THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF
HILDEBRAND
POPE GREGORY VII
A.H. MATHEW
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THE
LIFE AND TIMES OF HILDEBRAND
POPE GREGORY VII
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POPE GREGORY VII, KROM THE PORTRAIT IN THE LATIiRAN
\,i'rontispicce
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF HILDEBRAND
POPE GREGORY VII
BY THE RIGHT REV.
ARNOLD HARRIS MATHEW, D.D.
"Si je n'etais Napoleon je voudrais etre Gregoire VII."
{^Napoleon, afur AusUrlitz.)
LONDON
FRANCIS GRIFFITHS
1910
INTRODUCTION
The Pontificate of Gregory VII is important as having occurred
at a very critical period in the history of the Papacy, and as having
left an indelible impression upon its later aims and policy. A
great revival of the Empire had slowly taken place (a.d. 950-1046).
" The German peoples within the empire of Charles the Great
were united by the urgent necessity of protecting themselves against
barbarous foes. They formed a strong elective monarchy, and
shook themselves free from their Romanized brethren, the Western
Franks, amongst whom the power of the Vassals was still to
maintain disunion for centuries. The German kingdom was the
inheritor of the ideas and policy of Charles the Great, and the
restoration of the Imperial power was a natural and worthy object
of the Saxon line of kings." ^ The restoration of the Empire
involved a restoration of the status of the Papacy. The great
monastery of Cluny and the monastic reformers there became a
centre of the revival of Christian feeling, and aimed at uniting
Christendom under the headship of the Pope. The reformers
aimed at a strict enforcement of the celibacy of the clergy and the
suppression of simony — to check, in fact, the secularization of the
clerical office, to which many causes, especially the growing wealth
of the Church, had contributed. The first desideratum was a
reform of the Papacy, and the Emperor Henry III was called
upon to effect this. The great Emperor, in whom the mediaeval
empire touched its highest point, was not unnaturally hailed as a
second David when, at the Synod of Sutri, he superintended the
^ T/ie History 0/ the Papacy, by Mandell Creighton.
V
vi INTRODUCTION
deposition of three Popes who simultaneously occupied the chair of
St. Peter.
With Henry III the Empire attained its maximum of power,
its maximum of influence upon the Roman See. In Rome no
German sovereign had ever been so absolute. He became
hereditary Patrician, and wore constantly the circlet of gold and
the green mantle which were the badges of that office, seeming, as
one might think, to find in it some further authority than that
which the Imperial name conferred. To Henry was granted the
nomination of the Pope, and by his instrumentality German after
German succeeded to the Papacy, at the bidding of a ruler so
powerful, so severe, and so pious.
A mere chance checked the course of Imperial patronage.
The great Emperor died suddenly in 1056, leaving as his successor
his son, a mere child, the unfortunate Henry IV.
Under the line of German popes the Papacy learned to borrow
the strength of the Imperial system under which it had grown to
power. So strengthened, the Papacy aimed at independence. A
critical step was taken by entrusting the Papal election to the
cardinal-bishops, priests and deacons, which aimed a blow at
Imperial interference. Politically, an alliance with the Norman
settlers in Southern Italy enabled the popes to count upon a
counter-balance to the Imperial power. The Papacy slowly
prepared to assert its independence.
Under Gregory VII, the struggle between the Empire and the
Papacy took an acute form. Not content with claiming for the
Church an entire independence from the temporal power, he
declared that the independence of the Church was to be found
solely in the assertion of its supremacy over the State. —
" Gregory VII did not aim at securing the Papal monarchy over the
Church — that had been established since the days of Nicholas I.
He aimed at asserting the freedom of the Church from
worldly influences which benumbed it, by setting up the Papacy
as a power strong enough to restrain Church and State alike. In
ecclesiastical matters Gregory enunciated the infalHbility of the
INTRODUCTION vii
Pope, his power of deposing bishops and restoring them at his
own will, the necessity of his consent to give universal validity
to synodal decrees, his supreme and irresponsible jurisdiction, the
precedence of his legates over all bishops." ^
In political matters, he asserted that the name of Pope was
incomparable with any other, that to him alone belonged the right
to use the insignia of Empire ; " that he could depose emperors,
and all princes ought to kiss his feet ; that he could release
subjects from their allegiance to wicked rulers." Such were
Gregory's tremendous claims for the Papacy, and such claims
naturally came into conflict with the temporal power of other
great rulers.
Gregory VII died in exile, after a comparatively brief pontificate
of not much more than ten years, but the theory of his ofl^ce and
the prerogatives which he asserted were brought by his successors
to a marvellous realization. Without Gregory VII there would
have been no Innocent III — that Pope who succeeded in effectively
impressing the theory of hierarchic government upon Europe, and
became in effect " the king of kings, lord of lords, the only ruler
of princes " : for the influence of Gregory VII, like that of many
another politician, was greater upon succeeding generations than
upon his own.
WORKS CONSULTED
Gregor VII, sein Leben und Wirken, by Wilhelm Martens, 2 Vols.
St. Gregoire VII, et la Reforme de I'Eglise au XI Siecle, by the Abbe O. Delarc,
3 Vols.
Gregoire VII et les Origines de la Doctrine Ultramontaine, by Edouard
Langeron.
The Life of Gregory VII, by Abel F. Villemain. English translation, 2 Vols.,
London 1874,
Storia di Papa Gregorio VII, by Johann Voigt.
The Papal Monarchy, by William Barry, D.D.
Storia d'ltalia, by Francisco Bertolini.
^ The History of the Papacy, by Mandell Creighton.
viii WORKS CONSULTED
Vie de St. Hugues, by Dom A. L'Huillier, O.S.B.
Registrum Papae.
Life and Pontificate of Gregory VII, by J. W. Bowden.
The Beginnings of the Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes, by L. Duchesne, D.D.
English translation, London 1908.
Les Saints, St. Leon IX, by Abbe E. Martin.
L'Histoire du Breviaire Romain, by Dom Swilbert Baumer, O.S.B.
Life and Pontificate of Gregory VII, by Sir Roger Greisley, Bt.
Revue Benedictine, 1893.
Civilta Cattolica, 1895.
Le Conclave, by Lucius Lector.
A History of Sacerdotal Celibacy, by Henry Charles Lea, LL.D., 2 \^ols.
La Primaute du Pape, by Pere Pinel, pretre de I'Oratoire (Edition of 1770, reprinted
at Paris 1908, by M. le Cure G. Volet, 68 rue de la Colonic).
The See of St. Peter, and St. Peter, his Name and his Office, by T. W. Allies,
2 Vols.
Etc., etc., etc.
Arnold Harris Mathew.
Chelsfield, Kent.
CONTENTS
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
XI
XII
XIII
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ...... V
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND TO THE DEATH OF NICHOLAS II,
1025 (r) — ^JuLY 27, 1061 ..... I
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II, IO61 — IO73 . 26
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII HIS FIRST ACTS. APRIL 22,
1073— MARCH 9, 1074 . . . . -53
THE FIRST STRUGGLES, MARCH 9, IO74 FEBRUARY 24, IO75 . 7 1
THE BREACH BETWEEN HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY
VII, FEBRUARY 24, IO75 — FEBRUARY 24, IO76 . . 85
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA, FEBRUARY I4, IO76 — JANUARY 28,
1077 ....... 108
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA, JANUARY 29, IO77
FEBRUARY 27, IO78 . . . . -134
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY, FEBRUARY 27, IO78 MARCH 7, I080 I53
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED THE ANTI-POPE GUIBERT.
MARCH I, 1080 FEBRUARY I081 . . . • ^75
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII HIS DEATH. FEBRU-
ARY I081 MAY 25, 1085 .... 207
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII HIS CHARACTER . 242
GREGORY VII AS POPE ; AND AS THE FOUNDER OF THE HIERO-
CRATIC SYSTEM . . . . . .2$^
THE AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM . . 277
APPENDIX ....... 292
INDEX ....... 306
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
I POPE GREGORY VII, FROM THE PORTRAIT IN THE LATERAN
{^Frontispiece)
II SOVANA ....... I
III WAR CHARIOT OF CREMONA, FROM AN OLD PRINT . . 1 6
IV CLOISTERS AT ST. PAUl's - WITHOUT - THE - WALLS, SHOWING
THIRTEENTH-CENTURY BYZANTINE WORK . . 97
V THE GREAT BENEDICTINE BASILICA OF ST. PAUL-WITHOUT-
THE-WALLS, ROME . . . . .112
VI STATUE OF GREGORY VII, OVER THE ALTAR IN HIS CHAPEL
IN ST. Matthew's cathedral at salerno . .177
VII BYZANTINE PULPIT IN ST. MATTHEW's CATHEDRAL, SALERNO 1 92
VIII THE CRYPT OF ST. MATTHEw's CATHEDRAL, WHICH IS AN
ANCIENT CHURCH UNDER THE PRESENT EDIFICE . . 257
#
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HILDEBRAND,
POPE GREGORY VII
CHAPTER I
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND TO THE DEATH OF NICHOLAS II,
1025 (?) JULY 27, I 06 I
Sovana — Birth of Hildebrand (1025 ?) — His personal appearance and origin — The
state of the Papacy in the early eleventh century — The Popes of the House of
Tusculum — Benedict IX, John Gratian (Gregory VI) and John, Bishop
of Sabina (Silvester III), rival Popes — The Emperor Henry III called in to
decide their claims — The Synod of Sutri (104.6) — The abdication of Benedict
IX and deposition of Gregory V^I — Hildebrand follows Gregory VI into
Germany — Clement II (Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg) chosen Pope — Simony
prohibited at a synod in Rome, January 1047 — Death of Clement II, Pope, as
1047 — Damasus II, August 9, 1048 — Bruno, Bishop of Toul, chosen October
Leo IX — Hildebrand aeconomus of the monastery of St. Paul — The fable that
Hildebrand was a monk — Synod of 1049 — Synod of Rheims — Leo IX's
expedition against the Normans, and battle of Civitella, 1053 — Hildebrand as
legate in France — The heresy of Berengarius — Death of Leo IX, 1054— Gebhard,
Bishop of Eichstadt, nominated Pope by Henry III, takes the name of \'ictor II
(April 13, 1055) — Synod of Florence, May 27, 1055 — Death of the Emperor
Henry III, 1056 — Death of Victor II, July 28, 1057 — Frederick of Lorraine
chosen Pope, as Stephen IX, August 2, 1057 — The Milanese Patarines — Death
of Stephen IX, March 29, 1058 — Nicholas II chosen Pope, November or
December 1058, at Siena — Anecdotes from the Annales Roman: of Hilde-
brand's treatment of the anti-Pope Benedict X — The Lateran decree of 1059 —
Hildebrand's attitude to this decree — Benzo's anecdote of the "Coronation" ot
Nicholas II — Berengarius of Tours at the Council of 1059 — Hildebrand Arch-
deacon, 1059 — The alliance of the Holy See with the Normans — Synod of
Melfi — Jealousy of the Imperialists and Germany of the Papacy — Death of
Nicholas II, July 27, 106 1.
In a country now laid desolate by malaria rises the little town
of Sovana (Saona). At the present day Sovana is almost completely
2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
abandoned, but in the Middle Ages it was a fairly important place.
Almost the whole valley of the Fiora, whose sluggish waters flow
close to Sovana, gives an impression of gloom to the traveller ; and the
ground is undermined by innumerable Etruscan vaults and tombs.
Near Sovana (Saona) lay a small village, " Rovacum " (Rovaco),
which has since disappeared, and here, says Bonitho, Hildebrand,
the future Pope Gregory VII, was born, of very humble parentage.
Hildebrand's ^ father, according to Bonitho and the catalogue of
the Popes in Watterich,^ was named Bunicus, or Bonizo, while Paul
of Bernried gives the name as Bonicus. Benzo relates that Hilde-
brand's father was a goatherd, and his mother a " suburbana " (a
native of the district around Rome). The name Hildebrand is
frequently met with in Italy after the Lombard invasion, and is
of German origin. In appearance Hildebrand cannot have been
imposing. His friend the Abbot Hugh of Cluny writes of his
small stature, and Benzo scornfully describes him as a " homuncio,"
/. e. a dwarf ; and another annalist writes of his swarthiness and
his ill-shapen appearance — valde fuscus ; deformis aspectu. The date
of Hildebrand's birth was probably about 1025. If not a Roman
by birth, he was an adopted Roman by education ; his youth was
passed in the Romanum Palatium, the Lateran school, where he
had as fellow-students several youths of the Roman aristocracy,
among them Alberic and Cenci, the latter the son of John Cenci,
prefect of Rome.
During the school-days of Hildebrand, in the early years of the
eleventh century, the Papacy had touched the lowest depths of its
degradation ; the feudal princes, the " refuse " of Rome, had gained
complete ascendency over the Popes. The Counts of Tusculum
had gradually assumed an immense power, and attached themselves
to the new Imperial House which succeeded to that of Saxony.
^ Besides this form of the name, various forms are met with in annalists and other
writers, of which the most important are : Aldeprandus, Eldebrandus, Hildebrantus,
Hildcprandus, Hellcbrandus, Hellibrandus, Heldebrandus, Holdebrandus, Ilde-
brandus, Yldebrandus and Oldcprandas.
^ Wattcrich, I, p. 293, v. I.
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 3
They bought and corrupted the venal people, and appointed
Popes by the most open and unabashed simony. The Papacy
became for a time an appanage in their family ; three of its members
in succession became the heads of Christendom, Benedict VIII,
John XIX and Benedict IX (1033-1046), and had almost
succeeded in making it hereditary in their family. The first two
Popes of the House of Tusculum had maintained the peace of Rome
for twenty years, and, as secular princes, they had not been wanting
in energy and vigour. For the third Pope, as if from wantonness,
the House provided a boy not more than ten or twelve years of
age, the nephew of his two predecessors.
Benedict IX, "blessed in name but not in deed," had all the
vices of a youth born to power, and for twelve years ruled in Rome,
while leading a life " so shameful, so foul and execrable " that one
of the later Popes, Victor III, "shuddered to describe it." His
rule was that of a " captain of thieves and brigands," and his crimes
passed unchecked and unavenged, for his brother Gregory was
patrician of the city, and another brother, Peter, was an active
supporter. Finally, in desperation, the citizens of Rome, weary of
his misrule and oppression, his robberies and murders, assembled
and drove him from the city, and elected another Pope in his stead :
John, Bishop of Sabina, who took the name of Silvester III. But
the consuls were partisans, doubtless relatives, of Benedict IX, and
he returned in triumph. Finally, this Pontiff sold his office to John
Gratian, another member of the Tusculan House, who had earned
a high reputation for his learning and probity, and who took
the name of Gregory VI (1044- 1046). According to one story,
Benedict was in love with his cousin, the daughter of one Gerard
de Saxo, but the father refused his daughter unless the Pope
would surrender the Papacy ! John Gratian, by his own admission,
had heaped up great wealth, which he, however, intended to devote
to pious uses. Among these " pious uses " must have been included
his own advancement, for he bought the suffrages of the people,
and with them the Papacy. As soon as he was established in the
Holy See, Gregory VI at once bent his attention towards the
4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
recovery of the lost papal possessions, and to the suppression of the
custom of plundering the pilgrims to Rome. So busy was he with
these schemes, that the Roman people gave him a colleague to
officiate in his stead, within the Church, when he was engaged in
war. So comparatively spotless was Gregory VI's character, so
pure his aims, in comparison with those of some of the preceding
Popes, that even Peter Damiani, afterwards the sternest of the
opposers of simony, could not refrain from welcoming his accession.
" Let the heavens rejoice," writes Damiani, " let the thousand-
formed head of the venomous serpent be crushed, ... let no false
coiner Simon make money now within the Church " — this of a Pope
who had purchased the Holy See ! Benedict's brother, however,
brought back the abdicated Pope and reinstated him, and there were
now three rival Popes in Rome, each one denouncing the others'
claims, and ready to defend his rights by force of arms, Benedict
holding the Lateran ; Gregory, Santa Maria Maggiore ; and
Silvester, St. Peter's and the Vatican.
This state of things was too scandalous to endure long. The
more serious portion of the Church, the more devout of the laity,
were revolted by this spectacle, and commissioned Peter, the Arch-
deacon of Rome, to implore the help of the Emperor Henry III,
a man of strong character and deep religious feeling. They
summoned him, in the language of a popular verse of the day, to
dissolve the *' trigamy " of the Church : —
Una simamitis rtups'it tr'ibus mantis.
Rex Henrice, omnipotcnt'ts vice,
Solve connubium iriforme dubium.
Henry III crossed the Alps, and was met by Gregory VI, nothing
doubting of his legitimacy, at Piacenza. Henry, however, did not,
as was expected, declare in Gregory's favour, but proceeded to
Sutri. There, in 1046, he assembled a council of many prelates,
and proceeded to examine into the claims of the three Popes.
Benedict IX at once made a voluntary abdication ; Silvester III was
condemned as an usurper, degraded from his orders and imprisoned
EARLY UFE OF HILDEBRAND 5
for life in a monastery, while Gregory VI was called upon to give
an account of his election. He was forced to admit that he
was guilty of simony, and stripping off the pontifical robes, and
entreating forgiveness, he quietly surrendered the Papacy. His
degradation was followed by his retirement to Germany. According
to one account, Gregory VI, in his earlier days as John Gratian,
had been one of the teachers of Hildebrand ; but, however this
may be, we know from Hildebrand's own lips that he followed the
Pope Gregory VI into exile in Germany.
The Synod of Sutri had now to consider the choice of a
successor to Gregory VI. To rescue the Papacy from the corrupting
influences of the barons of Rome, and the still powerful counts of
Tusculum, the only remedy seemed to be the appointment of a
stranger to Roman politics, and a foreigner. The Germans declared
that in the whole Church of Rome there was scarcely a man who
was not disqualified for the position of Chief Pontiff, either by
illiteracy, or as tainted with simony, or through living in concu-
binage. Finally, a German prelate, Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg,
was chosen by Henry III and consecrated Pope, and when the
Emperor entered Rome the customary appeal to the Roman people
to state whether they knew any one worthier to be Pope was
received in silence. The new Pontiff was given the name of
Clement II, and Henry III and his wife, the Empress Agnes,
received the Imperial Crown at Rome from his hands.
In January 1047 ^ council was summoned at Rome in which
simony was forbidden under pain of excommunication. The
extreme party among the clergy were disposed to remove from his
office any one of their number who had been guilty of this offence,
but were reduced to admit that if this reform were carried into effect
the Church would be deprived of nearly all its pastors, since the
orders conferred by a simoniacal bishop were, at this period, declared
null, and his episcopal acts void. The council, assembled to reform,
was interrupted by a dispute for precedence between the Archbishops
of Ravenna, Milan and Aquileia ; and Peter Damiani complains
that Clement II did not combat simony with sufficient energy. He
6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY Vll
was allowed no time to carry out his reforms more completely ;
Rome might herself seem impatient of her foreign master, and its
fatal climate — " Rome, devourer of men ; Rome, rich in fevers "—
asserted its supremacy. The first of the German Popes died before
the first year of his pontificate was concluded.
A short-lived attempt was made by Benedict IX, under the
protection of the Marquis of Tuscany, to make another bid for the
Pontificate ; but he fled again from Rome when a new German
Pope, nominated by the Emperor, arrived in the city with an escort
of German soldiers. This second choice of the Emperor — Boppo,
Bishop of Brixen, a bishop " full of pride," according to Bonitho — had
hardly time to reach Rome and assume the name of Damasus II
when he was carried ofl'^ by Roman fever, after a pontificate of only
twenty-three days. The singularly brief pontificates of the two
German Popes could not but give rise to rumours of foul means
employed by the unscrupulous Italians to rid themselves of these
stran2:ers.
After Pope Gregory VI had died in Germany, probably at
Cologne, in 1048, Hildebrand had no further reason to remain in
that country. That Hildebrand was present at the assembly held
at Worms at the end of November or the beginning of December
1048 is proved by a passage in the life of Leo IX by Bruno of
Segni, but nothing else is recorded of his sojourn in Germany. It
is possible that the Archbishop of Cologne was at this assembly, as
he was present at the assembly at Mainz in 1049, ^"^ Hildebrand
may have accompanied him and have been introduced by him to
Bruno, Bishop of Toul.
It was at Worms, after the death of Damasus II, that Bruno
was chosen Pope, with the concurrence both of the Emperor
Henry III and the Roman delegates ; but Bruno stipulated as a
condition of his acceptance that he should first proceed to Rome,
and be canonically elected by the voice of the clergy and the people.
At Rome he was received with great cordiality, and took the name,
at his consecration, of Leo IX. Hildebrand, who followed him to
Rome, became cardinal-subdeacon, and was appointed by him in
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 7
1050 to the post of ceconomus^ or rector, of the monastery of St. Paul.
According to a very Improbable statement of Bonitho, he was
appointed (xconomiis of the Roman Church.
The fact that Hildebrand is mentioned in a Bull (1066) of
Alexander II as ceconomus^ or " rector," of St. Paul is a proof
that he was not the abbot of that monastery, in spite of Lambert
of Hersfeld's assertion that, in 1058, the legate Hildebrand was
"Abbot of St. Paul." Hildebrand never became a monk, but,
during his connection with this monastery he must have adopted,
temporarily, the habit of the order, and worn it when legate in
Germany — hence Lambert's statement, and the statement of the
Synod of Brixen that Hildebrand, although no monk, had for his
own evil ends adopted the dress of the order.^ The fact that
Hildebrand's enemies of the Henrician party, such as Benzo, Beno,
Wenrich, Petrus Crassus and Ekkehard of Aura, reiterate that he
was a " monk " is not conclusive ; their object was merely to cast
aspersions upon him as a " bad " monk ; while the efforts of the
Gregorian writers, Donizo, Ordericus Vitalis, Manegold of Lauter-
bach and Bonitho, were directed to prove that Hildebrand was a
true monk, and a distinguished one.
Bonitho's statement that Hildebrand became a monk at the rich
and influential monastery of Cluny, after the death of Gregory VI,
is more precise than those of the other Gregorian writers, but was
equally influenced by the desire to silence the slanders of the
Henricians, who declared that Hildebrand was a vagabond monk,
who had quitted his cloister without permission, and so drawn upon
^ That Hildebrand was no monk is proved by many small indications. Peter
Damiani, a monk himself, in his letters and works always refers to Hildebrand as
" subdeacon " or " archdeacon," never as monk. Didier, Abbot of Monte Cassino,
also does not mention Hildebrand as monk in a dialogue in which Hildebrand is
mentioned, and where the fact of their belonging to the monastic orders is carefully
recorded, even in the case of quite unimportant personages. The Synod of Brixen,
while reproaching Hildebrand with his use of the monastic habit, expressly states that
he was no true monk ; " that he studied " hab'itu monachus videri et profess'wne non
esse. Hildebrand, in his letters, never refers to an earlier life in a monastery.
8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
himself the censures of the Church.^ The myth of Hildebrand's
connection with Cluny may have been originated by his visit to
that monastery during the pontificate of Leo IX. No notice was
taken of it until the twelfth century, when it gradually gained
universal credence, and it is repeated by modern historians, such as
Creighton, Milman and others.
The new Pope, Leo IX, was a distinguished Churchman ; his
early life is related by his affectionate and admiring follower,
Archdeacon Wibert, with its full portion of legendary marvel.
Though of noble descent, and closely related to the Emperor
Henry III — the Emperor Conrad's mother and the father of Leo
were cousins-german — the Churchman predominated in him ; he
had hitherto contented himself with the unimportant Bishopric of
Toul, where his life was marked by his great gentleness to those
below him. According to his biographer, he was skilled in all the
arts of his time, especially in music ; before his pontificate he had
won some slight reputation as a military leader, having commanded
the vassals of the Bishopric of Toul in one of the Emperor
Conrad's expeditions into Italy ; and he had interfered as ambassador
between the Empire and the kingdom of France.
As Pope, one of Leo's first acts was to hold the well-known
Easter Synod of 1049, '^^ which he succeeded in making clear how
strongly his convictions went against every kind of simony ; and
the celibacy of the clergy was anew enjoined. The greater part of
the year that followed was occupied in one of those progresses
through Italy, Germany and France which form so marked a
feature of Leo's strenuous pontificate. He did not restrict his
^ In Bonitho's account Hildebrand was desired by Pope Leo IX (when at
Besanfon with the Abbot of Cluny) to devote himself to the service of the Roman
Church. The Abbot therefore gives Hildebrand permission to go to Rome.
Unfortunately for Bonitho's anecdote, at the date he gives for the first meeting
of Leo IX and Hildebrand there was no Abbot of Cluny. Abbot Odilo had died
January 1, 1049, and Hugh was appointed in his stead at the end of February,
when Hildebrand and Leo had met in Rome. (See Gregor HI , sein Leben und
M'irken, by W. Martens. Vol. II.)
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 9
attempts for the reformation of the Church to the city of Rome, or
even Italy, but strove to include the whole of Latin Christendom
under his personal superintendence. To do this, a religious
visitation of the three great kingdoms of Western Europe was
necessary. Latterly the Popes, perhaps fortunately for the credit
of the Holy See abroad, had restricted themselves to Rome.
At Cologne, Leo IX met the Emperor, who was engaged in
a war with Godfrey, Duke of Upper Lorraine, and the Duke's
allies. Leo excommunicated Godfrey — who was accused of burning
churches in his marauding expeditions — and the Duke, bowing
before the anathema, came as a humble suppliant to Aix-la-
Chapelle, where he submitted to a most humiliating penance — that
of a public scourging before the altar.
When Leo IX proceeded to France, at a meeting of the higher
clergy at Rheims many important reforming decrees were passed,
and careful inquiry was made into the cases of those bishops
accused of simony. Simony and the marriage of the clergy were
the principal matters dealt with at this council. The synod is
remarkable for the first tentative attempt to attack the " old custom "
of lay investiture ; and though this attack is restricted to a council
convened for France, and attended by French prelates, the pre-
scription ne quis sine electione cleri et populi ad regimen ecclesiasticum
provehetur is phrased in general terms. The Norman historian
Ordericus Vitalis sums up the acts of this council as follows :
" Priests were forbidden to bear arms, or to have wives. The
bearing of arms they gave up gladly, but even now they will not
give up their harlots (such is the name with which their wives are
stigmatized), nor submit to chastity."
To the Council of Rheims succeeded a German council at
Mayence, attended by forty prelates ; from Germany Leo returned
to Italy, and, after having passed Christmas at Verona, proceeded
to Rome. In 1050 he presided over synods at Salerno, Siponto
and Vercelli, and in September, immediately after the Synod of
Vercelli, he revisited Germany, visiting some of the great cities, and
everywhere making munificent grants, confirming the rights and
lo THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
possessions of monasteries, A third journey beyond the Alps took
place in 1052, when Leo appeared as a mediator between Henry III
and Andrew, King of Hungary, joining Henry at Presburg ; but
his mediation was rejected by both parties. The Pope withdrew,
and peace was not established until the following year, and then
without his interference.
The Pope and the Emperor celebrated Christmas, together with
many of the great prelates of Germany, at Worms. Leo, it is clear,
wished to restore to himself and his successors their rank as Italian
potentates. The Holy See laid claim to a great number of wealthy
churches and abbeys in Germany, among them the famous abbey of
Fulda and the Bishopric of Bamberg ; and these endowments Leo
agreed to surrender in exchange for the city and territory of Bene-
ventum, stipulating at the same time for a strong force to put
him in possession of that city and subdue the hostile Normans.
The Emperor, however, was persuaded to withdraw the greater part
of the troops which were to escort Leo into Italy and put him in
possession of Beneventum ; but the Pope retained in his service
five hundred Suabian knights, and with these, and a host of mer-
cenaries who gathered to his standard, he marched through Italy at
the head of his own forces — almost the first warrior Pope. This act
aroused considerable criticism at the time, and it has been supposed
that he was urged to it by Hildebrand. There is no evidence to
support this supposition ; but, on the other hand, there is little
doubt that Hildebrand's warlike character would be entirely in
sympathy with such an act on the part of the Pope. Later, as
Gregory VII, Hildebrand himself headed an unsuccessful expedition
against the Normans.
In a stern recluse like Peter Damiani the Pope's warlike
measures aroused a strong protest. " When the saints have power,"
he writes, " they do not even slay heretics and infidels ; " and
proceeds to condemn Leo IX, comparing his wars to sins like the
denial of Peter and the adultery of David. It is amusing to read
Damiani's commentator trying to make out that Damiani does not
condemn the Pope's use of the sword as a temporal prince !
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND n
To Pope Leo, Southern Italy afforded a likely field for the
extension and consolidation of his sovereignty. It was divided
between three races bitterly hostile to each other — the Greeks, the
Saracens, and the Normans — of which the Saracens were the weakest
power, the Normans the strongest and most united. The deliver-
ance of Southern Italy from these half-Christianized people seemed,
perhaps, a justification to Leo for his expedition. As Leo wrote to
the Greek Emperor, Constantine Monomachus, the Normans were
ravaging Italy with more than pagan impiety, they spared neither
age nor sex, and not merely slew Christians indiscriminately in
promiscuous fray, but put them to death slowly with torture, and
plundered, burned and razed churches.
The advent of the Normans in Southern Italy had a far-reaching
effect upon the history of the peninsula. In the beginning their
rule was of the slightest. Some Norman adventurers, on pilgrimage
to St. Michael's shrine on Monte Gargano in 1017, came to the
help of the Lombard cities of Apuleia against the Greeks. Twelve
years later there was a settlement of Normans at Aversa, under
their leader, Count Rainulf, consisting of a body of adventurers
making their own fortunes and gathering round them followers
from all quarters. They fought simplv for their own hands, and
took what they could by the right of the stronger. From this
small centre the Norman power radiated ; and by playing off the
Greeks against the Lombards, and the Lombards against the Greeks,
the Normans gradually became the most considerable force in
Southern Italy. William of Hauteville was proclaimed Count of
Apuleia.
Leo IX fixed his quarters at Civitella, and launched the thunders
of excommunication against the Normans. The Normans had
mustered 3,000 knights, men who were said to be able to cleave an
enemy from the head to the saddle with one blow, and were com-
manded by Humfrey, Richard of Aversa, and the yet undistinguished
Robert Guiscard, who was to play such an important role in the
pontificate of Gregory VII. For three days the opposing armies
watched each other ; on the fourth day (June 18, 1053) the
12 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Normans rushed down In three squadrons from the hill they occu
pied and utterly routed the composite and ill-disciplined army of
Leo IX. After this crushing defeat, Leo was received with every
token of submission by the Norman troops, who entreated his
pardon and expressed deep repentance ; but the Pope was at the
same time detained in honourable captivity, with Count Humfrey
as gaoler or attendant upon him, from June 1053 to March 12,
1054, at Beneventum.
During his imprisonment Leo resorted to the severest practices
of austerity ; he wore nothing but sackcloth, and the few hours he
allowed for sleep were passed on a carpet, with a stone for a pillow.
Every day he celebrated Mass, and almost all the rest of the day
and the night were passed in prayer and the recital of the Psalter.
His admirers glorify the period of his imprisonment with many
miracles. At length he was released by the Normans, and returned
to Rome — worn out by his austerities and the earlier labours of his
active pontificate — where he died April 19, 1057, before the altar of
St. Peter's.
Hildebrand comes into prominence during Leo's pontificate.
In the early part of 1050 he received the minor orders and the sub-
diaconate. As subdeacon he became, either ipso facto or by special
nomination, one of the cardinal clerics.
In the year 1053 he was sent as legate to France to
investigate the question of the heretical teachings of Berengarius,
with which an Easter synod of April 29, 1050, had been largely
occupied.
Berengarius, a distinguished mediaeval theologian, was born at
Tours, 998 A.D., and was appointed in 1040 Archdeacon of
Angers. Shortly after this, rumours began to spread of his heretical
teaching with regard to the Sacrament of the Altar. His views
came to the notice of Leo IX, and Berengarius was condemned as
a heretic, without being heard, at a synod at Rome, and at another
at Vercelli, both held in 1050. Hildebrand, at the Council of Tours
(1054), was satisfied with the fact that Berengarius did not deny the
Real Presence of Christ in the Sacramental lilements, and succeeded
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 13
in persuading the assembly to be content with a general acknow-
ledgment from him that the bread and wine, after consecration, were
the Body and Blood of Christ, without requiring him to define how.
He also suggested, or ordered, that the accused should appeal
directly to the Pope, and have the case investigated at Rome.
This counsel has been interpreted as an attempt to glorify the
Roman See, to " centralize " all authority there ; but a simpler
explanation is that Hildebrand, who was no philosopher, did not
feel capable of deciding the question himself. A personal liking
for Berengarius also tended to make Hildebrand incline to adopt
gentle measures.
During Hildebrand's stay in France he visited for the first — and
probably the last — time the great monastery of Cluny, so memorable
as a centre of reform in the Church.
Before the mission was concluded Pope Leo IX had died in
Rome. It is clear that Hildebrand had a deep and sincere respect
for the saintly Leo, whom later, when Pope himself, he calls his
" father," and describes as sanctus. It is a mistake, however, to
assume, as some historians have assumed, that Hildebrand was,
during Leo's pontificate, the " power behind the Papacy " ; and it is
noteworthy, in this connection, to observe that Leo's biographer,
Wibert of Toul, never once mentions Hildebrand's name, and that
Petrus of Monte Cassino only introduces his name after Leo's
death.
Hildebrand, who was in France at the time of the death of
Leo IX, travelled thence, with instructions from Rome, to the
Court of Henry III. The object of his mission was to ask the
Emperor to nominate a new Pope. Henry's choice fell upon
Bishop Gebhard of Eichstadt, one of his chief advisers, a man
devoted to the Empire and to the Salic House. Bishop Gebhard
came to Italy, and upon his consecration took the name of
Victor II.
The Emperor, at the head of an army, followed the Pope into
Italy, where a new enemy had arisen. Godfrey the Bearded, the
deposed Duke of Lorraine, had been Henry's ancient antagonist,
14 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY Vll
and as such had, as we have said, been anathematized by Pope
Leo IX, though his brother, Frederick of Lorraine, had been
elevated by Leo to the cardinalate. Godfrey had strengthened his
position by marrying Beatrice, widow of Boniface, Marquis of
Tuscany, who had been murdered a few years before : so that the
whole estates of the most powerful family in Italy (which, afterwards
falling to the Countess Matilda, were the source of power and inde-
pendence to Gregory VII) were in the hands of the Emperor's
enemy. The reduction of the House of Lorraine was now the
chief object of Henry III. The mother and her daughter fell into
his hands, and Godfrey himself was forced to abandon his Italian
estates and fly to Germany. Even the Cardinal Frederick did not
feel himself secure from the heavy hand of the Emperor, and leaving
the abbey of Monte Cassino, took refuge in a more unapproachable
monastery in the rocky island of Thermita.
On May 27, 1054, Pope Victor II held a council at Florence,
at which the Emperor was present. Simony was condemned anew ;
a fresh sentence was passed against the already excommunicated
Berengarius ; and the alienation of the estates of the Church was
placed under anathema.
Next year the Emperor summoned Pope Victor II to Germany.
The Empire was in open revolt, for the discontented Godfrey of
Lorraine had organized an insurrection, and the Pope hastened to
the aid of his old master. Victor II was with the Emperor when
he died, in consequence of a fever caught from violent exertion in
the chase, October 5, 1056.
The death of Henry III in the prime of life had a far-reaching
effect upon the relations of the Papacy and the Empire : for the long
minority of Henry's infant son was a source of strength to the
Papacy, " in which there are no minorities."
As guardian of Henry's son, the young Henry IV, and adviser
of the Empress Agnes, Victor II wielded his enormous power with
great tact and skill, for the maintenance of peace throughout the
Empire, and for the strengthening of the papal power. He recon-
ciled Godfrey of Lorraine to the Empire, and also another enemy,
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 15
Baldwin of Flanders. The papal power was now secure for some
time from the intervention of a King of Germany in a papal
election ; and upon Victor II's death at Arezzo in 1057 the
Romans proved that they had shaken off the power of the Empire
by the method of their election of the new Pope.
Victor II, who had entrusted Hildebrand with a mission to
France to reform the Church and to depose simoniacal prelates,
was respected by him, and passed as a true representative of the
Roman Church ; ^ and there is no evidence for Benzo's malicious
assertion that Hildebrand fawned upon the new Pope like a canis
imporlunus, but was distrusted by him and excluded from the
se ere turn apostolicum.
Upon the death of Victor II the House of Lorraine was in
the ascendant. Duke Godfrey had been permitted to take
again his hereditary rank, and he and his wife, Beatrice of Tuscany,
had been acknowledged by Victor II as the joint representatives of
the Empire and rulers of Italy. The Romans determined to
seize the opportunity of reasserting their privilege by themselves
choosing a Pope without regard to the sanction of the Emperor,
and elected Frederick, younger brother of Godfrey of Lorraine,
the hereditary enemy of the Imperial House.
There was no deputation to Germany to the Empress-Regent to
nominate the new Pope, who was chosen by acclamation and with-
out any outside influence. It does not appear that Hildebrand
played any part in this election.
Five days after the death of Victor II, Frederick, under the
name of Stephen IX, was consecrated in the church of San Pietro
in Vincoli, and installed in the Lateran Palace.
Stephen IX, an austere monk, appointed Peter Damiani, the
stern ascetic and champion of clerical celibacy, to the cardinalate,
a measure which showed to the world the inclination of his mind
upon this burning ecclesiastical question. Damiani was always a
recluse at heart, and it was only by pressure that he was compelled
1 R. I. 19 ; R. VI. 11.
1 6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to take upon himself the episcopate and the cardinalate by his
" persecutor," as he called Stephen IX, rather than his patron. It
was during the pontificate of Stephen that the Milanese Patarines,
the party in favour of the reform of the Milanese married clergy,
entered into relations with the Holy See.
Milan had the most numerous and best-organized clergy of the
day. According to a proverb of the time, Milan was to be admired
for its clergy, Pavia for its pleasures, Rome for its buildings, and
Ravenna for its churches. The Church of Milan used the Ambros-
ian Liturgy, and supported the tradition of a married clergy. In
the assertion of this latter privilege it defied Rome, and was
evidently slow to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope. The
practice of marriage was widespread, we may say almost universal,
among the Milanese clergy, who were publicly, ecclesiastically and
legally married with ring and dowry, precisely as were the laity.
The more austere clergy, headed by three persons, raised objections
to this privilege : these were Anselm of Badagio, Bishop of
Lucca ; a certain Ariald, a man of humble station ; and an eloquent
noble, named Landulph. Landulph and Ariald began to agitate
against the married clergy, preaching to the populace and the
peasantry. At a festival for the translation of the relics of the
martyr Nazarius, the two parties broke into open conflict. Ariald
had driven the clergy out of the choir of the church, and had
caused a paper to be written, binding them to maintain chastity,
to which he endeavoured to compel all ecclesiastics to subscribe.
A priest harangued against Ariald and struck him, and a general
tumult followed, during which the populace — on the side of
reform — insulted the higher clergy, plundered their houses, and
forced them to abandon their wives, and divorce them by a
summary process.
Ariald and Landulph proceeded to Rome to enlist the Pope
upon their side, while Cardinal Dionysius, a Milanese, appealed
against the violence of the Patarines and the stirring up of the
populace, and finally Pope Stephen appointed a mission, consisting
of Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, and Hildebrand, to proceed to Milan.
Formt tclu^ndi Carkocivm ui/yojie^ •^uod c^m ItaUji Twi-tutihn^ famtlture^uit'- . A'>yr' Ca" ». ~j
WAR CHARIOT OF CREMONA, IROM AN OLD PRINT
STo/acep- i6
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 17
The legates spent several days in striving to calm the popular
excitement, and encouraging the Patarines ^ to pursue peacefully,
and in unison with the Holy See, the work of reformation.
On leaving Milan, the two legates went to Germany to defend
the election of the Pope before the Empress Agnes. Although the
late Emperor Henry had no formally-accepted right to nominate
to the Papacy, he had done so in the case of the late Popes, and it
had been understood that the influence and consent of the Emperor
was an indispensable element in the election. Moreover, the new
Pope, as brother of Godfrey of Lorraine, was hardly a persona grata
at the Imperial Court. The Pontiff, however, wished to avoid
a direct breach with the Empire, and in this mission, which was
ultimately successful, several weeks were spent.
A strong proof of the confidence reposed by the Pope in
Hildebrand is shown by the fact that shortly before his death he
compelled the Roman clergy and people to take an oath not to
elect his successor to the Papacy before Hildebrand returned from
Germany, hoping thereby to secure a free election, independent of
Imperial influence. At Christmas (1057) the Pope was seized with
a violent illness, and was at the point of death. His health
improved, but he was labouring under a mortal illness. He set
out from Rome for Florence ; turned aside to visit the saintly
Gualbert in his retirement at Vallombrosa ; and a few days later —
on March 29, 1058- — died in Gualbert's arms.
The death of the Pope caused great agitation in Rome. At
once the old feudatory barons caused to be consecrated, under the
name of Benedict X, John, Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri, of the famous
house of Crescentius. Hildebrand was absent from Rome at the
time of Stephen's death, and on his return to Italy in June he
attempted to carry out the wishes of the late Pope with regard to
the election of his successor. An election in Rome was impossible,
owing to the strength of the party of the Roman feudatory barons,
who stood firmly for their creature, Benedict X ; Hildebrand,
1 The nobles and the married bishops and priests called the reform party
" patarini," i.e. clowns, or ragged men.
