Styles of
Pope Gregory VII |
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His Holiness |
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Your Holiness |
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Holy Father |
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Saint |
Pope Saint Gregory VII (c. 1020/1025 – May 25, 1085), born Hildebrand of Soana
(Italian: Ildebrando di Soana) was pope from
April 22, 1073, until his death.
One of the great reforming popes, Gregory is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, which pitted him against Emperor Henry IV.
Biography
Early years
Hildebrand was born in Soana (now Sovana, a small town in southern Tuscany). He belonged to the noble Aldobrandeschi family.
He was sent to Rome, where his uncle was abbot of the monastery of St. Mary on the Aventine
hill, and his experience in the city was a formative influence on his character. Pope
Gregory VI may have been among his instructors.
When Emperor Henry III deposed Gregory VI, Hildebrand followed him
in exile to Germany. Though he initially had no desire to cross the Alps, his residence in Germany was of great educational value
and significant in his later life. He pursued his studies in Cologne before eventually returning
to Rome with Pope Leo IX. Under his guidance, Hildebrand first began work in the
ecclesiastical service and became a subdeacon and steward in the Roman Catholic Church.
Upon the death of Leo IX, Hildebrand was sent as a Roman envoy to the German court to
conduct negotiations regarding Leo's successor. Hildebrand encouraged the Emperor to support Gebhard of Calw, who, as
Pope Victor II (served as the Pope from 1055-1057), employed Hildebrand as his
legate to France. In France, Hildebrand addressed the question of Berengar of Tours,
whose views on the Eucharist had caused controversy. When Pope Stephen IX was elected in 1057 without previous consultation with the German court, Hildebrand
and Bishop Anselm of Lucca were sent to Germany to secure a belated recognition and
succeeded in gaining the consent of the empress, Agnes de Poitou. Stephen, however, died
early the next year, before Hildebrand's return to France.
In a desperate effort to recover their influence on the papal throne, the Roman aristocracy managed the hasty elevation of
Bishop Johannes of Velletri as Pope
Benedict X in 1058. This course of action was dangerous to the Church as it implied a renewal of the disastrous
patrician régime; that the crisis was overcome was essentially the work of Hildebrand. With
Hildebrand's support, Benedict was supplanted by Pope Nicholas II in 1059, a
leader who strongly influenced the policy of the Curia during the next two decades, including the
rapprochement with the Normans in the south of Italy and the alliance with the democratic and,
subsequently, anti-German movement of the Patarenes in the north.
It was also under this pontificate that the law was enacted transferring the papal election to the College of Cardinals, thus withdrawing it from the nobility of Rome and diminishing German
influence on the election. When Nicholas II died and was succeeded by Pope
Alexander II in 1061, Hildebrand loomed larger in the eyes of his contemporaries as the soul of Curial policy, as the
Archdeacon in charge of the routine administration of the Roman see during Alexander's frequent absences in Lucca, where he
retained his see. The general political conditions, especially in Germany, were at that time very favorable to the Curia, but to
use them with the wisdom actually shown was nevertheless a great achievement, and the position of Alexander at the end of his
pontificate in 1073 was a brilliant justification of Hildebrandine statecraft.
Election to the Papacy
On the death of Alexander II (April 21, 1073), Hildebrand
became pope and took the name of Gregory VII. The mode of his election was highly criticized by his opponents. Many
of the charges brought may have been expressions of personal dislike, liable to suspicion from the very fact that they were not
raised to attack his promotion until several years later; but it is clear from his own account of the circumstances of his
election that it was conducted in a very irregular fashion, and that the forms prescribed by the law of 1059 were not observed. However, what ultimately turned the tide in favor of validity of Gregory's election was the
fact that near universal acclaim of the populus Romanus was undeniable. In this sense, his election hearkened back to the
earliest centuries of the Church of Rome, regardless of later canonical legislation. Gregory's earliest pontifical letters
clearly acknowledge this fact, and thus, helped defuse any doubt about his election as immensely popular. On May 22 he received sacerdotal ordination, and on June 30 episcopal
consecration.
The focus of the ecclesiastico-political projects of Gregory VII is to be found in his relationship with Germany. Since the
death of Henry III the strength of the German monarchy had been seriously weakened, and his son Henry IV had to contend with great internal difficulties. This state of affairs was of
material assistance to the pope. His advantage was still further accentuated by the fact that in 1073 Henry was only twenty-three and inexperienced.
