How did Gregory's and Henry's views of the papacy differ?

Answer 1

Pope Gregory held the view that the papacy stood above the temporal monarchs and that as Head of the Catholic Church he could appoint local bishops without a local ruler's interference or overrule any bishop's appointment that a local king had made without the Pope's prior approval.

Henry held - and in all fairness, he had historic precedence totally on his side - that as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire he was master of the churchmen in his territories, all the more so because many of the bishops ruled there as his vassals and he had a completely legitimate interest who to chose for a vassal. And that the Pope had no other role vis-a-vis his bishops than to keep them on the straight and narrow in matters of dogma and moral behaviour. Also, he thought that the Pope at best stood on the same level as he, certainly not above him.

Pope and Emperor finally decided that there could be no winner in this struggle: the Pope might try to evoke revolt against a King by placing him under an Interdict, but this was a weapon that became ineffective if used too often. The King in turn could hit back by by blocking payment of the funds that otherwise would come to Rome from local dioceses.

In the end, the practice became that the Pope decided on bishops' appointments, but that he would follow the 'recommendations'of a candidate made by the King.