1 8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
therefore, decided, with his party, that the election should take place
at Siena. Here, in November or December, his candidate, Gerard,
Bishop of Florence, was proposed and chosen Pope. The enthrone-
ment was deferred. Hildebrand, as representing the last wishes of
Stephen IX, played an important role in the election, and chose
the new name of the Pope, " Nicholas." We need not suppose,
however, that Hildebrand was omnipotent at this juncture ; dis-
tinguished cardinals, like Peter Damiani and Humbert, were present
at Siena. Later, it was to these cardinal-bishops, and not to Hilde-
brand, that Nicholas II entrusted the direction of ecclesiastical affairs.
The epoch-making manifesto of the year 1059 is not from the pen
of Hildebrand, but of a cardinal-bishop. It has often been asserted
that Hildebrand, when in the neighbourhood of the Imperial Court
(or later, from Italy), had submitted his choice, the Bishop Gerard,
to the Empress-Regent, and that she empowered him to proceed to
the election.
As Hildebrand had taken part in a mission to the Imperial
Court during the lifetime of Henry III, to ask the Emperor to
nominate a Pope (Victor II), such an act on his part is neither
absolutely impossible nor improbable. Stephen IX died in March,
and Nicholas II was not elected until the close of the year, so that
there would have been ample time for negotiations between the
Court and Hildebrand's party. But, on the other hand, it is highly
improbable, after the successful precedent of Stephen IX's election,
that the consent of the Empress-Regent was asked before the
election of the Bishop of Florence to the Papacy. After such a
victory, new concessions to the Court would have been an absurdity.
Again, Hildebrand acted in the election of Nicholas II as the
representative of the late Pope, who would have been strongly
opposed to such a concession. The submissive message to the
Empress Agnes, laying the nomination at her feet and those of her
son, which we find recorded by Lambert of Hersfcld, and in the
Annales Altahenses^ we must attribute to the desire in Germany to
gloss over the second check to the Court. A strong presumption
in favour of the idea that the Empress Agnes learnt of the
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 19
nomination of the new Pope after his election, is afforded by the two
writers Benzo and Bonitho, who, from widely-differing motives,
relate that the election was carried through without influence from
the Court.
The new Pope was supported by Godfrey of Lorraine, the
Duke of Tuscany. Escorted by Godfrey and Guibert, Bishop of
Parma — recently named by the Empress Agnes Chancellor for the
Kingdom of Italy — Nicholas II proceeded to Sutri, where, in a
council of bishops, Benedict X was declared to be " an intruder
and a perjurer," and Nicholas II the rightful Pope. Resistance
was vain. Nicholas advanced to Rome, and was welcomed by the
clergy and the people, if not by the barons.
The Annates Romani give the following account of the fate
of Benedict X, and his persecution by Hildebrand. The whole
narrative, however, is biassed and untrustworthy, and is merely
quoted for its curious party spirit ^ —
" Nicholas II besieged his rival in Galeria, where the Count of
that fortress had offered him refuge, but now repented of his
generosity. Benedict mounted the walls, and began to make signs
and utter curses against the Roman people. ' You have forced
me, against my will, to be your Pope ; give me security for my
life and I will renounce the Pontificate.' Thirty Roman nobles
thereupon pledged themselves as guarantees for his safe reception
in Rome, and Nicholas II proceeded to Rome, followed by his
rival, who had stripped off his pontifical robes. Thirty days after,
Hildebrand, the Archcieacon, seized him by force, and placed him
before Nicholas and a council in the Lateran church. They
denuded him before the altar of his episcopal vestments (in which
he had been again invested), set him thus despoiled before the
synod, and put a document in his hand containing a long confession
of every kind of wickedness. He resisted for a long time, knowing
himself to be perfectly innocent of such crimes, but he was
eventually compelled to read the document with very many groans
1 Milman's L^itbi Christimntyy Vol. III.
20 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
and tears. His mother stood by, her hair dishevelled, and her
bosom bare, uttering sobs and lamentations. His kindred were
weeping around. Hildebrand then cried aloud to the people :
' These are the deeds of the Pope whom ye have chosen ! '
They then re-arrayed him in the pontifical robes, and formally
deposed him. He was allowed to retire to the monastery of St.
Agnes, where he lived in the utmost wretchedness. They pro-
hibited him from exercising all holy functions, and would not allow
him to enter the choir. By the intercession of the Archpriest of
St. Anastasia, he was permitted at length to read the Epistle, and
a short time after the Gospel also ; but he was never suffered to
celebrate Mass. He lived to the pontificate of Hildebrand, who,
when informed of his death, said, * In an evil hour did I behold
him ; I have committed a great sin.' Hildebrand commanded
that he should be buried with pontifical honours ! "
The first act of historical importance in Nicholas II's pontificate
was the fundamental change introduced in the method of electing
the Pope. An immense and steadily-increasing controversy centres
round the Lateran decree of 1059, which is to be attributed, not to
Hildebrand but, to the Cardinal-Bishop Humbert. On April 13,
1059, Nicholas II assembled at the Lateran a synod attended by one
hundred and thirteen bishops. By this council the nomination to
the Papacy was vested in the cardinal-bishops, who, upon the death
of the Pope, were to assemble and propose to the other cardinals
one candidate, whom these latter could either accept or reject. If
the candidate of the cardinal-bishops were approved, the choice was
fixed and unalterable by the action either of the lower clergy, or the
Roman people, or the King of Germany, or the Emperor. The
choice was thus vested in a small college, consisting ot — at most —
seven persons — an unheard-of innovation in the history of the
Papacy. The natural inference is, that this scheme was drawn up by
a cardinal-bishop. The Cardinal-Bishop Humbert's work, Adversus
SimomacoSj shows many points in common with the Lateran decrees,
so that the latter may be safely attributed to his initiative. The root-
idea of the work Adversus Simoniacos is that the intervention of the
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 21
State in ^ ecclesiastical affairs is to be minimised and removed, and
that the election of bishops should be free from all lay interference.
Again, in Humbert's book, the old rule, that the bishop is to be
chosen from the diocese, if possible,- is emphasized ; and this is also
the case in the Lateran decree of 1059. Humbert, in his book,
allows, in the election of bishops, princes to assent to the choice after
that choice is made ; and the Lateran decree allows the consensus
subsequens to the King Henry IV, as the honor debitusS'
The council established that the nominee to the Papacy should
always be one of the Roman clergy, unless no eligible person could
be found among their number ; and the preponderance thus acquired
for Italian interests had a far-reaching effect upon the subsequent
character of the Papacy. Rome was to be the place of election, but
even Rome, by tumult or obstinacy, might forfeit this privilege.
Wherever the cardinal-bishops assembled, there was Rome. In
case the election could not take place within the city, the cardinals
might proceed elsewhere.
This decree, with an anathema skilfully worded from among the
most terrible imprecations in the Scriptures, was ratified by the consent
of all. The anathema condemned the offender against the statute
to excommunication, and misfortune in this life. '* May he endure
the wrath of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that of
' Est prima in eligendo — sa:cularis Statuinius — ut — re/igiosi viri produces
potestasy qiiam velit nolit siibsequetur ord'inis sint in promovenda pontijicis ekctione^ reliqu.
plebis clerique consensus. Quod debuit fieri auteni (i.e. the lower clergy, the people
postremum factum est primum {Adv. Sim., and the king) sequaces {Lnt. Dec, § 2).
- Tunc autem de altera eligitur ecrJesia, Eligant autem de ipsius ecclesia primis.
si de civitatis ipsius clericis, cui episcopus si reperitur idoneus, vel si de ipsa non in-
ordinandus sit, nullus digitus, quod evenire venitur, ex alia assumatur {Lat. Dec, § 3)
non credimus, poterit reperiri {Adv. Sim.,
V' f 04).
2 Reges et principes primatibus et metro- Salvo debito honore et reverentiafilii nostri
politanis in electione episcoporum fiunt priores, Heinrici, qui — rex habetur et futurus im-
qui deberent tantummodo consensum cleri et perator speratur {Lat. Dec, § 4).
populi consensu suo confirmare {Adv. Sim.,
p. 204).
22 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
St. Peter and St. Paul, both in this life and in the next ! May
his house be desolate, and no one dwell in his tents ! Be his
children orphans, his wife a widow, his sons outcasts and beggars !
May the usurer consume his substance, the stranger reap his labours ;
may all the world and all the elements war upon him, and the merits
of all the saints who sleep in the Lord, confound and inflict visible
vengeance during this life ! Whosoever, on the other hand, shall
keep this law, by the authority of St. Peter is absolved from all his
sins."
What was Hildebrand's attitude towards this decree .'' He
subscribed to the acts of the synod, and must have welcomed the
paragraph reducing the influence of the King of Germany to an
unmeaning consent to a completed choice. The prominent position
of the cardinal-bishops must have displeased him and his colleagues,
the other cardinals. The accusation made at the Diet of Worms
in 1076, that he was "author and instigator"^ of the decree is
unfounded. It rests upon the malice of Cardinal Hugh Candidus,
who was well aware of the tumultuous nature of Hildebrand's own
elevation to the Papacy in 1073, and wished by pointing the
contrast between the stormy acclamation of Hildebrand at that date
and the Lateran decree of 1059 (of which, he asserted, Hildebrand
was the originator) to blacken his character. It is noteworthy that
the later Synod of Brixen (1080) does not repeat the assertion of
Hildebrand's responsibility for this decree.
Benzo has a fanciful and fabricated anecdote of this council,
that Hildebrand — whom he hated with an inextinguishable hatred
— had bribed the Romans, and at the synod crowned the Pope,
Nicholas II, with a royal crown. Upon this crown was the
inscription —
Corona regni de manu Dei :
Diadema imperii de jnanii Petri.
Ry which he wishes to express that (i) the Pope (not the King —
Patrician) was by God's will sovereign of Rome ; (2) the Pope, as
^ Hujus consilii sen decrct'i tii ipse auctor ct penuasor subscriptorquc fuisti.
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 23
such, is superior to the Emperor. Alexander II also (after the death
of Nicholas II), Benzo continues, was crowned "like a king" in
the synod ; and Hildebrand, he says, upon his elevation to the
Papacy, was crowned, as he expresses it briefly, d^monium coronatur.
Martens rightly dismisses the anecdote to the " kingdom of
fables." ^
The Lateran Council, influenced by the Cardinal-Bishop Humbert,
protested against lay investiture, and forbade " any cleric or priest
to accept a benefice at the hands of a layman." The same council,
the second of Lateran, which had made this epoch-making provision
for a new form of election for the Pope, aspired also to establish
unity of doctrine, and authoritatively to decide the theological
controversy that had arisen around the teaching of Berengarius of
Tours.
At this council Berengarius was temporarily induced to admit
the doctrine of the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Trusting in Hildebrand's support, Berengarius had presented himself
at the synod, but found himself forced by the fear of death to
signify his acceptance of the doctrine " that the bread and wine,
after consecration, are not merely a symbol, but the true Body and
the true Blood of Christ, and that this Body is touched and broken
by the hands of the priests, and by the teeth of the faithful, not
merely in a symbolical, but in a real manner."
He had no sooner done so than he bitterly repented of his
act, and on the principle that, as he says, " to take an oath which
never ought to be taken is to estrange oneself from God, but to
retract what one has wrongfully sworn to is to return back to
Him," when he arrived safely in France, free from the imminent
fear of compulsory martyrdom, he attacked transubstantiation as
vehemently as ever, and reassumed the contemptuous language of
a superior mind towards Nicholas II. This elusive heretic, who
continued throughout his life to " bend but not to break," wrote
and taught without being interfered with by his ecclesiastical
^ Gregor FII, sein Lehen tind Wirken, by VV. Martens. \o\. I.
24 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
superiors, greatly to the scandal of the zealots of the day, in whose
eyes Berengarius was " that apostle of Satan," and the Academy of
Tours " the Babylon of our time."
Hildebrand, in September of the year 1059, received deacon's
orders, and shortly afterwards became Archdeacon — according to
Bonitho, during the pontificate of Stephen IX, according to Paul of
Bernried, under Leo IX ; while the cardinal-bishops, the " eyes "
of the Pope, and Cardinal Humbert in particular, were entrusted with
the direction of ecclesiastical matters. Hildebrand's sphere was the
political relations of the Holy See. The alliance with the Normans —
now in almost undisputed possession of the whole of Southern Italy
— was his work. Nicholas II ratified the grant of Leo IX ^ to
Robert Guiscard, and confirmed the title of Count. The sympathy
of Hildebrand for the Normans — both for "William the Conqueror
and for the Norman princes in Southern Italy — is a marked feature
of his policy. Benzo, Hildebrand's bitterest enemy, writes of
Prandellus (a contemptuous diminutive of Hildebrand) as a partisan
of the Nullimanni. Hildebrand little suspected the difficulties
which would arise later, when he himself was Pope, between the
Holy See and its new vassal.
Nicholas II made a progress, partly of a spiritual, partly of a
secular character, in the south. He held a synod at Melfi, where
the Norman, Richard, was invested in the principality of Capua,
and Robert Guiscard in the Dukedom of Apuleia, of Calabria, and
of Sicily, which he was to recover from the Saracens. The Pope,
on returning to Rome, was followed by his new allies, who were
to undertake the grateful task of humiliating the Roman barons.
" They trod underfoot the pride of the Counts of Tusculum,
Prasneste, and Nomentana," writes Bonitho ; they crossed the
Tiber, and attacked the Count of Galeria, whose robber-castle
commanded the road to Rome, and who plundered all the pilgrims
on their way to the Eternal City. This bandit, whom Nicholas
' After the Battle of Civitella, Robert Guiscard received from Leo IX the
investiture of all present and future conquests in Calabria and Sicily, which he agreed
to hold as fiefs of the Holy Sec.
EARLY LIFE OF HILDEBRAND 25
had excommunicated for robbing the English primate, Stigand,
and an English count, of one thousand pounds, had been anathe-
matized by the preceding Popes in vain. His castle, and others
as far as Sutri, the invincible Normans sacked and burnt.
The synodal decree of 1059, relative to the election of the
Pope, and this close alliance with the only race who could hope to
make a stand against the Germans, were the causes of a rift between
the Holy See and German Regency ; and the Imperialists in Italy
and all Germany anxiously watched for the death of Nicholas — who
felt his approaching end in Florence, and died, July 27, 1061.
CHAPTER II
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II, IO61-IO73
The election of Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, as Pope (Alexander II) — Cadalus, Bishop of
Parma, set up as anti-Pope (Honorius II) by the German Regency — Cadalus
attacks Rome — The intervention of Godfrey, Duke of Tuscany — The revolu-
tion in Germany, April 1062 — Burchard, Bishop of Halberstadt, as Commis-
sioner of the Empire, inquires into the claims of the two Popes — Synod of
Mantua, May 29, 1064 — Alexander II declared the legitimate Pope, and
Cadalus excommunicated — The Church of Milan and the Patarines — Herlem-
bald — Risings against the married clergy in Cremona, Piacenza and Pavia —
At Florence a monk undergoes the ordeal of fire to prove Peter, Bishop
of Florence, a simoniac — The activity of the Normans in the eleventh century
— Richard, Prince of Capua — Robert Guiscard — The conquest of Sicily,
1060-1072 — The establishment of Latin Christianity in the countries con-
quered by the Normans — The conquest of England by William, Duke of
Normandy (1066) — King Henry IV^ of Germany attains his majority,
March 31, 1065 — The rulers during Henry IV's minority, Hanno of
Cologne and Adalbert of Bremen — Guibert appointed Archbishop of Ravenna,
1073 — The excommunication of the advisers of the King of Germany at the
Lent Synod, 1073 — Death of Alexander II, April 21, 1073 — The influence
of Hildebrand during this pontificate.
Upon Nicholas II's death an opportunity was given for testing
the operation of the Lateran decree of 1059, which had been made
public, to serve as a rule for future elections. Unfortunately,
many in Rome itself were dissatisfied with the decree — the inferior
cardinals were jealous of the power of the cardinal-bishops, while
the lower clergy and the people were discontented at the diminution
of their rights to a meaningless " consent " after the election to the
Papacy had taken place. So enraged was the German Court at
the decree, that the legate who notified it did not receive an audience.
26
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 27
The rift bevveen the Papacy and the Court was sensibly widened
by the Norman alliance until, during the early part of 1061, the
Regency threw aside all obedience to Nicholas II, and forbade
the clergy of Germany to mention his name in the Canon when
celebrating Mass.
While the Roman Imperialists were for asking the young King
of Germany, Henry IV, to nominate the successor to Nicholas II,
the party in Rome which was anxious to preserve the freedom of
the election from German influence had every reason to obey the
decree of 1059. As a matter of fact, in spite of the anathema
directed against disobedience to the decree, the decree itself was
entirely disregarded in the election of 106 1, as Bonitho indirectly
lets us know.^ This was rendered more possible by the death, in
the May of 1061, of Cardinal Humbert, in whom the cardinal-
bishops lost their mainstay and strongest personality.
After the death of Nicholas II Hildebrand proceeded to Lucca ;
persuaded Bishop Anselm to accept the papal dignity ; and with
an escort of his allies, the Normans, carried his candidate to Rome.
The vacancy in the Papacy had continued for three months, and it
was on September 30 that Anselm was elected, in great haste, by
an assembly of the clergy and laity opposed to the Imperial interests.
The new Pope was a Lombard, Anselm of Badagio, but a Lombard
with peculiar claims and marked opinions, who brought with him a
strong and increasing party in Northern Italy — that of the Patarines.
He was the declared enemv of the marriage of the clergy. As
Bishop of Lucca, Anselm, without losing the favour of the German
Court, became the friend of Godfrey of Tuscany, and his wife the
Duchess Beatrice. He had lived, previously, in Normandy, where,
at Bee, he had been taught by the famous Lanfranc. The new
Pope, who took the name of Alexander II, was enthroned in the
church of San Pietro in Vincoli ; and the Prince of Capua, who
quitted Rome shortly afterwards, took an oath of fidelity to him,
as he had done to the Pope Nicholas II at Melfi.
^ Post ohituin {Nkolai) secundum majorum decreta clerus ct pcpulus Romanus elegit
Anselmum Lw:ensem episcopum. {Liber ad Am'ic. p. 644.)
28 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
The election ot Alexander was followed by the nomination of
an anti-Pope by the Regency, October 27, and Bishop Cadalus of
Parma was selected for the position. Peter Damiani is very severe
in his strictures upon the character of Cadalus, whom he calls " an
arrow from the quiver of Satan," " a son of Belial," " the sink of
all vices," " the abomination of heaven," " food for hell-fire," etc, ;
and writing to the Archbishop of Ravenna, who seems to have
doubted which side to take, he represents him as without character
or learning : " If he can explain a single verse, I will not say of a
psalm but, of a homily, I will at once submit to him, and own him
not merely as the successor of the Apostle, but as an apostle."
Unfortunately for himself, Damiani, not content with stern denun-
ciations of Cadalus's character, foretold that the usurper should not
live a year from the period of his elevation — a prophecy that
remained unfulfilled, and had afterwards to be sophlstically explained
away by its author.
Guibert, the chancellor of the Empire for Italy, had caused a
council to be summoned at Basle, composed of German and
Lombard prelates, at which Cadalus was chosen Pope — taking
the name of Honorius II — and the election of Alexander II was
annulled. Winter had suspended hostile operations, for the passes
of the Alps were closed, but in the spring Cadalus, though unsup-
ported by any troops from the Regency, assembled an army to
descend upon Italy, where he was welcomed by the Lombard
prelates.
On March 25, 1062, Cadalus pitched his camp at Sutri, and
in the month of April he appeared at the gates of Rome near the
Tiber, in the plain which to this day bears the name of Prata
Neronis.
Neither Pope nor anti-Pope was the most prominent man of his
party. Supporting Cadalus was Benzo, Bishop of Albi, a strong
Imperialist, unscrupulous, with a ready tongue and coarse satur-
nalian humour eminently pleasing to an Italian ear. His account of
the affairs in which he was personally engaged is very characteristic
of the man, but so bitter and biassed as to be almost valueless as
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 29
evidence. Hildebrand, the leader of the opposing party, receives
the compliment of Benzo's most furious and malicious invective.
He, the leading spirit in Rome at the moment, organized an armed
resistance to Cadalus : for the synod of 1060 had declared it right to
repel by human weapons any usurper of the throne of St. Peter.
The details of the accounts of Hildebrand's energetic measures
for arming Rome are, however, to be distrusted, as the Annales
Romani and Benzo are our only authorities upon this matter.
Hildebrand attacked the troops of Cadalus on the Prata Neronis
(April 14, 1062), but his complete defeat and rout were the only
result, and the anti-Pope gained possession of the Leonine city, with
the exception of St. Peter's, the doors of which were hastily barri-
caded against him. Cadalus remained some days in Rome, and then
returned with his troops to Tusculum.
An unexpected act on the part of Godfrey, Duke of Tuscany,
shattered all Cadalus's schemes. Godfrey of Tuscany aspired to
hold the balance of power in Italy. So far he had declared for
neither Pope ; he had not checked the march of Cadalus along his
frontier, nor prevented the attack upon Rome. Peter Damiani
suspected him of too friendly intercourse with the anti-Pope.
Godfrey now advanced towards Rome with a large force, and en-
camped on the borders of the Tiber, near the Ponte MoUe.
Thence he ordered both Alexander II and Cadalus to cease to
compete for the Papacy, but to retire immediately to their respec-
tive Bishoprics of Lucca and Parma, and to remain there until the
King of Germany had come to a decision as to their pretensions.
The explanation of this sudden intervention of Duke Godfrey
was the revolution which had taken place a short time before in the
royal palace of Germany, in April 1062.
Up to this time, the Empress Agnes had, during her son's
minority, governed the kingdom with the assistance of Henry, Bishop
of Augsburg. A young widow was the person least suited to govern
the turbulent feudatories of the Empire, the almost independent
princes and prelates all aspiring to rule, all being disinclined to
obey. It was murmured aloud that the young King was kept
30 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
entirely under the control of women, and not taught the use of
arms and manly studies. A conspiracy of the princes of the Empire
was formed, with a prominent Churchman, Hanno, Archbishop of
Cologne, at their head, to remove Henry IV from the guardianship
of his mother. Among this league were Siegfried, Archbishop of
Mayence, Otto of Nordheim, and the Count Ekbert of Brunswick.
They paid the Empress a visit at Kaiserwerth, on the Rhine, and
after a banquet Hanno invited the young King to embark on a gay
and richly-decorated barge. As soon as he was on board, the
crew rose to their oars, and the barge went rapidly against the
stream. The boy, terrified and thinking the princes plotted his
death, sprang overboard, and would have been drowned had not
Count Ekbert jumped overboard after him, and rescued him at the
peril of his own life. The Empress Agnes made but a feeble
protest against the abduction of her son, and from this time
onward, although appearing several times at Court, she abandoned
herself to piety and rigorous asceticism, in which she persevered
until her death.
Under the new regime ^ the policy of Germany as to the Papacy
veered suddenly round. Cadalus was the candidate nominated
by the Empress Agnes, and as such was to be discredited. As
Cadalus had been hostile to the reforming party in the Church,
enthusiasts like Peter Damiani hailed the success of the new regime
in Germany. Damiani writes a letter to Hanno urging him to fulfil
his design of routing the " scaly monster of Parma." Hanno's act
is that of " the good priest Jehoida rescuing the pious youth of
Jous from the influence of the wicked Queen Athalia " ! But he
has done nothing until he " stamps out the smouldering brand, the
limb of the devil, the anti-Pope" ! A Diet at Augsburg (October
28, 1062) decided to send Burchard, Bishop of Halberstadt, nephew
of the Archbishop of Cologne, to Rome, to examine into the claims
of the two Popes. Burchard, in the naine of the King, decided in
favour of Alexander II, a decision which, though favourable to
the personal claims of the late Bishop of Lucca, was profoundly
humiliating to the newly-elected Pope and his electors. By the
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 31
decree of 1059 a meaningless honor debitus was the only privilege
left to the King in papal elections ; now Hanno and his regime
assumed the right to judge the enthroned Pope ! The Government
of Germany, however, took no steps to force Cadalus to abandon
his pretensions ; a large part of the Italian clergy still adhered to
his cause, with the barons of his faction in and about Rome ; and
hence Alexander IPs position grew daily more and more difficult.
Cadalus, who had meantime gathered recruits in the north of
Italy, arrived before Rome with his forces towards the end of May
1063. His faction commanded the gates of the Leonine city, and
he therefore entered with all his forces ; and here in the castle
of St. Angelo he was able for a long time to hold out against
Alexander II, and to render powerless all attempts to subdue him.
Hanno of Cologne had before espoused the cause of Alexander II,
and was desirous, as a Churchman, to put a term to this dangerous
and disgraceful schism. To him Peter Damiani appealed, in his
sincere but over-hasty zeal, to summon a synod to proclaim the
definitive and exclusive recognition of Alexander 11. Damiani's
measure was taken without the knowledge of Alexander II and
Hildebrand, and must have been a bitter blow to the latter. Such
an appeal was very welcome to the Archbishop's pride, who now had
an opportunity of deciding the question himself, in the name of the
King. The Feast of Pentecost, May 29, 1064, was the date chosen
for the council, and at that time a large number of bishops and of
the Italian nobility, the Duke Godfrey of Tuscany, and his wife the
Duchess Beatrice, assembled at Mantua. Hanno himself, as repre-
sentative of King Henry IV, presided, and Alexander II and
Cadalus were both invited to appear. Cadalus refused to do so,
but Alexander II forced himself, though with a heavy heart, to
submit to this humiliation.^
Hanno, naturally, pressed his advantage at the Synod of
Mantua, and though decided himself in favour of Alexander, he
^ Hildebrand, when Pope, sets this action of Alexander's in another light ;
Alexander, he writes, won a brilliant victory, Ouanto honore qiiantisque trlumphh In
exercitaiione lllius certaminis respubl'ua nostra profccerit (R. V'lII. 5).
32 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
obliged that Pope to give an account of his election. In his justifi-
cation, Alexander admits that he was chosen by the clergy and the
people, according to the old Roman custom ; and not according to
the provisions of the decree of 1059. The synod decided in favour
of Alexander, and excommunicated Cadalus. Hanno, who had
played such an important role at Mantua, soon afterwards lost his
influence ; but he had shown that the German Court would not be
content with the formality of the honor debitus^ but was decided in
its claiin to a voice in the papal elections.
Cadalus, who had refused to appear at Mantua, had left Rome,
having emerged from the castle of St. Angelo before the synod,
and contrived to reach the north of Italy. During the synod,
Cadalus remained at Aqua Nigra, not far from Bardi and Mantua,
and hardly had the synod declared Alexander II the legitimate
Pope, when the city was disturbed by a sudden irruption of the
soldiers of Cadalus, swarming through the streets, hurling abuse
upon Alexander. But Godfrey, Duke of Tuscany, had guaranteed
the safety of the Pope, and drove the insurgents in flight from the
town. The Lombard bishops threw themselves at the feet of
Alexander, and begged his forgiveness. Cadalus never acknow-
ledged the justice of the sentence of the Council of Mantua, and
never renounced the title of Pope. His friends, however, fell away
from him, and he retired into obscurity ; and the rest of Alexander's
pontificate, though troubled by the disputes concerning the married
clergy, and the consequent strife in Lombarciy and in other parts of
Northern Italy, was free from actual warfare.
Alexander, in his first address as a Milanese to the clergy and
people of Italy, had declared the enforcement of celibacy on the
clergy the great object of his pontifical ambition. The measures
of Peter Damiani, and his own success in the spring of 1059 in
combating the married clergy in Milan, had had no lasting effect ;
the smouldering fire broke out again, and in 1066 a crisis more
serious than the former one began to threaten the city. Peter
Damiani complained that the Simoniac and Nicolaitan " heresies,"
which he thought he had stamped out, had broken out again, and he
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II ^3
indited an invective against the married clergy even more furious
and grotesque than before.
Landulph, one of the triumvirate of reformers, had died,^ but
his place was taken by his brother, the knight Herlembald, a stern
warlike character. The historian of the Church of Milan, Landulph,
though a determined foe to the Patarines, draws a fine portrait of
Herlembald : " Descendant of an illustrious race of warriors, him-
self a soldier of consummate bravery, in appearance he was like
a hero of antiquity, red-bearded, eagle-eyed and lion-hearted.
Indomitably brave, his fiery eloquence stirred the hearts of all, and,
in the fight, he was unflinching as a Caesar." - When Ariald, after
the death of Landulph, begged Herlembald to take his brother's
place, he consented, the more willingly by reason of a personal
grudge against an unworthy priest. On his return from a pilgrim-
age to Jerusalem, his offer of marriage was accepted by a young
maiden, whom he soon after had to give up all thought of marrying,
having learned from a sure source that illicit relations existed
between his betrothed and a priest. Thus, in defending the honour
and discipline of the Church, Herlembald was at the same time
avenging his own outraged honour and forfeited happiness. For
several years, and until he himself fell in the struggle, his standard
— Rome's gift, which he always carried himself when haranguing
the people or leading his troops — was the terror of incontinent or
simoniacal clergy.
Herlembald ruled in Milan by espousing the cause of the
people against the nobles, and by the help of the populace he
attacked the married priests, dragged them from the altar, and con-
signed them to shame and insult. Infected with Patarinism, the
lowest rabble, poor artisans and ass-drivers, secretly placed, it is said,
female attire and ornaments in the houses of priests, and then
attacked them and plundered their property. The argument of the
Patarines was force. They did not admit the authority of Arch-
bishop Guido, doubtless because he was considered guilty of simony.
^ The precise date is not given ; we know only that it took place before 1066.
2 Landulfi, Hist. Medial., I. iii. 14 ; I.e. -p. 82.
34 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Guido at length, after nine years of strife, determined to throw
off the yoke of the reformers. The married clergy had been
expelled, and there were none to take their place. A synod at
Novara (1065) summoned Herlembald and Ariald to answer for
their proceedings, and they were excommunicated as refractory.
Ariald, however, appealed to Rome. He returned, armed with
full powers, and with the ban of the Church pronounced against the
offending Guido. But Ariald proceeded to carry his power further
than his popularity warranted. He had been supported by the
people in the campaign against simony and marriage of the clergy,
for the clergy belonged to a large extent to the aristocratic families
of Milan. He lost his popularity, with Herlembald, when he pro-
ceeded to treat as heathen a peculiarity in the rite of the Church of
St. Ambrose. Disturbances began at the end of May 1066.
An Ambrosian tradition was that the Church of Milan should
devote three days, during the octave of the Ascension, to solemn
prayer with fasting. Ariald and Herlembald, in accordance with
the Roman liturgy, maintained that this fast was contrary to the
usual practice of the Catholic Church, and should be discontinued.
Many of the Milanese were most indignant, any attack upon the
use of the Church of St. Ambrose seeming to them to menace the
independence of their city.
The factions of the different parties met in open conflict, and
the Archbishop Guido headed the insurrection. Milan was the
scene of the most dreadful disturbances ; Herlembald and Ariald
were attacked in the Church of St. Ambrose, and at night the
palace of the Archbishop was pillaged and the aged Guido him-
self maltreated in the struggle. Finally the nobles and the more
distinguished citizens revolted at these horrors, and could endure
the tyranny of faction no longer. The city was laid under an
interdict till Ariald was driven out. He fled to Legnano, where he
fell into the hands of Oliva, a niece of Archbishop Guido, who
conveyed him to an island on Lake Maggiorc, where he was
subjected to frightful tortures. " Yes, jail-bird," exclaimed the
soldiers, " is not our master the true and worthy Archbishop ? "
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II
35
" No," replied Ariald, '' his conduct is not, and never has been,
that of an Archbishop." Upon this they cut off his ears. Then
Ariald, raising his eyes to heaven, cried out in a loud voice,
" Thanks be to Thee, O Christ, for this day Thou hast deigned to
admit me among Thy martyrs." Questioned a second time, he
replied as firmly, " No." Then they cut off his nose and upper
lip, and blinded his eyes. After that they cut off his right hand,
saying, "This is the hand that wrote the letters sent to Rome ! "
Then followed other shameful and hideous mutilations, accompanied
by cruel taunts. His tongue was finally torn out. Ariald soon found,
and still holds, his place as a martyr in the annals of the Church.
The strife was not allayed by the death of Ariald nor by the
appearance of two Roman legates, Mainard, Cardinal-Bishop of
Silva Candida, and the cardinal-priest John Minuto. They
renewed the prohibitions a2;ainst simony and clerical incontinence,
adding, however, this important clause, that any layman having
any authority whatsoever in temporal matters over a cleric, and
knowing with certainty that the said cleric was not a celibate,
should denounce him promptly to the Archbishop and to the
Ordinary. Should the cleric be punished by his superiors, the
layman would see to it that the penalty was enforced in all that
concerned temporal things. If the Archbishop and the Ordinary
allowed such a case to drop, neglecting their duty, the layman
might still deprive the delinquent of his temporal benefice, restoring
it, however, later on, together with the revenues fallen due mean-
while, either to the said cleric, after performance of a sufficient
penance, or to his rightful successor.
The measures of the legates were marked by great moderation ;
and the violence of the Patarines is blamed. We read in the
official report of their mission : " As to those persons, whether
clerics or laymen, who have formed an association against the
simoniacal and incontinent clergy, binding themselves by oath to
make these discontinue their evil course, and who, to gain their
end, have shrunk neither from fire, nor plunder, nor bloodshed,
nor other acts of violence, we formally command them to desist
36 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
for the future from such conduct. Let them see to their own
duties, denouncing delinquents either to the Archbishop and his
Ordinary or to the Suffragan-Bishops, This is the canonical mode
of procedure," The report then gives the measures sanctioned,
all penalties being proportioned to the position of the transgressor,
a hundred pounds fine for an archbishop ; twenty pounds for a
priest ; for a layman holding the rank of commander, twenty
pounds ; for a vassal, ten pounds ; for a tradesman, five.
Herlembald, who had fled to Pavia, returned, and, openly sup-
ported by the Pope's power, became again the dominant personality
in Milan, Guido, who had been Archbishop twenty-seven years,
the last ten of civil war, decided to vacate his see. According to
Arnulf, Hildebrand believed that the resignation of Guido was the
best means of restoring religious peace in Lombardy, and it is
probable that the legates urged the aged Archbishop to resign. In
doing so, however, he burthened the see with a fixed pension to
himself, then made it over to a certain Godfrey with the Crozier
and Ring of investiture, Godfrey ingratiated himself with Henry IV
by promising to destroy the Patarines, and he was appointed and
consecrated at Novara. Rome excommunicated him without delay ;
Herlembald refused to acknowledge him, expelled him from the
city, and besieged him in Castiglione. Upon the death of Guido,
August 23, 107 1, Cardinal Bernard was sent as legate to Milan
with instructions to avail himself of Herlembald's support in the
choice of an archbishop for the Church of St. Ambrose, Their
choice fell upon Atto, a youth just entered into holy orders.
Scarcely had the consecration taken place when an excited throng
burst into the archiepiscopal palace. They seized Atto, dragged
him by the legs and arms into the church, and there compelled him
to renounce his dignity. It was with difficulty that the Roman
legate escaped, with his robes torn to ribbons.
"When Alexander learned what had taken place he declared this
promise, extorted by terror, to be null and void. Nevertheless Atto's
position remained as difficult and precarious as before. On several
occasions he was obliged to seek refuge in Rome from the attacks
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 37
of the Milanese, and when, after the death of Alexander II,
Hildebrand succeeded to the government of the Church, two
Archbishops were still disputing the See of Milan.
It was not in Milan alone that the agitated populace raged
against the married clergy. The strife in Milan had its counter-
part in the bishoprics of Northern Italy. In Parma, Cadalus claimed
to be the rightful Pope ; in Ravenna, the Archbishop Henry
supported the cause of the anti-Pope ; in Cremona and Piacenza
the Patarines were by turns conquerers and conquered. In Cremona,
encouraged by an exhortatory letter of Alexander II, the people rose
upon the married clergy. In Florence the secular clergy, headed by
Peter, Bishop of Florence, offered an obstinate resistance to the
reformers, and those especially of Vallombrosa, and their Abbot, John
Gualbert, who was afterwards canonized. A curious incident in the
history of the Church in the eleventh century is the ordeal by fire
undergone by a priest to prove Peter, Bishop of Florence, a simoniac.
This is the story as told in the Life of St. John Gualbert, and
confirmed by an official letter from the clergy and people of
Florence to Alexander II.
In the Life of St. John Gualbert, written by his disciple
Andrew, we read as follows —
" At this time a certain Peter of Pavia, by means of secret
bribery, had obtained possession of the See of Florence. Father
John and his brethren having learnt what had taken place, un-
hesitatingly prepared to sacrifice their lives rather than betray the
cause of truth. They declared Peter of Pavia to be a simoniac and
a heretic. This gave rise to a violent quarrel between the clergy
and the people, the former, anxious about their temporal interests,
defending Peter, while the latter sided with the monks and protested
energetically against him. These disturbances, and the fights which
they occasioned, had been going on for a considerable time and
were becoming more serious, when the heretic Peter resolved to
terrify both clergy and people by a massacre of the monks who had
been the first to resist him. He sent therefore by night a number
of horse and foot soldiers with orders to set fire to the Convent of
38 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
St. Salvi, and to put all its inmates to death. They hoped to
find St. John among them, but he had left the day before.
" The Community was reciting the night office, when the
soldiers forced their way into the church. Drawing their swords,
these cruel butchers began to slay the sheep of Christ. One had
his skull cleft ; another's face was savagely cut open, so that nose,
teeth and upper lip were torn from their place and hung down
over the beard. Several were stabbed through the body. These
murderous invaders then robbed the altars, took all they had a
fancy for out of the house, set the place on fire, and made off
with their sacrilegious spoils. The monks, who were in the church
reciting the Seven Penitential Psalms and the Litanies when this
scene took place, offered neither resistance nor remonstrance. They
were left naked and half dead.
" The next day, men and women ran in crowds from Florence
to the monastery, all eager to help the brethren in any way. It
was esteemed a privilege to set eyes on one of these monks, and a
stone, a piece of wood, or some drops of their blood, taken away
by those who flocked to the scene, were prized ever afterwards as
precious relics.
" The Blessed John was, at this time, at Vallombrosa. Having
heard what had passed, and longing for martyrdom, he hastened
back to St. Salvi. When he beheld the Abbot and the brethren
scourged, wounded and stripped, he exclaimed : Now indeed you are
truly monks ; but why have you suffered all this without me ? He
was grieved not to have been present at the moment of danger, and
yet, is not the palm of victory his who inspired his brethren with
such zeal for martyrdom } ^
^ Is it quite certain that Bishop Peter was the instigator of this barbarous attack
on the monastery of St. Salvi, which must have taken place before the year 1067 ?
If his guilt had been so well-proved and notorious as the biographer of St. John
Gualbert leads us to suppose, the Pope would not have addressed him in eulogistic
terms in a letter of May 22, 1067. (Migne, Patr. Lnt. V. 146, col. 1330,)
Throughout the whole of Northern Italy the contest for and against simony was
sufficiently violent to allow us to suppose that incidents of this kind were more
frccjucntly spontaneous than premeditated.
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 39
" The monks went to Rome at the time of the synod, and
declared, publicly and persistently, that Peter was a simoniac and
a heretic. They offered even to go through the ordeal of fire to
prove the truth of their assertion. Alexander was then seated on
the Chair of St. Peter. He would neither depose the accused nor
allow the ordeal of fire. The majority of the bishops were, in fact,
favourable to Peter, while nearly all the monks were against him ;
but the Archdeacon Hildebrand never ceased to uphold and defend
the monks.
" Appeals to Rome were in vain ; Alexander II inclined to more
conciliatory measures. The monks therefore determined to appeal
to God himself, and demanded the ordeal of fire. Many of the
clergy had fallen off from the Bishop Peter, and declared they
would not obey a simoniac. The civil authorities were called in to
deal with the refractory priests and to imprison them. The clerics
who had taken refuge in the oratory of St. Peter were called upon
either to submit without delay or to be driven from the city. On
the evening of the Saturday preceding the fast [of Lent], while the
clergy were reciting the Lessons and Responses of the following
Sunday in the same Church of Blessed Peter, they were expelled
by order of the municipal government, because out of respect for
this same Apostle Peter they had refused obedience to a heretic
and simoniac. What an insult to the Blessed Peter, Prince of the
Apostles !
" At the news of this brutal conduct, a number of good Catholics,
men and women, hurried to the place ; the women, casting aside
their veils, appeared with hair dishevelled, weeping loudly.
" These cries, and signs of distress, roused us at last into action ;
and we clerics, who had hitherto supported Peter of Pavia, being
treated as heretics for not deserting him, now hastened to close our
churches ; and, to show our sympathy with those who had been
driven away, we would neither ring our bells nor chant the Psalms,
nor say Mass, in presence of the faithful. Now, when we were all
together, God put a wise thought into our hearts. Some of our
number were chosen, unanimously, to go to Settimo, and entreat
40 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the monks of St. Salvi to tell us the truth of this affair. We
promised, as soon as that were known to embrace the good cause at
once and for ever.
" We were told in reply that if we would profess and defend
the Catholic faith with all our strength, and endeavour to destroy
heresy and simony, the power of the Saviour would certainly dispel
all doubt in this affair, and cure the blindness by which we had been
attacked. We promised again to do what they would ask, if things
were as they said and as they undertook to prove.
