Why do you think many people were so upset with Gregory VII?

Answer 1

A:

Pope Gregory VII has been described by some as a power-hungry cleric who would let nothing stand in his way. In 1074, Gregory issued an edict ordering his priests to abandon their wives, yet he himself was reputedly the lover the beautiful Countess Matilda. Whether ort not this was true, and there is good circumstantial evidence to support the claim, it would have infuriated the clergy and even their lay supporters that Gregory seemed to have one rule for himself and another rule for the lesser clergy.

He claimed supremacy over the secular authorities, with supreme legislative and judicial power, and the right to depose all princes and to have all Christians as his subjects. He also claimed what was then another innovation - the sole right to appoint bishops, with a council held in the Lateran in 1075 decreeing that the pope alone could appoint or depose churchmen or move them from see to see. Of course, these claims made enemies of the secular rulers, not least Emperor Henry IV.

In 1074, Gregory wrote to Emperor Henry IV reproaching him for his conduct and telling him that like everybody else, he was bound to obey papal decrees. If Henry did not, he would have to suffer the consequences. Henry, furious at such insolence, summoned at Worms a synod of German bishops, who were themselves smarting under Gregory's dictates. The synod denounced Gregory as a usurper of the papacy and accused him of perjury, immorality of various kinds, and abuses of papal authority in the dioceses of Germany. It pronounced Gregory deposed, a sentence confirmed by bishops of Lombardy.

A few weeks later, Gregory held a synod in Rome, that excommunicated Henry and all the bishops who had sided with him, released Henry's vassals from their oath of fealty, and declared him deposed. Henry, placed on the defensive and with his throne endangered, had to agree to allow Gregory to come to Augsburg in Germany to settle the affair. Gregory accepted the invitation, set out but had difficulty getting through Lombardy because of the strong sentiment against him. Finding his passage to Germany blocked by the Lombards, Gregory accepted Henry's plea for forgiveness at Canossa, and Henry was able to return and present to his subjects his absolution as the definitive settlement of the affair.

Now feeling secure in Germany, Henry marched into Italy with his troops in 1081 and laid siege to Rome. In desperation Gregory appealed to the Normans. Henry's forces withdrew, without giving battle. The Normans had freed the city from the emperor but then looted and burnt at least a third of it. The result was one the worst sacks in the history of Rome, for which the Romans held Gregory responsible. He managed to get out of the city unscathed, though cursed, and made his way to Salerno where the Normans ensured his safety.

Gregory was died in exile, defeated and broken in body and spirit. He had briefly wielded more power than the emperor, but at great cost to himself and Rome. John W. O'Malley S.J. (A History of the Popes) says that no pope ever died hated by more people than Gregory VII.