious of the king’s motives, and did not believe he was truly repentant. Henry did penance in the snow outside the castle for three days. Finally, Gregory gave absolution to him. The rebellious nobles in Germany who were interested in deposing Henry IV never forgave Pope Gregory VII for what they viewed as treachery. By 1080, Henry had shown enough of a recalcitrant attitude that Gregory excommunicated him for good. There was no going back after this point. It was the consequence of this lengthy episode that a whole generation grew up in Germany and Northern Italy in an atmosphere of war, doubt and scepticism. The papal backers had been busy propounding arguments to show that royal power was not of divine origin. They had been so successful that the moral authority of the Emperor had been undermined in the minds of many of his subjects. Serious divisions existed from this battle over the Investiture controversy

Investiture Controversy

, which fractured large portions of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

in Germany and Italy. Davis argues these rifts were so deep and lasting that neither Germany nor Italy were able to form a cohesive nation state until the nineteenth century. A similar situation arose from the French revolution, which caused fractures in France that still exist. The effect of Henry’s excommunication, and his subsequent reluctance to repent left a turbulence in central Europe that lasted throughout the Middle Ages. It may have been emblematic of certain German attitudes toward religion in general, and the perceived relevance of the German Emperor in the universal scheme of things.

Henry IV became so filled with hubris over his position, that he renounced Gregory VII and named the bishop of Ravenna pope. Perhaps he was only following what had been thought to be the right of kings: to name the Pope. Henry had invested the Ravenna bishop, and now he referred to the new pope, Clement III, Antipope Clement III

Antipope Clement III

Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna was a cleric made antipope in 1080 due to perceived abuses of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, a title that lasted to his death....

as “our pope”. Henry attacked Rome, and on the outskirts of the city gained thirteen cardinals who became loyal to his cause. On Palm Sunday, 1084, Henry IV solemnly enthroned Clement at St. Peter’s Basilica and on Easter Day, Clement returned the favor and crowned Henry IV as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Gregory VII was meanwhile still resisting a few hundred yards away from the basilica in the Castel San Angelo, then known as the house of Cencius. Gregory appealed to the Normans

for help, and Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard

Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...

responded, entering Rome on May 27, 1084 and rescuing him. In the process, Rome was pillaged and partially burned. Gregory VII died the next year on May 25, 1085 in exile. He felt all was lost. The last words he uttered were, ‘I have loved justice and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile.” Gregory VII must have felt he died in utter failure, and to many of his contemporaries it appeared Henry IV and Antipope Clement III had won. But the underlying current was that Henry had overreached, and his appointment of the antipope was beyond the pale. Upon the death of Gregory, the cardinals elected a new pope, Victor III. He owed his elevation to the influence of the Normans. Antipope Clement III still occupied St. Peter’s. When Victor III died, the cardinals elected Urban II (1088–99). He was one of three men Gregory VII suggested as his successor. Urban II preached the First Crusade, which united Western Europe, and more importantly, reconciled the majority of bishops who had abandoned Gregory VII. In the end, Gregorian Reform won out over Henry IV. Preaching the Crusade had one important consequence. The Pope was now viewed as the head of the Church. No longer would kings and emperors think themselves equals of the pope, or the head of the Church in their kingdom. This was the situation from 1122 until the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

.

Several years later, Henry IV died in a deep gloom as had Gregory. It remained for his successor, Henry V to agree with Pope Calixtus II in 1122 to a compromise of the conflict over lay investitures known as the Concordat of Worms.

The reign of Henry IV showed the weakness of the German monarchy. The ruler was dependent upon the good will of the great men, the nobility of his land. These were technically royal officials and hereditary princes. He was also dependent on the resources of the churches. Henry IV alienated the Church of Rome and many of the magnates in his own kingdom. Many of these spent years in open or subversive rebellion. Henry failed to create a proper bureaucracy to replace his disobedient vassals. The magnates became increasingly independent, and the Church withdrew support. Henry IV spent the last years of his life desperately grasping to keep his throne. It was a greatly diminished kingdom.

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

The reign of Henry IV ended with a diminished kingdom and waning power. Many of his underlords had been in constant or desultory revolt for years. Henry IV’s insistence that Antipope Clement III

Antipope Clement III

Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna was a cleric made antipope in 1080 due to perceived abuses of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, a title that lasted to his death....

was the real pope had initially been popular with some of the nobles, and even many of the bishops of Germany. But as years passed, this support was slowly withdrawn. The idea that the German king could and should name the pope was increasingly discredited and viewed as an anachronism from a by-gone era. The Empire of the Ottos was virtually lost because of Henry IV.