" The day was fixed for that ordeal so long desired, which,
according to the monks, was to make manifest to us the truth. It
was the Wednesday in the first week of Lent. On the Monday
and Tuesday we offered fervent prayers to God, begging Him, who
is truth itself, to discover to us the truth.
" In the early morning of Wednesday, one of us went to Peter of
Pavia and spoke to him as follows : ' My Lord, if what the monks
say of you is true, I entreat you, for love of God, and for the sake
of your own soul, not to allow the clergy and people to make so
long a journey. Do not tempt God by this ordeal, but return to
the Saviour by a full confession of your guilt. If, on the other
hand, you are conscious of your innocence, come with us.' He
replied : ' I will not go, and you will not go either, if you have
any affection for me.' The cleric made answer : * I go with the
others, to be witness of God's judgment. By the sentence of His
justice shall my conduct be guided. Be not offended with me for
going to witness this ordeal. This day will God make known to
us your true character. You will then either be dearer to us than
ever, or you will become the object of our contempt.'
" Without awaiting the return of this cleric, we went our way, as
by an inspiration of God, accompanied by other clerics, laymen and
even women, bound for Settimo. . . . The people immediately
f')repared two long piles of wood placed lengthwise, side by side.
Each pile measured ten feet long by four feet and a half wide ; a
passage, an arm's length in width, was left between the piles.
" This passage was also strewed with dry wood, easily ignited.
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 41
Meanwhile the Litanies, Psalms, and Prayers were sung. The
monk chosen to pass through the fire went up to the altar by-
order of Abbot John, to celebrate Holy Mass. The Mass was
sung in the midst of devout and even eager supplications. All
shed tears — monks, clerics, and laymen alike. At the Agnus Dei
four monks went out to set fire to the two piles. One of these
carried a crucifix, another holy water, a third twelve blessed candles
ready lighted, a fourth a censer full of incense. A great clamour
arose on all sides when they appeared. The Kyrie Eleison was sung
in a loud voice. The people entreated Jesus Christ to rise and take
His own cause in hand ; men, and especially women, invoked Mary,
His Mother, beg-mno^ her to intercede with her Divine Son.
" The priest having communicated, and finished the Mass and
put ofl"^ his chasuble, but still wearing the other sacerdotal vestments,
took the Cross of Christ in his hands and proceeded to the burning
piles, accompanied by the Abbots and monks, saying the Litanies.
It would be impossible to say, or to imagine, with what earnestness
all present prayed.
" We were at last warned to keep profound silence in order to
hear and understand under what conditions the impending trial was
to take place. . . . The two piles being now in full blaze as well
as the passage between them, the monk-priest, by order of the
Abbot, pronounced in a loud and clear voice a prayer. Then,
bearing the crucifix, with fearless heart and cheerful countenance,
undaunted by the flames, which burst forth on all sides, he walked
through the fire with the utmost composure, miraculously preserved
by the power of Jesus Christ from even the slightest injury to
himself or harm to the garments he wore.
" The flames played around him and within the very folds of his
linen alb, but, as if their nature had been changed, they did not burn
it. The same with maniple and stole. The fringes of these waved
to and fro as in a breeze, but the fire was powerless to hurt them.
Those feet that trod on glowing coals — O, marv^ellous power of
God ! praised be the clemency of Christ ! — remained unhurt. His
hair was tossed up and down by the flames that leaped about his head
42 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
and face, but not one hair was so much as singed. All rushed round
him, and kissed his feet and the folds of his garments. The Bishop
Peter yielded to the storm, and withdrew from Florence."
While Northern Italy was thus agitated by religious discord,
the Normans were gradually extending their conquests in the south
of the Peninsula. The prodigious activity of the Normans during
the eleventh century is one of the strangest phenomena of the
Middle Ages. At one and the same time they established their rule
over Southern Italy with Sicily ; they extended their fame through
the Eastern Empire by supplying the Empress of Constantinople
with troops and generals ; and under the leadership of William,
Duke of Normandy, they conquered England. Richard of Aversa
took possession (May 1062) of Capua ; and, no loiiger limited by
the narrow boundaries of a small city, Richard's authority was now
recognized in the valley of the lower Volturnio and on the banks
of the Garigliano. He now governed in the south-west of Italy
from Naples to Latium.
Among the followers of Richard was a certain knight, William
of Montreuil, to whom Richard had given his daughter in marriage.
William, however, more than once sided with the Lombard nobles
of the Campagna, and endeavoured to overthrow his father-in-law.
He even went so far as to repudiate his wife and offer marriage to
Mary, widow of the former Duke of Gaeta, and regent of the
Duchy during the minority of her young son Adenulf. W^illiam,
fearing the vengeance of Richard, now offered his services to Pope
Alexander II, who accepted them, although William was a declared
enemy of Prince Richard. William, however, proved as fickle in
his allegiance to the Pope as he had been to Prince Richard, and
giving as a pretext for his change of front that his services had not
been generously requited at Rome, he deserted the Pope and made
his peace with Prince Richard,
In 1066 Richard marched through the Campagna and besieged
and captured Ccperano, and advanced against Rome. Meanwhile
Grodfrey, Duke of Tuscany, took upon himself to march against
the Normans and drive them from the dominions of the Holy See.
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 43
He collected an army of Teutons and Lombards and led them to
Rome, accompanied by his wife Beatrice and her daughter, the
young Countess Matilda, The Pope and the Cardinals joined the
troops which left Rome at the beginning of May 1067 to march
against the Normans of the Campagna. Godfrey attempted to take
the city of Aquino, but was repulsed by Wilham of Montreuil ;
and this success of the Normans, combined with a scarcity of
provisions in his own camp, decided Godfrey to conclude peace
with the Prince of Capua. The terms of peace are not known, but
the interests of the Holy See must have been safeguarded, for
during the summer of the same year (1067) the Pope, accompanied
by Hildebrand, made a journey through Southern Italy, and visited
several Norman towns. In August 1067 Alexander II held a
synod at Melfi, at which, owing to the complaints of Alfano, Arch-
bishop of Salerno, he excommunicated William, son of Tancred,
for having taken possession of certain goods belonging to the
church of Salerno. William, who was present at the synod, chose
rather to be excommunicated than to make restitution. From
Melfi, Alexander proceeded to Salerno, where the Norman and
Lombard nobles and several bishops of Southern Italy came to pay
him homage ; and there William, son of Tancred, at last decided
to make satisfaction to Alfano, and restored the property he had
carried off. Shortly afterwards, in the month of October, another
Norman, Troytius de Rota, who in concert with William had taken
goods from the church of Salerno, came to Capua, presented
himself to the Pope, and made his submission. The presence of
Alexander in the capital of the Prince of Capua was a sure indication
that he and the Prince were on friendly terms. This peace, however,
was of short duration. It was again broken by William of
Montreuil, who revolted against Richard a second time, and turned
again to Rome, where he was favourably received, and accepted from
the Pope the investiture of the property which Richard had restored.
Immediately afterwards he left Rome to march against Richard.
During this campaign, " William's onward passage," says Aime,
" could be traced by the glare of incendiary fires." After William
44 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
had conquered Jordan, son of Richard of Capua, the latter appealed
for help to his brother-in-law, the great Robert Guiscard ; but the
sudden death of William of Montreuil, in Rome, removed all neces-
sity for Guiscard's intervention. The death of William of Montreuil
restored peace to the Campagna, and for the moment suspended
hostilities between the Holy See and the Normans of Capua.
The Normans, in taking, in March 1041, the strong town of
Melfi, key to the whole of Apuleia, laid the foundations in the
south-east of Italy of that second Norman power which became,
at the end of a few years, much larger and more important
than the principality of Aversa and Capua. At the elevation of
Alexander II this state was governed by Robert Guiscard. The
boundaries of his Duchy, spreading further and further, quickly
extended to the shores of the Adriatic on the east, and to the
Ionian Sea on the south. The conquest of Reggio in Calabria, and
of Scilla by Guiscard and his brother Roger, in 1060, showed
clearly that the Normans would pursue their southward course to
the confines of Italy. During the pontificate of Alexander II, from
1060 to 1072, the two brothers added nearly the whole of Sicily to
their already vast possessions, thus putting an end to the rule of
the Saracens in that land.
Though in crossing the Taro and fighting the Saracens in
Sicily the Normans were certainly actuated by their love of
adventure and their insatiable desire for booty and vast territorial
possessions, the religious character of the campaign between these
Christians and the Saracens was emphasized by the Norman
leaders. " Roger," says Malaterra, " had two aims in view, one
spiritual, the other temporal. He wished to restore the worship of
the true God to a land now possessed by idolaters — that is, he
wished to accomplish a work conducive to his own salvation — and at
the same time to enrich himself with the spoils of the infidel."
Again, Malaterra concludes his account of the battle between
the Saracens and the army of Count Roger, which took place on
the banks of the little river Cerami, near Traina, in 1063 : —
" Roger, knowing that he owed this great victory to God and
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 45
to St. Peter, would not show himself ungrateful for so signal a
favour. He chose for his share of the booty, four camels, and
deputed Melodios to take them to Rome, and offer them to Pope
Alexander, who, at that time, occupied the Papal Chair and
governed the Catholic Church with all prudence. More thankful
for the victory gained by God's help over the infidel than for the
presents he received, the Pope, in virtue of his apostolic power, in
addition to the apostolic benediction, granted remission of their
past sins to Roger and to all those who had already joined or
would henceforward join, in freeing Sicily from the yoke of the
Saracen, to restore it for ever to the faith of Christ. But to obtain
this pardon the Christians were required to have sorrow for their
sins, and to resolve to amend their lives in future. He also sent
the Normans, in the name of the Holy See, a banner blessed by
apostolic authority, that thus sure of St. Peter's help they might
march in all confidence against the enemy."
Alexander II also had given a direct sanction to the Norman
conquest of England (1066), by sending the banner of St. Peter
to William, Duke of Normandy. These banners of the Holy See,
floating in Sardinia and Sicily, and at Hastings, show how greatly
the prestige and influence of the Papacy had increased during
the last few years throughout the whole of Christendom.
On April 16, 1071, the Normans, under Robert Guiscard,
crowned the long series of their conquests in Southern Italy by
entering as victors into Bari, the ancient capital of the Greek
possessions in the peninsula. This triumph secured the expulsion
of the Greeks and the complete separation of Italy from the Empire
of the East.
On January 5, 1072, the Normans, led by Robert Guiscard and
Count Roger, took Palermo by assault, thus giving the death-blow
to the Saracen power in the island.
In 1072 the successors of that handful of Normans, who had
come to Italy as pilgrims or to aid the Lombard princes of the
southern parts of the peninsula, had established their power over
the whole country. They were masters from Mount Gargano to
46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the farthest coasts of Western Sicily, from Reggio in Calabria and
Taranto to Latium.
Among the changes which marked the Norman occupation
was that the Greek populations of Calabria, Apuleia, Campagna,
and Sicily, as well as the Saracens of Sicily, all embraced Roman
Catholicism, whereas before the advent of the Normans nearly the
whole of Magna Graecia followed the customs of the Church of
Constantinople, while in Sicily the Moslem Saracens had formed
the bulk of the population. After their victories, the Normans^
willingly turned their attention to the restoration of churches and
holy places, which were either falling into ruin or had been
converted into mosques. They gave to the Church a portion
of the lands of the conquered, together with a certain number
of these, who became slaves ; indeed, the generosity of the
Normans to the Church is a marked feature of that singular
race. Thus before the end of the eleventh century a Latin
hierarchy had been established throughout the whole of Sicily ;
Traina, Messina, Calabria and Syracuse became bishoprics, and
their bishops were, nearly always, either Normans or of Norman
extraction, relatives and friends of the conquerors. With regard
to Palermo, the Archiepiscopal See had been maintained there
during the whole period of the Saracen domination, but, it is to
be supposed, under conditions of great difficulty. The Normans,
to increase its authority and prestige, enriched it with generous
donations.
In Southern Italy there was no necessity to create new
bishoprics. The sees existed already, and had their titulars.
Many of these followed the Greek rite, but as they died their
places were filled by Latin bishops.
It is easy to understand that these political, and the consequent
religious, changes in Southern Italy were of deep interest to the
Holy See, and Pope Alexander II made many journeys into that
part of Italy. In the autumn of 107 1, at the petition of Abbot
Didicr, he consecrated the new church of the abbey of Monte
Cassino, which, thanks to the energy of the Abbot, had been built
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 47
in less than five years. The Pope was accompanied by Hildebrand
and several cardinals ; and fifty-one archbishops and bishops of
Southern Italy arrived on the appointed day to swell his train;
while various princes from the Norman and Lombard lands were
also present — among them Richard, Prince of Capua, and his son
Jordan. A multitude from all the surrounding country continued,
during eight days, to gather on the summit of the holy mountain.
Nobles and serfs, clergy and laity, monks and soldiers, Lombards
and Normans, representatives of the ancient populations of Latium,
Campania, Apuleia, and Calabria, all vied with each other in their
eagerness to pray at the tomb of St. Benedict, and there receive,
with the Pope's blessing, the remission of their sins.
As the banner of St. Peter was given to the Normans by way
of sanction to their conquest of Sicily, a direct sanction to the
Norman conquest of England was likewise given by another banner
of St. Peter, which floated over the van of the Bastard at Hastings,
in 1066, William was grateful for the banner, and after his victory
returned a standard taken from the conquered Saxons to the Pope,
together with rich presents.
Hildebrand had been strongly in favour of William's enterprise,
though he was severely criticized for his attitude in favouring an
attempt which necessitated the loss ^ of so many lives, and so many
deeds of violence and rapine. He may have felt some admiration
for and even awe of the Conqueror. Milman speaks of their minds
as " congenial," while Voigt asserts that William I was the only ruler
whom Hildebrand regarded with reverence not without an admixture
of fear.
From an undated letter of William I's to Hildebrand (then
Pope Gregory VII) we gather that to the demand of fealty —
based, perhaps, upon the above-mentioned exchange of flags — the
Conqueror returned an answer of haughty brevity : " I have not
sworn, nor will I swear, fealty, which was never sworn by any of
my predecessors to yours." Gregory received this energetic answer
^ Qua pro re a quibusdam fratribus magnam pane infamiam pertuli, siibmurmurantibusy
quod ad tanta homicidia perpetranda tan to favor e mean: operant impendissem (R. \'\\. 23).
48 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
in silence. In spite of this rebuff, Gregory's language to the
Conqueror is throughout courteous ; and in a letter to Lanfranc,
Archbishop of Canterbury, William is designated Unicus filius
Romans ecclesice.
A cause for the especial favour with which William I was
regarded by Gregory VII is to be found in the king's dying
utterance, that he was free from the guilt of simony, and had
always preferred ecclesiastics of good character to bishoprics.
Such freedom from the " plague " of simony was rare among
rulers of that period, and thus W^illiam retained the favour of
Gregory, though the Conqueror maintained his independence,
created bishops and abbots at his will, and was absolute lord over
his ecclesiastical as over his feudal liegemen. William's temper in
such matters was well known. An Abbot of Evreux went to
complain at Rome. William said : " I have a great respect for the
Pope's legate in things which concern religion — Mais^ ajouta-t-il^
si un moine de mes terres osait porter plainte contre moi^ je le ferai
pendre a tarbre le plus eleve de la foretT
In Germany, the young King, Henry IV,^ attained his majority
on March 31, 1065. Hanno, Archbishop of Cologne, who had
ruled when Agnes had been forced to resign the regency at Easter
1062 by the coup of Kaiserwerth, was a harsh despotic Churchman, and
had excited Henry's hatred by the sternness of his discipline, while
Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen, gay, magnificent, sociable and
good-humoured, was an influential rival, as he had gained Henry's
affections; and he became the King's sole guardian. Henry IV had
grown up entirely undisciplined, for the Churchmen who surrounded
him had been only indulgent to his amusements. According to
Lambert of Hersfeld, the first use Henry IV wished to make of his
liberty on attaining his majority was to march against Hanno
and lay waste his diocese, and he was only with difficulty deterred
by his mother from carrying out this project.
For two years Adalbert retained his influence, but Henry's
^ Born March 31, 1050.
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 49
affection for him was unable to prevent the Archbishop's fall from
power. Adalbert had aroused the jealousy of the German princes
by his wealth and magnificence, and by his opposition to their
usurped powers. The prelates and secular princes combined against
him, and Hanno of Cologne, Siegfried of Mayence, Rudolph,
Duke of Suabia, and Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria, obtained
the help of Duke Godfrey of Tuscany, and at a diet held at Tiebur
they laid before the King this alternative — the abandonment of
Adalbert, or the loss of his crown. Adalbert was compelled, in
1066, to return to his diocese. In danger of his life, under a strong
guard, he reached his bishopric. There still further humiliations
were in store for him. Duke Ordulf of Saxony, his son Magnus,
and his brother Hermann, Count of Salm, broke into the territories
of the See, and threatened with death the Archbishop, who sought
refuge in a distant estate. Finally, he was compelled to grant
away one-third of his estates, as a fief of the archiepiscopate, to
Magnus of Saxony, and other estates to other secular princes.
Adalbert the Magnificent now suffered poverty, and alms conse-
quently ceased to be distributed in his church of Bremen.
In order to replace Adalbert, the nobles made the arrangement
that the bishop of the diocese in which the young King happened
to be, should have control over him, and should manage the affairs
of the kingdom. This really meant that the nobles were returning
to power, and intended to dominate Henry IV as they had done
after the events of Kaiserwerth. They succeeded for a time, and
a historian of the period describes Henry IV as silent and inert,
compelled to approve the decisions and measures of Hanno of
Cologne and his party.
Hanno had caused the King, in June 1066, to marry Bertha,
daughter of the Margrave of Susa, to whom he had been betrothed
when a boy of five years of age. At first he regarded her with
some aversion, as the woman who had been forced upon him by the
tyranny of the nobles, and attempted to bribe Siegfried, Archbishop
of Mayence, to sanction a divorce by promising his aid in despoiling
the Abbots of Fulda and Hersfeld of the tithes of Thuringia ; but
4
so THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the Pope, Alexander II, sent Peter Damiani to forbid this evil
example. " Well, then," said Henry, " I will bear the burden I
cannot throw off." After she had borne him a son, in 107 1, she
succeeded in gaining his affections, and he became deeply attached
to her.
The power of the King in Italy had been gradually on the wane,
and in consequence it was decided to send an embassy to the Holy
See, in order to revive once more the influence of Germany. A
chronicler of the period relates a curious detail, viz. that, in order
to obtain an audience from the Pope, Hanno, Archbishop of
Cologne, had to submit to walk barefoot in public, as a penitent.
The fact that such a reception could be given to Hanno and the
other envoys shows how greatly the prestige of the Papacy had
increased since the Council of Mantua, when Hanno had taken the
lead, and passed judgment upon Alexander II ; and it shows, also,
how the influence of Germany in the affairs of the Holy See had
weakened and declined.
Not long after died Godfrey of Lorraine, Duke of Tuscany,
who held a high position in Germany and Italy, and had been an
intermediary between the Church and the Empire.
The Empress Agnes, after the death of Henry III, had appointed
Guibert Chancellor of the Kingdom of Italy. In this capacity he
had co-operated in the rise of the anti-Pope Cadalus. When Hanno
of Cologne inaugurated his new regime, which discredited Cadalus
and supported Alexander II, Guibert was deposed, and in his stead
Gregory, Bishop of Vercelli, was appointed to succeed him as
chancellor.
After the death of Cadalus, Guibert did his utmost to obtain
from Henry IV the Bishopric of Parma, and for this purpose he
went to the German Court. But in vain, for he met with firm
opposition from the Prince's counsellors. Archbishop Hanno had
not forgotten the past ; and the Bishopric of Parma was given to a
cleric of Cologne, named Everard. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of
Ravenna also died, and Guibert then began his intrigues to obtain
this most important benefice. He now addressed himself to the
i
THE PONTIFICATE OF ALEXANDER II 51
Empress Agnes, who was then with her son ; and succeeded in
obtaining the Archbishopric of Ravenna. He came to Rome during
the Lent of 1073, '^"*-^ attempted to obtain consecration at the hands
of Alexander II. The Pope was unwilling to officiate ; but ulti-
mately his objections were overborne by Hildebrand — though,
according to Bonitho, he uttered the prophetic words : " I am
about to die, the time of my deliverance is near at hand ; but you
will know the bitterness there is in this man." Guibert, who was
afterwards set up by Henry IV as anti-Pope during the papacy of
Gregory VII, did indeed become a source of bitterness, a thorn in
the flesh, to the Pontiff.
When Guibert came to Rome for consecration, the annual
Roman synod, the last of Alexander's pontificate, had already been
held. At this synod Alexander II excommunicated certain friends
and admirers of Henry IV. A certain monk, Robert of Bamberg,
wished to obtain the abbey of Reichenau, and intrigued with three
courtiers to win his end. He promised to enrich the Counts
Eberhard of Nellenburg, Leopold of Moersburg, and Ulrich of
Cosheim (or Godisheim) with the goods of the Church, if the abbey
fell to his share. Henry IV, influenced by his three favourites,
invested Robert as Abbot of Reichenau in 1071. Although Robert
was removed in the following year as unworthy of his position, the
three did not give up their bribe, and were excommunicated by the
Pope. Henry IV, from his intercourse with them, fell ipso facto
under sentence of excommunication.
Scarcely a month after the synod, on April 21, 1073,
Alexander II passed away, after a pontificate of nearly twelve
years.
After the death of Cardinal Humbert, Hildebrand was the leading
spirit ; next to Alexander II, whom he loved and admired, he was
the chief person in Rome and the most influential in the political
relations of the Papacy. He was even popularly supposed to be
the "Lord of the Lord Pope" ; and William of Malmesbury and
Peter Damiani suggest that his influence over Alexander II was
unbounded. Damiani even goes so far as to write —
52 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Papam rite colo sed te prostratus adoro.
Tu facts hunc Dominum, te facit ilk Deum.
This influence of Hildebrand has perhaps been over-estimated, for
it is certain that on many occasions Alexander II went his own
way,^ unheeding or not hearing the protests of the Archdeacon.'^
^ During the pontificate of Alexander, Hildebrand became chancellor or arch-
chancellor. William of Malmesbury (Ser. X. p. 474) and Landulf {Hist. Aichiep.
Mediol. Ser. VIII. p. 83) speak of this chancellorship, and Siegfried of Mayence
refers to Hildebrand as Archicancellarius.
2 E.g. such references in Gregory VII's Register : Privilegtum, quod bonce memoritg
pradecessor noster Alexander contra sanctorum patrum statuta, aliqua subreptione vel
deceptione inductus fecit (R. VII. 24, p. 418).
CHAPTER III
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII HIS FIRST ACTS.
APRIL 22, 1073 MARCH 9, IO74
The election of the Archdeacon Hildebrand as Pope — He takes the name of
Gregory VII — Cardinal Hugh Candidus prominent at this election — The
new Pope's official name of Gregory — Gregory VII's letter to Didier, Abbot
of Monte Cassino — Gregory VII receives priest's orders, May 22, 1073, and
is consecrated Pope, June 29 — The attitude of Henry IV, King of Germany,
to Gregory VII — False reports of Henrician writers concerning Gregory VII's
elevation — Incidents in the life of Gregory the Great attributed to Gregory VII
— Cardinal Hugh Candidus sent as legate to Spain — His character —
Gregory VII's letter to the Kings of Spain — Gregory VII's relations with
foreign rulers — Richard, Prince of Capua, and Robert Guiscard — Gregory \'II
at Capua, September i, 1073 — Oath of Richard, Prince of Capua — Henry IV's
difficulties with Saxony — Gregory V^II threatens to put France under an
interdict — Letter to Sighard, Patriarch of Aquileia — Preparations for the
Synod of March 9, 1074.
The death of Alexander was neither sudden nor unexpected ; the
election of his successor could not but be a subject of intense
public anxiety. At Alexander's death there was no definite legal
modus sanctioned by use for the election of the Pope. The decree
of 1059, which was to establish the method for future elections and
annul the previous laws and customs, had fallen into abeyance
owing to the opposition of the inferior cardinals. Alexander II,
who had been elected contrary to the letter of the decree, had not
pronounced any judgment upon the question.
Hildebrand, as Archdeacon, it appears, took charge of the
necessary preliminaries. The Roman people, contrary to their
custom, were quiet, and made no disturbance. He prescribed
53
54 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
three days of fasting, prayer and almsgiving as a prelude to a
deliberation as to what method were best to be adopted in electing
the new Pope. That deliberation never took place.
The clergy were assembled in the Lateran church to celebrate
the obsequies of Alexander II, on April 22, and Hildebrand, as
Archdeacon, was officiating at the service. Before it was ended, all at
once, from the whole multitude arose a simultaneous cry, " Hilde-
brand is Pope ! " The choice was a popular one ; there is no hint
of an election by the cardinals, or by the voice of the clergy. The
enthronement was hurriedly carried out in the church of San Pietro
in Vincoli.
Bonitho, who appears to have been an eye-witness of the tumult-
uous scene, tells it in the following manner. At the noise of the
disturbance the Archdeacon rushed towards the pulpit to allay the
tumult, but the cardinal-priest, Hugh Candidus, a man yet under
the accusation of simony, and excommunicated by Alexander II,
came forward and spoke to the excited crowd : " Well know ye," he
said, " beloved brethren, that since the days of the blessed Leo this
tried and prudent Archdeacon has exalted the Roman See, and
delivered this city from many perils. Wherefore, since we cannot
find any one better qualified for the government of the Church
or the protection of the city, we, the bishops and cardinals, elect
him as the pastor and bishop of your souls," The voice of Hugh
was drowned in universal cries of, " It is the will of St. Peter !
Hildebrand is Pope ! " Hildebrand was led to the papal throne,
and presented to the people as " a man of profound theological
knowledge, as a man of prudence, a lover of equity and justice,
firm in adversity, temperate in prosperity ; according to the
Apostolic words, of good conversation ; blameless, modest, sober,
chaste, hospitable — one that ruleth his own house ; a man well
brought up in the bosom of his mother, the Church, and advanced
already for his distinguished merits to the dignity of Archdeacon."
" This our Archdeacon, then, we choose, to be called henceforth and
for ever by the name of Gregory, for our Pontiff, as the successor
of the Apostle." He was hastily arrayed in the scarlet robes,
1
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII 55
crowned with the tiara, and, reluctant and in tears, enthroned in
the chair of St. Peter.
Bonitho's account is interesting, as it states that the clergy took
part in the tumultuous election, while Gregory VII himself does
not mention this. The Cardinal-Priest Hugh Candidus's initiative
is not mentioned in any other authority, but it is probable that, as
Hugh became one of the bitterest enemies of Gregory VII,
Gregorian writers naturally did not wish to emphasize the
prominent part he had played in Gregory's election. Bonitho
adds that the enthronement took place in the church of San Pietro
in Vincoli, where there was an ancient Cathedra Petri. As he often
gives details of the enthronement of other Popes, and here says
nothing of the details of Gregory's enthronement, we may assume
that it was of an informal nature. No doubt he was hurriedly
seated by laymen on the cathedra^ which was regarded at that period
as the main point. Gregory himself says nothing about his
enthronement. He appears most deeply impressed by the sudden-
ness and the violence of the popular movement, and at his own
unpreparedness and unworthiness ; again and again he asserts that
he had never desired ^ nor striven to obtain the papal dignity.
Being chosen, he comforted himself with the thought that it was
the Divine will, the " hidden dispensation of God." ^
The tumultuous character of Gregory's elevation was recognized
both by the Pope himself and by the Abbot Didier, of Monte
Cassino, who, after Gregory's death, opined that the election took
place tumultuarie. In spite of this, Didier recognized Gregory as
Pope, and he introduces him, with words of commendation, in one
of his dialogues.
^ Deus qui desiderium meum nunquam ad honorem is turn anhelare cognovit (R. I. 8).
Testis est conscientia men, quanta sollicitudine nomen apostolica dignitatis evitare
concupiverim (R. I. 39).
Navem (eccksice) inviti ascendimus- — -Romana ecclesia^ cui licet indigni et nolentes
prasidemus (R. I. 70). Etc.
^ Onus impositum non audebam recusare (R. I. 8).
Occulta Dei dispensatio ad curam ministerii sub obedientia principatus nos ordinavit et
ctnstituit (R. II. 73).
56 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
The tiame of Gregory was given to Hlldebrand in memory of
Gregory I, " the Great," who had left a profound impression upon his
contemporaries and his immediate successors. Martens has shown
that in the eleventh century the Popes did not choose their official
name on their elevation, but received it from another person or
persons, such as the prince who had a hand in the election, or the
assembled electors.^
Of the personal characteristics of Gregory I the most remark-
able are beyond all question the singular strength and energy of his
character. Firmly and intensely convinced of the divineness of
the Christian doctrine and life as these presented themselves to his
mind and heart, he suffered no obstacle and no discouragement to
triumph over his determination to give them all the currency and
prevalence that were possible in his day. The refinements alike of
literature and of art were not for him ; the uniformity of the Roman
ritual, the prevalence of Catholic dogma — these were not merely
the highest, they were the only, ideals he ever caught sight of.
Such was the man in whose spirit Hildebrand was expected to
rule ; and upon Hildebrand " truly the spirit of Gregory I rested,"
as Paul of Bernried, his biographer, writes. In the same way,
Hildebrand's patron, Bruno, was given the name of Leo, in order
that he should act in the spirit of the great Pope Leo I.^
The theory that Hildebrand "chose" the name of Gregory VII
as a slight to the memory of the Emperor Henry III, who had
deposed Hildebrand's earliest patron. Pope Gregory VI, is without
any foundation. Anti-Gregorian writers were not slow to seize the
opportunity of contrasting the hated Gregory VII with the sainted
first Gregory, to the disadvantage of the former.^
^ Bonitho writes : Quum cardinaki ephcopi, sacer dotes que et levittr et sequentes
ordinis clerict conclamassent, a nobis est: Gregor'ium papam sanctiis Petrus elegit.
- So the Archbishop Siegfried of Mayence writes to Gregory \'II in 1074 •
Reverendissimo patre tjovo Gregorio (M. Bamb. p. 84). Bernold Apologeticus (L'tbeUi,
I. p. 61) says of Gregory VII : Zanctus papa Gregorius (/.) quern noster apostollrus
nomine et actione nostris representat temporibus.
^ Petrus Crassus, in tlie Defensio of Henry I\^ {Libelli, I. p. 442) writes : Sine
actu nomen beati Gregorii geris.
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII 57
Two days after his election, on April 24, Gregory VII imparted
to Didier of Monte Cassino, afterwards his successor, the struggle
of mind with which he undertook the inevitable office, and how
deeply he was stirred by the responsibilities of his new position —
" Gregory, Roman PontifF-elect, to Didier, Abbot of the
Monastery of St. Benedict at Monte Cassino, greeting in Christ
Jesus.
" Our Lord the Pope Alexander II is dead, and his decease has
fallen upon me, shaking my very bowels, and causing me deep
distress*
" Contrary to their custom, the Roman populace remained calm
on the announcement of the death, and allowed themselves to be
governed by us, they manifesting such complete docility that every
one has perceived it to be the operation of God's mercy. After
mature deliberation, we had therefore ordered a fast of three days
to be observed, litanies and prayers to be publicly recited, with alms-
giving, proposing to make known afterwards, with the help of God,
whatever seemed to us the wisest course concerning the election of
the Roman Pontiff. But suddenly, during the funeral ceremonies
of our Lord the Pope, in the church of the Saviour, a great noise
and tumult arose, the people seized hold of me like madmen,
without giving me time to speak or take advice. It was by force
that they raised me to this Apostolic government, a burden too
heavy for my shoulders to bear. I can now say with the Prophet :
I am come into the depths of the sea, and a tempest has over-
whelmed me ; or. My heart is troubled within me : and the fear
of death is fallen upon me. But as I am confined to my bed,
overwhelmed with fatigue, I cannot dictate long, therefore I
postpone the relation of my troubles to you. In the name of
Almighty God, I beg of you to ask the brethren and the sons
whom you are bringing up in the Lord to pray to God for me,
so that the prayer which should have spared me such trials as this
may at least uphold me in my struggles with them."
In a letter of the same date, sent to Gisulfo, Prince of Salerno,
Hildebrand relates, in the same way, his election and his perplexities.
58 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
and asks him to come to Rome as soon as possible. Similar letters
were sent to Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna, to the Duchess
Beatrice, to Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, to Maranes, Archbishop of
Rheims, to Svind Estrithson, King of Denmark, and to Bernard,
Abbot of St. Victor at Marseilles ; but one seeks in vain in the
Pope's extant correspondence for a single letter from him to the
King of Germany announcing his elevation. That the collection,
however, is not complete may be assumed, as there are no extant
letters addressed to any prelates of Germany, who must have
received notification of the election. It is unlikely that Gregory
would have written to the King of Denmark and have passed over
the King of Germany, the future Emperor, whom he calls the
" head of the laity." Even if Gregory took no thought of the
decree of 1059, the honor dehitus was a factor to be reckoned with ;
and Bonitho expressly says that Gregory at once sent a letter to
Henry IV announcing the death of Alexander II and his own
elevation to the Papacy. It is possible, but by no means probable,
that the new Pope asked the Royal consent to his elevation. By
his enthronement he was already Pope, and the possible refusal of
the Royal consent could make no difference to his position.
Henry IV was occupied at the time with his own difficulties with
the Saxon nobility, and, as no Imperialist movement agitated Rome,
he was obliged to accept the situation.
Gregory, who was only a deacon at the time of his elevation,
received priest's orders on May 22 {in jejunio Fentecostes). Some six
weeks later he was consecrated Pope, according to Bonitho, on the
Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, June 29, though the Chronica
S. Benedicti speaks of the thirtieth of June. Bonitho's date receives
confirmation from the Pope's well-known veneration for St. Peter ;
and Gregory would doubtless have chosen to receive priest's orders
upon the feast-day of the Apostle. It is probable that Gregory
delayed his consecration in order to give Henry IV an opportunity
to send a representative to that ceremony. Until his consecration,
Gregory had contented himself with the title of Roman Pontiff-
elect. We find him, however, acting and deciding authoritatively as
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII 59
Pope from April 29, seven days after his election, in a letter addressed
to Rainier, Bishop of Florence. On May 6 he writes to Godfrey,
Duke of Lorraine,^ the husband of the Countess Matilda, a letter
which defines his future attitude towards the young King. Gregory
will not shrink from remonstrating with Henry IV with the affec-
tion and vigilance of a father ; but if the King refuses to listen
*' the sentence cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood "
(he writes) " will not fall upon us, thanks be to God."
What was the attitude of the King of Germany at this juncture ?
From various quarters he was advised to oppose Gregory VII, and
to refuse his royal consensus. The bishops of Lombardy, and some
of the German prelates, were hostile to the new Pontiff. Gregory,
Bishop of Vercelli and Chancellor of Henry IV for the Kingdom of
Italy, made himself the intermediary of the Lombardian bishops ;
I/Ie diabolus Vercelknsis cum suis complicibus elaborate ut tu in sede non
debeas confirmari^ writes Walo of Metz to Pope Gregory ; and
some of the German bishops made similar attempts to influence
the King. But these intrigues had no result, and the chancellor
was obliged to go to Rome to represent the King at the consecra-
tion of Gregory. It is certain that Gregory was acknowledged as
Pope by Henry IV ; and, not long afterwards, in a letter, Henry
uses memorable and unmistakable expressions of recognition of
Gregory's position as the legitimate Pope.-
According to Hugh of Flavigny, the new Pope was conse-
crated by the Cardinal-Bishops of Albano and Porto, and the
representative of the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, then absent from
Rome. The Empress Agnes and the Duchess Beatrice were also
present.
Surrounded by the clergy and the Roman people, Gregory
^ Called " Godfrey the Hunchback " to distinguish him from his father,
" Godfrey the Bearded," who had married the Duchess Beatrice, widow of the
Margrave Boniface of Tuscany.
- Vigilantissimo et desideraUsnmo domino papa Gregorio apostoUca digntiate cceliius
insignito, Henrkus Romanorum Dei gratia rex, debiti famulatus fidelisiimam exhibiiionem
(R. I. 29^).
6o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
proceeded to the Basilica of St. Peter, and entered the sacristy, where
he assumed the pontifical vestments. He then immediately pros-
trated himself before the confession of St. Peter, whilst the choir
chanted the introit, Elegit te Dofninus. Rising, he ascended the altar
steps, where he again prostrated himself in prayer, all the clergy
accompanying him. The bishops came forward to raise him, and
place him between the throne and the altar, holding over his head the
book of the Gospels. Another bishop then approached, and recited
a prayer, a second did the same, and a third consecrated him. After
having received the pallium from the hands of the archdeacon,
Gregory ascended the throne, and standing between the archdeacon
and the deacon, intoned the Gloria in excelsis Deo. The Pax having
been given, the choir chanted the Litanies. The Pope then cele-
brated Mass and gave Holy Communion to his assistants. After
Mass, Gregory VII left the altar and advanced between two lines
of soldiers, followed by all the clergy, and surrounded by the
customary ecclesiastical pomp ; the students from the Roman
schools asked his blessing. In the sacristy the Pope seated him-
self upon the apostolic chair, and then descended the steps of the
church. The rulers of the choir then approached, and three times
one of them sang Dominus Gregorius, the chorus responding duem
Sanctus Fetrus Elegit in sua sede multis annis sedere. The major-
domo then placed on the head of the Pope the crown, made of
a white fabric, in the form of a helmet, and Gregory then advanced,
on horseback, surrounded by the Roman judges, the immense
crowds that filled the streets greeting him with loud acclamations.
From the Diet of Worms (1076) Henrician writers began to
spread many false reports concerning Gregory's elevation. At the
Diet the Pope was accused (and rightly) of being elected with-
out any consideration of the decree of 1059. At the Synod of
Brixen (1080), when the strife between Henry IV and the Holy
See had broken out afresh, Gregory was falsely accused of having
garrisoned the Lateran with his soldiers, and threatened with death
the clergy who did not wish to elect him Pope. Lambert of
Hersfeld fabricates a story, by which Gregory absolutely submitted
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII 6i
the validity of his election, not only to the King, but also to the princes
of the Empire ! His story is as follows. Henry IV is strongly
urged to annul the election. " If he did not at once tame this
violent man, upon no one would the storm fall so heavily as upon
himself." Count Eberhard of Nellenburg was therefore sent to
Rome to demand of the Romans why they had dared, contrary to
ancient usage, to elect the Pope without consulting the King. If
the answer was unsatisfactory, Eberhard was to force Gregory to
abdicate. Count Eberhard was, however, deferentially received by
Gregory, who declared that he had not striven nor sought for the
honour of the Papacy, but had been forced into his position by
the clergy and the people. He considered the consent of Henry IV
and the princes necessary, and had deferred his consecration until
he had received their assent. The concession was accepted, and
Eberhard returned to Germany, satisfied !
The astonishing statement that Lambert puts into Gregory's
mouth is the keynote of the story. Lambert of Hersfeld's leading
bias was love, not for Gregory nor for Henry IV but, for the
princes of the Empire ; and to add to their importance he invented
the theory that their consent was a necessary factor in the election
of the Pope. We shall see, later on, that he lays great stress upon
the excommunication of Henry IV, to justify the action of the
princes.
According to Bonitho, an admirer of Gregory VII, when the
Pope dispatched messengers to Germany to inform Henry IV of
his elevation, he warned the King at the same time not to sanction
his nomination. The warning was couched in these severe words :
" If I be indeed made Pope, I must no longer patiently endure
your great and flagrant excesses {nequitiam).'' The king takes the
threat in good part, and gives his official consent ! This is the
language of an admirer, who wished to assert that Gregory was not
ambitious, but really humble. The story is in reality an incident
from the life of Gregory I, who, before his enthronement, begged the
Emperor Maurice not to confirm his nomination. Bonitho forgot
that Gregory was already enthroned, and had undertaken the direc-
62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
tion of the Church ; and that for him at this juncture to submit the
validity of his election to the King of Germany, and acknowledge
the King's power to cancel his promotion, would have been to betray
the interests of the Church. The tendency to transfer incidents in
the life of Gregory the Great to his successor and namesake, is shown
in the story related by Bernold and Berthold, that Gregory VII hid
himself in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, when he became
aware of the intention of the Roman people to elect him to the
Papacy.
One of Gregory Vll's first aims was the restoration of the
temporal power of the Holy See. Wido of Ferrara writes that he
at once ordered the towns and villages belonging to the Church,
and also the castles and municipal buildings, to be occupied and
garrisoned, and set himself to recover what had been lost, or
forcibly wrested from the Holy See.
Hearing that Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna, was in the
habit of exacting from the inhabitants of Imola an oath of fidelity
apart from that which bound them to the temporal authority of the
Roman Church — a rumour that afterwards proved unfounded —
Gregory complained bitterly to Guido, Count of Imola, concluding
his letter with these strong words —
" We earnestly desire to live in peace, if possible with all the
world, but we shall not hesitate to oppose the efforts of those who,
for the sake of self-aggrandizement, work against the interests of
St. Peter, whose servant we are."
Another Churchman who afterwards proved a determined enemy
of Gregory VII was Cardinal Hugh Candidus, who was sent on a
mission to Spain (April 30, 1073). To two other legates of the
Roman See, in France, Gerald, Bishop of Ostia, and the Subdeacon
Raimbald, Gregory writes urging them to reconcile Hugh Candidus
with the congregation of Cluny, and cause the cardinal's past to be
forgotten. Hugh is designated a "dear son " ; and the accusations
brought against him during the lifetime of Alexander II are attri-
buted to the faults of others, rather than of Hugh himself.