In the two following years Henry was forced by the Saxon rebellion to come to amicable terms with the pope at any cost.
Consequently in May 1074 he did penance at Nuremberg in the
presence of the papal legates to atone for his continued friendship with the members of his council who had been banned by
Gregory, took an oath of obedience, and promised his support in the work of reforming the Church. This attitude, however, which
at first won him the confidence of the pope, was abandoned as soon as he defeated the Saxons by
his victory at the Battle of Hohenburg (June 9, 1075). He now tried to reassert his rights as the sovereign of northern Italy without delay.
He sent Count Eberhard to Lombardy to combat the Patarenes; nominated the cleric Tedaldo to
the archbishopric of Milan, thus settling a prolonged and
contentious question; and finally tried to establish relations with the Norman duke, Robert
Guiscard. Gregory VII replied with a rough letter, dated December 8, in which, among
other charges, he accused the German king of breaching his word and with his continued support of the excommunicated councillors;
while at the same time he sent a verbal message suggesting that the enormous crimes which would be laid to his account rendered
him liable, not only to the ban of the church, but to the deprivation of his crown. Gregory did this at a time when he himself
was confronted by a reckless opponent in the person of Cencio I Frangipane, who on
Christmas-night surprised him in church and carried him off as a prisoner, though on the following day Gregory was released.
Conflict with the Emperor
The reprimands of the pope, couched as they were in such an unprecedented form, infuriated Henry and his court, and their
answer was the hastily convened national council in Worms, Germany (synod of Worms), which met on January 24 1076. In the higher ranks of the German clergy Gregory had many enemies, and a Roman cardinal, Hugo Candidus, once on intimate terms with him but now his opponent, had hurried to Germany for the
occasion and appeared at Worms. All the accusations with regard to the pope that Candidus could come up with were well received
by the assembly, which committed itself to the resolution that Gregory had forfeited the papacy. In one document full of
accusations, the bishops renounced their allegiance. In another King Henry pronounced him deposed, and the Romans were required
to choose a new pope [1]. The council sent two bishops to Italy, and they procured a similar act of deposition from the Lombard bishops in
the synod of Piacenza. Roland of Parma informed the pope of these decisions, and he was
fortunate enough to gain an opportunity for speech in the synod, which had just assembled in the Lateran church, and he delivered
his message there announcing the dethronement. For the moment the members were frightened, but soon such a storm of indignation
was aroused that it was only due to the moderation of Gregory himself that the envoy was not murdered.
On the following day the pope pronounced the sentence of excommunication against the German king Henry IV with all due
solemnity, divested him of his royal dignity and absolved his subjects from the oaths they had sworn to him. This sentence
purported to eject the king from the church and to strip him of his crown. Whether it would produce this effect, or whether it
would remain an idle threat, depended not so much on Gregory as on Henry's subjects, and, above all, on the German princes.
Contemporary evidence suggests that the excommunication of the king made a profound
impression both in Germany and Italy. Thirty years before, Henry III had deposed three popes, and thereby rendered an
acknowledged service to the church. When Henry IV tried to copy this procedure he was less successful, as he lacked the support
of the people. In Germany there was a rapid and general revulsion of feeling in favour of Gregory, and the princes took the
opportunity to carry out their anti-regal policy under the cloak of respect for the papal decision. When at Whitsun the king proposed to discuss the measures to be taken against Gregory in a council of his nobles, only a
few made their appearance; the Saxons snatched at the golden opportunity for renewing their rebellion, and the anti-royalist
party grew in strength from month to month.
To Canossa
The situation now became extremely critical for Henry. As a result of the agitation, which was zealously fostered by the papal
legate Bishop Altmann of Passau, the princes met in October at Trebur to elect a new German king,
and Henry, who was stationed at Oppenheim on the left bank of the Rhine, was only saved from
the loss of his throne by the failure of the assembled princes to agree on the question of his successor. Their dissension,
however, merely induced them to postpone the verdict. Henry, they declared, must make reparation to the pope and pledge himself
to obedience; and they decided that, if, on the anniversary of his excommunication, he still lay under the ban, the throne should
be considered vacant. At the same time they decided to invite Gregory to Augsburg to decide the
conflict. These arrangements showed Henry the course to be pursued. It was imperative, under any circumstances and at any price,
to secure his absolution from Gregory before the period named, otherwise he could scarcely foil his opponents in their intention
to pursue their attack against him and justify their measures by an appeal to his excommunication. At first he attempted to
attain his ends by an embassy, but when Gregory rejected his overtures he took the celebrated step of going to Italy in
person.