Henry IV's son, Henry V

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

, rebelled and became emperor after his father's abdication. Henry V realized swift action and a change in his father's policy was necessary. Pope Paschal II

Pope Paschal II

Pope Paschal II , born Ranierius, was Pope from August 13, 1099, until his death. A monk of the Cluniac order, he was created cardinal priest of the Titulus S...

rebuked Henry V for appointing bishops in Germany. The king crossed the Alps with an army in 1111. The pope, who was weak and had few supporters was forced to suggest a compromise, the abortive Concordat of 1111. Its simple and radical solution of the Investiture Controversy

Investiture Controversy

between the prerogatives of regnum and sacredoium proposed that German churchmen would surrender their lands and secular offices to the emperor and constitute a purely spiritual church. Henry gained greater control over the lands of his kingdom, especially those that had been in the hands of the church, but of contested title. He would not interfere with ecclesiastical affairs and churchmen would avoid secular services. The church would be given autonomy and to Henry V would be restored large parts of his empire that his father had lost. Henry V was crowned by Pope Paschal II as the legitimate Holy Roman Emperor. When the concessions of land were read in St. Peters, the crowd revolted in anger. Henry took the pope and cardinals hostage until the pope granted Henry V the right of investiture. Then he returned to Germany – crowned emperor and apparent victor over the papacy.

The victory was as short-lived as that of his father, Henry IV over Gregory VII. The clergy urged Paschal to rescind his agreement, which he did in 1112. The quarrel followed the predictable course: Henry V rebelled and was excommunicated. Riots broke out in Germany, a new Antipope Gregory VIII

Antipope Gregory VIII

Gregory VIII , born Mauritius Burdinus , was antipope from 10 March 1118 until 22 April 1121.He was born in the Limousin, part of Aquitaine, Occitania, France. He was educated at Cluny, at Limoges, and in Castile, where he was a deacon at Toledo. In 1098/1099 his Cluniac connections recommended him...

was appointed by the German king, nobles loyal to Rome seceded from Henry. The civil war continued, just as under Henry IV. It dragged on for another ten years. Like his father before him, Henry V was faced with waning power. He had no choice but to give up investiture and the old right of naming the pope. The Concordat of Worms was the result. After the Concordat, the German kings never had the same control over the Church as had existed in the time of the Ottonian Dynasty.

Henry V died without heirs in 1125, three years after the Concordat. He had designated his nephew, Frederick von Staufen duke of Swabia

Swabia

Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...

, also known as Frederick II, Duke of Swabia

Frederick II, Duke of Swabia

Frederick II , called the One-Eyed, was the second Hohenstaufen duke of Swabia from 1105. He was the eldest son of Frederick I and Agnes....

as his successor. Instead, churchmen elected Lothar III. A long civil war erupted between the Staufen also known as Hohenstaufen

Hohenstaufen

The House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings in the High Middle Ages, lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufens also became Kings of Sicily...

supporters and the heirs of Lothar III. The result was the Hohenstaufen Frederick I (Barbarossa) 1152–1190 who came to power.

Charter of Liberties

The Concordat of Worms was foreshadowed by the Charter of Liberties

Charter of Liberties

The Charter of Liberties, also called the Coronation Charter, was a written proclamation by Henry I of England, issued upon his accession to the throne in 1100. It sought to bind the King to certain laws regarding the treatment of church officials and nobles...

of Henry I of England

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...

. He was the youngest son of William the Conqueror. Through a series of political intrigues, Henry I gained the English throne in 1100. Henry had three problems: (1) Conflict with the Church and Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury , also called of Aosta for his birthplace, and of Bec for his home monastery, was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109...

in particular. (2) The earls and barons of England did not accept Henry as their king. (3) The Anglo-Saxon populace did not accept him. Henry reconciled with the Church and Anselm. He married Edith, the daughter of the Scots King Malcolm III. The Anglo-Saxon population was ameliorated because they viewed Edith as one of their own. Henry signed and issued the Charter of Liberties

Charter of Liberties

in 1100 from the Norman Chapel in the Tower of London. This gave concessions to the earls and barons, as well as the Church. The investiture issue was still contentious, but a compromise at Bec Abbey

Bec Abbey

Bec Abbey in Le Bec Hellouin, Normandy, France, once the most influential abbey in the Anglo-Norman kingdom of the twelfth century, is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure département, in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay.Like all abbeys, Bec maintained annals...

in 1107 was essentially identical to the Concordat of Worms.