Unfortunately, Gregory showed more optimism than judgment in
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII 6^
proclaiming the good qualities of the new legate. Hugh Candidus,
or Blancus, had been appointed cardinal by Pope Leo IX ; and,
according to Bonitho, his deeds were "as oblique as his eyes."
On the death of Nicolas II, Hugh was instrumental in the setting
up of the anti-Pope Cadalus. Afterwards, "constant only in
inconstancy," he submitted to the legitimate Pope, and was sent by
him on a mission to Spain, where he used his opportunities to
extort money. In 1072 he was entrusted with another mission to
France, but his conduct on this occasion was so reprehensible that
the Diocese of Cluny and the Roman synod of 1073 bitterly
complained of him, shortly before Alexander's death. His
prominent share in Gregory's elevation to the Papacy no doubt
influenced the Pope in his favour, but shortly afterwards Hugh
again compromised himself, and broke with Gregory, finally. It
is certain that from 1074 onwards he worked in concert with
Guibert to oppose the Pope and undermine his power. Later,
as we shall see, he came forward openly at the Diet of Worms as
the avowed opponent of the Pope whose election he had been
instrumental in bringing about.
Hugh Candidus was sent by Gregory to France as spiritual
chief of a crusade against the Saracens of Spain, which several
French nobles had promised to undertake under the leadership of
one Ebles de Roncy, son-in-law of Robert Guiscard. Ebles had
appeared in Rome during the lifetime of Alexander II, when he
laid before the Pope his scheme for a crusade against the Saracens
of Spain. The support of the Holy See was promised to him, on
condition that the lands wrested from the infidels should become
fief of the Holy See. Ebles agreed to this, and it was this agree-
ment which Gregory now wished to see carried out. To the
kings of Spain, in one of his early letters, Gregory boldly asserts
the whole realm of Spain was not only within the spiritual juris-
diction of the Holy See, but her property. Whatever may be
conquered from the infidels, may be granted by the Pope or held
by the conquerors as his vassals. He reminds the kings of Spain
— Alphonso of Castile, and Sancho of Aragon — of the ancient
64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
obedience due to the Apostolic See, and exhorts them not to
recognize the Liturgy of Toledo, but that of Rome. He appeals
to a legend relating that St, Paul sent seven bishops from Rome
to convert Spain ^ — " No part of Latin Christendom was so remote
or so barbarous as to escape his vigilant determination to bring it
under his vast ecclesiastical unity."
Though some of Gregory's letters do not belong to the first
year of his pontificate, it is convenient to consider together his
relations with foreign powers, exclusive of the kingdom of Germany.
He writes, as we have seen, to the King of Denmark. In a letter
to Olaf, King of Norway, he dissuades him from assisting the
rebellious brothers of the Danish king.- He mediates between
the Duke of Poland and the King of the Russians, for the Duke
of Poland had come to Rome to receive his kingdom from the
hands of St. Peter.^ He treats the kingdom of Hungary as a fief
of the Papacy, and reproaches King Solomon •^ for daring to hold
it as a benefice of the King of Germany. His legates, in Bohemia,^
take under their care the estates of the Church ; in Africa, the
clergy and people of Carthage are exhorted to adhere to their
Archbishop, and not to dread the arms of the Saracens.^ He
occupied himself with Sardinia, which he considered to be one
of the islands which had been ceded to the Holy See. During his
stay in Capua ' he consecrated Constantine of Castra as Archbishop
of Torres in Sardinia, and told the new prelate of his intention to
assert the claim of the Church to the island.
The steadily increasing power of the Normans in Southern
Italy was now, more than ever, a factor to be reckoned with in
Italy. Richard, Prince of Capua, as master of the Campagna,
coveted the south-west portion of the pontifical States, Ceprano
and Velletri ; while Robert Guiscard, sovereign of Apuleia and
Calabria, sought to acquire the papal territory in the East, in the
1 (R. I. 7) (April 30, 1073). -^ (R. VI. 13).
•' (R. II. 73, 74) (April 20, 1073). ' (R. II. 13).
•'' (R. I. 95). ' (R. I. 23).
^ August to the end of November 1073.
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII 65
marches of Fermo and of Chieti. His nephew, Count Robert of
Loritello, subjugated the dynasties one after another, which had
until then preserved their independence in that region. Gregory VII
foresaw that Rome was in imminent danger of becoming — what
Beneventum, Naples and Salerno already were — a mere town,
surrounded by Norman possessions, whose political independence
must sooner or later succumb.
Shortly after Gregory's election, a rumour was spread abroad
that the great Robert Guiscard had died at Bari, after a short
illness, and the Pope hastened to condole with Guiscard's wife, the
Duchess Sikelgaita. The letter is interesting as showing Gregory's
sentiments at the time of his elevation towards the Normans in
general, and Robert Guiscard in particular.
The report was false. Guiscard, after having taken Cannes
and conquered the Norman barons who had risen against him, fell
ill, it is true, at Trani, and was moved to Bari, where his health
became worse. Sikelgaita herself, believing the report of her
husband's death, hastily assembled the Norman nobles, and caused
them to elect as their chief, and as successor to Robert Guiscard,
her son Roger, to the exclusion of Boemond, Guiscard's eldest son
by his repudiated wife Alberada. The Duke's strong constitution,
however, triumphed, and he recovered by the time the bearer of
Gregory VII's letter to Sikelgaita arrived at Bari. Upon this
news Gregory sent a messenger to the Duke to invite him to an
interview at San Germane, which lies at the foot of Monte Cassino.
The Duke did not respond to this invitation, but encamped at the
head of his army at RapoUa, in the south, a short distance from
Melfi. In July 1073 Gregory went to Monte Cassino, and not
finding Guiscard awaiting him at San Germano, continued his journey
as far as Beneventum, accompanied by the Bishops of Porto, Tus-
culum and Praeneste, and by the Abbot of Monte Cassino. The
latter he instructed to push forward as far as Rapolla, and persuade
the Duke to come to Beneventum. Didier succeeded in bringing
Robert Guiscard to the walls of Beneventum, but the Norman
leader refused to enter the town without his army, and encamped
5
66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
outside the town, so no understanding was arrived at between him
and the Pope. Robert Guiscard probably deliberately avoided a
meeting, as he did not wish to become a liegeman of the Pope,
whom he knew to be intimately allied with Gisulfo, Prince of
Salerno, upon whose principality Duke Robert had designs. In
becoming also a vassal of the Holy See, Robert would have been
obliged to cease his continual encroachments upon Central Italy.
Before leaving Beneventum, Gregory VII concluded a treaty
on August 12 with Landulf, Prince of Beneventum, affirming the
rights of the Papacy over the town and the principality, and threat-
ening the Lombard Prince with deposition if he betrayed the
interests of the Holy See, particularly if he consented to an alliance
with Robert Guiscard. Immediately after this the Pope went to
meet Prince Richard at Capua, where he arrived on September i,
and remained there nearly three months.
This journey to, and the sojourn at, Capua were significant.
Richard, who was then at war with Robert Guiscard, had fomented
the last revolt of the Norman barons against the Duke, in which he
had himself taken an active part. After the defeat of his enemies,
Robert Guiscard, if his illness at Bari had not interfered with his
plans, would have marched upon Capua, to punish Richard in his
own capital. The Pope was thus engaged in rallying his forces to
the standard of the enemies of Robert Guiscard, and in forming a
league between Gisulfo of Salerno and Richard of Capua. With
these allies, with the forces already organized in Rome and in
Latium, the troops of the Duchess Beatrice and the Countess
Matilda, he hoped to overcome Robert Guiscard and restore the
temporal power. On September 14 Richard of Capua formally
acknowledged Gregory VII as his suzerain, and undertook to assist
him, to the fullest extent of his power, to recover and defend the
possessions of the Roman See. The terms of Richard's oath are
almost identical with those of the oath sworn in 1059 at Melfi, in
the presence of Pope Nicholas II —
" I, Richard, by the grace of God and St. Peter Prince of
Capua, from this day forth promise fidelity to the Holy Roman
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VII 67
Church, to the Holy See, and to thee, my Lord Gregory the
universal Pope. Never will I take part in any enterprise or con-
spiracy by which you might lose a limb, your life, or your liberty.
If you should confide any secret to me, with the request that I
should preserve secrecy, I would do so, guarding the secret
sedulously from all, lest any mishap to your person should result.
" I will be loyal to you, and above all your ally, and the ally
of the Roman Church, in whatever concerns the maintenance,
acquisition, and defence of the domain of St. Peter and of his
sovereign rights. I will come to your assistance so that in all
honour and security you may occupy the papal throne of Rome.
As for the lands of St. Peter and the principality of Beneventum,
I will not attempt to invade them, nor seize or pillage them, without
express permission from you or your successors invested with the
honours of Blessed Peter. I will conscientiously pay annually to the
Roman Church the rents due for those lands of St. Peter which I
now or at any future time may possess. I submit to your authority
the churches which are actually mine, with everything belonging to
them, and I will maintain them in their fidelity to the Holy Roman
Church. Should you or your successors command it, I will swear
fidelity to King Henry without prejudicing my obligations to the
Holy Roman Church. If you or your successors should quit this
life before me, according to the advice I may receive from the best
cardinals, clerics, and laymen of Rome, I will undertake to see that
the Pope shall be elected with the honours due to St. Peter. I will
loyally observe towards the Roman Church, and you, the under-
takings now proposed to me, and I will do the same with regard to
your successors who shall be promoted to the throne of the Blessed
Peter, who will grant me the same investiture which you have
granted to me."
It is noteworthy that the reference to the allegiance to the
King of Germany drops out of later formulas, but at this moment
the relations of the Papacy with the kingdom of Germany were
undisturbed and cordial.
The deferential attitude adopted by Henry IV towards the
68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Pope in the autumn of 1073 was the direct outcome of his difficulties
with the Saxons. His chief anxieties had begun in consequence of
Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria, being charged with an intention
of murdering him. Otto was declared to have forfeited his titles,
and his lands were taken from him, and overrun. Duke Magnus
of Saxony came to Otto's support, but both princes were quickly-
subdued. This high-handed dealing with these two princes spread
disaffection in Saxony. The great barons saw themselves excluded
from State affairs, and they feared the resentment of the King, who
could not pardon them for having kept him so long in a humiliating
state of tutelage. Otto of Nordheim's Duchy of Bavaria was given
to Welf ; Magnus, heir to the crown of Saxony, was imprisoned
for making common cause with Otto of Nordheim, and in spite of
the protests of the Saxons, Henry IV refused to set him at liberty.
In 1073 a pretext was given for the rising discontent of Henry's
enemies. The King had appointed for August 22 a levy of
troops, who were to march against the Poles, who had attacked
Bohemia, an ally of Germany. The Saxons, on the pretext of
fearing that this army was intended for the subjugation of Saxony,
rose as one man, headed by Wezel, Archbishop of Magdeburg,
and Burchard, Bishop of Halberstadt, nephew of Hanno, Archbishop
of Cologne, and other prelates and secular princes. They marched
towards Goslar, and encamped before the city, but the King had
already fled to the strong castle of Harzburg, carrying with him the
royal insignia. The Saxons did not attempt an assault upon this
stronghold, but contented themselves with occupying all the roads
leading to it, in force. The King, however, escaped on August 9,
accompanied by a few followers and adherents. At Spieskappel,
near Ziegenhain, he was forced, on August 13, to meet his enemies,
who had taken advantage of the strength of their position to press
their advantage.
Gregory VII was still in the south of Italy when Robert
Guiscard commenced hostilities against Richard of Capua. The
Duke had appealed for help to his brother. Count Roger of Sicily,
who immediately responded by the capture of Venafro — to the south
THE ACCESSION OF GREGORY VU 69
of and not far distant from Monte Cassino. There he formed an
alliance with the sons of Borel, counts of Sangro, separated them
from the party of the Prince of Capua, and incorporated them in his
own army. All the castles in the neighbourhood were taken and
burnt, and the allies then marched on Capua. Everywhere their
passage was marked by fire and pillage, and once again the Cam-
pagna as far as Tagliacozzo was laid desolate. Unable to effect an
entrance into Capua, Robert Guiscard and Roger drew off their
army to the banks of the Garigliano. The terrified inhabitants
capitulated without resistance, the towns of Irajetto and Saco
spontaneously acknowledged Roger of Sicily as their sovereign, and
abandoned Richard. In the midst of these disturbances the Abbot
Didier was politic enough to preserve the property of Monte
Cassino, and even received a present of five hundred gold pieces
from Robert Guiscard.
After Robert Guiscard had made a fruitless attempt to besiege
Aquino, the property of the house of Lombardy under the
suzerainty of Richard of Capua, he retired to Apuleia, where he
was joined by his brother. Count Roger.
Gregory VII did not leave Capua until the latter part of
November. On the 20th of that month he was at Monte Cassino,
whence he returned to Rome by way of Argentia, Terracina, Piperno
and Legge, and reached the Lateran a few days before Christmas.
At the end of the year 1073 Gregory's attention was occupied
by the kingdom of France. He had taken the measure of the
weakness of that monarchy — the first kings of the House of Capet
were rather the heads of a coequal feudal federalty than kings —
and as Philip I (1060-1108) was guilty of simony, he addressed
the King in the haughtiest and most energetic terms : " No king
has reached such a height of detestable guilt in oppressing the
Churches of his kingdom as the King of France." He puts the
King to the test by the immediate admission of a Bishop of Macon,
elected by the clergy and people without payment or reference to
the Crown. If the King persisted in his obstinacy Gregory pro-
posed to lay the whole realm of France under an interdict, so that
70 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the people, "unless they were apostates from Christianity," should
refuse to obey the King.
Upon his return to Rome, Gregory began his preparations for a
synod to be held in the March of 1074. Almost all his letters
written at this period have been lost, but those addressed to the
suffragans of Milan, and to Sighard, Patriarch of Aquileia, are still
extant, and the latter is an arraignment of Christian society in the
eleventh century, and almost an indictment of the whole of the
clergy of that epoch : "The rulers and princes of this world," he
complains, " oppress the Church as if she were a vile slave. They
do not blush to cover her with confusion, if only they can satisfy their
cupidity. The priests and those who are charged with the guidance
of the Church completely neglect the law of God, are neglectful of
their obligations towards Him and towards their flocks. In aim-
ing at ecclesiastical dignities they seek only worldly glory, and they
waste in their own presumptuous pomp and foolish expenses that
which should serve to save and aid many. The people, like sheep
without a shepherd, are unguided and fall into error and sin, and
Christianity is a mere name to them." To remedy these evils
Gregory decided to hold a council in the first week in Lent, " in
order to find, by the help of God, and with the aid of our brothers,
some help and remedy for this grave situation, that we may not see
irreparable ruin and destruction fall upon the Church in our days."
This is a prelude to the strong measures condemning simony, and
the marriage of the clergy, of the synod of March 9, 1074.
CHAPTER IV
THE FIRST STRUGGLES, MARCH 9, IO74 FEBRUARY 24, IO75
The Lent Synod of 1074 • Measures against simony and efforts to enforce the
celibacy of the clergy ; reform of the Roman clergy — Gregory's relations with
Henry IV of Germany — Henry IV and the Saxon revolt — Henry IV receives
absolution, May 1074 — The campaign against the married clergy in Germany
— Synod of Erfurt, October 1074 — Hugh, Bishop of Die, legate to France,
March 1074 — Philip I of France — The Mozarabic Liturgy in Spain — Gregory
VII's expedition against Robert Guiscard, spring 1074 — His fiasco at Monte
Cimiano — Illness of Gregory VII — Abbot Didier of Monte Cassino attempts
to reconcile Richard, Prince of Capua, and Robert Guiscard — Synod of Novem-
ber 30, 1074 — Gregory VII the father of the Crusades.
Throughout Latin Christendom there had been long a doubt
as to the authority of the prohibitions against the marriage of the
clergy, and in many places there was either a public resistance to,
or a tacit infringement of, the law, which had, in point of fact,
become a dead letter. The whole clergy of the kingdom of Naples
under Nicholas II, from the highest to the lowest, were openly
married and living with their wives. Leo IX protested against this
undisguised licence, which prevailed even in Rome itself. The
Lombard cities — Milan especially — were the strongholds of the
married clergy, and the married clergy were still the most powerful
faction in Italy. In Germany the influence of the married clergy
was to make itself felt as a bond of alliance between the Emperor
and the Lombard clergy, and Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen,
almost conceded the legality of clerical marriage in order to avoid
worse evils.^
^ The wives of bishops and priests " were declared to be enslaved, and were
bestowed on the Cathedral Church of the Lateran, while all bishops throughout
71
72 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Gregory was not, as has often been maintained, the first to declare
the duty of celibacy for the clergy, but he was certainly custos inte-
gerrinius canonum, though not the suscitator canomim^ for, besides the
earlier development of the principle, his immediate predecessors in
the Papacy, Leo IX, Nicholas II and Alexander II, had had the
cause at heart. But Gregory's zeal was kindled to enforce clerical
celibacy ; and he brands the marriage, together with the immorality,
of the priests as a " plague," like simony.
On March 9, 1074, a synod was held in Rome, which con-
demned the simony that had grown so prevalent throughout Chris-
tendom, and also enacted the old stringent laws of the celibacy of
the clergy, which had become a dead letter in Northern Italy and in
Germany, as elsewhere. All those priests qui in crimine fornicationis
jacent were to be excluded from celebrating Mass ; if they remained
obstinate in their sin and careless of the statutes of the Holy
Fathers, the laity were to refuse to attend their services. We learn
incidentally that Duke Robert Guiscard and all his followers were
excommunicated at this synod, at which were present the Marquis
Azzo, Prince Gisulfo of Salerno, and the Countess Matilda. These
stringent measures against the abuses in the Church were to a great
extent popular among the multitude. Floto has shown that the
peasants held that an accusation of simony or of marriage exempted
them from payment of tithes, and there were some fearful instances
of the ill-usage of the clergy by the rabble.
The decrees of the synod caused strife and rebellion in the
countries where both simony and a married clergy had become the
rule rather than the exception. The resistance of the clergy to
these decrees was utterly in vain. They were enforced for the
first time by a very strong hand ; papal legates visited every country,
and, supported by the popular voice, compelled submission.
While advocating strong measures for the reform of the clergy
Christendom were desired to apply the rule to their own dioceses and to seize the
offending women for the benefit of their churches." Damiani Opusc.xv'm. Diss, ii, 7.
See History of Sacerdotal Celibacy, by H. C. Lea, LL.D. Third edition, p. 221.
Williams and Norgate.
THE FIRST STRUGGLES 73
throughout Christendom, Gregory VII was careful not to forget to
apply them, especially in Rome itself. Immediately after his acces-
sion he ordered the Roman priests to live in community and to
observe celibacy, or else to return to the life of laymen and abandon
the service of the altar. Many adopted the alternative, and retired
from the priesthood. The Basilica of St. Peter was served by more
than sixty lay clerks, most of whom led evil lives and abused their
position. Gregory got rid of these men, and confided St. Peter's
to the care of priests specially recommended for their virtue.
Already in the month of December 1073 Gregory had expressed
a desire to mediate between the King of Germany and the Saxons.
He had wished both parties to lay down their arms, and the causes
at issue to be examined by papal legates. Nothing, however, came
of this scheme.
An important event in the year 1074 was the absolution of
Henry IV by the papal legates in Germany. In the first months
of his pontificate Gregory VII does not touch upon this question,
and it was Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, who reminded him that the
King had still to do penance for his intercourse with his excom-
municated advisers. Count Eberhard of Nellenburg, Leopold of
Moersburg and Ulrich of Cosheim. The Empress Agnes was
anxious for her son to be freed from the enemies of the Church,
and it was owing to her efforts that Henry IV forsook his excom-
municated friends and paved the way fiDra reconciliation. Gregory
thanks the Empress for her good work in a letter still extant.
The legates, the Cardinal-Bishops Humbert of Prasneste and
Gerald of Ostia, proceeded to Germany to give the King absolution,
and were accompanied by the Empress Agnes and her advisers,
Rainald, Bishop of Como, and Henry, Bishop of Coire. The
mission reached Nuremberg in Franconia about Easter 1074, where
the King hastened to meet them.
Henry IV's position at the time of the arrival of the legates
was still full of difficulty. In spite of the concessions forced from
him, after his flight to Harzburg in August 1073, ^Y ^^^ princes,
at Spieskappel near Ziegenhain, there was widespread discontent
74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
among the Saxons. Before the assembly at Spieskappel (August 1 3)
Rudolph Duke of Suabia had written to the Pope a letter full of
complaints against Henry IV, which has unfortunately been lost,
Henry IV had also sought to enlist Gregory VII upon his side,
and addressed to him a letter, which is included in the first book
of Gregory's Register.^ The address ^ is an additional proof that
at this time Henry IV regarded Gregory as the legitimate Pope.
The King somewhat naively admits that the pressure of external
circumstances prompted the letter, and confesses — not to immor-
ality, nor to dishonourable actions, but to lack of respect to the
Apostolic See, to simony, and to the nomination of unworthy
persons to bishoprics.
Gregory received this communication, which has been described
as "a masterpiece of hypocrisy," in the middle of September, and
was, not unnaturally, delighted with the " words full of sweetness
and obedience, such as neither Henry IV nor his predecessors had
ever before sent to Roman pontiffs." He declared his intention of
helping the King, if his heart, omissis puerilibus studiisy would turn
to God. As far as we know, he made no answer to the King's
letter, and his attempt to mediate between him and the Saxons
proved fruitless. He had wished the Saxons to lay down their
arms, and allow papal legates to investigate the causes at issue. ^
No such investigation, however, took place. A further breach
between the King and the princes had been made by one Reginger,
formerly a confidant of the King, who declared to the Dukes Rudolf
of Suabia and to Berthold of Carinthia that the King had charged
him to assassinate them. Henry IV protested with the utmost
vehemence that Reginger's story was false, but the affair made a
bad impression upon the princes. Henry took refuge in his faithful
city of Worms, and after a fruitless invasion of Saxony in midwinter
(January 1074) he concluded peace with his enemies at Gerstungen,
^ No. 29a.
- So also the expressions : Domine mi et pater amantissime ; Vaira indulgentissma
patermtas.
3 R. I. 39 (December 20, 1073).
THE FIRST STRUGGLES 75
on Februar)' 2. Among the conditions of this peace was the de-
molition of his fortresses. The people at once began to demolish
them ; the peasants scaled the walls of Harzburg and destroyed
everything within it, including the church with the fortress contain-
ing the relics of the saints and the bodies of some of his relatives
buried there, which were scattered to the four winds. Henry's
anger at this outrageous piece of sacrilege knew no bounds ; and
since he was unable to avenge it, he begged the Church to take
action against its perpetrators. It was at this juncture that the
Empress Agnes and the legates of the Holy See arrived in Germany.
After a penance, Henry IV received absolution, in May 1074, at
the hands of the legates.
Attempts were now, with the King's consent, made to root out
simony among the clergy of Germany. A council was ordered to
be summoned. But the bishops were by no means anxious for an
investigation into their titles. Some, headed by Liemar, Archbishop of
Bremen, stood upon the privileges of the German Church, and declared
that the Pope alone could hold such a council in their sees. Siegfried,
Archbishop of Mayence, a man of weak character and little personal
courage, in fear alike of the Pope and of the King, was ill fitted to
summon this council and to carry out the decrees of Gregory and
of the council which he had held at Rome for the suppression of
the married clergy. These decrees had met with sullen resistance
in Lombardy ; and Siegfried knew the disposition of the German
clergy so well that it was not till he was formally threatened with
the Papal censure that he consented to promulgate the decrees.^
He did not summon the clergy at once to show their obedience,
but allowed them six months for consideration.
A synod met at Erfurt.^ The majority of the assembled clergy
were openly in favour of clerical marriage. " The Pope," they
said, " must be a heretic or a madman. He would compel all men
to live like angels." They would rather abandon their priesthood
than their wives, and " then let the Pope, who thought men too
^ March 1074. ' October 1074.
76 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
grovelling for him, see if he can find angels to govern his Church,"
Siegfried, who openly admitted his sympathy with their opinions,
could not command their obedience, and his arguments had little
effect. When the clergy withdrew to deliberate, the more violent
among them threatened to depose the Archbishop and even to put
him to death, as a warning to his successors not to publish such
statutes. Siegfried, in terror of his life, offered to appeal to Rome,
and attempt to win some mitigation of the law. Perhaps to distract
the angry clergy from the subject under discussion, Siegfried
suddenly revived an old question of his claim on the tithes of
Thuringia, which had been settled at Gerstungen. The Thuringians
on this broke into open violence, and the Archbishop was glad
to escape out of the town, surrounded by his own soldiers. So,
ignominiously, closed the Council of Erfurt.
In December of this year Gregory begins his correspondence
with Henry IV — a correspondence which closed exactly a year later,
on December 8, 1075. ^^^ ^^^^ Gregory expresses himself rejoiced
at Henry's determination to extirpate simony in his kingdom, and
to further the cause of celibacy among the clergy. In July 1075
Gregory gives the King praise for his " firm stand " against simony.
In France the two " plagues " were also deeply rooted, and at
the close of the Lent Synod, Gregory VII appointed as his legate
the fiery and zealous Hugh, Bishop of Die, to reform the clergy of
that country. Hugh had been elected Bishop of Die by the clergy
and people of that diocese ; the Count of Die made no opposition
to this election at first, but subsequently he organized a popular
rising against the Bishop-elect. Hugh went to Rome to demand
justice, and Gregory himself consecrated him in March 1074.
Gregory gave him letters for his diocesans and for the Count of
Die, threatening the latter with excommunication unless he entirely
changed his unworthy attitude towards his Bishop. Other letters
accredited Hugh as legate of the Holy See to the whole of France,
and were addressed to all abbots and prelates, commanding them to
pay to Hugh the tax called Peter's Pence.
The " crimes " of the King of France occupy Gregory's attention
THE FIRST STRUGGLES 77
in this, as in the preceding year. Another disgraceful incident had
occurred at the church at Beauvais. Guido, Bishop of Beauvais,
who had been driven away by the people at the King's instigation,
took refuge in Rome. The Pope, when he heard of this, wrote
immediately to the people of Beauvais and to the King requiring
that the Bishop should be restored to his see, and that the ecclesi-
astical property should be given back to him. In an epistle to the
bishops of France Gregory describes the wickedness of the land,
and notices, among other crimes, the punishment and imprisonment
of pilgrims on the way to Rome, and he charges the King as being
the head and front of all this guilt, " a bandit among kings." The
plunder of the merchants, especially of Italians, who visit France,
takes place by the King's authority. Gregory exhorts the bishops
to admonish him, and rebukes their fears and lack of dignity. If
the King is still stiff-necked, he commands them to excommunicate
him, and, what is more, to suspend all religious services throughout
the land ! Such a strong measure, however, was never actually
taken against France.
The three letters which Gregory VII wrote in 1074 to the
princes of Christian Spain prove that the campaign against simony
and the marriage of the clergy, which provoked such determined
opposition in France, Germany, and parts of Italy, did not prove
equally unacceptable in Spain. These letters do not even allude
to opposition, but merely to that of a liturgical question which is
of historic interest.
In the beginning Spain, evangelized by missionaries from Rome,
received from them, along with the principles of the faith, the
Roman rite, that is to say, the Liturgy for the celebration of the
Mass and the other offices. Later, through the influence of
the Priscillianists and the Arians, following upon the invasion by
the Goths and the Saracens, the Roman rite became modified in
Spain in many details, and had been gradually replaced by the
Liturgy of Toledo, known as the Mozarabic rite. Gregory now
insisted, through his legates, that the rite of Toledo should be
abolished, and replaced by that of Rome. On March 20, 1074,
78 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
he wrote to Sanchez Rumuez, King of Aragon, to congratu-
late him on accomplishing this reform ; the day before he had
written to Alphonso VI, King of Leon, and Sanchez II, King of
Castile, a joint letter, begging them to introduce the same reform
in their dominions. But a Liturgy does not disappear at once,
especially when it forms a part of the religious conscience of the
people, and is identified with it. The Mozarabic Liturgy gave way
very gradually to the Roman rite, and at the present day it is with
the approbation of Rome that this Mozarabic Liturgy, with its beau-
tiful prayers, ceremonies, and ancient melodies, is still used in the
Cathedral of Toledo.
The relations between Gregory and the King of England are at
the beginning of his pontificate very cordial. Gregory advances a
claim for the tribute of Peter's Pence in England, which William I
admits. In a letter to the famous Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, Gregory reminds him of their old friendship, and draws a
melancholy picture of the state of the Church, exhorting him to
oppose with the utmost energy a custom of the Scotch, who, the
Pope writes, not only readily abandon their wives, but even put
them up for sale !
During the spring of 1074, the Pope continued his military
preparations against Robert Guiscard. Aime's is the only account
of this campaign that has come down to us. He writes : " The
Pope came to Rome (after his stay at Capua), and continued that
which he had begun. Men not having responded to his appeal,
Gregory called upon Beatrice and her daughter Matilda to come
and consult with him at Rome, and explained to them the reason
for the interview. Their perfect faith in St. Peter and the love
which they bore towards the Vicar of God, decided Beatrice and
Matilda to accept this invitation. They hastened to Rome, prepared
to do all that the Pope might require of them. They promised to
bring to him thirty thousand knights, among them five hundred
Teutons, to render the victory more certain. The Pope replied :
* As for those vile little Normans, with twenty thousand men, if it
pleases God, we can attack and vanquish them, for we have on our
THE FIRST STRUGGLES 79
side Prince Richard and all the inhabitants of his lands, and the
protection of God and the Apostles, which will be with us.' Then
the two noble ladies replied : ' If the knights we have promised
should fly before the enemy, it would be a great shame for us. All
the world would say, these women occupy themselves with what is not
at all their affair^ and it is just that they should bear the blame ^ since
they pretend to assume the role always reserved for princes. We must
act like men, therefore, vanquish and confound the Normans.
Therefore may your holiness permit us to bring as many men as
may be required ; we shall thus have the honour of the victory, and
oblige the enemy to restore what he has stolen from the prince of
the Apostles.' The Pope admired the wisdom of the two ladies,
and allowed them to act as they wished." This account of Aime's,
though anecdotal, is not improbable ; for Gregory VII was inclined
to underrate the powers ^ of his enemies. Gisulfo of Salerno was
summoned to take his share in the preparations, and an army took
the field, and assembled, June 12, 1074, at Monte Cimiano. But
when the Pisans saw Gisulfo, home do loquel il avoient receu damage^
prison el traiison^ as Aime writes, they cried out, " Death to Gisulfo ;
he was without pity, he condemned us and our fellow-citizens to
perish by sea or in prison, he has stolen our goods. Death to all
who would defend him, to all who are favourable to him and his."
The Pope, hearing these outcries and accusations, was greatly
surprised, and finally, to save Gisulfo, caused him to leave secretly
for Rome. The departure of Gisulfo did not appease the anger of
the Pisans, who now refused to obey the Pope or to follow him.
Gregory proceeded to the castle to ask for more troops from the
Duchess Beatrice and her daughter. Beatrice and Matilda, at this
juncture, however, were recalled by a revolt that had broken out
among their subjects in Lombardy, and departed in haste to the
north of Italy. Gregory returned to Rome, where, saddened by
the defeat of his cherished plans, he fell seriously ill.
Before the expedition of Monte Cimiano, which thus ended
^ Contra eos Kormannos qui nobis rebelles sunt satis sufficiunt milites isti, qui nobiscum
sunt (R. 1. 46). (February 1074.)
So THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
in a fiasco, Gregory VII had reopened negotiations with Robert
Guiscard, and the legates of the Holy See invited the Duke to
come to Beneventum. The Duke assumed a conciliatory attitude
in the face of the possibility of a coalition of his enemies in the
northern, the central, and the south-western portions of Italy, and
expressed his willingness to meet the Pope. On the appointed day
he arrived at Beneventum, accompanied by many of his knights,
and his wife, with his sons and daughters — the treasures he most
prized, of whom he was accustomed to say, " Qui me levera ma moiUier
et mi fill^ ce que ai, sont tienr ^ After waiting three days for the
arrival of Gregory VII, who did not appear, probably on account
of his illness, the Duke quitted Beneventum, taking the road to
Naples.
Gregory's ill-health lasted more than two months. During this
time, from June 15 to August 28, his pen, usually so busy, is
completely silent ; there is no trace in the Register of the dictatus^
that is to say, the notes which the Pope dictated, when his health,
often feeble, did not permit him to write letters himself. It
was " with regret," as he himself says, that he entered upon
convalescence.
Aime writes that when he was at Beneventum in June 1074,
Robert Guiscard, wishing to continue the war against Richard of
Capua, desired to have the Duke of Naples as an ally. He there-
fore encamped with his army not far from this city, in a fertile
plain, watered by streams " which came from beneath the earth,"
and sent word to the Duke of Naples that he wished to speak with
him. Sergius V, the reigning Duke, accepted the invitation, and
formed an alliance with Robert Guiscard. All was ready for a new
campaign against Richard of Capua, when the politic Abbot of
Monte Cassino appeared on the scene as mediator to reconcile the
two Normans.
Since the autumn of 1074 the Abbot Didier had actively
employed himself in the pacification of Southern Italy, but his first
1 Aimc, VII. 14.
THE FIRST STRUGGLES 8i
efforts were not crowned with success, Richard of Capua and
Robert Guiscard had, it is true, had several interviews at Aversa,
at Acerra, and at Pisa, at which the Abbot was present. They even
spent a month together, arranging conditions of peace, but found
agreement impossible. They parted, at last, irritated afresh against
each other, and hostilities recommenced, Richard returning to Capua
and Robert to Calabria. The negotiations, however, were not
broken off before the winter of 1074-75, It is evident that at this
period Robert Guiscard entertained no thought of a reconciliation
with the Holy See. In January of 1075 ^^^ Pope thought of a new
scheme for the subjugation of Robert Guiscard. He writes to
Svend, King of Denmark, that there was " a very rich province not
far from us on the sea-coast held by vile heretics." He suggests
that one of the King's sons should take possession of this province
and oust the Normans, and hold the fiefs of Apuleia and Calabria as
a vassal of the Holy See. " Heretics," in the strict sense, the
Normans were not, but Gregory probably considered them as of
doubtful Christianity, from the carelessness with which they regarded
the sentence of excommunication. The abusive epithets (vi/es et
ignavi) applied to the bold and active warrior race are singularly
infelicitous, and show Gregory's habit of underrating his opponents,
a lack of judgment which has its counterpart in his very mistaken
estimates of individuals.
On recovering his health, Gregory held a synod, November 30,
1074, though no mention of this assembly is found in the Registrmn^
or in contemporary letters, etc. The Archbishop Liemar, and
Bishop Cunibert of Turin, ^ who were invited, did not appear. On
December 12 following, Gregory dispatched a second invitation to
Liemar for the Lent Synod of 1075, ^"^ suspended him from all
episcopal functions until such time as he should appear. A similar
invitation was also sent (December 4) to Siegfried, Archbishop of
Mayence, and to six of his suffragans. As this Archbishop was aged
and in ill-health, Gregory, foreseeing that he might be unable to
1 Gregory writes to the latter : Vocatin ad synodum, quam circa fest'iv'itatem sanctl
Andre^e celebrav'imiis, venire contemps'isti.
6
82 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
travel to Rome, authorized him, should it be necessary, to send
delegates to represent him. He commanded Siegfried to inform
him concerning the private life of the six suffragans who were
required to appear at the Lent Synod, and to state how they had
been appointed to the episcopate. Grave charges had been brought
against some of these bishops ; Otto of Constance and Hermann of
Bamberg were the most severely compromised. To Otto the
synopsis of the decrees of the synod of 1074 relating to simony and
incontinence of the clergy had been sent, but the bishop had taken
no notice of this, and had not even deigned to promulgate the
decrees in his diocese. We know of only three Italian bishops who
were invited by name to the Lent Synod of 1075. ^'"^^ °^ these
was Cunibert of Turin, who had been summoned to the November
synod, and who, in spite of the protest of the Abbot and the
command of the Holy See, had insisted on retaining possession of
the monastery of St. Michael at Chiusi in Tuscany.
It has been questioned whether Gregory VII was the father
of the Crusades. Some limit the meaning of the Crusades to an
attempt to recover the Holy Sepulchre, but a scheme for recovering
the whole of the Holy Land floated before Gregory's eyes, and
he must be considered as the originator of the movement.
At the close of the tenth and the beginning of the eleventh
centuries the strong religious movement, which arose from the
hope, or fear, of an imminent millennium, wrought with no less
intensity on the pilgrimages to the Holy Land than on other
forms of religious service. Men crowded to Jerusalem — so soon,
they expected, to be the scene of the great assize. The wars which
followed the fall of the Caliphate had, towards this time, made
Syria less secure, and in loio there was a fierce persecution of
the Christians by Hakim, the fanatical Sultan of Egypt. Hakim,
however, himself grew weary of persecution, and the pilgrims were
permitted to resume their travels ; they had to undergo no
persecution, nothing but the payment of a toll on the entrance
to Jerusalem.
Through the earlier half of the eleventh century men of all
THE FIRST STRUGGLES 83
ranks, the princely bishops of Germany, and princes like Robert
of Normandy, headed pilgrimages. Monks and peasants, even,
found their way to the Holy Land.
When, however, the Turks became masters of Jerusalem, the
Christians of Palestine, from tributary subjects, became despised
slaves ; the pilgrims, from respected guests, hated and persecuted
intruders. But these difficulties did not deter the flood of pilgrims.
Lambert, a monk of Hersfeld, whose biassed and partial history has
been such a source of error to historians, made a furtive pilgrimage,
and was much alarmed lest his abbot should die without having
forgiven him. He speaks of having incurred great peril, and of
having returned to his monastery quasi ex impiis redivhus (1059).
" A league of the whole Christian world against the Moham-
medans had expanded before Gerbert, Pope Silvester II. The
Caesar of the West, his master, Otho III, was to add at least
Palestine to the great Christian realm." ^ It was now among the
bold visions that floated before the mind of Gregory VII.
Gregory, in his enthusiasm as a dreamer of dreams, was desirous
of summoning an army from the whole of Christendom, which,
under his leadership, should conquer Byzantium, unite the
Eastern and Western Churches under one head, and then march
against the Saracens and drive them from the lands which they
had conquered and possessed. " A worthy domain was to be
secured for the papal monarchy, by the restoration of the old
limits of Christendom, and the glories of the brightest age of
the Church were to be brought back once more. It was a splendid
dream — fruitful, like all Gregory did, for later times ; but with
a sigh Gregory renounced his dream for the harsh realities of his
actual position."
Gregory's former appeal to the French nobles for aid in a
crusade in the East had failed; he now resolved to try to enlist
the King of Germany's interest in the cause in December 1074.
It is curious to observe that Henry is not asked to lead the
crusade in person — that is to be the Pope's own privilege ! while
1 Latin Christianity, Milman, Vol. I\'.
84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to Henry IV is to be left ("after God") the care of the Roman
Church.^ This military inclination of the Pope did not meet with
universal approval, and Godfrey of Vendome writes, Populus a
pontifice docendus^ non discendus. No notice, apparently, was taken
by Henry IV of this remarkable letter of Gregory's.
A few days later (December 1 6) Gregory addressed a letter to " all
the faithful of St. Peter, and especially those beyond the Alps,"
in which he seeks to arouse their interest in the defence of the
Greek Empire. A contemporary letter to the Countess Matilda
confesses that his desire to "cross the sea" in his crusading enter-
prise appeared to many people as worldly ambition. Not content
with expressing a wish to be general and leader of the crusade, he
wishes for the company and support of the Empress Agnes and
of Matilda ! " In company of such sisters, I would most gladly
cross the sea, to lay down my life, if need be, with you, for
Christ."
It is probable that the subjection of Robert Guiscard was
considered as the preliminary to this expedition in aid of the
Empire of Constantinople, since Bari, Brindisi, Otranto, Tarentum,
Reggio, and Messina, all the best ports from which to embark for
the Greek Empire, were in the hands of the Duke. " But the
deliverance of the decrepit, unrespected, often hostile empire of
the East would have awakened no powerful movement in Latin
Christendom. The fall of Constantinople would have startled too
late the tardy fears and sympathies of the West." In the last days
of January 1075 Gregory acknowledged the impossibility of his
great project, and from this month onwards the suggestion of
an expedition to the East no longer figures in Gregory VII's
correspondence.
^ Inm ultra quinquaginta m'llia ad hoc se prccparent et, si me possunt in expedttione pro
duce ac pontifice habere, armata manu contra inim'icos Dei volunt insurgere et usque ad
sepulchrum Domini, ipso ducente pcrvenire — sed quia magna res magno indiget consilio et
magnorum auxilio : si hoc Deus me permiserit incipere a te qua:so consilium et, iit tibi placet,
auxilium ; quia si illuc favente Deo ivero, post Deum tibi Romanam ecclesiam relinquo, ut
earn et sicut sane tarn matrem custodias et ejus honor em defendas (R. II. 31).