The pope had already left Rome, and had intimated to the German princes that he would expect their escort for his journey on
January 8 in Mantua. But this escort had not appeared when he
received the news of the king's arrival. Henry, who had traveled through Burgundy, had been
greeted with enthusiasm by the Lombards, but resisted the temptation to employ force against Gregory. He chose instead the
unexpected course of forcing the pope to grant him absolution by doing penance before him at Canossa, where he had taken refuge. This event soon became legendary. The reconciliation was only effected after
prolonged negotiations and definite pledges on the part of the king, and it was with reluctance that Gregory at length gave way,
for, if he gave his absolution, the diet of princes in Augsburg, in which he might
reasonably hope to act as arbitrator, would either become useless, or, if it met at all, would change completely in character. It
was impossible, however, to deny the penitent re-entrance into the church, and his religious obligations overrode his political
interests.
The removal of the ban did not imply a genuine reconciliation, and no basis was gained for a settlement of the great questions
at issue: notably that of investiture. A new conflict was inevitable from the very fact that
Henry IV naturally considered the sentence of deposition repealed along with that of excommunication; while Gregory on the other
hand was intent on reserving his freedom of action and gave no hint on the subject at Canossa.
Second excommunication of Henry
That the excommunication of Henry IV was simply a pretext, not a motive, for the opposition of the rebellious German nobles is
transparent. Not only did they persist in their policy after his absolution, but they took the more decided step of setting up a
rival king in the person of Duke Rudolph of Swabia (Forchheim, March 1077). At the election the papal legates present
observed the appearance of neutrality, and Gregory himself sought to maintain this attitude during the following years. His task
was made easier in that the two parties were of fairly equal strength, each trying to gain the upper hand by getting the pope on
their side. But the result of his non-committal policy was that he largely lost the confidence of both parties. Finally he
decided for Rudolph of Swabia after his victory at Flarchheim (January 27, 1080). Under pressure from the Saxons, and misinformed as to the
significance of this battle, Gregory abandoned his waiting policy and again pronounced the excommunication and deposition of King
Henry (March 7, 1080).
But the papal censure now proved a very different thing from the papal censure four years before. It was widely felt to be an
injustice, and people began to ask whether an excommunication pronounced on frivolous grounds was entitled to respect. To make
matters worse, Rudolph of Swabia died on October 16 of the same year. A new claimant, Hermann
of Luxembourg, was put forward in August 1081, but his personality was not suitable for a leader of
the Gregorian party in Germany, and the power of Henry IV was at its peak. The king, now more experienced, took up the struggle
with great vigour. He refused to acknowledge the ban on the ground of its illegality. A council had been summoned at
Brixen, and on June 16 it pronounced Gregory deposed and
nominated the archbishop Guibert of Ravenna as his successor. In 1081 Henry opened the conflict against Gregory in Italy. The
latter had now become less powerful, and thirteen cardinals deserted him. Rome surrendered to the German king, and Guibert of
Ravenna enthroned as Clement III (March 24,
1084). Henry was crowned emperor by his rival, while Gregory himself had to flee from Rome in the
company of his Norman "vassal," Robert Guiscard.
Papal policy to the rest of Europe
The relationship of Gregory to other European states was strongly influenced by his German policy; as Germany, by taking up
most of his powers, often forced him to show to other rulers the very moderation which he withheld from the German king. The
attitude of the Normans brought him a rude awakening. The great concessions made to them under Nicholas II were not only
powerless to stem their advance into central Italy but failed to secure even the expected protection for the papacy. When Gregory
was hard pressed by Henry IV, Robert Guiscard left him to his fate, and only intervened
when he himself was threatened with German arms. Then, on the capture of Rome, he abandoned the city to his troops, and the
popular indignation evoked by his act brought about Gregory's exile.
In the case of several countries, Gregory tried to establish a claim of sovereignty on the part of the Papacy, and to secure
the recognition of its self-asserted rights of possession. On the ground of "immemorial usage"; Corsica and Sardinia were assumed to belong to the Roman Church.
Spain and Hungary were also claimed as her property, and an
attempt was made to induce the king of Denmark to hold his realm as a fief from the pope.