Concordat of London, 1107

The Concordat of London in 1107 was a forerunner of the compromise that was taken up in the Concordat of Worms. In England, as in Germany, the conflict between Church and State was rife. A distinction was being made in the king's chancery between the secular and ecclesiastical powers of the prelates. Bowing to political reality, Henry I of England

Henry I of England

ceded his right to invest his bishops and abbots and reserved the custom of requiring them to come and do homage. The system of vassal

Vassal

A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...

age was not divided among great local lords in England as it was in France, for by right of the Conquest the king was in control.

Henry I of England

Henry I of England

perceived a danger in placing monastic scholars in his chancery and turned increasingly to secular clerks, some of whom held minor positions in the Church. He often rewarded these men with the titles of bishop and abbot. Henry I expanded the system of scutage

Scutage

The form of taxation known as scutage, in the law of England under the feudal system, allowed a knight to "buy out" of the military service due to the Crown as a holder of a knight's fee held under the feudal land tenure of knight-service. Its name derived from shield...

to reduce the monarchy's dependence on knights supplied from church lands. Unlike the situation in Germany, Henry I of England

Henry I of England

used the investiture controversy was to strengthen the secular power of the king. It would continue to boil under the surface. The controversy would surface in the Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...

affair under Henry II of England

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

, the Great Charter of 1217, the Statutes of Mortmain

Statutes of Mortmain

The Statutes of Mortmain were two enactments, in 1279 and 1290, by King Edward I of England aimed at preserving the kingdom's revenues by preventing land from passing into the possession of the Church. In Medieval England, feudal estates generated taxes upon the inheritance or granting of the estate...

and the battles over Cestui que use of Henry VII of England

Henry VII of England

Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

, and finally come to a head under Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

Result of the Concordat of Worms

Of the three reforms Gregory VII and his predecessors and successor popes had attempted, they had been most successful in regard to celibacy of the clergy. Simony had been partially checked. Against lay investiture they won only a limited success, and one that seemed less impressive as the years passed. During the time following the Concordat of Worms, the Church gained in both stature and power.

According to the terms of the compromise, the election of bishops and abbots was to follow proper procedure, that is, the canons of the cathedral were to elect the bishop. The monks were to choose the abbot. This was a minimum that the church had demanded. In the compromise, the pope agreed that the king or his representative had the right to be present at such elections to resolve any disputes between candidates. What this meant, in effect, was that the king would have the bishop he wanted, though some prelate would invest the new bishop with the insignia of the office. As William of Champeaux

William of Champeaux

Guillaume de Champeaux , also known as William of Champeaux or Guglielmus de Campellis , was a French philosopher and theologian.He was born at Champeaux near Melun...

assured Henry V, he had nothing to lose by surrendering the right of investiture. In the Concordat of Worms the church accepted a face-saving concession. The king retained substantially what he already possessed—the power to fill bishoprics with men of his choice. Nevertheless, Gregory VII’s dramatization of the issue produced a significant improvement in the character of men raised to the episcopacy. Kings no longer interfered so frequently in their election, and when they did, they generally nominated more worthy candidates for the office.

The writing in the document was ambiguous, skirted some issues and avoided others all together. This has caused some scholars to conclude that the settlement turned its back on Gregory VII and Urban II's genuine hopes for reform. The emperor’s influence in episcopal was preserved, and he could decide disputed elections. If the compromise was a rebuke to the most radical vision of the liberty of the Church, on at least one point its implication was firm and unmistakable: The king, even an emperor, was a layman. This dispelled the belief that the king was someone specially appointed by the grace of God. The divine right of kings

Divine Right of Kings

was dealt a blow from which it never completely recovered.