CHAPTER V
THE BREACH BETWEEN HENRY IV OF GERMANY AN'D GREGORY Vir,
FEBRUARY 24, TO75 FEBRUARY 24, IO76
Investiture — The Roman Synod of February 24-28, 1075 — Prohibition of the inves-
titure of ecclesiastical dignitaries by laymen — Condemnations levelled against
five councillors of Henry IV, and several bishops — Defeat of the Patarines at
Milan, and death of Herlembald — A daughter of Robert Guiscard marries the
son of Michael \'II, Emperor of the East — Submission of the Saxons at
Gerstungen, October 25, 1075 — The relations between Gregory V^II and
Henry IV^— The Bishoprics of Bamberg and Milan — Last letter of Gregory VII
to Henry I\' — Death of Hanno, Archbishop of Cologne — The alliance between
Robert Guiscard and Richard, Prince of Capua — The attempt of Cenci upon
the life of the Pope, Christmas 1075 — Henry IV receives at Goslar the letter
and ultimatum of Gregory VII — The Diet of Worms, January 1076 — Letters
of the bishops of Germany and Henry IV to Gregory VII — Synod of Piacenza
— The principle at issue between Henry IV and Gregory \'II.
The old method of the assembling of the clergy and laity to
elect a bishop for the diocese had never been prohibited by law in
Germany. When the emperors and kings nominated or influenced
the election of bishops, this predominant lay factor was tacitly
accepted by the Church, without, however, granting any direct
papal or synodal concession. Pope John X, however, in 928, had
spoken of a prisca consuetiido^ by which bishops had been nominated
by kings, and which required that no bishop should be consecrated
without the royal command.
The diocesans often begged the king or the emperor to
nominate a candidate, and it frequently happened that powerful
rulers nominated persons to bishoprics from political motives,
86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
without regard to the character of their nominees. No lay prince,
however, assumed that by his nomination or by his investiture
with any insignia he could lay claim to any spiritual or ecclesiastical
power over the bishop.
Strictly speaking, the war of investitures — if by this we mean
the dispute about the modus of investiture by the prince, and the
use of the Ring and Crozier — began after the death of Gregory VII,
and came to an end in the compromise between Calixtus II and
Henry V. In Gregory VII's pontificate the question of inves-
titure was restricted to the nomination of ecclesiastics to bishoprics,
etc., by laymen.
Very characteristic was the attitude of the Emperor Henry II
towards the bishoprics of his dominions. His personal piety
excludes any thought of simony, but nevertheless he disposed of
bishoprics as it seemed good to him. The diocesans of the Arch-
bishopric of Cologne had already chosen their archbishop, but Henry
simply set their candidate aside, and gave the archbishopric in
1 02 1 to Pilgrim. Again, he nominated his chancellor, Eberhard,
Bishop of Bamberg, and his nominee was immediately consecrated by
Willegis, Archbishop of Mayence. Henry II's successor, Conrad II,
was stained with the all-prevalent simony of the time, and demanded
large gifts of money from the Churchmen he appointed to bishop-
rics. Henry III, a man of high personal character, in whose life-
time the mediaeval empire touched its highest point, followed in the
footsteps of Henry II. The Emperor, who had four times nominated
the Pope, naturally held himself justified in appointing whom he
would to the bishoprics of his dominions, without considering the
electoral right of the diocesans in allowing the Pope any voice in
the matter. Consequently, Hermannus Contractus (of Reichenau)
assumes that the right to appoint to bishoprics and to duchies
is an attribute of the German kingdom. As Henry III was a
stern opponent of simony, Peter Damiani greeted his intervention
with joy, and spoke of it as a Divine dispensation, that the ordinatio
sedis apostoRcce was entrusted to the Emperor as a reward of his
piety. Under these circumstances, Damiani saw nothing against
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 87
the Emperor's appointing and deposing bishops. "When the Arch-
bishopric of Ravenna became vacant, he appealed to the Emperor
directly to appoint another archbishop — " appoint a pastor so that
the Church may rejoice." After the death of Henry III the Empress-
Regent continued the practice, and in 1057 she appointed Gundechar
to the Bishopric of Eichstadt.
The German Popes appointed by the powerful Emperor could
hardly hope to oppose the Imperial nomination of bishops. Leo IX,
however, made the first and tentative attempt to oppose the " old
custom," and to bring forward the still older Laws of the Church.
This reform was, indeed, restricted to France, and was promul-
gated in a French council, that of Rheims (October 1049), where
it decreed that ne quis sine electione cleri et populi ad regimen
ecclesiasticum provehetur.
This synod was the prelude to an attempt to return to the Laws
of the Church. Cardinal Humbert voiced the growing discontent
at the influence of lay princes in ecclesiastical elections. The
appointment of a bishop by a lay prince is, he writes,^ the greatest
of crimes, and he laments the widespread nature of the evil.
The question of the nomination to bishoprics by lay princes was
not laid before the synods of the year 1074 ; this was reserved for
the Lent Synod of the year 1075. Unfortunately the text of this
decree has not been preserved, and the Registrum throws no light
upon the matter. But we are enabled, from a letter of Gregory's,
dated December 8, 1075,- to gather what were the aims of the
decree. Gregory describes the reform as " a return to the decrees
of the holy fathers," consonant with the teaching of Christ and the
Apostles. He does not state what were the provisions of the
decree, but certain fideles of King Henry who were present at the
synod were commissioned, on their return to Germany, to inform
him that Gregory was willing to make concessions, to soften the
categorical prohibitions of the decree if it could be done, " saving
the honour of the eternal King, and without peril to our souls." It
^ Jdi'ersus S'wioniacos. ~ R. III. lo.
88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
is probably for this reason that he did not at once give the decree
any wide publicity.^
The synod of February 1075 ^^ also remarkable for the number
of censures which it fulminated. Liemar, Archbishop of Bremen,
was suspended from all episcopal functions, and lost the right to
celebrate Mass. Bishop Dionysius of Piacenza was deposed, and
Bishop Cunibert of Turin was suspended. Robert Guiscard, already
under anathema, was again excommunicated, as was Robert of
Loritello, " for having invaded the territory of St. Peter." Philip I
of France was threatened with the ban unless he gave satisfaction
to the Pope in a certain matter ; and also it is related of five
supporters of the King of Germany, " whose counsel had led to
making profit from the sale of Church property, that, unless these
supporters should have reached Rome by the kalends of June, and
there made full and proper satisfaction, they were to be regarded as
excommunicate." The condemnation of the five favourites of
Henry IV was somewhat ill-timed, as Henry had just succeeded
in re-establishing his authority in Germany, and was preparing to
take revenge upon the Saxons, so that he was not likely to attend
to the papal censure.
It was to this synod of February that the English bishops and
abbots were invited as early as August 1074, though in his letter
Gregory writes that the synod was to be held during the second
week of Lent (March i to 9), whereas this synod was actually held
from February 24 to 28, the first week of Lent.
One of Gregory's chief anxieties had been the re-establishment
of order in the Church of Milan, agitated by the disputes of rival
factions. The numerous letters which he wrote in 1073 '^'"'^ ^^74
to the sufiragaji-bishops of Milan, and to the Knight Herlembald,
manifest his constant anxiety in this direction. His efforts to bring
about the triumph of the Patarines were to some extent successful,
as he was strongly supported by Beatrice and Matilda, who
^ Gregory V'll writes, in the beginning of the year 1078, to Bishop Huzmann ot
Spires, th3it sfcundum /egati tut verba decretum nostrum (of 1075) ante investituram pro certo
non cognovisti.
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 89
governed the greater part of Northern Italy, and there had as yet
been no open breach with the King of Germany, who was also
suzerain of Milan.
Throughout Lombardy the decrees condemning the marriage
of the clergy had met with overt or covert opposition, and not the
preaching of Ariald, nor his martyrdom, not the stern eloquence of
Damiani, nor the tyranny of Herlembald had succeeded in entirely
eradicating the custom. Herlembald had added to his unpopularity
(1074) in Milan by attempting to abolish the Ambrosian rite in
favour of the Roman Liturgy ; and now a fire which had destroyed
a large portion of the city at the end of March 1075 became the
pretext for accusing him and his party as incendiaries. The storm
burst on Holy Saturday, and when the clergy were about to pro-
ceed with the numerous baptisms which took place on that day,
according to the ancient custom, Herlembald forbade the use of
the chrism which had been consecrated according to the Ambrosian
rite on the preceding Holy Thursday ; he even attempted to pour
the holy oils upon the ground, and ordered the anointing to
be given with the chrism consecrated according to the Roman
ceremonial. The Milanese cardinals refused to carry out this
injunction ; but a priest named Luitprand volunteered to baptize
all catechumens who might be presented to him, using only the
Roman chrism for the usual anointings prescribed by the ritual, to
the intense anger and resentment of the clergy. A few days later,
when Herlembald, carrying St. Peter's banner in his hand, was
haranguing the people in the market-place, he was surrounded, and
slain after a brave resistance. His body was stripped by the mob,
mutilated, and carried in triumph through the streets. The next
day, the mob, hot for another victim, found out the hiding-place of
the priest Luitprand, and cut off his nose and ears. The Patarines
fled before the storm, and some took refuge in Cremona. Her-
lembald's tragic end caused a profound sensation, not only in
Rome, but in all other countries, "even," says Bonitho, "as far as
the coasts of Brittany " ; and no one was more affected than
Gregory VII, who was in sympathy with the aims and perhaps with
90 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the high-handed and forcible methods of the Milanese knight.
His enemies would scarcely allow Herlembald decent burial. A
solemn procession passed to the Church of St. Ambrose, with
hymns of thanksgiving for the deliverance of the Church of Milan
from her oppressor. Yet he, too, is placed as a martyr in the
calendar of Christian saints. The death of this violent Churchman
or demagogue, who, whatever his aims, governed by popular
insurrection, by violence, and by plunder, closes a melancholy
chapter in Church history. The married priests continued to
exercise their functions in Milan, though with greater caution. A
synod, held in 1098, condemns as an abuse a practice adopted by
the clergy of handing down their benefices to their children by a
kind of hereditary succession.
Robert Guiscard had continued his hostilities against Richard
of Capua, but this dissension between the two Norman princes in
no way weakened Guiscard's strong position in Southern Italy.
So powerful, indeed, was he, that about this time the Emperor of
the East, Michael VII, asked for the hand of one of Guiscard's
daughters for his son Constantine. The Eastern Empire had been
governed since 107 1 by Michael, '* whose character was degraded
rather than ennobled by the virtues of a monk and the learning of
a sophist," and who was by no means fitted for his position. His
authority was menaced at this time by a twofold danger. The
Turks, who in 1073 had again invaded the eastern frontiers of the
Empire, and had advanced as far as Chalcedon and Chrysopolis,
and taken Damascus and Mabog, after a siege lasting eight years,
were pushing their conquests still further into Asia Minor ; while,
within his dominions, two Greek generals, Isaac Comnenius and
Nicephorus Botoniatis, were plotting against him. Michael, for-
getting that Robert Guiscard had done more than any man to
expel the Greeks from Italy, proposed this alliance, and after
very protracted negotiations Guiscard's daughter was taken to
Constantinople, where she changed her name to Helen, and was
betrothed to Constantine. Aim^ gives a very complete account of
this marriage.
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 91
In Germany, meanwhile, the action of the peasants, who had
destroyed and violated the chapel of the Harzburg fortress, had
indirectly strengthened Henry IV's hands. The princes, both
spiritual and secular, were so alarmed that they rallied to Henry's
side, and in 1075 he was able to advance a large army into Saxony.
In vain had the great Saxon nobles proposed to the King that they
should rebuild, at their own expense, the Church of Harzburg. In
the early days of June of that year the royal army marched against
the Saxon forces, gained a decisive victory at Hohenburg, and
re-established the authority of the Crown. Henry continued his
triumphal march as far as Halberstadt, and then the army was
brought back to Eschwege and disbanded. Before giving leave,
however, to his vassals and their troops to return home, Henry
ordered them to reassemble in the following October at Gerstungen,
hoping, by embarking upon a winter campaign, to complete the
subjugation of Saxony. On the appointed day the army re-
assembled at Gerstungen, but without the troops of the greater
nobles, Rudolph, Duke of Suabia ; Welf, Duke of Bavaria ; and
Berthold, Duke of Carinthia, afterwards the bitterest enemies of
the young King, and even now the leaders of disaffection.
The Saxons were, however, in a difficult position, and in spite of
the defection of the three great nobles from the King, were obliged
to surrender unconditionally. Upon October 25 the nobles of
Thuringia and Saxony came before his army, one after another, to
surrender. The King gave these hostages into the custody of his
friends to be closely guarded, some in Franconia, others in Bavaria,
Suabia, and even in Italy and Burgundy. Among the prisoners
were Otto of Nordheim, Magnus of Saxony, Frederick, Count
Palatine, and Wezel, Archbishop of Magdeburg.
Saxony, thus shorn of its strength, was no longer able to make
head against Henry IV, and the King proceeded in triumph to his
faithful city of Worms to celebrate the Feast of St. Martin.
From this time onwards the relations between Henry and the
Pope rapidly developed. Henry had expressed a wish to receive
the Imperial dignity, and the Pope, not averse from this step, was
92 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
anxious to receive certain guarantees and promises from Henry
before his coronation. From the spring of the year 1075 Gregory
spent his energies in attempting to reform the Church in that
country. He writes, for once tempering the sternness of his
denunciations, to the Bishop of Liege, a very old man, who was
accused of simony, and who died shortly after the receipt of the
Pope's letter. Again, he addresses three German prelates, Hanno,
Archbishop of Cologne ; Wezel, Archbishop of Magdeburg; and
Burchard, Bishop of Halberstadt, in March 1075, ^^gi'"'to them to
promote the cause of clerical celibacy, and to exclude all simoniacs
from the service of the Church. To Hanno he writes, very char-
acteristically, that the celibacy of the clergy and the condemnation
of simony rest on the authority of the early Fathers of the Church,
but, " the Church of Rome now, as much as in times past, possesses
the right to oppose new decrees and new remedies to new abuses."
Not content with exhortations, Gregory took care that the
sentence of deposition, which he had pronounced against Hermann,
Bishop of Bamberg, who had been guilty of simony, was promptly
executed. A few days after the condemnation of Hermann, Gregory
signified by letter to the clergy and laity of Bamberg (April 20,
1075) ^^^^ their bishop had forfeited for ever his charge and his
dignities, and he commanded that no one should venture to lay
hands upon any of the property of the bishopric " until Almighty
God should, through the representative of St. Peter, send them a
good and worthy pastor."
Hermann returned to Germany, and though he did not dare to
attempt to act as a bishop, or as a priest, he persisted in attempting
to retain the temporal possessions of his forfeited benefice. To
remedy this state of affairs in the Diocese of Bamberg, Gregory
wrote to the clergy and people of Bamberg, to Siegfried, Archbishop
of Mayence, and to Henry IV. The first letter pronounced canoni-
cal penalties against all those who took part with Hermann in
despoiling the goods of the Church, and forbade all intercourse with
the excommunicated bishop. To Siegfried of Mayence, the Metro-
politan of Bamberg, he writes in the most pressing terms, urging
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 93
him to proceed with the election of a new bishop without
delay.
Gregory's letter to Henry IV is couched in the mildest language.
Gregory addresses him as "most glorious King," and continues thus :
" Several good reports concerning you have reached Us, dear son.
We know that you are endeavouring to improve, and that from
more than one point of view you deserve well of your Mother, the
Holy Roman Church. You have manfully opposed the simoniacs,
and moreover you appreciate and wish to promote chastity among the
clergy, who are the servants of God. By acting thus you cause Us
to hope that, with the help of God, your own virtues will go on
increasing and come to shine with a most brilliant lustre. There-
fore 1 desire earnestly, and pray with all my heart, that God may
give you grace to persevere in the way upon which you have entered,
and that He may shower His choicest gifts upon you." Gregory
concludes his letter by asking the King to find a new bishop for
Bamberg, and to consult with the Archbishop of Mayence on this
matter. The high praise of Henry IV's action in ecclesiastical
matters should be remembered in his favour, for later Gregory
shows a tendency to assert that Henry's life from 1073 onwards
was an unbroken chain of vice and misdeeds.
This letter, which has been denounced by Gregory's enemies as
" flattering and insincere," is dated July 20. There is no mention
of Henry IV's victory over the Saxons, but it seems probable that
the Pope feared that the young King, flushed by success, might
break off his amicable relations with the Holy See, and enter upon
some rash course detrimental to the interests of the Church, for
Henry IV was easily elated by prosperity and depressed by adversity.
Before Gregory's communication could have reached Henry, two of
his ambassadors were dispatched upon a secret mission to Rome,
bearing a letter from the King. A letter of Gregory's, written
shortly afterwards, reveals the fact that the secret mission of these
envoys was to announce to the Pope the impending arrival of
Henry IV in Italy, and to ascertain from him whether he would
consent to accord the King the Imperial dignitv. Henry's letter
94 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
referred to ambassadors who were to be sent to Rome at the close
of the Saxon expedition. These ambassadors never arrived. Only
a messenger was sent, who left after having declared that the King
still intended to arrange matters with the Holy See, independently
of the princes of the Empire, and that the first envoys were to
remain in Rome to await further orders. At the end of August, or
the beginning of September, Gregory sent an answer to Henry by
the returning messenger, in which he declared himself ready to
crown Henry if only the King would " hearken to advice concern-
ing his salvation, and not refuse to render to God the tribute of
glory and honour which he owed Him." At the close of the letter
the King is again reminded of the difficulty about the Bishopric of
Bamberg. In answer to this Henry now declared that he no longer
wished to negotiate " secretly " with the Papacy, but openly, i.e.
with the consent and knowledge of the princes of his kingdom.
Foreseeing rightly that the Pope would be dissatisfied with this
change of policy, Henry begged his cousins, the Duchess Beatrice
and the Countess Matilda, to intercede with Gregory, and incline
him to entertain the King's further proposals. Gregory, in his
answer^ to them, expresses his dismay at the King's change of policy,
and a fear that he is not anxious for peace ; he dreads, it is evident,
the intervention of the princes, *' who would rejoice more at our
discord than at our union." " Let the King know," the letter
continues, *' that We shall not consent to his demands, because
though convenient in his own interests they do little honour to
St. Peter or to Us. If he comes back to his first idea, well and
good."
During the autumn of 1075 ^^^ relations between Henry and
Gregory became still more strained. At the end of October, or
at the latest the beginning of November, Henry had sent three
messengers with a letter to Rome, in which, no doubt, he impera-
tively ordered the Pope to take " steps about " crowning him
Emperor. Meanwhile the King's enemies, and the subdued
^ September 1 1.
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 95
Saxons, sought to influence the Pope against him, accusing the
King of every kind of vice and crime. At the same time, Henry's
action in ecclesiastical matters was not above reproach. He had,
it is true, appointed a successor to Hermann, Bishop of Bamberg,
who, deserted by all, became a monk in the Monastery of
Schwarzach, and had advanced two poor and humble monks to
be abbots of the great Monastery of Fulda and the Abbey of
Lorsch, for which many rich abbots and monks were competing.
But the deeds and words of the King's envoy, Eberhard of
Nellenburg in Lombardy, were at variance with these excellent
appointments, and with his expressed relations to Pope Gregory.
Eberhard, when in Lombardy, congratulated the people upon
Herlembald's death, and suggested their sending an embassy across
the Alps to his master, who, he promised them, would give them
any bishop they chose. All the Patarines were declared to be the
King's enemies, those in Piacenza were turned out of their town,
and some were made prisoners, though they were shortly after-
wards set free owing to the intervention of the Duchess Beatrice.
By order of the King the capitani of Milan made choice of a priest
named Tedaldo, and the King, though he had already invested
Godfrey, granted the investiture of the Bishopric of Milan to
Tedaldo, despite the fact that Godfrey was still living. On
December 8, 1075, Gregory wrote to all the suffragans of the
Diocese of Milan collectively, and also sent separate letters to
various Italian bishops, forbidding them to confer Holy Orders
on Tedaldo, or to consecrate or recognize him as Archbishop ot
Milan. To Tedaldo himself Gregory writes, commanding him to
retire, and forbidding him to receive consecration. Henry IV's-
action in this matter merits the sharpest censure, and Gregory
reproaches him bitterly for the breach of his promises. Tedaldo
was summoned before the Lent Synod of 1076, to justify himself
if possible ; he did not, however, appear, but joined the dissatisfied
German and Italian prelates, who met at the Diet of Worms, and
was suspended and excommunicated in company with them. Later
he was definitely deposed.
96 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
At this juncture, also, Henry IV presented two of his clergy
to the Bishoprics of Fermo ^ and Spoleto, in the very heart of Italy,
without even informing the Pope of his choice. These nominees
of the King were altogether unknown to the Pope. Gregory
hesitated no longer, and dispatched to Henry a letter which, if
not a direct declaration of war, was the sullen rumbling of the
thunder before a storm. The letter is dated 6 Idus Januarii, but
this is an oversight, as it is closely linked with the events of the
early part of December.^ It is important to observe the ground
which he took in that warlike manifesto. The letter begins with
a conditional blessing, and continues : " Deeply and anxiously weigh-
ing the responsibilities of the trust committed to us by St. Peter,
we have with great hesitation granted our apostolic benediction, for
it is reported that thou still boldest communion with excommuni-
cated persons. If this be true, the grace of that benediction avails
thee nothing. Seek ghostly counsel of some holy bishop." He
proceeds to reproach the King for the contrast between his submis-
sive letters and the deferential language of his ambassadors, and
his disobedient conduct. The grant of the Archbishopric of Milan
without waiting for the decision of the Apostolic See ; the investiture
of the Bishoprics of Fermo and Spoleto, made to persons unknown
to the Pope, were acts of irreverence to St. Peter, and to his suc-
cessor who represents him. Finally, the synod of February 1075 ^^
mentioned, which "thought fit, in the decay of the Christian religion,
to revert to the ancient discipline of the Church, that discipline on
which depends the salvation of man. This decree (however some
may presume to call it an insupportable burden or intolerable
oppression) we esteem a necessary law ; all Christian kings and
^ The Bishopric of Fermo had been vacant since the end of the year 1074
(R. II. 38). Gregory had sent an administrator, whom the diocesans were to
obey donee, ei'ivina providenie dementia, cum nostra solllcitudine turn regis consilio et
dispensatlone idonca ad regendam eccleslam et ep'iscopakm dignitatem persona reperiatur.
According to the report of the synod of 1079, in the Register, the new Bishop
of Fermo, " Grisforianus," was excommunicated ; but nothing is said of the fate of
the Diocese of Spoleto.
2 R. III. 10.
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 97
people are bound directly to accept and observe it. As thou art
the highest in dignity and power, so shouldest thou surpass others
in devotion to Christ. If, however, thou didst consider this abro-
gation of a bad custom hard or unjust to thyself, thou shouldest
have sent to our presence some of the wisest and most religious
of thy realm, to persuade Us, in our condescension, to mitigate its
force in some way not inconsistent with the honour of God and
the salvation of our soul." The letter ends with a significant
allusion to Saul, who "in the flush of triumph refused to listen
to the words of the prophet, and was punished by God," and adds
that he, Gregory, will give his final answer, no doubt about the
question of the Imperial dignity, when Henry has made up his
mind and returned to the Pope a reply by the ambassadors who
bear his letter. Besides this document a message was sent by word
of mouth by these ambassadors, that Henry should do penance for
the crimes of which his subjects accused him. These horrenda
scelera are not specified ; and it will be remembered that Gregory
had, in the early part of the year, spoken in praise of Henry.
The shock and surprise of the King must have been great when,
instead of hearing of his prospects in the Empire, he was told that
he deserved to be deprived of the kingdom of Germany.^ In
spite of these " horrid crimes," Gregory, we learn, was willing to
crown Henry IV as Emperor, if he would follow his advice and
reform. Gregory's informants were the Saxons, and others of
Henry's enemies who had gained the Pope's ear ; and, not content
with complaints and accusations against the King, invented the
grossest lies and most disgraceful calumnies. The writer of T)e
Unitate Eccksice complains that the Pope gave a too ready credence
to these slanders. The secret mission and the letter were taken
^ A letter of Gregory's (Ep. 14, § 538) gives the gist of the communication to
the ambassadors : Misimus ad eum tres reliffosos vivos . . . per quos secreto monuimus .-
ut pcenitentlam ageret de sceleribus suis, quce quidem horrenda d'lctu sunt,pluribus autem nota et
in multis partibus divulgata, propter qu<£ eum non excommunicari solum usque ad condignam
satisf actionem, sed ab omni honore regni absque spe recuperationis debere destitui, divinarum et
humanarum le^m testatur et jubet auctoritas.
7
98 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to the King in Germany by the three envoys — Gregory gives their
names as Rabbodi, Adelpreth and Uodescalki.^
In the meantime, Gregory's strained relations with Germany
were not without their efFect upon his Italian allies. Gisulfo,
Prince of Salerno, and Richard, Prince of Capua, had laid aside
their private differences and become allies, since both were menaced
by the ambition of Robert Guiscard. Guiscard, who had designs
upon Salerno, now determined to detach the Prince of Capua from
Gisulfo. Such an alliance would be invaluable to him in the case
of a fresh intervention on the part of Gregory VII, or a descent
on Southern Italy by Henry IV. Richard also wished for peace ;
the alliance with Gisulfo had not procured for him the advantages
he expected from it, and he reflected that Gisulfo's fall seemed
imminent ; therefore, like a true Norman, he joined the winning
side. The alliance with Robert Guiscard was of especial moment
to the Prince of Capua, as he wished to annex Naples and its
territory, and to do this a fleet was indispensable ; with Robert
Guiscard, the sovereign of Palermo, Messina, Reggio and Bari,
as an ally, the capture of Naples was rendered possible. Robert
Guiscard and Richard of Capua had an interview and " laisserent la
compaignie de li amis non polens et jurerent de I'un traitier la utilite
de I'autre et estre en damage de touz los anemis." The wording of
the old chronicler is most happy, and accurately describes this new
alliance. The Prince and the Duke mutually gave back the con-
quests they had made at each other's expense, and promised to help
each other, the one to take Naples, and the other Salerno. While
Richard and Robert Guiscard were preparing to fall upon Salerno and
Naples, Robert of Loritello, who had been excommunicated at the
synod of 1075, continued to push his conquests at his neighbours'
expense, especially to the detriment of Trasmond, Count of Chieti.
Trasmond, after a long series of hostilities, " seeing the will of God
to be against him," surrendered unconditionally to Robert of
Loritello, paid him sums of money, acknowledged his suzerainty,
and received again from him part of the lands he had lost.
^ Odeschalchi ?
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 99
A few weeks after Count Eberhard had been sent into Italy
by the King of Germany, died Hanno, the great Archbishop of
Cologne, who had been responsible for much of Henry's early
education in the gloomy palace in Cologne. Hanno was a rigid
Churchman, of imposing personality, dead to the world, and austere,
but full of single-eyed devotion to his office. Lambert writes of
him as " a man endowed with every virtue, and renowned for his
justice in civil as well as in ecclesiastical causes " ; but he admits
that " he was liable to transports of ungovernable anger." After
the death of Hanno, Henry, knowing too well the danger from
that princely See in able hands, had forced a monk named Hildorf,
of obscure birth and feeble mind, to take the bishopric.
While the difficulties between Henry IV and Gregory were
growing to a head, Gregory's person was not safe from assault at
Rome, though he could still count upon the fidelity of the people
at large. There was living at Rome a certain Cenci, son of
Stephen, a powerful prefect of Rome. Cenci had been the master
of the Castle of St. Angelo, and the master of that stronghold was
an important personage in Rome. Paul of Bernried writes that
Cenci spent the whole of the year 1075 ^^"^ recruiting enemies
against the Pope. We know nothing of the motives or the
accomplices of Cenci, nor whether the act was due to political
motives or to private animosity.
Cenci chose Christmas Day for the execution of his project.
The rain poured down in torrents, and very few Romans were
abroad, but the Pope, with a few ecclesiastics, went to celebrate
the midnight Mass in the remote Church of Santa Maria
Maggiore. Only a small number of people attended ; the Pope
and his assistant clergy had just received the Holy Communion,
and were in the act of administering it to the people, when Cenci's
soldiers burst into the church, swept along the nave, dashed down
the rails, rushed to the chapel of the Presepe, and seized the
Pontiff. He was wounded on the forehead ; and bleeding, stripped
of the pallium, chasuble and alb, the Pope made no resistance.
They dragged him out of the church, mounted him behind one of
loo THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the soldiers, who galloped ofF and imprisoned him in a strong
tower. The priests hurried to Rome to report the outrage, and
the clergy in the different churches broke off their services and
rushed into the streets, inciting the people to rescue and revenge.
All night trumpets pealed and bells tolled. The city gates
were immediately shut and guarded, so as to prevent Cenci
from taking his victim out of the city. At daybreak a meeting
was held in the Capitol, and on learning that the Pope was not
dead, but a prisoner in a tower near the Pantheon belonging to
Cenci, the Romans rushed to his rescue. Engines were brought
to the siege, and the walls began to give way. Cenci awoke to the
consciousness of his danger and the inadequacy of his outrage.
" One faithful friend and one noble matron had followed the Pope
into his dungeon. The man had covered his shivering body with
furs, and was cherishing his chilled feet in his own bosom ; the
woman had staunched the blood and bound up the wound in his
head, and sat weeping beside him."
As soon as Cenci realized his danger he threw himself at the
Pope's feet and implored him to save his life. Gregory, it is said,
contrived to save him from the mob, who on breaking into the
fortress would have torn him to pieces. Paul of Bernried, in his
biography of Gregory VII, improves the occasion by putting a
long and tasteless discourse into the mouth of the captive Pope,
which deserves no further notice. Gregory VII was brought from
his prison, and the populace broke down the walls. The Pope, still
stained with blood, was carried back to Santa Maria Maggiore,
surrounded by a great crowd, there to complete the interrupted
Mass before returning to the Lateran. The different accounts
unite in ascribing great courage, self-command and generosity to
Gregory VII, which must have won the sympathies of the people.
Such popularity was not to be underrated when a breach between
the Pope and the King of Germany was in prospect.
The King was in the royal palace of Goslar, in Saxony, in
January, when the three envoys returned from Rome, bringing
with them the Pope's letter and secret instructions. In the face of
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII loi
Gregory's message Henry's anger burst forth uncontrollably. His
one thought was now to avenge this insult, as he considered it.
Lambert of Hersfeld expressly states that the ambassadors bade
Henry appear before a synod at Rome to answer for his offences.
If he should refuse or delay, he was to incur sentence of excom-
munication. This, however, is an error into which the chronicler
has been led by the strength of party feeling, for there was no hint
in Gregory's letter of December, or in the embassy, of an invitation
of the King to Rome. Henry at once convoked a great council
at Worms for Septuagesima, January 24, 1076.
The message (as we see from Ep. 14), though it perhaps did
not state that Gregory VII would depose Henry IV, yet must
have certainly asserted that such a measure lay within the Pope's
power. Henry IV evidently understood the message as a threat
of deposition, otherwise his action at Worms would appear like a
tilting at windmills. Bonitho attributes it to Henry's exultation at
the subjugation of Saxony.
In the emergency one course alone seemed left open to Henry.
" In Germany the idea of a temporal sovereign was but vague,
indistinct and limited ; he was but the head of an assemblage of
independent princes, his powers, if not legally, actually bounded
by his ability to enforce obedience," The spirit of Teutonic inde-
pendence was often opposed to the Empire, while the idea of the
Papacy was an integral part of German Christianity.
It was only by questioning the title of the individual Pope, and
degrading him from his high position, that the Papacy could be
lawfully opposed by Christian nations or its power shaken. It was
a daring expedient, but one which commended itself to Henry and
his counsellors.
Upon the appointed day twenty-four bishops and two arch-
bishops of Germany obeyed the royal summons and assembled at
Worms. Prominent among the assembly were Siegfried, Arch-
bishop of Mayence, and Cardinal Hugh Candidus.
At the head of the document stood the names of the Archbishops
Siegfried of Mayence and Udo of Treves. The former, who in 1076
102 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
was a zealous partisan of Henry IV, changed front suddenly, and in
the following year became an ardent Rudolphian ; the latter, though
he withdrew his assent later from the Decree of Worms, retained his
fidelity to his King, and would have nothing to do with the Rudolphian
party. Gregory VII had a deep respect for the independent and
staunch Churchman and loyal subject, as we gather from his
letters.
No secular partisans of Henry IV attended the diet, with the
exception of Godfrey of Lorraine. Hugh Candidus, who must
have suspected the outbreak of the storm between Henry IV
and the Pope, came in the hope of opposing Gregory VII.
According to Bonitho, the Cardinal delivered his accusations against
Gregory in a speech, while Paul of Bernried states that he came
with letters from Rome, Lambert of Hersfeld is doubtless correct
in his statement that the Cardinal was provided with a formal
document containing the accusations against Gregory VII. It has
been assumed that these are the same as those charo-es which were
brought forward four years later at the Synod of Brixen, but this
is unlikely, or the bishops would have made use of the Brixen
charges in the letter from Worms. This document, which was
signed by six-and-twenty prelates, declared the accused had forfeited
the power of binding and loosing, and was no longer Pope. The
renunciation of allegiance was drawn up in the strictest form.
" I, , Bishop of , disclaim from this hour all allegiance to
Hildebrand, and will neither esteem nor call him Pope." Only two
bishops, Adalbero of Wiirzburg and Hermann of Metz, hesitated
to sign the document.^ They argued that it was unjust and
^ The signatories above mentioned, besides the two archbishops, were the
Bishops of Utrecht, Luttich, Verdun, Toul, Spires, Halberstadt, Strasburg, Basle,
Constance, Regensburg, Freising, Eichstlidt, Munster, Minden, Hildesheim, Osna-
burg, Naumburg-Zeitz, Paderborn, Brandenburg, Lausanne and Verona. The last-
named was the only Italian bishop present at the diet. The Decree of the Diet
of Worms was confirmed by the Synod of Piacenza, at which the Lombard bishops
were present. We do not know why Liemar, Archbishop of Bremen, who came
into conflict with Gregory VII shortly after the latter's elevation, and who appeared,
later, at the Synod of Brixen (1080), was not present at the Diet of Worms.
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 103
uncanonical to condemn a bishop without a general council, without
accusers and defenders, and without warning the accused of the
charges made against him ; how much more a Pope. William of
Utrecht, the boldest partisan of Henry, offered them the choice of
disclaiming their allegiance to the King, or signing the document.
To this force they yielded. The chronicle of Hildesheim states
that the bishop of that city, who had been a leader in the Saxon
insurrection, signed only from fear of death sed quod scripserat^ obelo
supposito damnavit !
The bishops' letter accuses Gregory of having seized the Papacy
by force, "in defiance of right and all justice" ; of taking away
from the bishops, as far as he possibly could, the powers that the
grace of the Holy Spirit confers upon them ; of withdrawing from
bishops the right of condemning or absolving any one who has
committed a crime in their dioceses ; of the scandal he had given to
the Church by his " unbecoming familiarity " with a married woman,
whose name is not mentioned by the bishops, but who we learn from
Lambert of Hersfeld was intended for the Countess Matilda of
Tuscany ; and the undue influence of women upon the judgments
and decrees of the Holy See. This last accusation is based upon
Gregory's sympathy with three women, the Empress Agnes,
Beatrice and Matilda, and there is no doubt that he appealed to
them for advice and sympathy. In one letter he says : " We
desire your counsel in our affairs, as our sisters, and daughters of
St. Peter," and it is on the advice of Matilda, and of the Empress
Agnes, that Gregory wrote in 1074 his first letter to Henry IV.
Finally, in a remarkable letter to Matilda, Gregory wishes to lead a
crusade, accompanied by both Agnes and Matilda, his " sisters."
These utterances of Gregory, and his close relations with these
three women, would naturally have aroused unfavourable comment
at the time, and suggested the charge of " undue familiarity." ^
^ Apart from the fact that such conduct would be strangely at variance with his
character, that the charge of undue familiarity between Gregory VII and the Countess
Matilda was unfounded is suggested by the tone of the letters, still extant, addressed
by Gregory to her. Matilda had married in 1071 Godfrey (the Hunchback) of
I04 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
With the bishops' letter was sent one written by the King,
In his own name, to " Hildebrand," beginning : " Henry, not
by usurpation, but by God's ordinance. King, to Hildebrand, no
longer Pope, but a false monk," The letter accuses him of the pride
with which he had tyrannized over all orders of the Church, and
trampled them underfoot like slaves — archbishops, bishops and the
whole clergy ; of a pretence to universal knowledge or to universal
power. (Taking the King's humility for fear, Hildebrand had
threatened to rob the King of his royal power, " as though royalty
and Empire were in thy hands, and not in the hands of God.") " By
craft thou hast obtained money, by money influence, by influence
the power of the sword ; by the sword thou hast mounted the
throne of peace, and from the throne of peace destroyed peace,
arming subjects against their rulers, bringing bishops appointed by
God into contempt, and exposing them to the judgment of the
laity. Us, too, consecrated of God, amenable to no judge but
God, who can be deposed for no crime but absolute apostacy, thou
hast ventured to assail, despising the words of that true Pope, St.
Peter, ' Fear God, honour the King ' ! Thou that honourest not
the King, fearest not God ! St. Paul held accursed even an angel
from heaven who should preach another gospel ; this curse falls
upon thee who teachest this new doctrine." " Thus accursed, then,
thus condemned by the sentence of all our bishops, and by our own,
come down ! Leave the apostolic throne which thou hast usurped.
Let another take the chair of St. Peter, one who preaches not violence
and war, but the sacred doctrine of the Holy Apostle. I, Henry,
by the grace of God King, with all the bishops of my realm, say
unto thee, ' Down ! down ! ' "
Lorraine, against canon law, for they were nearly related. Gregory sought to persuade
Matilda of the unlawfulness of this union, and in R. I. 47 mentions her " repent-
ance " : Pone Jinem in voluntate precandi et ex corde contrito et hwniliato lacrymas
effunde. He blames Matilda, together with her mother Beatrice, because they have
taken prisoner a German bishop on his return journey from Rome (R, I. 77) : Quod
fccistis in eum, quam inhonatum vobis, quam mihi verecundum quamque beato Petro et
apostoUctx scdi contumeliosum sit, qua:so, cum animis vestris reputate.
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 105
Another letter was addressed by Henry to the clergy and
people of Rome. In this he accuses Hildebrand of having denied
him coronation as Emperor, and tried to deprive him of the kingdom
of Italy. Gregory " would hazard his own life to strip the King of
his life and kingdom" ; therefore, acting on his rights as patrician of
Rome, Henry has deposed the Pope, and calls on the people to rise
up against him. " Be the most loyal — the first to join in his con-
demnation. We do not ask you to shed his blood ; let him endure
life, which, after he is deposed, will be more wretched to him than
death ; but if he resist, compel him to yield up the apostolic throne,
and make way for one whom we shall elect, who will have both the
will and the power to heal the wounds inflicted on the Church by
their present pastor," This letter to the clergy and people quotes
the text of Henry's letter, quum hactenus^ to the Pope, which is
somewhat less energetic than the letter hanc talem^ of which we have
quoted on the preceding page. Quum hactenus was probably the
first to be written ; and, after writing it, Henry seems to have felt
the need of more bitter and precise expression of his anger, hence
the letter hanc talem. It is in this latter alone that the accusations
that " Hildebrand paved his way to the Papacy by simony and
violence " are found, and the expressions of scorn at the beginning
and conclusion of the letter are more pronounced.
In neither letter does Henry IV attempt to clear himself of the
accusations of the " horrid crimes " that Gregory had brought
against him. He contents himself with taking the war into his
enemy's country. He stands forth as the defender of the oppressed
clergy of Germany. He accuses the Pope of attempting to
diminish the rights of the bishops, and of treating the clergy as
" slaves." The stern and harsh measures frequently adopted by
Gregory, a certain tactless and domineering tone which he occasion-
ally adopted towards the bishops, account for this charge.^ Henry
complains that Gregory had refused to crown him Emperor, a title
1 Liemar, Archbishop of Bremen, writing to Bishop Hezil of Hildesheim, com-
plains of the harsh measures of Gregory VII, of whom he says : Periculosus homo vult
jubere episcopis ut villkis su'is.
io6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to which he, as King of Germany, claimed the hereditary right ; and
had attempted to alienate the kingdom of Italy — probably by
Gregory's alliance with the Normans, a rising menace to the King's
power in Italy. In the letter hanc talem the Pope is reproached
with having gone beyond the limits of his proper province, and
of having denied the apostolic doctrine of the independence of
Kingship.
The Bishops of Spires and Basle were charged with the pro-
mulgation of the Decree of the Council of Worms in Italy and in
Rome, and they started on their mission accompanied by the old
Count Eberhard, who undertook to protect them on their errand.
Henry's plan was to have the deposition of Gregory VII proclaimed
at the Roman Synod, and he hoped that the Romans would send
him an embassy begging him to appoint the future Pontiff, whom
Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine, offered to conduct to Rome, to be there
consecrated and enthroned. The two bishops were welcomed with
enthusiasm by the Lombard clergy, the old party of Cadalus and
the married clergy, and a synod held at Piacenza ratified the Decree
of Worms. When it came to the point of carrying the decree to
the Pope himself, the Bishops of Spires and Basle refused to proceed
any further, and finally a priest named Roland, of the Diocese of
Parma, consented to bear the communication to Rome.
Even contemporary writers recognized the importance of the
Decree of Worms and the action of Henry IV. Gebhard of
Salzburg and Hugh of Flavigny lay stress upon the fact that
" Worms was the beginning of all the calamities." Some lines in
the Codex Udalrici complain that the Pope is seeking to unseat the
King, and the King the Pope ; and express the wish that some
third power would restrain the opponents and confine them to their
respective provinces ut rex regnum papatum papa teneret.