Philip I of France, by his practice of simony and the
violence of his proceedings against the Church, provoked a threat of summary measures; and excommunication, deposition and the
interdict appeared to be imminent in 1074. Gregory, however, refrained from translating his threats
into actions, although the attitude of the king showed no change, for he wished to avoid a dispersion of his strength in the
conflict soon to break out in Germany. In England, William the Conqueror also derived benefits from this state of affairs. He felt himself so safe
that he interfered autocratically with the management of the church, forbade the bishops to visit Rome, made appointments to
bishoprics and abbeys, and showed little anxiety when the pope
lectured him on the different principles which he had as to the relationship of spiritual and temporal powers, or when he
prohibited him from commerce or commanded him to acknowledge himself a vassal of the apostolic chair. Gregory had no power to
compel the English king to an alteration in his ecclesiastical policy, so he chose to ignore what he could not approve, and even
considered it advisable to assure him of his particular affection.
Gregory, in fact, established some sort of relations with every country in Christendom; though these relations did not
invariably realize the ecclesiastico-political hopes connected with them. His correspondence extended to Poland, Russia and Bohemia. He wrote in friendly
terms to the Saracen king of Mauretania in north Africa, and
unsuccessfully tried to bring Armenia into closer contact with Rome. He was particularly
concerned with the East. The schism between Rome and the Byzantine Empire was a severe
blow to him, and he worked hard to restore the former amicable relationship. Gregory successfully tried to get in touch with the
emperor Michael VII. When the news of the Arab attacks on the Christians in the East
filtered through to Rome, and the political embarrassments of the Byzantine
emperor increased, he conceived the project of a great military expedition and exhorted the faithful to participate in
recovering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In his treatment of
ecclesiastical policy and ecclesiastical reform, Gregory did not stand alone, but found powerful support: in England Archbishop
Lanfranc of Canterbury stood closest to him; in France his
champion was Bishop Hugo of Dié, who afterwards became Archbishop of Lyon.
Internal policy and reforms
-
.
His life-work was based on his conviction that the Church was founded by God and entrusted with the task of embracing all
mankind in a single society in which divine will is the only law; that, in her capacity as a divine institution, she is supreme
over all human structures, especially the secular state; and that the pope, in his role as head of the Church, is the vice-regent
of God on earth, so that disobedience to him implies disobedience to God: or, in other words, a defection from Christianity. But
any attempt to interpret this in terms of action would have bound the Church to annihilate not merely a single state, but all
states. Thus Gregory, as a politician wanting to achieve some result, was driven in practice to adopt a different standpoint. He
acknowledged the existence of the state as a dispensation of Providence, described the
coexistence of church and state as a divine ordinance, and emphasized the necessity of union between the sacerdotium and the imperium. But at no period would he have dreamed of putting the two powers on
an equal footing; the superiority of church to state was to him a fact which admitted of no discussion and which he had never
doubted.
He wished to see all important matters of dispute referred to Rome; appeals were to be addressed to himself; the
centralization of ecclesiastical government in Rome naturally involved a curtailment of the powers of bishops. Since these
refused to submit voluntarily and tried to assert their traditional independence, his papacy is full of struggles against the
higher ranks of the clergy.
This battle for the foundation of papal supremacy is connected with his championship of compulsory celibacy among the clergy and his attack on simony. Gregory VII did
not introduce the celibacy of the priesthood into the Church, but he took up the struggle with greater energy than his
predecessors. In 1074 he published an encyclical, absolving the people from their obedience
to bishops who allowed married priests. The next year he enjoined them to take action against married priests, and deprived these
clerics of their revenues. Both the campaign against priestly marriage and that against simony provoked widespread
resistance.
Wax funeral effigy of Gregory VII under glass, Salerno cathedral
He died an exile in Salerno; his last words were: Amavi iustiam et odivi iniquitatem;
propterea, morior in exilio = I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore, I [now] die in exile. The Romans and a
number of his most trusted helpers had renounced him, and the faithful band in Germany had shrunk to small numbers. Curiously for
more than 900 years, the people of Salerno have zealously guarded Gregory's mortal remains and refused to permit him to be taken
back for burial in St. Peter's, the traditional resting place of an overwhelming number of popes. Today, his beautiful
sarcophagus lies in perpetual testament to his struggles and sanctify in the cathedral church of Salerno, Italy.
References
Further reading
- Cowdrey, H.E.J. (1998). Pope Gregory VII:
1073–1085. Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press.
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