There exists a misconception concerning the power of the pope in the Middle Ages. Tradition affords him more power and authority than he actually possessed. It is likely the Pope in modern ages is much more powerful than those in medieval times. The most powerful of all medieval popes was Innocent III. His pronouncements on doctrinal matters and the judgments of his court were considered definitive and final. Opposing the medieval pope was the primary and unyielding authority of the state. The struggle over investiture between Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII

and Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

had dramatized the clash between church and state. The Concordat of Worms had eased the situation for a generation. But in the end, it solved nothing. Practically speaking, the king retained a decisive voice in the selection of the hierarchy. All kings supported King John of England’s defiance of Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....

ninety years after the Concordat of Worms in the matter concerning Stephen Langton

Stephen Langton

Stephen Langton was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and his death in 1228 and was a central figure in the dispute between King John of England and Pope Innocent III, which ultimately led to the issuing of Magna Carta in 1215...

. In theory, the pope named his bishops and cardinals. In reality, more often than not, Rome consecrated the clergy once it was notified by the kings who the incumbent would be. Recalcitrance by Rome would lead to problems in the kingdom. For the most part it was a no-win situation

No-win situation

A no-win situation, also called a "lose-lose" situation, is one where a person has choices, but no choice leads to a net gain. For example, if an executioner offers the condemned the choice of dying by being hanged, shot, or poisoned, since all choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win...

for Rome. In this, the Concordat of Worms changed little. The growth of canon law in the Ecclesiastical Courts was based on the underlying Roman law and increased the strength of the Roman Pontiff.

The English Church was left more or less in the power of the English monarchy. This was the result of the Charter of Liberties

Charter of Liberties

, 1100, and the agreement at Bec

Bec

Bec is a book by Darren Shan in The Demonata series. It is the fourth book of the series released but it is first chronologically. The protagonist of the book is the central character Bec. It takes place in Ireland around 1600 years ago. The last line of the book, "Screams in the dark," is also the...

in 1107. The effect of the Concordat of Worms was different. It ended a civil war that had been going on for more than fifty years. There was no going back to the situation that had preceded it. The political and social structure of Germany had forever been altered. The new generation of cardinals regarded German investiture with contempt and as an embarrassing vestige of the past. They were willing to make concessions with Henry V and his successors in order to get along. The belief after the Concordat was that investiture and the era of theocratic kingship was a discredited doctrine. The German kings had a different view of the matter. Henry V and his successors still believed they had the right and ability to name bishops. In practice, this was true, but only in the territories held by their families. Their domain in the religious sphere had been greatly diminished.

The catastrophic political consequences of the struggle between pope and emperor also led to a cultural disaster. Germany lost intellectual leadership in western Europe. In 1050, German monasteries were great centers of learning and art and German schools of theology and canon law were unsurpassed and probably unmatched anywhere in Europe. The long civil war over investiture sapped the energy of both German churchmen and intellectuals. They fell behind advances in philosophy, law, literature and art taking place in France and Italy. In many ways, Germany never caught up during the rest of the Middle Ages.
Universities were established in France, Italy and England by the early 13th century. Notable are University of Bologna

University of Bologna

The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...

, 1088, University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

, 1150, Oxford University, 1167 and Cambridge University, 1207. The first German university, the University of Heidelberg was not established until 1386. It was immediately steeped in medieval nominalism

Nominalism

Nominalism is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist. Thus, there are at least two main versions of nominalism...

and early Protestantism

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

.

Kings continued to attempt to control either the direct leadership of the church, or indirectly through political means for centuries. This is seen most clearly in the Avignon Papacy

Avignon Papacy

The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon, in modern-day France. This arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown....

when the popes moved from Rome to Avignon. The conflict in Germany and northern Italy arguably left the culture ripe for various Protestant sects, such as the Cathars, the Waldensians

Waldensians

Waldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions, primarily in North-Western Italy. There is considerable uncertainty about the earlier history of the Waldenses because of a lack of extant source...

and ultimately Hus

Hus

Hus may refer to:Acronyms:* Hemolytic-uremic syndrome, is a disease characterized by hemolytic anemia, acute renal failure and a low platelet count* Humboldtschule, Bad Homburg, a German gymnasium in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Hesse...

and Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

Text of the Concordat

The following is an English translation of the Concordat of Worms. It consisted of two parts:

Privilege of Pope Calixtus II

Edict of the Emperor Henry V

External links

Concordat: text in English

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Inheritance and alienation

Gregorian Reform

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charter of Liberties

Concordat of London, 1107

Result of the Concordat of Worms

Text of the Concordat

Privilege of Pope Calixtus II

Edict of the Emperor Henry V

See also

External links