Modern critics emphasize the hasty, impolitic and unconsidered
nature of the Decree of Worms and the volte-face of Henry IV in
attempting to invalidate the election of the Pope, whom he had
more than once recognized as the legitimate head of the Church.
His wiser course would have been to answer Gregory's accusations.
HENRY IV OF GERMANY AND GREGORY VII 107
and to protest against the Pope's novel assumption of a right to
depose him. Gregory, too, in sending his ultimatum in such
extreme and mortifying language, is not beyond blame.
However the blame may be apportioned, it is clear that both
men were fighting for an idea. Gregory's principle was that it was
his right as Pope, as successor to St. Peter, to depose kings,^ while
Henry withstood such an assumption, as an unheard-of novelty in
Christendom, with all his energy. He himself was permeated with
the idea that in temporal matters he was independent of the Pope,
and subject to God alone. This began the first political struggles
of the Church in the Middle Ages, in which a great principle was
at stake.
^ See Chapter XII, " Gregory VII as Pope, and as founder of the hierocratic
system," p. 254.
CHAPTER VI
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA, FEBRUARY I4, IO76 JANUARY 28, IO77
The Roman Synod, February 14-22, 1076 — Henry IV and the bishops of Germany
and Lombardy excommunicated — Encyclical of the Pope — Fruitless negotiations
between the Holy See and the Normans — Death of the Duchess Beatrice, and
of Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine — Henry IV learns of his excommunication at
Utrecht — Death of William, Bishop of Utrecht — The King convokes the second
Diet of Worms — Assembly at Mayence, June 29 — Udo, Archbishop of Treves,
makes peace with the Holy See— Many prelates and nobles in Germany
abandon the King's party — The Saxon hostages recover their liberty — Gregory
writes to the bishops of Germany — Gregory's letters to Bishop Hermann of
Metz (1076 and 1080) — Diet of Tribur — Lambert of Hersfeld's catalogue of
the obligations undertaken by Henry IV and the princes — The Promissio and
the King's edict — The Pope leaves for Germany — He arrives at Mantua,
January 8 — At the news of Henry's arrival in Italy he takes refuge in Canossa
— Henry IV leaves Spires, crosses the Alps and arrives in Italy — Canossa — -The
King does penance before the Castle of Canossa — He is absolved from excom-
munication— Lambert of Hersfeld's fabrications with regard to Henry and the
Pope at Canossa — Mistaken opinions of historians as to the importance of
Henry's penance at Canossa.
In the first week of Lent in the year 1076 the Roman Synod
was assembled under the presidency of the Pope in the Church of
St. John Lateran. The bishops, who numbered no, had come
some from France and Central or Southern Italy, while a large
concourse of clerics, abbots, monks and laymen filled the church.
No prelates from Germany or Lombardy had responded to the
summons of the Holy See,
At the opening of the first session, immediately after the singing
of the hymn, Veni^ Creator, the Pope was about to pronounce the
preliminary discourse when Roland entered with a companion, and
108
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 109
presented the letters of the King and the bishops to Gregory, with
an appropriate speech. His words at once aroused a tumult, swords
were drawn, and Gregory had to interpose his own person to save
the King's ambassador.
Paul of Bernried supplies the miraculous element in this scene,
and states gravely that the synod were considering a new-laid egg^
upon which a black serpent rose, as it were, in high relief, and
coiled round the smooth shell, but it had struck on what seemed a
shield, and recoiled writhing. This was interpreted by the Pope as
follows : " The egg was the Church ; the serpent, the emblem of
evil, stood for Henry, who should strike his head against the
Church," and so forth. The speech put into the Pope's mouth by
Paul of Bernried is weak, and crowded with biblical quotations.
The anecdote of the egg is paralleled by Beno's story, that the
seat upon which Gregory sat to deliver sentence upon the King
(whom Beno's sympathies paint as innocent, and friendly to the
Pope) broke asunder !
The Pope's answer to Henry was threefold : He forbade him
to govern Germany and Italy, dispensed all his subjects from the
oath of allegiance they had taken to him, and forbade every one to
obey him as a king.
Finally, the King was excommunicated. Gregory considered
Henry's action from two standpoints : Henry as a ruler had risen
against St. Peter, and was therefore forbidden to govern his kingdom ;
as a Christian he had made himself unworthy of fellowship with the
Church, and received excommunication. Another ground is given
by Gregory for this excommunication, viz. Henry's disobedience
in continuing to hold intercourse with excommunicated persons,
his " many sins," and his contempt for the advice the Pope had
given him. The King's mother, the Empress Agnes, was among
the audience, and heard sentence passed upon her son.
One might have expected the definite deposition of Henry IV
after Gregory's embassy to the King, which had said that the King
deserved to lose his kingdom irrevocably for his horrenda scelera ; but
Gregory did not carry out the programme indicated in his embassy
no THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
in its entirety. It is possible that he may have suspected that
Henry's enemies had overstated their case against him, and had
carried their accusations too far, and that he had listened to baseless
slanders.
The February synod excommunicated, with Henry IV, Sieg-
fried of Mayence and the bishops who had of their own free-will
concurred in the proceedings of Worms. They were suspended
from their episcopal functions, interdicted from the Holy Eucharist,
except in the hour of death and after due penance. Those who
assented from weakness and compulsion were allowed time to make
their peace with the Holy See. The bishops of Lombardy who
had ratified at Piacenza the Decree of Worms were suspended
from their episcopal functions and severed from the communion of
the Church, like Siegfried of Mayence and those bishops who had
signed, of their own free-will, the Worms document. As Hefele
remarks, there was no compulsion in the case of the Lombardian
bishops : they had not come under the influence of the King.
It is noteworthy, in this connection, that whereas the majority of
the German bishops made their peace with the Holy See in the
course of the summer, the Lombard bishops remained firm in their
opposition. They replied to the censures of the February synod
by an assembly in Pavia, in which the Pope was condemned in the
harshest terms.
In the Register, after we are informed that the Worms prelates
were censured at the February synod, the text of Gregory's
excommunication of the King is given under the heading : Ex-
communkatio Henrici regis 'Teutonicorum. The form of the speech
is original, and could have had no precedent, as hitherto no reign-
ing prince in such a position as Henry IV's had ever been
excommunicated.
The King's messengers appear to have been ill-treated by the
Roman mob after the synod. Henry IV, writing to Altwin, Bishop
of Brixen, complains that the Pope treated them cruelly, im-
prisoned them, caused them to suffer cold, hunger, thirst and cruel
blows, and made them a spectacle to the people as they were led
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA iii
through the streets of Rome. The Empress Agnes, however, says
that the messengers were attacked by the Romans, and it is quite
within the bounds of possibihty that the Pope was innocent and
unaware of the " rough justice " of the Romans, especially as it is
admitted by Henrician writers, as well as by his own partisans, that
he saved the life of Roland at the synod.
Shortly after the council the Pope wrote an encyclical, in which
the bishops who attended the Diet of Worms are not anathematized
directly, but are stigmatized as " schismatics," " those who blas-
pheme the name of the Lord in Blessed Peter." At the close of
this document reference is made to the King of Germany, whom
" Blessed Peter " (that is to say, Gregory himself, who here, and
elsewhere, identifies himself with the prince of the Apostles, in his
official capacity) has anathematized.
The mandates of Gregory were to promulgate themselves, they
were unsupported by any strong temporal forces. The Pope,
indeed, was master in Rome, and might depend, perhaps, on his
firm ally, the Countess Matilda ; he might possibly, as a last resource,
summon the Normans ; but it was not to these secular powers that
he trusted, but to the spiritual terrors of the papal threats, " the
incomparable powers " of the Pope as the " earthly Peter."
It is not surprising, however, to find that in the early months of
1076 negotiations took place for the purpose of reconciling Robert
Guiscard and his brother Roger of Sicily to the Holy See. Gregory
orders Arnold, Bishop of Acerenza,i to go to Count Roger, who
" begs to be blessed and absolved by the Holy See," and if he
promises obedience and does penance, to absolve him. If Robert
Guiscard also consents " to obey the Holy Roman Church as a son
should obey his mother," Gregory, for his own part, is ready to
absolve him from excommunication.
The negotiations failed, as had all similar attempts in the
preceding year. Gisulfo of Salerno proved to be an unsurmountable
obstacle in the way of reconciliation. -
^ March 14, 1076.
2 We know from Aime that at this time Gregory V'll and the Abbot of Monte
112 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Immediately after Easter, the bishops and abbots of Lombardy
assembled at Pavia, under the presidency of Guibert, Archbishop of
Ravenna, anathematized Gregory VII and declared their allegiance
to Henry IV. A complete schism was formed, and seemed to be
irremediable.
Meanwhile, the Duchess Beatrice, the mother of the Countess
Matilda, and a firm ally of Gregory VII, died on April i8, 1076.
Beatrice, who was a cousin of the Emperor Henry III, had, as
we have said, married, firstly, the Margrave Boniface of Tuscany,
who was murdered in the year 1052 ; secondly, Godfrey (the
Bearded) of Lorraine. As Beatrice and Godfrey were related in
the fourth degree of consanguinity, the marriage must have been
considered invalid at the time ; but no steps were taken about
the matter. Godfrey the Hunchback — son of Godfrey the Bearded,
and husband of the Countess Matilda — was assassinated not long
before the death of the Duchess Beatrice (it is said by the emissaries
of Robert, Count of Flanders), and in him Henry IV lost a devoted
adherent and an experienced soldier, who had fought with him in
his campaign against the Saxons.
The excommunication of the King of Germany, the fact that he
was cut off from all fellowship with the Church, and to be avoided
by all Christian subjects, made a deep impression. When the news
of the excommunication spread abroad, says Bonitho, " the whole
world of Rome shook and trembled." It is true that to many
distant and outlying districts the news must have been slow in
penetrating, for as late as 1077 ^^^ Archbishop of Cambray declared
himself uncertain as to Henry's fate, but Henry's position became
gradually more and more isolated. The direct consequence of
the excommunication of a prince was that subordinates, officials,
soldiers, etc., were obliged to desert the excommunicated person,
so that such a sentence in time became ipso facto one of de-
position.
Cassino were endeavouring to reconcile Gisulfo, and to persuade him to make peace
with Robert Guiscard, but Gisulfo refused to listen to them.
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 113
After his defiance of the Pope at Worms, Henry went to Goslar,
where he busied himself with the exile of the Saxon hostages to
the most distant parts of the kingdom, the imprisonment of all
suspected persons, and the construction of numerous fortified
castles. From Goslar he proceeded to Cologne in the beginning
of March, as he was anxious to settle the matter of the nomination
of his creature, Hildalf (or Hildorf), as Archbishop. In spite of the
strong opposition of the clergy and people, he refused to alter the
choice he had made, and arranged that Hildalf should be consecrated
by William, Bishop of Utrecht. The King kept Easter at Utrecht,
and there he presented his young son and heir, Conrad, with the
Duchy of Lorraine, vacant by the death of Duke Godfrey. It was
here, on March 27, that he heard the sentence of the Pope. His
first impression was that of dismay, but he soon recovered, and
declared he would revenge himself. At once he ordered Bibo,
Bishop of Toul, who was staying at the court, to declare, during the
solemn Mass in the cathedral, before all the people, that the ex-
communication was invalid. The Bishop dared not execute this
order, and, though attached to Henry, he secretly withdrew from the
city with the Bishop of Verdun, who shared his fears and anxieties.
In William of Utrecht fidelity to the King was combined with a
fierce hatred of the Pope, and he it was who took the place of the
Bishop of Toul, and made the declaration requested by Henry IV.
He even went further. At every opportunity he broke forth
against the Pope, whom he called "the perjurer, the adulterer and
the false apostle," and declared him excommunicated, not by himself
alone, but by all the bishops of Germany.
If he had hoped for the King's favour in return for his zeal and
services he was deceived. Henry met William's request for a
bishopric for his nephew with a refusal. So greatly was the Bishop
chagrined, that he separated himself from the King's party, without,
however, going over to the Pope's side. He died in April of the
same year. That the people of Utrecht were not well disposed
towards Gregory is shown by the fact that they gave the ex-
communicated Bishop honourable burial.
8
114 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
He had died under the ban, and Bishop Henry of Liittich, who
had retracted his share in the Diet of Worms, asked the Pope's
advice as to the prayers that were used for the soul of the departed
Bishop. Gregory's answer proves that he was not fully informed
as to William of Utrecht's share in forcing his reluctant colleagues
to subscribe to the letter of the bishops. He suggested that
William's consent at Worms might have been due to pressure, and
on this false hypothesis he allowed masses and prayers to be said for
his soul.
Gregory VII had expected Henry to lead the royal army into
the plains of Lombardy, and accordingly assembled troops, and in
concert with the Countess Matilda organized a plan of resistance.
Henry's only reply was to summon another council at Worms,
like that of the preceding year. Besides a general invitation to the
bishops of his realm, he addressed a special letter to Bishop Altwin
of Brixen, in which he reiterated his conviction that " Hildebrand "
was an intruder, who " took possession of the Papacy and of royal
authority contrary to the will of God."
The King's summons received but little attention ; of the three
bishops who, by the King's command, were to accuse the Pope, one
only, Ebbo of Naumburg-Zeitz, was present at Worms. We have
mentioned the sudden death of William, Bishop of Utrecht ; and
Altwin, Bishop of Brixen, was held prisoner, on his way to Worms,
by Hartmann, Count of Dillingen. One single accuser was in-
sufficient, and the question had to be deferred to another assembly
convoked at Mayence (June 29, 1076).
Meantime, the Pope's excommunication of Henry was the
opportunity of the Saxon princes ; on every side of the King
sprang up a growing hostility, conspiracy or desertion. Bishop
Hermann of Metz had surreptitiously released some of the
Saxon chieftains entrusted to his charge, and began to take the
foremost place among the partisans of Gregory in Germany. The
King, it was said, had threatened revenge by marching upon Metz,
but had been obliged to abandon this measure. Udo, Archbishop
of Treves, and his suffragans, Theodoric and Hermann, had
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 115
already made their peace with the Holy See, shortly after the
February synod. The Pope contented himself with allowing the
three prelates to choose their own penance, and to perform it in
their own dioceses without journeying to Rome. Udo therefore
remained in Germany, and received the papal absolution from the
legate at Tribur in October.
The assembly at Mayence was considerably larger than the
second assembly at Worms. No attempt was made by it to name
a successor to Gregory VII. The leaders of the opposition to
Henry held aloof and maintained a menacing neutrality. The
King's strongest hold upon the disaffected Saxons was that he still
held some of their leaders as hostages. Now some of the greater
nobles, following the example of the Bishop of Metz, liberated the
Saxon prisoners whom the King had confided to their charge.
Thus Hermann of Salm, uncle of Duke Magnus, and many other
nobles, were able to regain their country. The King's policy now
began to be wild and vacillating. He determined to set the remaining
Saxon hostages at liberty. To the Bishops of Magdeburg, Meise-
burg and Meissen, to Duke Magnus and the Palatine Frederick,
and other Saxon and Thuringian nobles, he offered their liberty
on promise of fidelity. Before they left their guardians Henry
earnestly begged them to aid him in the pacification of Saxony.
This they promised willingly, regarding these promises as extorted
from them during their captivity, and hence null and void. They
were brought to Metz to receive their freedom from Henry in
person ; but even in this he failed, for the prisoners escaped in the
confusion resultant upon a fray in the city between the Bishop of
Bamberg and a rival Churchman.
The King decided to lead an army into Saxony, attacking it
from the west on the side of Bohemia. He took with him only a
very small body of men from Germany, and recruiting a small
army in Bohemia, with the assistance of Duke Wratislas, waited
for the arrival of the troops of Otto of Nordheim and other lately-
released hostages who had sworn fidelity in the marches of Meissen.
Otto, however, had fallen from the King's side, and refused to come
ii6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to his assistance, and a retreat was inevitable for the King and his
army. Within six months the authority so ably consolidated by
Henry IV in 1075 ^^^ melted away.
Gregory, meantime, neglected none of his own weapons of
warfare, and from this point of view it is interesting to examine
the correspondence carried on during this year between Germany
and the Holy See. He addressed himself both to the Churchmen
and to the lay people. In a letter to Henry, Bishop of Trent,
Gregory assures him that before the Feast of St. Peter (June 29)
he will make known to all the faithful the reasons which placed
him under the necessity of excommunicating the King.
In an undated letter (probably written in April 1076) Gregory
mentions that people begged of him to make peace with the King
of Germany, and at the end of July he addresses a manifesto ^ to
all Christians in the Roman Empire, reiterating his accusations
against the King and expressing his wish for his repentance. Another
undated letter was sent, probably in August, to Germany in answer
to the reproaches as to his excommunication of the King, which
had been criticized as overhasty and unconsidered. Gregory reverts
in this letter to his former affection for Henry, the care with which,
even when a deacon, he had warned his youth, and had continued
his warning in mature age. In spite of Henry's fair words and
messages the King had returned evil for good, and " lifted up his
heel against St. Peter," and had caused nearly all the bishops of
Germany and Italy to "apostatize." When gentle measures had
failed with him, Gregory was forced to try the sharper method of
excommunication. The letter concludes with an expression of
Gregory's willingness to receive back the King, if penitent, to the
communion of the Church.
That Gregory's action was not entirely satisfactory even to his
party is proved by his letter to Hermann, Bishop of Metz, who
had pressed him for an explanation. The Pope's letter was short,
and not, apparently, satisfactory to the inquiring Bishop, for later,
1 R. IV. I
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 117
in 1080, Bishop Hermann repeated his question. Gregory's second
and very full letter also was not destined to set the Bishop's mind
at rest, for even after the Pope's death we find the Bishop referring
his difficulty twice to the Archbishop of Salzburg !
The two letters to Bishop Hermann may be considered together ;
they both attempt to answer the assertion of Henry's supporters
that the Pope had no power to excommunicate the King.
The Pope wrote that " though their folly deserved it not, he
would condescend to answer." What was his answer ? A fiction
of the forged Decretals, an extract from a charge delivered by St,
Peter to Clement ^ of Rome ; the deposition of Childeric ^ of
France by Pope Zacharias, and certain sentences of Gregory the
Great,^ intended to protect the estates of the Church, and anathe-
matizing all, even kings, who should usurp them ; and finally the
example of St. Ambrose of Milan and Theodosius the Great.'^ No
single conclusive passage is given from the New Testament in
favour of Gregory's hierocratic power of deposition which he claimed
for the Papacy, and the instances chosen from the early history of
the Church have no real bearing whatever upon the case. They
are, historically, valueless as precedents for Gregory's step.
Turning from historical instances, Gregory, using his favourite
argument a fortiori^ demands : "Why is the King alone excepted
from that universal flock committed to St. Peter } If the Pope
^ It is not easy to see zvhy Gregory made use of this example. It is entirely
irrelevant to any question of excommunication or any other censure of the Church.
2 In his second letter (1080) to the Bishop of Metz, Gregory VII explains that
the King of France {j.e. Childeric) was deposed on account of his "incapacity,"
which makes this instance not relevant to the excommunication of Henry IV.
2 Gregory the Great's sentences are " an imprecation," not a papal decree of
excommunication.
"^ The occasion on which Theodosius came into conflict with St. Ambrose has
no analogy with the case of Henry IV and Gregory VII. St. Ambrose rebuked
Theodosius, and refused to admit him to Holy Communion until he had done public
penance for suffering his Gothic auxiliaries to murder the townspeople of Thessalonica
(a.d. 390).
^ Gregory does not see that the argument "he who can do the greater things
can also do the less " applies only to like things.
ii8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
may judge spiritual persons, how much more must seculars give an
account of their evil deeds before his tribunal ? Think they that
the royal exceeds the episcopal dignity, the former the invention of
human pride, the latter of divine holiness ; the former ever coveting
vainglory, the latter aspiring after heavenly life ? " " The glory
of a king," St. Ambrose says, " compared to that of a bishop is as
lead is to gold." Constantine the Great took his seat below the
lowest bishop, " for he knew that God resisteth the proud, and
giveth grace to the humble."
It will be seen that instead of answering the Bishop of Metz's
question, or stating that, as a possible standpoint, the King was
excommunicated as any other private person might be, and that
the political consequences of the excommunication of a ruling prince
were not the concern of the Pope, Gregory utters a series of
reflections, such as those upon the nothingness of the royal dignity
and the wickedness of princes, which have no bearing upon the
point at issue.
A third letter ^ to the German people commanded them, if the
King did not immediately repent, to dismiss his excommunicated
advisers, and admit that the Church was not subject to him as his
servant, but superior as a mistress, and to forsake those usages
which had been established in the spirit of pride against the liberty
of the Holy Church (the investiture), to p'oceed at once to the election
of a new sovereign, and one approved by the Pope. The Empress
Agnes, the Pope believes, will give her consent to this when Henry
is deposed. As Henry had made no attempt to reconcile himself
with the Pope, the Pope considered the possibility of setting
up a king in his stead. On October 3 1 Gregory insisted that
it was high time for Henry to repent, if he did not wish to
lose all.
But before this date an attempt was made in Germany to solve
the difliculty. Henry IV appeared in October at Oppenheim, while
the princes assembled at the neighbouring town of Tribur, on the
^ September 3, 1076.
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 119
1 6th of that month. Hither came Rudolph of Suabia, Welf of
Bavaria, the bishops of Henry's and of the papal party, which
was steadily increasing its adherents. Already at Ulm, where the
assembly at Tribur had been agreed upon. Otto, Bishop of Con-
stance, had made his peace with the Holy See, and Siegfried,
Archbishop of Mayence, had done the same, and henceforth cut
himself entirely adrift from Henry IV. The Bishops of Strasburg,
Liege, Miinster and Utrecht obtained easier absolution, some of
them having, from the beginning, shown their disapproval of the
King's policy.
It is unfortunate that the only detailed account of the Diet of
Tribur is from the unveracious Lambert of Hersfeld, whose object
was to show that to remedy the state of Germany only one course
remained, which was to elect another king. Lambert is responsible
for the statement that Henry offered abject submission to the
Diet, and that he had to accept the hard terms that they chose to
impose. The whole affair, he writes, was to be reserved for the
Pope's decision, who was to hold a council at Augsburg on the
Feast of the Purification in the ensuing year. In the meantime, if
the King was not absolved from the ban of excommunication before
the full year expired from the date of his sentence, he forfeited
irrevocably all right and title to the throne^ and his subjects were released
from their allegiance. He must dismiss all whom the Pope had
excommunicated, disband his army, and retire to Spires with the
Bishop of Verdun and some chosen servants, who, in the opinion
of the princes, were not under sentence of excommunication. At
Spires the King was to live as a private individual, he was never
to enter a church, never to interfere in the government of Germany,
not to wear any distinctive sign of royalty, and this was to continue
until the final sentence should have been pronounced at the Synod
of Augsburg. He was to deliver the city of Worms to its bishop,
and to disband its garrison. Worms was to swear fealty to its
bishop, and give him hostages, so that the bishop need fear no
revolt or treason in the town so faithful to Henry IV.
Lambert of Hersfeld is the only authority for the number of
I20 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
obligations ^ which Henry was obliged to take upon himself, and
his testimony cannot be accepted in its entirety, as he was biassed
by his wish to blacken Henry's character and set the conduct
of the princes in the best light. The princes are bound by no
obligations, according to him ; but if Henry IV broke even one
of his promises, they are to be justified in taking what steps they
please, without waiting for the Pope's decision !
Still further to justify the princes, Lambert even goes so far as
to invent a "law of the Empire" providing for the special case of
the Kino^'s losing his crown, in the event of his excommunication
lasting over a year !
Henry, after the Diet of Tribur, left for Spires ; the Bishops of
Bamberg, Basle, Lausanne, Osnaburg and Naumburg-Zeitz, with
the Archbishop of Cologne, were left to make their peace with the
Holy See.
Putting upon one side that accumulation of promises by which
Lambert of Hersfeld declared that Henry IV was bound, we get
the real results of the Diet of Tribur in two documents wrung
from the King by the princes, the Promissio and the edict.
Ekkehard is correct in saying that the King resolved on a journey
to Rome, to make his peace with the Pope, as the result of the
diet, and the Annales Yburgenses assert that the princes threatened
to revolt unless the King became reconciled with the Pope.
There is no doubt as to the authenticity of the Promissio ; and
only the latter part of the superscription, Promissio Henrici regis
quam fecit Hildebrando papce^ qui et Gregorius, dates from a later
period.
There is no mention of the excommunication, but the King
1 (i) Quod si ante diem anniversarium excommunuationis sua, suo praseriim z'ico,
excommiinicatione non absohatur, absque retractione in perpetuum causa ceciderit, nee legibus
deinceps ultra admlnistrare annuani passus excommunicatlonem, non possit.
(2) S/ oblatam conditionem gratanter {\) amplexetur et Romano pontifici per omnia sub-
ditum se elec toque obtemperantem fore polliceatur, hinc se experimentum capturos.
(3) Porro, si quid horum prcevaricetur, turn se, omni culpa, omni jurisjurandi religione,
omni perjidia infamia liberates, non expectato ulterius Romani pontificis judicio, quid reipublicce
expediat, communi consilio visuros.
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 121
declares his willingness to give satisfaction for any imminutio of the
papal dignity arising from his actions ; that is to say, he repudiates
the results of the first Diet of Worms, and recognizes Gregory as
legitimate head of the Church. He also promises obedience to the
Pope in ecclesiastical matters.
In the second paragraph Henry declares : " As to the graver
accusations formulated against me in reference to my conduct
towards this See and towards your Holiness, I shall prove my
innocence at any opportune moment. I will refute them by God's
assistance, or I will spontaneously submit to the penance I shall
have deserved."
What were the "graver charges" of which Henry speaks,
which were attributed to him by rumour } The only possible
explanation is that Henry had been accused of connivance at, if not
of participation in, Cenci's attack upon the Pope's person. That
such an accusation is baseless is shown by the fact that, at the time
of Cenci's attack, there were strained relations truly, but there was
no open breach, between the King and the Papacy ; and later, in
Henry's letter from Worms, he cautions the Romans to depose the
Pope, but not to shed his blood. Even the Pope does not appear
to have thought at this date that Henry was guilty of aiding or
abetting Cenci ; and it is only later, in 1080,^ when strife broke out
afresh between them, that he appears to lean to this opinion. The
last section of the Promissio contains the following strange appeal
to Gregory : " It is also advisable that your Holiness should pay
attention to the reports that have been circulated about you, and
which cause scandal in the Church ; purify the conscience of the
Church from this stumbling-block, thus securing, by your wisdom,
universal peace, both for the Church and for the kingdom."
That Henry should have dared to address such a remonstrance
to the Pope at such a moment seems at first sight so unprecedented
as to cause us to look upon this paragraph with suspicion. It
seems, however, clear that Henry, while recognizing the Pope, and
^ Ut me omn'ino morte ve lexilio confunderent mult'is mod'is conati sunt in me insurgere.
Inter quos speciallter Henrkus, etc. (speech in the council of loSo).
122 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
taking no notice of the frivolous charges brought against him, was
firm on one point, and we are reminded of the accusations of the
influence and intimacy of a mulier aliena brought forward by the
bishops at Worms. The name of the lady is not mentioned in
either this or the letter from Worms ; but Henry is anxious that
Gregory should prove the falsity of these reports, for the good of
both Church and State.
While the Promissio was addressed to the Pope, the King's edict
was addressed to the King's subjects. In this edict Henry speaks
in royal style, and off^ers " the glorious expression of his good-will "
to his people. He suggests that he has been led into his breach
with the Pope by some one's advice or influence,^ a statement which
is belied by Henry's very independent letter to Gregory after the
Diet at Worms, and concludes by cautioning all those who have
been excommunicated by the Pope to take the necessary steps to
gain their absolution.
Both the Promissio and the edict give the impression that they
were forced from the King by the pressure of his nobles. They
are hardly mentioned by the chroniclers, for those who were parti-
sans of Henry were not anxious to bring them into prominence
when war broke out anew between the King and the Papacy.
Those opposed to the King, especially those of the party of Rudolph
of Suabia, could make little use of them ; what they wanted was
a document embodying many promises made by the King, which he
was afterwards to treacherously deny and repudiate.
According to the chronicler Berthold, Udo, Archbishop of
Treves, was charged with conveying the King's letter to the Pope.
The Pope would not read it except in the presence of the ambassa-
dors deputed by the Assembly of Tribur. On hearing the letter,
the ambassadors exclaimed and protested that it was not the same
as the one which had been composed at Tribur ; they declared that
important modifications had been introduced. The Archbishop of
Treves, after first defending the authenticity of the document, was
^ Possibly Hugh Candidas or William of Utrecht.
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 123
obliged to admit that it had been tampered with ; he protested,
however, that he did not know the author of the interpolations !
Berthold is notoriously unveracious ; the double role he assigns
to Udo is not in harmony with the Archbishop's open and loyal
character, and finally, Gregory makes no mention in his correspond-
ence about such a falsification of the King's letter, which must, if
true, have been commented upon by him. He merely says that he
has colluctationes with the King's messenger.
The princes, independently of Henry, had begged the Pope to
come in person to Germany and act as arbiter at Augsburg, and
Gregory welcomed this proposal. It was to Henry IV's interest to
receive absolution in a personal interview with the Pope, inde-
pendently of accepting the Pope as arbiter between him and the
princes of Augsburg. To this, however, Gregory would not
ag-ree.
• • 1 1 r
As appears from two interesting letters written at the close or
the year 1076, the Pope had decided to undertake the journey into
Germany, and the princes had, of their own free-will, offered him
an escort. Great changes had taken place since the pontificate of
Leo IX, who travelled with safety, without an escort, where he
pleased, but now the hostile feelings of Northern Italy towards
Gregory rendered a strong guard essential if he were to pass
through it in safety. His letters ^ show that the Pope was ready to
brave even martyrdom in attempting this journey to Augsburg, and
all his advisers and friends, with the exception of Matilda, sought to
dissuade him from such a step. We do not know what grounds
they had to fear such evil consequences, but the political condition
of Northern Italy was always unfavourable to Gregory, and others
may have feared a political or diplomatic failure for him. In
December, too, Robert Guiscard had taken possession of Salerno,
and Gisulfo, the only ally in Italy upon whom the Pope could rely,
^ Si necesse fuerit, ipsam sanguinis effusionem pro Ubertate sane tee ecclesice et salute imperii
pura et sincera intentione subire non dubitemus (Ep. 17).
Paratus propter honorem Dei et salutem animarum vestrarum mortem subire, sicut
Christus pro nobis animam suam posuit (Ep. 18).
124 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
was at the conqueror's mercy ; and it might have occurred to
Robert Guiscard to make an attack upon Rome during Gregory's
absence.
In spite of all difficulties in his way, Gregory left Rome after
Christmas, and reached Mantua on January 8. The escort, how-
ever, was not ready to meet him, and Gregory turned aside and
took up his abode in Canossa, a strong castle belonging to his
devoted friend the Countess Matilda, to await it.
Meantime, the news that Henry had left Spires had entirely
altered the views of the princes, who foresaw that when Henry
was freed from the sentence of excommunication the Diet of
Augsburg would sink into insignificance. The escort, therefore,
they deliberately withheld, now the Pope was no longer a useful
tool to them. It must be admitted, at the outset, that the princes'
object was, not the reform, but the deposition of the King ; they
had wished to humiliate him by means of the Pope, and then to
induce the Pope to set them free from their allegiance. All their
schemes were shattered by Henry's sudden journey into Italy.
The attitude of chroniclers who were opposed to Henry IV
confirms the theory that the absence of the escort was deliberate.
Lambert of Hersfeld, usually so full of information, is entirely
silent, and other chroniclers have invented a tissue of fabrications
to explain its absence.-^ The princes, it appears from one of
Gregory's letters,^ informed him that there were " difficulties " in
the way of sending the escort.
^ Bonitho writes that : "Henry broke the oath (!) he had sworn, to remain
in Germany." Gregory, Bishop of Vcrcelli, the Chancellor of the King for the
kingdom of Italy, who had been entrusted with the mission to escort Gregory to
Germany, hears that the King is in Italy, and warns the Pope, who retires to Canossa.
Bruno the Saxon's explanation is that the escort was awaiting Gregory, but
learning that Henry, with a large army, was prepared to set up an anti-pope it
Gregory entered Germany, Gregory remained in Italy. Bcrthold explains that the
princes had not dared to furnish the escort for fear of Henry, whose intentions
towards the Pope were hostile. Henry then makes a sudden volte-face, and appears as
a penitent at Canossa.
^ R. IV. 12.
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 125
Henry had left Spires, and now carried out the programme
suggested in his Promisiio. In October he had recognized Gregory
as the legitimate Pope, and it was still necessary for him to offer a
devota satisfactio for his policy at the Diet of Worms. In leaving
Germany for Italy, his intention was to do penance and win his
absolution before the Diet of Augsburg. His messengers had
failed in inducing the Pope to agree to give him an audience at
Rome, but he wished to try the effect of a personal interview. He
had not bound himself in the Promissio to await the Pope's decision
in Germany ; the place and nature of his submission were still
undefined, and he knew that if he made his act of submission for
the Decree of Worms, absolution could not be refused him.
Hardly had he left Spires, when the princes foresaw that his move
would checkmate his opponents, and attempts were made to stop
his entry into Italy. Henry, however, succeeded in reaching Italian
soil after a long and dangerous journey, of which Lambert gives
this detailed and somewhat romantic account —
With difficulty Henry had collected from his friends and
followers sufficient money to defray the expenses of the journey
across the Alps, of which the passes were guarded by the dukes of
Bavaria and Carinthia. He started on his journey with his wife
and their infant son Conrad and one faithful servant, and turned
aside into Burgundy. According to Berthold, it was at Besan^on
that he was joined by his wife and son. At Besan^on Count
William of Burgundy, his mother's cousin, entertained him with
courtesy, and here he passed Christmas with something approaching
to royal state. From Besan^on he crossed the Rhone at Geneva,
and advanced to the foot of Mont Cenis. Here he was met by
Adelaide, Marchioness of Susa, his mother-in-law, and her son
Amadeus, who gave him a favourable reception, but demanded the
cession of five rich bishoprics in Italy as the price of his free
passage through her dominions. Finally, Henry ceded to her
instead a rich district which he possessed in Burgundy. The King
now began to cross the Alps.
" The winter," writes Lambert, " was very severe ; the
126 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
mountains they must cross were nearly lost to view, and seemed
to disappear in the clouds ; the cold was intense, and there had
been heavy falls of snow, so that neither men nor horses could
advance in the narrow roads alongside precipices without running
the greatest risks. Nevertheless, they could not delay, for the
anniversary of the King's excommunication was drawing near, and
the King knew, according to the decision of the princes, that if he
were not absolved before this first anniversary, his cause would be
irrevocably ruined, and that he would lose his kingdom. ^ . . .
Accordingly they enlisted the help of some peasants accustomed to
the perilous passes of the Alps, who consented, on receipt of
payment, to precede the King and his escort, and cut a passage for
them along the edge of the precipices through the snow. By the
help of these guides, and after surmounting the greatest difficulties
and hardships, they reached the summit of the mountains ; but it was
impossible to advance further : glaciers covered the other side which
they had to descend, and how could they venture upon that
polished surface ? To escape this imminent danger the men were
obliged either to crawl upon their hands and knees, or to be carried
upon the shoulders of their guides, but even then they could not
avoid a great many falls, and frequently rolled down the steep
inclines. They only completed the descent after having thus many
times risked their lives. As for the Queen and the women attached
to her service, they were placed on a kind of sledge made of ox-
hide, and the guides dragged them the whole way. Some of the
horses were hauled along the pass by means of machines, others
were dragged with their feet tied ; but many died, or were lamed,
and very few reached their journey's end in safety."
No sooner was the King's unexpected arrival made known in
Italy than the bishops and nobles assembled in great numbers to
meet him, and within a few days he had a large army at his dis-
posal. One reason for his popularity was the belief that he had
crossed the Alps to depose the Pope. Henry, however, had to
admit that he could not now plunge into this new warfare, and
' Lambert again emphasizes this detail, to justify the action of the princes.
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 127
that his only object was to free himself from the sentence of
excommunication.
To Canossa, before Henry appeared, had come many of the
nobles and prelates who had been included under the ban of excom-
munication, with bare feet and in the garb of penitents. The
bishops were shut up in solitary cells, with but a small supply of
food, till the evening ; the penance of the laity was apportioned to
their age and strength. After this ordeal of some days they were
called before the Pope and received absolution, with a mild rebuke
and repeated injunctions to hold no communion with their master
till he should be reconciled to the Holy See.
Canossa is planted on the summit of a craggy hill, a spur of the
Apennines as they descend on the plain of the Po, about twenty
miles south-east of Parma. It is now entirely deserted, and every
tradition of the great scene which it witnessed has perished. But
its situation and the outline of its ruins agree with the notices in
the contemporary chronicles. It stands on a rock of a white or
ashy tint, which probably gave it the name of Canossa, as the ruddy
colour of the crags of a neighbouring fortress, also belonging to the
Countess, is perpetuated in the name of Rossina.^ Alba Canossa is
the designation given to it by Donizo, who puts into the mouth of
the castle a long panegyric on the family of Matilda, and a proud
remonstrance with the neighbouring Mantua : S>um petra non lignum.
Niida silex well describes its bare, stony eminence. The only
habitations near the place are a few cottages gathered round a
church at the foot of the hill. It is not possible to ascertain dis-
tinctly where the chapel stood within the castle, where the absolution
took place. Indeed, the space is so narrow on the crest of the rock
that it is difficult to imagine how the Countess and her illustrious
guest could have found room. But the triple wall mentioned by
Lambert can easily be traced.
Henry, on hearing that the Pope had taken refuge in Canossa,
went to Reggio, where he left part of his escort, notably the bishops
1 Note by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, quoted in Milman's Latin Christianity,
Vol. IV. p. 97.
128 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
of Lombardy, and advanced towards Canossa accompanied by the
Marchioness Adelaide, Amadeus Azzo, Marquess of Este, and a
few servants.
Having arrived within a short distance from Canossa, the King
sent for the Countess Matilda and Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, who
were then with Gregory, to come and confer with him, probably
seeking their influence and mediation with the Pope. Then, in the
penitent's garb of wool, and barefoot, the King appeared before the
walls of the fortress. He had laid aside every mark of royalty, and,
fasting, he awaited the pleasure of the Pope for three days. The
severity of the penance was enhanced by the coldness of the season.
Bonitho speaks of it as a "very bitter" winter, and says that the
King waited i* the courtyard amid snow and ice. Even in the
presence of Gregory there were loud murmurs against his pride and
inhumanity. At last, owing to the intercession of the Countess
Matilda and Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, the Pope relented, and admitted
Henry to his presence. Henry promised, by word of mouth, to
amend his life, and gave a written promise, which Gregory refers to
as " The oath of Henry, King of the Germans." The official
document of January 28 begins with the words Ego Henricus rex,
and closes with adjuvabo^ and is witnessed by the Bishops Humbert
of Praeneste and Gerald of Ostia, two cardinals, Romania Peter and
Conon, two Rotnani diaconi, Gregory and Bernard, and the sub-
deacon Humbert on the Pope's side ; and upon the King's by the
Bishops of Vercelli and Osnaburg, the Abbot of Cluny and many
noblemen, 1 The document is more remarkable for its omissions
than for its contents ; there is no reference to Gregory's assump-
tions of the February synod of 1076, and Henry does not recog-
nize the Pope's right to depose him and free his subjects from
their allegiance. There is no word of the question of investiture ;
all the document amounts to is that the King will set no obstacle
in the way of the Pope, if the Pope desires to journey into Germany ;
and that he, the King, will abide by the Pope's decision as arbiter.
^ Gregory says (R. IV. 12) that the King's securltates were witnessed by Matilda,
the Marchioness Adelaide and others.
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 129
That Gregory was still contemplating this journey into Germany
is proved by a letter (R. IV. 12), where he remarks that, in spite
of the King's absolution, the real point at issue is still in suspense.
Henry took no steps at Canossa, as he had suggested in his
Promissio of October of 1076, to clear himself from certain grave
charges that were brought against him, and his scrupulus scandali
about the Pope in the same document is also left untouched and
undiscussed.
Henry, having submitted as penitent to the Pope, was now
absolved, practically unconditionally. He thus gained his object,
freedom from the sentence of excommunication ; he had submitted
as a Churchman, and had made no effort to induce Gregory to
remove the contradictio regiminis or give back his subjects to their
allegiance, since, according to Henry's views, these were not in the
Pope's power either to grant or to dispose of.
The unconditional absolution of the King was not to the taste of
the historians inimical to Henry. Bruno,^ therefore, and Lambert
invent a conditional absolution. Lambert relates all the conditions
necessary for the King to fulfil. He was to appear in the place and
at the time which the Pontiff should name to answer the charges of
his subjects before the Pope himself, if it should please him to pre-
side in person at the trial. If he should repel these charges, he was
to receive his kingdom back from the hands of the Pope. If found
guilty, he was practically to resign his kingdom, and pledge himself
never to attempt to seek revenge for his deposition. Till that time
he was to assume none of the insignia of royalty, to perform no
public act, to appropriate no part of the royal revenue which was
not necessary for the maintenance of himself and of his attendants ; all
his subjects were to be held released from their oath of allegiance ;
he was to banish for ever from his court the Bishop of Bamberg
and the Count of Cosheim, with his other evil advisers ; if he
should recover his kingdom he must henceforward rule according
to the counsel of the Pope, and correct whatever was contrary to
^ Absolutui hac lege dlmlttitur, multum monitus, ne Deo ment'iatur; quia si promissa non
impleverit, non solum prior a Vincula non superantur, sed etiam alia strictiora super adduntur.
9
I30 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the ecclesiastical laws. On these conditions the Pope granted absolu-
tion, with the further provision that, in case of any prevarication
on the part of the King on any of these articles, the absolution was
null and void, and in that case the princes of the Empire were
released from all their oaths, and might immediately proceed to
the election of another king. Naturally, Henry does not fulfil these
conditions, and, according to Lambert, again falls under sentence of
excommunication.
After absolution in due form, Henry received Holy Communion,
to show that he was fully reconciled to the Church. That he did so
is attested by two Italian writers on the papal side, Bonitho and
Donizo, and by the author of De Unitate Ecclesice.
If Henry had refused to receive the Sacraments, Gregory must
have mentioned the fact in his letter to the Germans, whereas he
says that the King was received /;/ communionis gratiam^ et seminio
sanctce matris ecclesice. In his address at the council in 1080 there
is no hint that any painful or disturbing incident had occurred at
Canossa. But two writers, Berthold and Lambert of Hersfeld, both
biassed by their partisanship of Rudolph of Suabia, chose to repre-
sent Henry, for their own purposes, as refusing the Sacraments.
Berthold simply states that the Pope found new causes of suspicion
in the King's refusal, but Lambert's lengthy and detailed anecdote
deserves closer scrutiny.
His story is as follows : When Gregory was proceeding to
celebrate the Eucharist, he called the King and his partisans to the
altar, and lifting in his hands the consecrated Host, the Body of the
Lord, he said : " I have been accused by thee and by thy partisans
of having usurped the Apostolic See by simoniacal practices, and
of having been guilty, both before and after my elevation to the
Episcopate, of crimes which would disqualify me for my sacred
office. I might justify myself by proof, and by the witness of
those who have known me from my youth, and whose suffrages
have raised me to the Apostolic See. Yet, in order not to appear
to rely on the testimony of men rather than that of God, and to
take from every one all pretext of scandal, by a rapid and prompt
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 131
satisfaction, here is the Lord's Body, which I am going to receive ;
may It become for me the proof of my innocence, so that the All-
powerful God may absolve me to-day from the crime of which I
am accused if I am innocent, or strike me dead if I am guilty."
He then received the Sacred Host. A pause ensued, he still
stood unharmed. Then all the people shouted for joy, praising
God and congratulating the Pope. Gregory, then turning to the
King, said : " Do thou, my son, as I have done. The princes of
the German Empire have accused thee of crimes heinous and
capital, such as in justice should exclude thee, not only from the
administration of public affairs, but from the communion of the
Church, and all intercourse with the faithful, until thy dying day.
They demand that the day and the place should be fixed to discuss
the accusations brought against thee. But human judgments are
liable to error ; falsehood, set off by fine words, is listened to with
pleasure ; truth, without this artificial aid, meets with contempt.
But I wish to assist thee, because thou hast implored my protection ;
act now according to my counsel. If thou art conscious of inno-
cence, and persuaded that thy reputation is falsely attacked by
calumny, by this course free the Church of God from scandal, and
thyself from a long and doubtful trial. Take this part of the
Body of our Lord, and if God avouches thy innocence thy accusers
may cease to charge thee with crimes, and I shall become the
advocate of thy cause, the assertor of thy innocence, thy nobles
shall be reconciled to thee, the kingdom given back, and the tumult
of civil war that desolated the Empire be stilled for ever." ^
Henry, in his amazement, hesitated, and retired to consult with
a few followers how he should escape this terrible ordeal. He
then declared that he must first obtain the opinion of those princes
who had adhered to his cause ; that though this trial might be
satisfactory to the few present in the Church, it would not have
any effect upon the obstinate incredulity of his absent enemies.
^ Stenzcl, who accepts this speech as authentic, describes it as teuflische Poliiik,
and Milman asks: "Did Gregory not discern the incredible wiclcedness of thus
tempting the King, in his stupor and confusion, to recldess perjury?"
132 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
He adjured the Pope to reserve the whole question to a general
council, in whose decision he would acquiesce. The Pope con-
sented, and then condescended to receive the King at a banquet,
treated him courteously, and gave him much good advice.
In the whole episode Lambert trusts to the credulity of his
readers. Gregory here is simply made the mouthpiece of the
princes, through which they express their dissatisfaction with Henry.
Henry had, in October 1076, withdrawn all the charges he had
made against the Pope, and yet Lambert makes the Pope address
Henry as if the King still obstinately persisted in his standpoint of
the Diet of Worms. Finally, Lambert puts into Henry's mouth
an earnest request for a general council, whereas the one object of
his dangerous journey into Italy and his painful penance at Canossa
was to render the General Council of Augsburg, with the Pope as
arbiter, unnecessary.
Gregory had meantime announced to the Italian nobles the
absolution of the King, while he himself wrote to the princes of the
Empire, giving an account of Henry's penance, and saying that he
" desired to pass into their provinces at the earliest opportunity, in
order to settle everything fully for the peace of the Church and the
union of the kingdom, ' as we have long desired to do.' " Gregory's
triumph was by no means as complete as has been generally repre-
sented by historians, who have been misled by the picturesque
accessories of the scene. The King's absolution was actually a
political checkmate to Gregory.
It is not true to say, with Milman, that " the triumph of
sacerdotal Christianity, in the humiliation of the temporal power,
was complete;" nor with Bryce, that "one scene in the yard of
Countess Matilda's castle, an imperial penitent standing barefoot
and woollen-frocked in the snow, till the priest who sat within
should absolve him, was enough to mark a decisive change and
inflict an irretrievable disgrace on the crown so abused."
There was actually no point in which Henry acceded to
Gregory's assumptions, and " the historical incident which, more
than any other, has profoundly impressed the imagination of the
THE ROAD TO CANOSSA 133
Western world," resolves itself into a simple act of penance to
which no far-reaching political consequences could be attached, and
which cannot be described as an " epoch-making " event in the
struggle between the Papacy and the Empire. Of far more
moment, far more decisive in the history of Gregory's pontificate,
was the February synod of 1076, for from this dated the beginning
of his " hierocracy."
The King's penance, it is true, was a severe one, but his health
does not appear to have suffered from it. As to the exterior form
of it, the " humiliation " of the bare feet and woollen frock was
customary at that time, and every penitent submitted to it. In
1074 Henry had presented himself in the same garb before the
papal legates at Nuremberg. It should be remembered that Henry
went to Canossa of his own free-will, uninvited by Gregory ; the
penance was his own unaided and free choice. He came and left the
castle as King, without seeking from the Pope any new recognition
or restitution of his royal dignity. What he had gained was that
it was now possible for him to enter into normal relations with his
subjects and with all Christians, who had avoided him since the
ban.
Gregory's apparent triumph thus vanishes, if we closely consider
it. He had wished to be arbiter at the Diet of Augsburg ; he is
checked by the absence of the escort. As a priest he cannot refuse
absolution to a sincere penitent, and Henry's absolution overthrows
the plans of his opponents. He delays, foreseeing, as a politician,
the effect of the absolution upon the princes of the Empire, but in
vain. His hand had been forced by the King, and his delay only
caused an unfavourable impression among those of his party
assembled at Canossa.
It is certain that the Pope himself felt no triumph. Doubtless
he foresaw that the absolution of Henry was not to be the prelude
to peace and reconciliation between the opponents, but to new
difficulties and new struggles.
CHAPTER VII
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA, JANUARY 29, IO77
FEBRUARY 27, IO78
Embassy from the Church of Milan — Henry goes to Lombardy — False reports of his
policy in Lombardy — Message from the princes of Germany to Gregory VII —
Two papal legates sent to Germany with a letter from the Pope — Rudolph of
Suabia — Diet of Forchheim — Rudolph proclaimed King of Germany, and
crowned at Mayence — Gregory VII's attitude towards the Forchheim election —
Henry IV appeals to the Pope and re-enters Germany — Rudolph in Saxony —
Henry IV entrenched on the banks of the Neckar — Attitude of Gregory towards
the two kings — Pontifical letters of May 31, 1077 — Gregory returns to Rome
— Henry IV ravages Suabia — The anecdote of Henry IV's excommunication
by a papal legate — Assassination of Cenci, prefect of Rome — Death of the
Empress Agnes.
If "the penance of the King at Canossa was looked upon with
disfavour by the " Lombard bulls," the Patarines of Northern Italy
gathered new strength from such an exhibition of the influence of
the Holy See, and sent a deputation from the city of Milan to the
Pope promising obedience for the future. Arnulf, the historian of
the Church of Milan, who had abandoned his prejudices against the
Papacy, tells us that he took part in this embassy.
Henry IV, after his penance and absolution at Canossa, had
retired to Reggio. From Lombardy he intended to return to
Germany. In later Rudolphian writers we find it stated in various
forms that Henry had lost the crown in February 1076, and had
not been restored to the royal dignity at Canossa ; in the meantime
he was not to be considered as king. Thus Berthold complains
that Henry kept Palm Sunday at Verona " as king," without having
received the Pope's permission for this royal state, and Bernold is
134
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 135
responsible for a foolish story that Henry, almost immediately after
leaving Canossa, wished to depose Gregory, and to set up Gregory,
Bishop of Vercelli, in his stead. Paul of Bernried relates that
Henry sent to demand permission for his coronation as King of
Italy at Monza, and even among the partisans of Henry there was
a suggestion that the royal power was limited at Canossa, and the
author of De Unitate Ecclesics asserts that the Pope had forbidden
Henry to use the ensigns of royalty.
Henry, meanwhile, was making a progress through Lombardy.
That his presence there increased the bitterness of the Lombard
bishops against Gregory is evident from Gregory's own testimony
in a letter written at the end of February or in the early days of
March 1077 ; but, though Gregory regrets the King's presence in
Lombardy, he does not expressly blame him for the seething
discontent of the bishops. That Gregory had no intention or wish
to break with the King is certain.
Around the King were assembled almost all the distinguished
prelates and laity who had formed his small court at Oppenheim,
now released from their excommunication : Liemar, Archbishop of
Bremen ; the Bishops of Zeitz, Osnaburg, Lausanne and Basle ;
and Ulric of Cosheim and Eberhard of Nellenburg, the favourite
counsellors of the King ; and last, but not least, the ambitious
Guibert of Ravenna. The relation of Henry to his Lombard
subjects is obscured by the Rudolphian writers, whose object it was
to represent Henry as infringing some condition, or conditions,
imposed upon him by the Pope. Bonitho relates that the Pope had
required from the King no guarantees, no promise to amend his
life, but an understanding that he would avoid the company of the
excommunicated, /. e. the Lombard bishops ; hence he represents
him as avoiding the Lombard bishops by day, and holding secret
conferences with them by night.
Lambert of Hersfeld gives a different version of Henry's
attitude, Henry had met with an ill reception in Lombardy ;
everywhere he was greeted with contemptuous indignation. There
were no deputations of the magistrates ; no processions of the
136 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
people to meet him ; the gates were closed ; he was left to lodge
in the suburbs. Provisions were doled out in barely sufficient
quantity for his maintenance, and altogether unbefitting his royal
station ; guards were posted to watch his followers, lest they should
dare to rob and plunder in the neighbouring villages. Henry
perceived this, not without some satisfaction, for, if it showed hatred
and contempt for him, it showed a yet deeper hatred and contempt
for the Pope. In order to reconcile the Lombards, Henry now
resolved to break his fcsdus with the Pope, and, as Lambert
rhetorically says, to " brush away contemptuously, like cobwebs,"
the conditions the Pope had bound upon him.
This, if true, would go far to justify the next step of the
German princes, viz. the election of Rudolph of Suabia as king, in
opposition to Henry IV.
The revolted German princes had decided among themselves
that they had no wish to welcome Henry, even though absolved
from his excommunication. The Dukes of Suabia, Bavaria and
Carinthia, with some of the Saxon chiefs, and Siegfried, Archbishop
of Mayence, who was now deeply committed, chose the course
of advancing boldly to the deposition of the King. They had met
at Ulm at the beginning of February, but the severity of the weather
forced them to disperse, and the snow had prevented the arrival of
many. They now appointed the decisive diet on March 13,
at Forchheim.
The princes took no steps to inform Gregory of their intentions ;
indeed, they deliberately misled him. Gregory had sent a letter to
them by a trusted messenger, Rapoto, who was charged by them
with a verbal communication to the Pope. Rapoto reached Gregory
at Canossa or Carpineto, where the Pope was residing at the
beginning of March. The princes warmly urged the Pope to come
to Germany, but recommended him only to undertake the journey
with the consent and concurrence of the King ! With the firm
intention of electing an anti-king, the princes referred the Pope to
King Henry to make the journey possible. Gregory was entirely
duped, and immediately after the return of Rapoto sent messengers
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 137
to the King to attempt to arrange matters with him. Meantime,
he sent his two legates, the Abbot Bernard of Marseilles and
Bernard the cardinal-deacon, in whom he had " all confidence," as
his representatives to the diet. They took with them, when they
started on their journey on the last day of February, a letter from
him to the archbishops, bishops, princes and people of Germany, ^
of which the following extracts are of especial interest —
" At last we have heard from our son Rapoto, whom We sent to
you, what were your desires and intentions. You ask Us to come
to you, and, for greater safety, to undertake this journey by the
advice and with the concurrence of the King. Accordingly, acting
on your request, desirous to conform Ourselves in all things to
your will and counsels under the good pleasure of God, We have
tried, through our legates, to settle this point with the King. Will
he agree with you and Us on this matter ? We cannot answer
before our legates leave, for the King is too far off ; but as soon as
We shall hear. We will not delay to communicate with you.
" You must know, then, that Our will. Our desire, is to join you,
for the sake of the common interests and for the good of all, either
with the King's consent, or in spite of him, if need be. If the sins
and efforts of the wicked make this project impracticable in my
absence, I shall always beg the All-powerful God to strengthen
your hearts and your faith, in grace and virtue, to give a happy
direction to your counsels and actions."
Before Gregory's negotiations with the King could be brought
to a decisive termination he was surprised by the tidings that
Rudolph, the Duke of Suabia, had been elected King on March 15,
at the Diet of Forchheim.
Rudolph, who was born about the year 1020, became Duke of
Suabia in 1057. In 1059 he married Henry IV's sister Matilda,
who died shortly afterwards. Rudolph's second wife was Adelheid
of Turin, whose sister Bertha was married to Henry IV. In spite
of these alliances Rudolph and Henry never appear to have stood
1 Extract from the Chronicle of Hugh of Flavigny (M. 9, SS. VIII. 445-446).
138 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
on friendly terms. When the King was in difficulties in the summer
of 1073, Rudolph wrote to the Pope complaining of the King, and
begging the Pope's interference. Gregory praised him for his zeal,
but required fuller information, and suggested that Rudolph and
other persons aggrieved should come to Rome to discuss the
question. Rudolph answered bluntly in the negative. After a
long pause, Gregory again entered into relations with him in
January 1075, ^^ which period he urged upon Rudolph and the
Duke of Carinthia to deal severely with the bishops who were
stained with simony and immorality. Rudolph had openly accused
himself of having been guilty of simony, and suffered a kindly
correctio.
In the summer of 1075 ^^ ^"^^ fought on Henry's side against
the Saxons, before his final desertion.
No sooner had the news of the absolution at Canossa reached
the princes, than they prepared to set up a king in opposition to
Henry. They had welcomed the King's excommunication with joy,
and they were proportionately disgusted at his rehabilitation. They
had failed in making the Pope their tool to overthrow Henry, and
they now prepared to discard and even act counter to the Holy
See.
The diet met at Forchheim, and among those present were the
Archbishop of Mayence, Bishop Adalbero of Wiirzburg, the Dukes
Welf, Otto and Berthold. Arnulf of Milan admits that the princes,
especially Rudolph, Berthold and Welf, had long plotted Henry's
downfall, and discussed the election of a new king daily. Finally,
Henry was deposed in great haste at the diet, and Rudolph of
Suabia chosen king. Gregory, in 1080, speaks of the electors of
Rudolph as episcopi et principes ultraniontani ; later on he uses the
more comprehensive term 'Teuionici.
Bruno the Saxon states that among the terms to which Rudolph
swore were : I. To leave the choice of the bishops free ; and II.
Not to endeavour to make the throne hereditary in his family.
The former stipulation is absurd, for, theoretically, the German
throne was regarded as elective ; but it is probable that Rudolph
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 139
declared, either spontaneously or owing to pressure from others,
that he would make no claim for the crown for his heirs.
The second stipulation is not supported by any authority, and
is in itself extremely improbable. The temper of the Forchheim
election and the heat of party feeling would have been unfavourable
for the discussion of such questions.
A Rudolphian anecdote, that Rudolph sent an admonition to
King Henry in Italy not to enter Germany until his mother, or
the Pope, should have prepared the way for his reception, may be
dismissed, together with the equally untrustworthy assertion of
Saxo, that the cardinal-legate Bernard excommunicated the King
anew shortly after the absolution at Canossa, and forbade him to
rule — for what sins it is not stated.
Rudolph was crowned at Mayence, and Paul of Bernried
remarks gravely that the election of Rudolph at Forchheim was
pleasing to God, for shortly afterwards " mild weather set in " ! •'■
But in spite of this indication of divine satisfaction the inauguration
of Rudolph was in blood. No sooner had he been crowned than
a fierce tumult broke out between the followers of some of his
supporters and those of Henry. Though quiet was restored, the
Archbishop and the anti-King left Mayence never to return. Paul
of Bernried passes over the event in silence, but Berthold and
Bernold admit the tumult, though their account of the proportion
of the loss of Rudolph to that of his adversaries cannot be taken
seriously,- while Bruno the Saxon admits that several of Rudolph's
men were slain and many wounded.
That the election of Rudolph was without the knowledge and
consent of Gregory, and even against his wishes, is abundantly
proved by the Pope's own utterances. It is not until later, in
1080, that Gregory declared himself in Rudolph's favour, and at that
^ So Lambert of Hersfeld paints Henry's passage of the Alps in the darkest
colours, to show that the anger of God was roused against him !
2 Berthold says that Rudolph lost two men, his adversaries more than a
hundred ; Bernold that Rudolph lost but one man, his adversaries more than a
hundred.
I40 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
date he proudly declared that he had stood aloof from the Forch-
heim election : Episcopi et principes ultramoniani sine meo consilio
. . . elegerunt sibi Rodulfum ducem in regem. Rudolph's election,
besides being a surprise, must have been a severe blow to
him. Gregory had declared, after the absolution of Henry IV,
that his presence as arbiter was necessary in Germany ; but the
princes, by the election of Rudolph, no longer desired the papal
intervention in the affairs of Germany. The Pope was no longer
to stand in the proud position of umpire between Henry and his
dissatisfied subjects.
Gregory utters no word in defence of the princes' policy, and
never suggests that it met with his approval. In a later encyclical,
before November 1083, he speaks very strongly on the subject.
This, however, is after the death of the anti-King. " God is our
witness that if Rudolph, who has been made king by those beyond
the Alps, has been thus raised to the throne, it has not been done
by our advice. We even decided in synod that if the archbishops
and bishops who arranged it were unable to explain their conduct satis-
factorily^ they should be deprived of their dignities^ and that Rudolph
also should lose his crown'' ^
Gregory never suggests that the princes were justified or forced
into this election by any action of Henry IV, and though he dares
not openly condemn the princes, it is clear that he is quite aware
of the emptiness of their pretexts for revolting against the
King.
As he had not foreseen the Forchheim election, it was impossible
for him to have given instructions to his legates to go and confirm
it in his name. Ekkehard speaks of Rudolph's being elected in the
presence of the papal legates, who did not consent of their own free-
will; and the annalist assumes that they were subjected to some
pressure. It is possible that they were recommended to be silent,
as they might have protested against the election. On the other
hand, it was to the interest of both Henrician and Rudolphian
1 R. VIII. 57 (IX. 28).
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 141
writers to represent the Pope (either personally or by means of his
legates) as actively favouring the Forchheim election.
On the one hand, the Henrician party wished to paint
Gregory in even blacker colours, as deserting the rightful King
after having given him absolution, while the Rudolphian side felt
the need of claiming the support of the Holy See in their revolt.
The Henrician writers care little for the papal legates ; it is
the Pope himself they wish to brand as treacherous. They accuse
him of being silent about, and therefore consenting to, the Forch-
heim election, or of being the instigator, and entirely responsible
for it.
The Rudolphian party, who were greatly shaken by the death
of their leader so early in the struggle, felt the necessity of making
the Pope, in the person of his legates, responsible for the election
of the anti-King.i Berthold, Bernold and the romantic Lambert of
Hersfeld have each contributed their share in the fabrication of
Gregory's responsibility ; but Lambert, as usual, is the most pro-
ductive and plausible in his fictions. His story runs as follows :
" The King had brushed away his promises like spiders' webs ; "
and consequently the princes sent an embassy to the Pope beseech-
ing him to appear at Forchheim in person. The Pope, who had
heard of Henry's faithlessness from other quarters, now sent the
" cardinal-bishop " Gregory to Henry to beg him to decide to
appear in March at Forchheim^ so that the question of the restora-
tion to him of the crown of Germany or his final deposition might
be settled. Naturally Henry refused, upon absurd pretexts. The
Pope, however, sent two legates to Germany with the message that
it was impossible for him to travel to Germany in person, but he
recommends the princes to do their best for the kingdom, too long
troubled by the ■puerile levity of one man^ until, if God will, he is
enabled to conquer the difficulty of the journey and consult with
them for the future good of all, and for the peace of the Church.
^ Benzo says : Prandello tnst'igante (Rodulfus) perjurus efficiatiir (p. 66 1).
Annates Tburgenses : Ins true done et constlio Hildebrandi in Forchheim Rodulfus rex
electus est.
142 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
With these phrases Lambert concludes his annals, but leaves his
readers with the impression that Gregory's communication to the
princes necessitated the deposition of Henry IV !
Bernold's account of the matter is very short. He makes the
legates assert that Henry had broken his promises to the Pope by
taking captive the Bishops Gerald of Ostia and Anselm of Lucca,^
and by protecting and favouring at his court in Lombardy all
simoniacal and excommunicated persons ! After this communica-
tion of the legates the princes elected Rudolph king.
Berthold, on the other hand, lays greater stress upon the com-
plaints of the princes than upon those of the Pope ; so many and
bitter, indeed, are the princes' complaints of Henry's misgovern-
ment, that the legates express their astonishment that the German
nation should so long have endured such a king. Henry is
deposed and declared unworthy of the name of king oh inaudita
ipsius millefaria flagitia.
Gregory's biographer, Paul of Bernried, agrees with Berthold in
some respects, but introduces some variations of his own into the
story. According to him, a certain Count Manegold had been
dispatched to Gregory with the account of the proceedings at Ulm
and a respectful invitation to the Pope to attend in person at the
Diet at Forchheim, According to Paul of Bernried, Manegold's
interview with Gregory took place on March i at Canossa, a date
upon which we know that Gregory was no longer at Canossa, but
at Carpineto, where he remained several days, while the remainder
of the month was spent by him in Carpi and Bibianello.
Gregory at once decides to send the "cardinal-deacon " Gregory
to Henry to arrange with him for the escort. While the Pope
remarks that this will be the test of Henry's fidelity, that the
result will show if Henry is to receive his crown again, or be for
ever deposed, blood flows from his hand. The company present
feel that this is a forewarning of some great event. The King
^ No mention is made of the imprisonment of these bishops cither in Berthold's
chronicle or in Gregory's correspondence at this date. Gerald of Ostia's imprison-
ment is mentioned in a letter to Udo of Treves at the end of September 1077.
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 143
refuses the safe-conduct, and Manegold immediately returns to
Germany and vanishes from the scene for ever !
The papal legates to Germany read the Pope's letter ^ to the
Diet at Forchheim. They make, at first, some show of moderation,
and mildly suggest the expediency of postponing the choice of a
king until the Pope's arrival, but, with convenient modesty, they
intimate doubts whether it can be done without danger. This
rouses a storm of recrimination against the King ; every man
brings forward his grievance, and Bernried says that the legates
could not count even the half of the complaints urged against him.
On the following day it was repeated that Henry should remain
king not an hour longer. The two Bernards reiterate that the
best course is to refrain from making a definite choice at present.
Upon a little further pressure, they give consent to the election of
Rudolph, and thus the princes were provided with the authority
and sanction of the Church for the step they had taken.
Bruno's story is that Henry had made two promises at Canossa
viz. not to assume the insignia of royalty without the Pope's per-
mission, and to avoid the company of excommunicated persons.
He breaks both these engagements. Bruno then narrates the story
of the Forchheim election, at which, he says, the legates confirmed
the choice of the princes, apostoliae sublimitatis auctoritate.
To the tendency of Henrician and Rudolphian writers to make
Gregory largely instrumental in the election of Rudolph is to be
referred the anecdote of the Pope sending a crown to Rudolpn
shortly after, or before, the Forchheim election. Sigbert of
Gembloux writes that the crown bore the inscription —
Fetra dedit Petro
Petrus diadema Rudolpho.
Another version of the inscription is —
Petra dedit Romam Petro
Tibi papa coronam.
^ Ep. 20.
144 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
The anecdote has no greater historical value than Benzo's story of
the coronation of Nicholas II ; Gregorian and Rudolphian writers
do not mention it, and the sending of a crown to Rudolph — thereby-
symbolizing the desertion of Henry's and the recognition of
Rudolph's cause — would have been impossible in the year 1077,
for it was not until three years later that Gregory consented to
recognize Rudolph as king.
Landulf ^ elaborates the anecdote still further, for he writes that
upon the instigation of Matilda, Gregory sent Rudolph a crown
of cunning workmanship, set with precious stones (before March
1077), in order to incite him against Henry ; and Petrus of Monte
Cassino assumes that a crown was sent twice : first by Matilda's
instigation, in the year 1077, and again in 1080, after the Pope's
final breach with Henry IV !
Owing to the Forchheim election and the changes resultant
from it, Henry's Promissio had become a dead letter ; he had
promised at Canossa to accept the Pope as arbiter between himself
and the revolted princes ; there was, naturally, no thought at the
time of the Pope as arbitrator between himself and an anti-king.
No sooner had the news of his rival's election reached King
Henry in Italy than he sent from Pavia to the Pope to demand
Rudolph's excommunication. The King did not, as yet, feel strong
enough to do without the support of the Holy See. Gregory had
recourse to an unworthy subterfuge — the injustice of condemnation
without judicial investigation of the cause. Every unprejudiced
person must admit this was a most unsatisfactory response ; for
there was no necessity to investigate the rivals' claims to the throne.
Henry had reigned since the year 1056, and had won a tacit recog-
nition at least of his royal dignity even at Canossa. Rudolph
could bring forward no claim ; he was plainly an usurper. Gregory
had once nobly written that it was his duty and business " to defend
the rights of all." Why did he not defend those of Henry }
^ Oldeprandus illecebrarum facetus ac diligcntta MathUdh, cum qua et ipse ridebat,
coronam admirabilem lapidibus pretiosis intextam Saxonia duct Rodulfo, quatenus se de
imperio Romano contra Henricum intromitteret, fnisit.
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 145
Unfortunately the Pope could not lay aside his deep-rooted
suspicion of the King's character, and at the same time dared not
seriously oppose the German princes ; thus he came to speak of
the King's indubitable claims as open to discussion, and in conse-
quence this lack of frankness was to cause him the utmost
embarrassment.
Rudolph, immediately after his proclamation as King, sent an
ambassador to the Pope, declaring that he had been forced to take
upon himself the cares of the government, and that he would obey
the Pope in all things. The idea of pressure in Rudolph's election
is a pure fiction on the part of the anti-King.
Neither Henry nor Rudolph had appealed to the Pope to settle
their rival claims, though each was doubtless anxious for the papal
support for himself and the papal denunciation of his opponent.
Gregory, however, appears to have seen an opportunity to step
forward as an arbiter, to command both parties to lay aside their
arms and await his award. As we shall see, for nearly three years
Gregory maintained this doubtful policy, holding the language of
peace, but claiming the right, which could not but be inadmissible,
to dictate the terms. From Mayence Rudolph went to Ulm, in
the centre of his former Duchy of Suabia, and thence proceeded to
Augsburg, where he intended, in order the better to strengthen his
royal authority, to preside at an assembly composed of the great
ecclesiastical and lay feudatories. The positive opposition of
Emmeric, Bishop of Augsburg, and the ill-will of the inhabitants of
the city, did not permit him to realize this project ; besides, several
nobles in his suite, anxious to return home, had left him, and did
not answer to his summons. Rudolph then announced that the
proposed diet would take place at Esslingen in the middle of May,
and he then started off in the direction of the west, towards German
Switzerland and Burgundy.
It might seem that the intrusion of a rival king called into
action all the dormant forces of Henry's cause. Everywhere a large
part of the clergy even in Rudolph's Duchy of Suabia refused to
break their oath of fealty to Henry, and it became evident that
10
146 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Rudolph would have to conquer by force of arms half of his new
kingdom. While besieging the fortress of Sigmaringen news was
brought to Rudolph that Henry, having crossed the Alps, was
advancing towards him with an army, and had already reached the
confines of Suabia, leaving his son Conrad and the government of
Italy to the Bishops of Milan and Piacenza.
On arriving at Ratisbon on May i, Henry was at once
received with ardour by his partisans. The fierce Bohemian, half-
pagan allies, led by their duke, Wratislas, also joined the standard
of Henry, and Berthold estimates his army at 1 2,000 men.
Rudolph, outnumbered, was obliged to withdraw into Saxony to
raise more troops, leaving the Dukes Welf and Berthold to defend
the Duchy of Suabia, so that Henry was able to proceed to Ulm,
the capital of Suabia, where he pronounced sentence against Rudolph,
Welf and Berthold. The three confederates were declared traitors,
and as such despoiled of all their fiefs and dignities, and condemned
to death. The King's unforeseen return had disconcerted his
enemies, and in Bavaria, Suabia and Franconia, and in nearly the
whole of the valley of the Rhine, only a few of the great nobles,
fortified in their strong castles, dared still resist ; the people sub-
mitted, and gave up Rudolph's cause as irrevocably lost. In the
course of June, Henry removed to Nuremberg, where he announced
his intention of leading a large army into Saxony.
But Rudolph had resolved to take the initiative, instead of
waiting to be attacked in Saxony, and at the Diet of Moersburg he
persuaded the Saxons to advance on the enemy, and to spare their
own country the terrors of invasion. Accordingly he set to work to
besiege Wurzburg, and to reinstate the Bishop of Wiirzburg, whom
Henry had expelled ; but the city defended itself bravely, and
Rudolph's rams and battering machines did not succeed in effecting
a breach in its walls.
Fearing the concentration of Rudolph's forces with those of
the Dukes Welf and Berthold, Henry had fled to Worms ; but
changing his plans, and recrossing the Rhine, he now placed his troops
along the banks of the Neckar. The formation of the land, the
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 147
absence of any ford across the river, and the strong entrenchments
he had caused to be thrown up, enabled Henry to wait in perfect
safety for reinforcements from Bavaria and Bohemia. Rudolph
attempted by various ruses to draw the King from his strong
position, but in vain.
While Henry was at Ulm, Gregory dispatched from Carpineto
two letters, both dated May 31, which are among the most curious
documents of the eleventh century and of the whole period of the
Middle Ages. The first letter is addressed to the two Bernards —
the Cardinal-Deacon Bernard, and his namesake, the Abbot Bernard
of Marseilles ; the second is to the archbishops, bishops, princes,
clergy and laity in the kingdom of Germany.
In the first letter the two Bernards are addressed as carissimi in
Christo Jiliiy which is a proof that they had not acted counter to
the Pope's policy by favouring the election of Forchheim. If
they had not been passive at Forchheim, it would have been
impossible for the Pope to entrust them with their delicate and
difficult mission without seriously oflFending King Henry and his
partisans.
In both letters no preference is shown for either party, and
Gregory even impartially speaks of the "two kings." In the letter
to the Germans, Gregory writes that both kings had asked his aid,
but he will only help him who is " most strongly recommended by
justice for the government of the State." Wherever the final
Council, or Diet of the Empire, was to meet and adjudicate on the
conflicting claims of the two kings, there the Pope was to be present,
to preside in person or by his legates. Total submission to the award
of the Roman See was required from both ; and as a preliminary an
escort was to be provided for him by both kings in concert. It is
next assumed that opposition from either party was a sign that that
party was not favoured hy justitia. Gregory might perhaps assert
that the one who offered the escort deserved praise^ and the one
who refused the escort blame ; but to state that the providing or
refusing of this escort had any relation to the claims of the two
rivals to the throne is, in the highest degree, absurd. It is
148 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
surprising, also, to see that Gregory expected the two bitter enemies
to work harmoniously together to provide the escort !
In the event of either king resisting his commands, Gregory
instructs his legates to " resist him in every way and by every
means, if necessary, till death." " Refuse to him the government
of the kingdom, do not allow him or his partisans to receive the
Body and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, or to enter a holy
church."
To the Germans he writes : " Each of the two kings seeks
our support, or rather the support of this Apostolic See, which
We occupy notwithstanding our unworthiness ; and We, confiding
in the mercy of the All-powerful God, and in the assistance of
blessed Peter, are disposed, with the advice of all of you who fear
God and love the Christian faith, to scrutinize with care the just
claims of each side, and to favour that one whom justice clearly
shows is called to the government of the kingdom.
" If one of the two kings, puffed up with pride, should, by
some artifice, put an obstacle in the way of our journey, and being
aware of the injustice of his cause, should shrink from the judgment
of the Holy Spirit, rendering himself thereby guilty of disobedience,
by resisting Holy Church, the universal mother, despise him as a
member of anti-Christ and a scourge of the Christian religion, and
respect the sentence that our legates will, in our name, pronounce
against him ; know well that God resists the proud, whilst He
grants His grace to the humble. The other, on the contrary, who
will give proofs of humility, who will incline towards the decree
of the Holy Spirit proclaimed by you — for We are persuaded that
when two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord,
they are illumined by His presence — the other. We say, has a right
to your devotion and your respect, in the measure pointed out by
our legates." ^
At the close of the letter to the Germans the Pope assures
them that he has not " promised any assistance, inconsistent with
^ Ad Germamsy IV. 24.
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 149
justice, to either of the two kings." The Pope must have foreseen
that both parties would be unwilling to submit to his arbitration ;
hence the threatening emphasis laid upon the providing of an
escort. As was natural, Gregory's utterances of May 3 1 pleased
neither side. Rudolph had expected some recognition, for he had
given himself out as a faithful servant of the Holy See ; but in
Gregory's letter Henry is equally recognized as " king." Henry's
submission, on the other hand, to the papal arbitration would have
invalidated his title. That he was the actual, undeposed and
undeposable king, while Rudolph was an usurper and rebel, was
the strength of his cause.
The outcome of Gregory's utterances of May 1077 was one
that he had not foreseen. Neither party made any show of pro-
viding an escort, and in consequence his instructions to the legates
remained a dead letter. In his address to the council of 1080,
Gregory makes no mention of these two letters, and the annalists
and Paul of Bernried are equally silent on this head.
Not many days afterwards (June 9) the Pope had expressed
his fear that his journey to Germany was impracticable. Yet he
remained for some time in Northern Italy, buoyed up by the
hope that, in spite of all obstacles, he might officiate as arbiter
in Germany. At last he gave up all hope. In the beginning
of August we find him at Florence, then in Siena, and on
September 16 he writes a letter from Rome. At the close of
September Gregory again raises the question of arbitration, and
writes to Udo, Archbishop of Treves, and his suffragans, the
Bishops of Metz, Toul and Verdun, upon the subject. He
speaks of the bitter and pitiful civil strife that had broken out
in Germany, and urges upon them to use all zeal to bring his
project to pass. He suspects that his letters, written in May, may
not have reached them, or may have not been accepted by them as
genuine, so he encloses a copy of them.
Gregory sincerely respected the Archbishop of Treves, a staunch,
straightforward prelate and a devoted adherent of Henrj' IV, but,
though he was well aware of the Archbishop's loyalty to the King,
I50 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
he was unable to refrain from speaking to him of Henry with
acrimony or with bitter irony. Yet the letter makes no definite
accusation against Henry in person, but rather against his partisans,
for whom Henry is considered responsible, Gregory urges that the
Cardinal-Bishop Gerald of Ostia was taken prisoner by Henry's
supporters in Northern Italy, and the Abbot Bernard in Germany,
but gives no dates for these outrages. Bernold, as we have seen,
has used the imprisonment of Bishop Gerald as an accusation
against Henry before the election of Rudolph ; but as Gregory
mentions it in his earlier letters, it would appear that the Bishop
was captured after the Forchheim election. Bishop Dionysius of
Piacenza, an old opponent of the Pope, was responsible for this
outrage. We do not know when Gerald regained his freedom,
but he is mentioned later ^ as having been active in France. The
Abbot Bernard was made prisoner by Udalrich, Count of Lenzburg,
on his return journey to Rome, stripped of all his possessions, and
imprisoned in a dungeon. Henry IV after his return to Germany
refused to take measures to release him, and it was only owing to
the intervention of Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, that he attained his
freedom.
The letter to the four bishops, like Gregory's letters of May,
had no political result. That the Pope should have had inter-
course with Udo of Treves, whose convictions were so well known,
may have oflFended Rudolph's party, but did not conciliate
Henry's.^
Henry, after having received from Bavaria and Bohemia the
reinforcements which he expected, at length quitted his entrench-
ments and started in the direction of Augsburg. On his way he
ravaged the country through which he was passing ; everything
was put to fire and sword on his passage.
The winter was spent by the King in Bavaria, reducing some of
1 R. VII. I 8 (from the year 1080).
2 The poet Donizo, out of hatred to Henry, invented the story that, after
(jregory returned to Rome in September 1077, he again excommunicated King
Henry in Rome, and released his subjects from their allegiance.
THE INTRUSION OF RUDOLPH OF SUABIA 151
the Bavarian nobles to subjection who had obstinately refused to
recognize his authority.
Certain Rudolphian writers are responsible for the story that
at this juncture, when Henry was at Goslar, the papal legate,
the Cardinal-Deacon Bernard, who had made common cause with
the confederates, ventured to renew the excommunication, and
at the same time confirmed the election of Rudolph. Later
historians, such as Giesebrecht, repeat this anecdote, and say that
Bernard's action was neither avowed nor disclaimed by the Pope,
and the interdict, therefore, had no great effect.
But is the story of Bernard's excommunication founded on
fact ? We shall be obliged to admit that it is not, and that no
recognition of Rudolph, in the name of the Pope, took place at
Goslar. No mention of such an act is found in Gregory's correspond-
ence. Indeed, in his letter to Udo of Treves, September 30 (which
could not have reached the Archbishop until the end of October),
Gregory had reiterated his wish to arbitrate, which such an act as
Bernard's would have rendered impossible by forestalling the decision.
Gregory's speech at the council of 1080 contains no reference
to an excommunication by his legate ; while Bonitho and Gregory's
biographer, Paul of Bernried, who describes the Forchheim election
in such detail, are silent upon this head. The Henrician writers,
also, would not have failed to accuse the Pope most bitterly had
Rudolph's election been confirmed at Goslar.^ But a conclusive
^ The authorities for the anecdote are three Rudolphian writers, Berthold,
Bernold and Bruno.
Berthold prefaces his story with an anecdote of the complaints of Rudolph to
the Pope against Henry for having set at nought a colloquium arranged between
himself and his opponent. The Cardinal, thinking the Pope's strictures upon
Henry insufficient, excommunicated the King at Goslar, and confirms Rudolph's
election auctor'iiate apostolica.
Bernold gives the refusal of Henry to provide the escort as the reason for the
excommunication, and says that two legates were present at Goslar, where Henry
was excommunicated the day after St. Martin's Day, and Rudolph's election was
recognized as a reward for his obedience.
Bruno mentions this excommunication of Henry by the papal legate, but gives
no details, and does not mention the scene.
152 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
proof that no excommunication by the Cardinal-Deacon Bernard had
taken place is furnished by a letter of his colleague, Abbot Bernard,^
to Udo of Treves and his suffragans, in which he urges them to
action, and complains that nothing has hitherto been done to carry
out the Pope's instructions, and recommends Udo to try his influ-
ence upon the two rival kings. It is impossible that Abbot Bernard
should have written such a letter towards the end of October if
shortly afterwards his colleague was to declare definitely in favour
of one of the rivals, and it is noteworthy that the Abbot refers to
Rudolph as the amulus Henrici^ and not as the recognized king.
In conclusion, the Abbot begs Udo to arrange a conference to decide
their claims.
No such conference was, however, called, and the question was
brought by Gregory before the next synod at Rome (February 27 —
March 3, 1078).
Shortly before Gregory had returned to Rome, in September,
Cenci, the prefect of Rome, a devoted adherent of the Pope, was
assassinated by his namesake, Stephen Cenci. The murdered
prefect had wished to end his days in a monastery, but the Pope
persuaded him that he could do better service to the Church as a
layman. The Romans, exasperated by the death of the prefect,
who was much beloved in the city, succeeded in capturing his
murderer, who had fled to a castle near Rome, and cut off his head
and hands, and hung them up, after burying the body, in the very
portico of St. Peter's. The murdered prefect was buried in the great
basilica, and Stephen Cenci's accomplices were either killed or driven
into exile.
The Empress Agnes — who, after Henry's excommunication, had
lived in Rome as a recluse, devoting herself to almsgiving and good
works — died at the end of January 1078. During her last illness
she was ministered to by the Pope, who, after her obsequies, caused
her remains to be buried in the church of St. Petronilla.
^ Sudendorf's Registrum, B. I., No. 10, p. 17 ft".
CHAPTER VIII
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY, FEBRUARY 27, IO78 MARCH 7, IO80
Roman Synod — Henry IV's ambassadors — Legislative arrangements — The Pope
invites the two icings to a diet in Germany for the settlement of their claims —
The condemnations pronounced by the legate in France modified — Sentences
of excommunication passed by the synod — Battle of Melrichstadt — Beneventum
and the Normans — Death of Richard, Prince of Capua — Revolt of the Norman
barons against Robert Guiscard — Roman Synod of November 19, 1078 — Canons
of the Roman Synod — Fresh prohibition of lay investiture — The heresy of
Berengarius — The Pope writes in favour of Berengarius— The February synod,
1079 — Oath taken by the ambassadors of the two kings — Gregory sends legates
into Germany — Preliminary Diet of Fritzlar— Diet of Wurzburg — The legates
return to Rome — Letter from Gregory to the faithful in Germany on the
mission of his legates — Battle of Harchheim.
At the opening of the Synod ^ held in the first week of Lent
(February 27 — March 3, 1078), Henry's ambassadors, whom he
had sent to represent him — Bruno, Bishop of Osnaburg, and
Theodoric, Bishop of Verdun — demanded that the Pope should
declare in his favour.
This Synod marks a change in Gregory's attitude ; he had
now definitely relinquished all idea of appearing in person in
Germany as arbiter between the two kings, and entrusted the
solution of the question to his legates.
The important results of the deliberation of the Synod were
the following : Papal legates were to be sent to Germany, who
were to call an assembly of clergy and laity, and either to reconcile
the two parties or to give judgment between them. The intention
^ According to the Regisirum, about one hundred bishops were present ; according
to Berthold, about seventy.
153
154 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
of this mission was an excellent one, but, under the circumstances,
no peace or reconciliation was possible, unless either the King or
the anti-King would abdicate of his own free-will. Lastly, as it was
well known that the papal intervention was not looked upon with
favour in Germany, Gregory anathematized all who should impede
the assembling of a general diet to judge between the two kings,
" whether king, archbishop, duke, marquis, or of whatsoever station
or dignity." The Pope and the members of the Synod held lighted
candles whilst the voice of the Pope uttered his dreadful impre-
cations, immediately after which the blazing candles were reversed,
and extinguished on the ground, as a sign of the fate threatening
those who should cause disturbance.
The following are Gregory's words : " Since this quarrel, and
the troubles of the realm, cause, and have caused, incalculable evils
to Holy Church, We judge it right to dispatch to that country
legates from the Apostolic See, who shall be as well known for their
religious spirit as for their learning, and who shall convoke such
clergy and laymen of the kingdom of Germany as are truly devout
and desire the triumph of justice. By the help of God the legates
will, in union with these latter, re-establish peace and concord, or,
at least, when the truth shall appear, they will favour, by all the
means in their power, that side which rests on justice, in order that
the other may yield, and that justice and law may regain their
ancient vigour. There are, however, certain persons, instigated by
the devil, who wish tyranny to be enforced, or else, led away by
shameful avarice, prefer discord to peace, and express their desire
for the continuance of strife. Knowing this. We have ordained as
follows : That no one, whatever rank he may hold, whether King,
Archbishop, Bishop, Duke, Count, Marquess or Knight, shall
venture, through presumption or audacious boldness, to make use
of fraud, or otherwise excite disturbance, in the way of the execu-
tion of that mission with which the legates are charged. Any one
having the temerity to violate this decree, and deceitfully to oppose
Our legates who are engaged on this errand of pacification, is,
by Us, laid under the ban of anathema, not only spiritually but
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 155
also corporally. In virtue of Our apostolic power We deprive
him of all prosperity in this life, and of all success in battle,
in order that he may be humbled and brought to a twofold
repentance."
It will be noticed that the decision of the Synod of 1078 is
diametrically opposed to Gregory's instructions to his legates in
May 1077. The May instructions threatened to excommunicate
the king who denied an escort to the Pope, whereas there is no
mention of an escort in the Lent Synod. In the May instructions,
the king who refused the escort was to be deposed on that very
insufficient ground ; while in the Lent Synod, if the reconcilia-
tion failed, the question of the claims of the kings was to be
investigated. Finally, all, of whatever degree, who impede
the diet are anathematized at the Lent Synod, while the May
instructions level the threat of the ban only against the two kings
if disobedient.
Bernold and Berthold have introduced some fictitious state-
ments in their accounts of the Lent Synod, to bring them
into line with their narrative of Henry's excommunication at
Goslar. The former states that Henry had complained to the
Pope before this Synod of the injustice of his condemnation.
Berthold, on the contrary, first asserts that at the time of the
Synod the Pope had not yet received certain information as to the
action of his legate in November ; and later, when narrating the
events of the year 1079, suggests that the Pope knew of the ex-
communication at Goslar a year before, but hypocritically concealed
his knowledge.
The attention of the Synod was also absorbed by various
ecclesiastical questions. The sentences promulgated by the legate,
Hugh of Die, against some of the highest dignitaries of the
Church of France were examined, and in almost every case revised
in favour of the accused. Archbishop Manasses of Rheims was
reinstated in his office ; so were Hugh, Archbishop of Besan^on ;
Riches, Archbishop of Sens ; Geofirey, Bishop of Chartres ; and
Richard, Archbishop of Bourges, who had left his diocese, had his
156 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Crozier and Ring restored. Raoul, Archbishop of Tours, was rein-
stated in his sacerdotal and episcopal dignities, since the accusations
brought against him, even by bishops, had fallen to the ground.
Gregory, at the same synod, anathematized the Archbishops of
Ravenna and Milan, the Bishops of Cremona and Treviso, and
Cardinal Hugh Candidus.
With the object of emphasizing the excommunication which
had been decreed several years previously against the Normans,
Gregory forbade the clergy, under severe penalties, to celebrate the
Eucharist before them. The synod went on to lay down regula-
tions of general interest ; one of these concerning shipwrecks gives
evidence to the continual part taken by the Papacy in the cause of
humanity and civilization ; the same consideration is shown in
regulating the dealings with the excommunicated, who, except for
this case, would, in many cases, have been condemned to a life
of inextricable difficulties and perplexities. The extraordinary
number of excommunications in Gregory's pontificate rendered
necessary some consideration for the masses of innocent people
inevitably involved.
The decree of the synod is as follows —
"Tedaldo, nominal Archbishop of Milan, and Guibert, nominal
Archbishop of Ravenna, having risen up against the Holy Catholic
Church by uttering heresies with unheard-of pride, We interdict
them from all sacerdotal or episcopal functions, and renew the
anathema already pronounced against them. We forbid, likewise,
Arnulfo of Cremona to exercise any episcopal functions whatsoever,
for, in Our presence, he was convicted of simony, and compelled to
acknowledge his guilt ; he must never hope to be reinstated, and
We lay him under anathema until he shall have made complete
satisfaction. Roland of Treviso, in order to be promoted to the
episcopal dignity, accepted the part of a mock legate, and was not
ashamed to create a schism between the secular and the spiritual
authorities ; therefore, in virtue of the apostolic censure, he shall
for ever be deprived of the episcopal office. We forbid, in the most
express terms, that any of Our successors shall consent, at any future
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY
157
time, to his consecration, and We pronounce him to be under an
eternal anathema, if he do not show proofs of repentance, as well
as offer entire satisfaction to God.
'* Hugh, Cardinal of the title of St. Clement, has been, three
times already, condemned by the Apostolic See. In the first
instance, he was the mover and accomplice of the heretic, Cadalus,
Bishop of Parma ; then, after being again appointed legate of the
Apostolic See, he entered into relations with heretics and men
guilty of simony, who had been condemned by the Apostolic See ;
thirdly and lastly, having become an apostate and a heretic, he has
endeavoured to bring schisms, divisions and rents into the Church
of God. We interdict him, also, from all sacerdotal functions,
likewise from entering the afore-named church, or any other. We
lay him under a perpetual and irrevocable sentence of condemna-
tion, and strike him with anathema, until he shall have satisfied
fully for all his offences."
With regard to the entourage of excommunicated persons the
sentences are somewhat softened —
"Day after day, in consequence of Our sins, We perceive that
these excommunications are the cause of loss to many souls, either
through ignorance or too great simplicity ; either from motives of
fear, or from yielding to necessity ; therefore, in obedience to the
suggestions of mercy. We have determined to mitigate and to soften,
temporarily, so far as We can, those sentences of anathema.
" Thus, in virtue of Our apostolic authority. We take off this
sentence from such wives, children, servants, slaves, tenants and
domestics, in fact from all members of a household as are incapable
of influencing others for evil ; the same applies to all who have
dealings with the excommunicate unknowingly. Should any
pilgrim or traveller, in a country lying under interdict, desire to
pray in some sanctuary, or to be able to purchase or ask for
necessaries. We permit him to receive them from the hands of the
excommunicate. Finally, We in no manner condemn those who
bestow gifts on excommunicated persons solely from motives of
humanity, not to uphold their pride."
158 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
In recent times it has been discovered that simoniacs, as such,
were excommunicated at this Synod/ and in the Synod of November
of this year. Not many days after the Synod Gregory writes to
the German people, and informs them briefly of the decision of the
Synod, and instructs the bearer of the letter to come to an under-
standing with " our venerable brother the Archbishop of Treves,
who is one of Henry's partisans," and also with some other bishop
belonging to Rudolph's party, who shall together appoint the place
and date of the forthcoming assembly,^ so that " Our legates may
reach your country with greater safety." On the same day he
addresses a letter to Udo of Treves himself, in whose wisdom he
places great confidence. He expresses a wish that his legates
should not cross the Alps without an escort ; but who will provide
one .'' He hopes that both parties will take part in arranging the
matter ; therefore he suggests Udo should treat with a " bishop
of Rudolph's party." It is curious that the Pope is not able to
mention any bishop by name who would be helpful in the
negotiations ; and the fact that Gebhard of Salzburg and Altmann
of Passau are not brought forward is probably an indication that
they did not belong to the Rudolphian party proper.
In the letter to the Germans, Udo and the " Rudolphian "
bishop are desired to fix the place and time for the diet, so that the
legates may travel to Germany " with greater certainty and safety " ;
whereas in the letter to the Archbishop of Treves, Udo and the
" Rudolphian " bishop are to travel to Rome to escort the legates.
In the event that no Rudolphian bishop is able or willing to under-
take this journey, Udo alone is to come to Rome, and undertake
the responsibility of conducting the legates in safety. The preference
given to the Henrician party by such a selection suggests the
^ Sdralek gives the following text in his Wolfenbiitteler Fragmente, p. 149. All
simoniacs are to be excommunicated, qui in erroris sui secta tndurat'i synodalibus
sanctorum patrum definitionibus — scienter inobedientes apostatarumque pertinacia els recalci-
trantes studio et voluntate refragantur. At the same synod, the haretici Nicolaitae, or
priests who do not observe celibacy, are also excommunicated.
2 March 9, 1078.
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 159
reflection that the Pope could not entirely trust the Rudolphian.
We do not know what Udo answered to this appeal, but the fact
remains that he did not go to Rome. Gregory thus found himself
in a very difficult position, and it is not surprising, in this period of
doubt and uncertainty, that he wrote to Hugh, Abbot of Cluny :
" This life is a weariness to us, and death desirable."
On July I, without mentioning the proposals he had made to
the Archbishop of Treves, and indeed without even mentioning
him, Gregory breaks into loud complaints that nothing has been
effected — in other words, that no legates have been sent, owing to
the lack of an escort. The responsibility of this is ascribed in
general terms to " enemies of God " and " sons of the devil," and
Gregory assures the Germans that he will not " knowingly favour
the unjust cause."
Only a month after this letter was written Henry's and
Rudolph's forces met in the undecided battle of Melrichstadt, on
the banks of the little river Streu. Upon Rudolph's side, the
Bishops of Magdeburg and of Moersburg, Siegfried, Archbishop
of Mayence, and the Bishop of Worms, according to Bruno, gave
the signal for flight — " Their place was not there," says the
annalist ironically, " they had learnt to chant the psalms, but by
no means to hold their ground in a raging battle " — while the
Saxons in another part of the field, under Otto of Nordheim, and
the Saxon Count Frederick, repulsed the attack of the King's forces.
Both sides claimed the victory, as, later, at Harchheim.
After the battle, Henry turned his attention to a partisan of
Rudolph's, Hugo of Tubingen, and besieged his castle. The
Archbishop of Treves, who took part in this expedition, was
mortally wounded, and died in the following November — an
irreparable loss for the King and for the kingdom of Germany.
While Germany was torn in two by war, Italy also suffered in
a less degree.
Beneventum, which, from 105 1, had belonged to the Pope,
now began to suffer from the aggressions of the all-conquering
Robert Guiscard. Landulf VI, the last descendant of the Dukes
i6o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
of Lombardy, once lords and masters of the town and duchy, was
only a vassal of the Pope, and upon his death at the close of 1077
he was succeeded by a governor directly appointed by the Holy
See. Almost immediately Robert Guiscard resolved to take away
this possession from the Papacy, and to substitute the rule of the
Normans for that of the Lombards. As early as January 1078 he
was before Beneventum, but the town resisted, and refused to open
its gates to the invader. Robert Guiscard then ravaged the
environs, and caused a line of fortresses to be constructed enclosing
Beneventum in an impassable barrier. Hence the fresh excom-
munication of the Normans pronounced in the Lent Synod of 1078
when they were besieging Beneventum : " We excommunicate all
the Normans who are invading the dominions of St. Peter, namely,
the Marches of Fermo and the Duchy of Spoleto ; those also who
are besieging Beneventum, or are endeavouring to invade and pillage
the Campagna, the Maritime Province and Sabinum, as well as
those who are trying to disturb the city of Rome."
The censures of the Church had no effect upon Robert Guiscard,
who continued to besiege Beneventum. During the same year
Robert attacked Gisulfo of Salerno, his brother-in-law, and a firm
ally of the Pope, and drove him from his principality. Gisulfo,
dispossessed ^ of his dominions, came to Rome, where he was
kindly received by the Pope.
During the siege of Beneventum, Richard, Prince of Capua,
persisted in continuing the siege of Naples, which he had begun in
May 1077. In spite of the reinforcements which Robert Guiscard
sent to him, both in troops and in ships, he had not been able to
force an entrance Into the bravely-defended town before he fell ill
and had to raise the siege. He died at Capua on April 5, 1078.
Before his death he made his peace with the Church, restoring the
land he had taken in the Campagna. It was on this condition that
the Bishop of Aversa consented to give him absolution.
^ Though Gregory refers to him later as pr'inceps he no longer had any power.
It was only as a private personage that Gisulfo accompanied the Pope to Salerno
in 1084.
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY i6i
Richard, Count of Aversa from 1050, and Prince of Capua
from 1062, though not so renowned in history as Robert Guiscard,
or as the greater Roger of Sicily, played a not unimportant part in
the affairs of Southern Italy. The founder of the Norman princi-
pahty of Capua, he had often, during the pontificates of Nicholas II
and Alexander II, rendered signal service to the Holy See. Aime,
Leo de Marsi and Peter the Deacon cannot forget his great
liberality to their monastery whenever they mention him.
Romuald of Salerno more impartially sums up his character thus :
" Richard was both wary and liberal ; good and kind to those who
were faithful to him, but inexorable towards any who rebelled
against his authority, or played him false."
The last days of Richard's life were saddened by his son
Jordan, who again rebelled against him, and had persuaded his
uncle, Roger of Sicily, to take his part. When the Normans were
excommunicated on March 3, 1078, Jordan and Roger submitted
to the Holy See, and deserted Robert Guiscard and Prince Richard.
They both went to Rome, where, as Aime says, ils furent absolut de
la excommunication et firent ligue de fidelite avec lo pape. A passage
in the Chronicles of Monte Cassino shows that Jordan was far from
being disinterested in making his submission ; indeed, they assert
that the people of Beneventum gave him four thousand five
hundred besants to deliver them from Robert Guiscard. Two
unexpected circumstances enabled Jordan to be of service to Bene-
ventum. His father's death at this time p^ave him the command
. . . ^ .
of all the resources of the principality, both in men and money ;
and besides this, the Norman barons, who had long been watching
for an opportunity to take up arms against their Duke, Robert,
thought they had found it in the death of his ally, and in the new
line of policy adopted by Prince Richard's son. Insurrections
broke out simultaneously in Apuleia and Calabria. Robert, taken
unawares, had his hands full with his rebellious subjects. Jordan
consequently managed to destroy the outworks and set Beneventum
free. The Duke had no leisure to attend to this slight reverse ;
for the next two years, 107 8- 1080, all his forces were required to
II
1 62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY Vll
quell the insurrections in which many of his own relations among
the Norman barons took part, including his nephew, Abagilard,
besides Jordan and his uncle, Rannulfus. The revolt, however,
delayed the conqueror in his march towards Central Italy, and gave
some respite to the Pope.
During the autumn of 1078 Gregory was absent from Rome
for several months. On August 22 we find him at San
Germano, at the foot of Monte Cassino ; on October 8 at
Acquapendente, north of Rome, near Sovana, his native place,
and on October 22 at Sutri ; but the details of journeys are
unrecorded.
On November 1 9 the Pope held a Synod ^ at the Lateran, with
the object, if possible, of putting an end to the civil strife in
Germany. Henry's court, we learn, allowed the German bishops
who were invited, a safe-conduct to and from Rome. At the
Synod, ambassadors were sent by Henry and Rudolph to declare
that their sovereigns had not in any way interfered to prevent the
meeting of the papal legates in Germany. The ambassadors were
doubtless ready to take this oath ; for the King and the anti-King
were not responsible for the failure of Udo of Treves in arranging
for an assembly in March. Finally, those who prevented the
meeting of the legates were again excommunicated. Bonitho had
stated that the Lent Synod of this year had ordered both sides to
lay down their arms ; but from a letter of Gregory's after the
November Synod,^ we see the war is ordered to cease when the
legates had arrived in Germany and had fixed a day for the
colloquium.
The November Synod not only deliberated de causa regis, ior many
canons were promulgated, but we have only to compare the canons
themselves with the summary to see that only part of this legislation
has been handed down to us. No part, it may be said, of Chris-
tendom was so remote or so barbarous as to escape Gregory's
^ At this synod decrees were passed against simoniacs for the last time in
Oregory VII's pontificate.
2 Ep. 25.
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 163
vigilant determination to oversee and govern it ; the social
revolution in Constantinople attracted his attention, as well as the
political situation in Germany ; and the Emperor of Constantinople
— the usurper Nicephorus Botoniatis,who had dethroned Michael VII
in 1078 — was excommunicated. The prohibition of lay investiture
was repeated, and many minor matters of ecclesiastical discipline were
settled. The Archbishop Guibert of Ravenna was also finally
deposed by the synod sine spe recuperationis}
With regard to lay investiture, it was decreed that " no cleric
should receive the investiture of a bishopric, abbey or church from
the hands of an emperor or king, or any other lay person, man or
woman." The lay investiture is declared null and void, and the
cleric who receives it is excommunicated. Pflugk-Harttung has
in recent times discovered a reference to the decree of the
November Synod, in which not the cleric only who receives
investiture, but the lay investitores^ are excommunicated.^
November once more brings before us Berengarius of Tours.
It was with great unwillingness that Gregory had seen Berengarius
condemned in 1059 in council, by the instrumentality of Cardinal
Humbert, and forced to recant ; and he had no wish, as Pope, to
have the question of Berengarius's heresies raised again. The
Pope's purely practical mind was little concerned with theological
subtilties, and, as he liked and admired Berengarius, he had
written to him urging him to keep silence upon his theory, and
not to discuss it further. Berengarius, however, was not to be
restrained, and he was summoned to appear before a Synod held
in France. He refused to appear, and appealed to Rome, and in
the autumn of 1078 the preliminary discussion took place. We
know from Berengarius himself that he spent most of the year
1078 near the Pope in Rome. At a meeting of bishops on
^ He had been suspended February 1078.
- Quicunque ecclesiam majorem vel minorem aut qualemcunque eccles'iarum digniiatem
de manu quorumcunque laicorum susceperit, nee inter ordinatos habeatur nee audlent'ia ei
coneedatur et donee relinquat, quod male aecepit, anathemate ferlatur. Investitores vera
pari sententia supponantur (quoted in Iter Italicum, p. 200).
1 64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
November i, the formula of Berengarius was caused to be read
aloud by the Pope before them all, but while Gregory declared
himself satisfied with it, and said " it was all that was required in
point of faith," many of the bishops present were dissatisfied, and
Berengarius was obliged to await the decision of the Synod to be
held in the following Lent (1079). Gregory's submission to the
party who sternly opposed Berengarius is a sign of a certain
irresolution and lack of resource which is also shown in his policy
with regard to the situation in Germany, 1077-1080. We may
assume that he could not refute Berengarius, and did not wish to
condemn him, yet was unwilling to break with Berengarius's
enemies. The question of Berengarius's heresy was not raised at
the November Synod, but was brought before that of February
1079. In the Registrum of Gregory we have the following
account of the proceedings of the Synod, in which Gregory appears
to have been passive —
" All being assembled in the Church of the Holy Saviour, a
question was raised concerning the Body and Blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ, many being of the same opinion, but some holding
different views. A very great majority affirmed that, in virtue of
the words of the holy prayer, in virtue of the consecration by the
Priest, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, working in an invisible
manner, the bread and wine were changed substantially into the
Body of the Lord, that same Body which was born of a Virgin,
and hung upon the Cross, and that Blood which the lance of the
soldier had shed from His opened Side, and they supported this
opinion by many quotations from the orthodox Fathers, both
Greek and Latin. But there were some present who, for a long
time, had been struck with blindness, and these maintained that
this was only a figure, and, deluding themselves as well as others,
they pretended to demonstrate this by the help of certain sophisms.
The discussion being opened, the minority was only able to con-
tinue its struggle against the Truth so far as the third day of the
Synod. The Fire of the Holy Spirit, burning up all that straw,
and eclipsing all the false lights, which, before It, faded away and
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 165
disappeared, shone with brilliant light, penetrating all the shadowy-
depths of night. Berengarius, the author of this error, confessed
before all the assembled Council that he had erred for many years
in expressing an opinion of such impiety. He asked pardon, and
his petition gained for him the clemency of His Holiness." ^
We learn from Berengarius that the mouthpiece of the majority
was a monk of Monte Cassino named Alberic, and he it was who
proposed to introduce the word substantialiter into the formula
proposed to Berengarius. In a later pamphlet Berengarius cannot
find words dark enough to describe Alberic. " He is no monk,"
he writes, " but a real devil, an impudent liar, and anti-Christ in
person." Berengarius, who, notwithstanding his indignation, had
no taste for martyrdom, was obliged to sign the following profes-
sion of faith, which is much more precise and complete than the
form he had already signed under Pope Nicholas II in 1059 —
" I, Berengarius, believe with my heart, and profess with my
mouth, that the bread and wine placed on the Altar are changed,
substantially, by the mystery of the holy prayer and the words of
our Redeemer, into the very true, life-giving Flesh and Blood of
our Saviour Jesus Christ ; and that, after the consecration. It is the
very Body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin, which was
sacrificed for the salvation of the world, hung on the Cross, and is
now seated at the Right Hand of the Father ; and the very Blood
which flowed from His Side : and this, not only in figure and by
the virtue of the Sacrament, but actually the same in nature and
in truth of substance as is stated in this writing, which I have read,
and which you have heard.
" So help me God and His holy Gospels."
Immediately following this profession of faith we read in the
official report in the Registrum —
" By the authority of Almighty God and the holy Apostles
Peter and Paul, His Holiness the Pope forbids Berengarius, for
the future, to engage with any person in discussions concerning the
^ Registr. VI. 17 a, p. 352 sq. ; Mon. Greg., JafFe.
i66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY ¥11
Body and Blood of the Lord, or to instruct any one on this point :
the only exception being in case of those who have been withdrawn
from the Faith of the Church by the doctrines of Berengarius."
In the account of the Registrum, Berengarius submits of his
own free-will to the decision of the majority, while in Berengarius's
own narrative of the transaction the introduction of the new
formula was due to Gregory's own initiative, and was forced upon
the surprised Berengarius. There is no doubt that Berengarius's
account is the correct one, and that Gregory, weary of theological
discussion, put a term to it in favour of the burning question of
the struggle in Germany with which the synod had also to deal.
Two letters from Gregory bearing upon Berengarius (Ep. 24
and 36) are not included in the Regis trum^ probably because they
appeared to treat the heresiarch with too great clemency. Gregory
seems to have seized an opportunity after the Synod to protect
Berengarius from unjust or too rigorous treatment. Ep. 24,
written immediately or soon after the February synod of 1079,
anathematizes those who call Berengarius, the " son of the Roman
Church," a heretic, or who molest him in any way. From the
letter it appears that Berengarius lived with the Pope at the Lateran
for some time. One writer, indeed, describes him as convictor papce^
and Berengarius himself asserts that he " lived a year with the
Pope."
The object of the second letter (Ep. 36), addressed to the
Archbishop of Tours and another (unnamed) French bishop, is
also to protect Berengarius, who is introduced as a " dearest son."
Berengarius had been molested by a Count Jules, and it was
Gregory's earnest desire that the two bishops should intervene in
his favour. Thus the "heretic" is dismissed uncondemned, even
with honour, and though censured by former Popes, enjoyed the
special protection of Gregory. He is allowed to die in peace, in
full possession of his ecclesiastical dignities.
Gregory, by his protection of Berengarius, laid himself open to
the bitter taunts which he must well have known that his enemies
would seize every opportunity to heap upon him. He had to
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 167
bear from Egilbert, Archbishop of Treves, the reproach that he (the
Pope) doubted the real presence of the Body and Blood of Christ
in the Sacrament, and that he was an infidel. The Synod of Brixen
accused him of doubting the " catholic and apostolic doctrine of
the Body and Blood of our Lord," and of being infected with
Berengarius's heresy, while Beno tells a story that Gregory ordered
the cardinals to fast in order that God should show by a sign who
was in possession of the true doctrine of the Body of our Lord,
the Church of Rome or Berengarius ; and that two cardinals and a
cleric fasted and prayed for three days, waiting for a sign from
Heaven, which, however, was not vouchsafed.
The same Synod which arraigned Berengarius busied itself
with the political condition of Germany. The decree de causa regis^
promulgated anew by the November Synod of 1078, remained as
ineffective as when it was issued in its first form at the earlier
Lent Synod. The Rudolphian party especially, were dissatisfied,
for they had expected the Pope to declare himself unconditionally
upon their side, and Welf, Duke of Bavaria, must have expressed
his discontent very strongly, for the Pope was obliged to write him
a special letter, in which he urged him not to " murmur against "
the policy of the Holy See. The exhortations of Gregory did not,
however, prevent Duke Welf from going to war shortly before
the Lent of 1079, ^^^^ from ravaging the lands of the Grisons of
Rhoetia, which had up to that time taken the part of Henry IV.
Henry IV, meantime, had agreed to allow the Pope's inter-
vention, in the hope that Gregory's verdict would be favourable to
him. This we gather from a declaration of the King's in January,
in which he states that he is willing to send representatives to the
forthcoming Synod, who will give fuller information ; and he con-
fidently expects the condemnation of his rival, Rudolph. Rudolph's
representatives were also present at the Synod, and brought serious and
no doubt exaggerated accusations against Henry IV ; no man's life,
they declared, was safe ; he had ravaged and laid waste the whole
trans-Alpine district ; he had captured and killed many clerics. They
therefore urged the Pope to " unsheath the apostolic sword"; but
1 68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the Pope delayed, owing to his clemency. There were two sessions
de causa regis at the Synod, which took place February ii, 1079,
and an agreement was sworn to by the representatives of the two
kings.
Oath taken by the ambassador of King Henry IV — " The deputies
of the King, my master, will come to You before the Feast of the
Ascension, unless prevented by some legitimate cause of absence,
death or grave sickness, or captivity, real and unfeigned ; and
they will conduct, and bring back in all safety, the legates of the
Holy Roman See. His Majesty the King will obey the said
legates in all things, conformably to justice and their decisions.
Herein they will observe good faith, and such reserves only as may
be ordained by You. I swear this by order of my master. King
Henry."
Oath taken by the ambassaaor of King Rudolph — " If a conference
takes place according to Your commands, in the country of Germany,
our master King Rudolph will present himself in person before You,
or Your legates, in such place, and at such time, as shall be appointed
by You, or else he will send his Bishops and some of the faithful ;
he will submit to Your decisions, whatever they may be, or that the
Roman Church may decide, on the subject of the Realm. He will
not hinder, by any malicious artifice, the Synod assembled by You, or
by Your legates. When he sees that Your nuncio has pointed out the
sure means for re-establishing and consolidating peace in the king-
dom, he will do what in him lies in order to arrive at peace and
the establishing of concord. All these stipulations shall be observed,
saving only such reserves as may be granted by Your dispensations,
and saving the legitimate hindrances of death, grave sickness or
captivity, real and without dissimulation."
The oath of Henry's ambassador stands first in order, and
Gfrorer is correct in saying that Henry appears as the rightful king
at the February Synod, and enjoys royal precedence. Another
important point in the oaths is that the safe-conduct of the papal
legates to and from Germany is entrusted to King Henry alone ;
while Rudolph only declares his readiness to present himself in
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 169
person before the Pope or his legates, or else to send his bishops
and some of the faithful, and to submit to the papal decisions,
whatever they be — a proof of the low state of Rudolph's fortunes.
At the same Synod a number of persons were excommunicated,
among them the already condemned Tedaldo of Milan and Roland
of Treviso. Theodoric, Duke of Lorraine, and Folmar, Count of
Metz, were also excommunicated, as well as all who, profiting by
the expulsion of the Archbishop of Mayence and of other bishops,
had seized upon the goods of those bishops.
The soldiers of Eberhard, successor of Cadalus in the Episcopal
See of Parma, having taken the Abbot of Reichenau prisoner when
on his way to the Synod to plead his cause there, were excom-
municated, and Bishop Eberhard himself was suspended from his
episcopal functions.
Finally, the Archbishop of Narbonne, Siegfried, Bishop of
Bologna, the Bishops of Fermo and Camerino, were alike ex-
communicated, and the same penalty was pronounced against all
their adherents, whether ecclesiastics or laymen.
The new Patriarch of Aquileia, Henry, formerly one of the
clergy of the Diocese of Augsburg, assisted at the Synod, and,
probably being called upon by the Pope to do so, explained the
conditions under which his elevation to the see had taken place.
His election, it is true, had been canonical ; but he was obliged to
admit having received investiture by Ring and Crozier at the hands
of a layman, that is to say, from the King of Germany. He pleaded
ignorance of the prohibition of the Holy See, and, as he further
consented to take an oath of obedience to Gregory VII and his
legitimate successors, he was not proceeded against ; the Pope re-
invested him with the Ring and the pectoral cross, and his elevation
was then considered legitimate. The terms of the oath taken
by him have come down to us in the official report of the
synod.
It is probable that the representatives of Henry at the Synod
conducted the legates, Peter, Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, and Ulrich
(Odelricus), Bishop of Padua, to Germany ; for in a letter dated
I70 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
March 3, Gregory writes that the legates had already set out on
their journey. Bonitho adds that the Patriarch of Aquileia, a
personal friend of Henry's, by Gregory's wish accompanied the
legates, and this is the more probable because Gregory writes
(R. VI. 38) in praise of the Patriarch for his kind treatment and
support of the mission.
The wording of the oaths distinctly gives the impression that
the two legates mentioned were to be entrusted with full powers in
dealing with the affairs of Germany. But two later communications
neutralize this first impression, or suggest that the Pope had changed
his mind ; the Bishops of Albano and Padua are only pioneers to
prepare the way for the assembly, to which are to be dispatched later
" fit and wise " ^ legates who are to give judgment there.
" Here are your instructions," said Gregory VII about the
middle of October. " Here is what We ask of you : You must
not allow yourselves to come to any decision on the subject of kings
or of kingdoms, nor regarding those who have been elected to fill
the Sees of Treves, Cologne and Augsburg, or who have received
investiture at the hands of laymen : apply yourselves solely and
entirely to obtaining the consent of the King to the projected Diet,
for the peace of the kingdom and the reinstallation of those Bishops
who have been expelled from their Sees. As soon as you have
achieved this, let Us know, either by coming yourselves to inform
Us, or else by sending the news by trusty messengers, so that We
may have time to send other legates, who may join with you, and
who, by the help of God, may bring this most important matter to
a satisfactory conclusion."
In the encyclical letter, dated October i, sent to the faithful of
Germany, he reiterates his instructions to the legates (Peter and
Ulrich), which were limited to fixing by common consent a time and
place for the general assembly, and reinstating the expelled bishops
in their sees. In the course of the letter he admits that, with hardly
any exceptions, "all the (Italian) laity have taken the part of Henry
1 R. VII. 3 (October i).
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 171
and approve his conduct." " But, by the help of God, We have up
to the present time kept firm against all opposition, allowing
ourselves to be guided by justice and equity, deviating, so far as W^e
know, neither to the right hand, nor to the left. ...
" If by violence or by artifice Our legates have been hindered in
their fidelity to our commands, We regret it. . . .
" Since Our legates have not yet returned. We can give you no
further instructions in the affair ; as soon as they arrive, We shall
hasten to inform you, in all sincerity, as to the report they shall
have brought. " ^
It is impossible to resist the conviction that these two letters
were written to gain time, and that this also was the object of
sending t-juo missions to Germany. In Ep. 31, Gregory wishes Peter
and Ulrich to first travel to Germany, to arrange the date and place
of the assembly, to return thence to Rome, and proceed with the
" fit and wise " legates to Germany again ! If we consider the
amount of time such a journey would require, we must admit that
months and months would have to pass before the real business
of the assembly could begin. This was the policy of delay — a
temporizing policy, for up to this time Gregory still hoped that one
of the two weary and exhausted parties might be crushed, and with
the final triumph of one cause, a new and less complicated situation
would be created. But in the attempt to maintain a judicial and
absolute neutrality between the two factions, occasional deviations
to right and left were almost unavoidable ; hence the ingratiating
letter to the discontented Duke of Bavaria, and the letter to
Matilda of Tuscany, in which he assures her he has no " hostile
feelings" towards Henry. That Gregory had no preference for
Rudolph is proved by his express statement in a letter to the Duke
himself of his neutrality : Romana gravhas et apostolica jnansuetudo
me per media?n justitice viam incedere cogit.
The temporizing policy of Gregory may be criticized as
unfortunate, and doomed to failure ; but the accusation based on a
1 R. VII. 3, p. 283.
172 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
misunderstanding of his letter to Rudolph ^ and his followers, that
he " held the sword in one hand, and the palm of peace in the
other," that he perfidiously urged Rudolph to war, while holding
the language of peace, cannot be admitted.
During this time, the political division of Germany into two
parties became more and more marked, the two Kings disputing
over the various great fiefs of the kingdom one after another.
Thus Henry IV gave the Duchy of Suabia to one of his nobles,
whose descendants, in course of time, would wear the royal
insignia, and leave an immortal name on the pages of German
history.
This noble was the young Count Frederick of Hohenstaufen ;
and, the better to insure his fidelity, Henry gave to him in marriage
his own daughter, Agnes.
On the other side, the partisans of Rudolph, with Duke Welf
at their head, caused Berthold, the son of Rudolph, to be elected
and proclaimed Duke of Suabia at Ulm, which place, like all
the surrounding countries, was ravaged by the armies of the two
dukes alternately, and the student of history asks what must have
been the lot of the unhappy population of districts incessantly
harassed by this civil war.
After having kept Easter at Ratisbon, Henry IV marched against
Luitpold, Margrave of Austria, who, in concert with Ladislas, King
of Hungary, had assumed a threatening attitude. No memorable
incident characterized the rapid march which brought the King to
the confines of Hungary, and he returned to Ratisbon.
The legates Peter and Ulrich had set out from Rome either in
February or in the beginning of March ; by mid-May we learn
they were in Germany. They arrived at Ratisbon towards the
Feast of Pentecost (May 12, 1079), where they were received by
Henry IV satis ynagnifice. Henry, says Berthold, granted his consent
to the convocation of the projected assembly, and messages were
^ Ep. 27 (May or June 1079) : 'Nolite, filii mei, in hoc, qui vos jam multo tempore
exagLtat bellico Jurore dejicere. The sense of this is, not " do not cease to fight," but
" do not lose heart in the struggle in which you are engaged."
CIVIL WAR IN GERMANY 173
sent to Duke Welf and the chief Saxon nobles, inviting them to
attend a conference at Fritzlar.
The assembly, however, was not so well attended as might have
been hoped. Duke Welf and the Suabians remained in their own
country, whilst the Bohemians took advantage of the departure of
the great Saxon lords to invade the march of Meissen, whence
they were, however, finally repulsed.
It is impossible to form a clear picture of the exact causes
which prevented the success of the colloquium held by the
two legates. Each party used cunning and treachery in its
methods ; each accused the other of entire responsibility for the
failure of the scheme ; each party as represented by its own
historians was " as wise as the serpent and as harmless as the
dove."
At Fritzlar, a meeting at Wiirzburg was arranged soon after the
Feast of the Assumption, and at this assembly, whither the papal
legates had followed Henry IV, Berthold openly accuses the legates
of weakness or of corruption. The council dispersed without
having accomplished anything. Accusations against the legates —
from the Rudolphian party — reached Gregory also in the course of
the summer, and he mentions these in his already quoted letter to
the Germans of October i, but unfortunately gives no details on
this head. A letter (Ep. 31) written at the beginning or towards
the middle of October is more precise, and we learn that one is
accused of incompetence, the other of being corrupted, the latter
accusation referring, doubtless, to Ulrich, whom Bonitho describes
as a firm partisan of Henry. Berthold relates that on Ulrich's return
to Rome (before his colleague) he actually pleaded the cause of
Henry IV warmly, and laid the failure of their mission to the
account of the Saxons, who were blamed for the breaking off of the
negotiations. The letter to the legates (Ep. 31) repeats Gregory's
preliminary orders to favour neither party ^ and to keep within their
instructions ; and that Gregory had not declared in Rudolph's
favour is proved — if proof were needed — by the fact that Henry's
name is understood as the " King " when the word King is
174 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
mentioned {si rex acquieverit vobis de statuendo colloquio et pace
firmanda in regno).
The turning-point for the history of the struggle, and of the
German Empire, was the battle of Harchheim, near Miihlhausen.
During the autumn of 1079, Henry, as we have seen, had not
been disinclined to urge forward the colloquium the Pope desired.
When the Rudolphian party, however, saw that he was in earnest,
they attempted to evade it by various pretexts and conditions, until
Henry lost patience, and required the papal legates to declare at
once in his favour without further discussion, and excommunicate
his enemy. This the legates, remembering their instructions, were
naturally unable to do, and war at once broke out.
Henry had taken the field in the winter, and the battle, which
began in the afternoon, raged until night in the midst of a sudden
heavy snowstorm. Historians vary as to the issue of the hardly-
contested field. Rudolphian chroniclers relate that Henry was
entirely routed, his army forced to withdraw in disorder to
Thuringia, and the King himself compelled to fly to Ratisbon.
Berthold, with characteristic naivete^ assures us that Henry lost
3,255 men, whilst Rudolph's loss was but 38 ; and Berthold also
ascribes the victory to the anti-King. Bonitho is neutral, and
contents himself by saying that the battle was hardly contested, and
that many thousands of both armies were slain. The Henrician
annalists, on the other hand, are unanimous in crediting Henry
with the victory, while the attitude of the King after the battle was
undoubtedly that of a victor ; and the fact — if it be a fact — that a
Saxon legion won an isolated success in their attack upon the
King's camp, where they killed several pages and carried off various
valuables, cannot afl^ect the main issue.
CHAPTER IX
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED THE ANTI-POPE GUIBERT.
MARCH I, 1080 FEBRUARY IO81
Council of Rome, March 1080 — Prohibition against lay investiture — Various
excommunications — Excommunication of the Normans — Embassy of Liemar,
Archbishop of Bremen — Renewed excommunication and interdict pronounced
against Henry IV — Gregory VII's Easter prophecy — Gregory VII confirms
the sentence of the Council of Lyons against Manasses, Archbishop of Rheims
— The Archbishop of Lyons acknowledged as Primate of the provinces of
Lyons, Tours, Sens and Rouen — Manasses deposed by the Council of Lyons,
before which he had refused to appear — Gregory VII again tries to save him —
Obstinacy of Manasses — He is definitely condemned — Henry IV learns the
sentence of excommunication pronounced against himself— The assemblies of
Mayence and Brixen — The deposition of Gregory VII at Brixen, and the
election of the anti-Pope Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna — Alliance of the
Duke Robert Guiscard with Gregory VII ; his projects against the Empire of
the East — The Pope wishes to reduce the anti-Pope to submission by force of
arms — Richard, Archbishop of Ravenna — Battle on the banks of the river
Elster — Death of King Rudolph — Henry IV departs for Italy.
Early in March 1080 the council reassembled in the Con-
stantine basilica at the Lateran, and, according to Cardinal
Deusdedit, numbered nearly fifty archbishops and bishops, without
reckoning a very large gathering of the secular and regular clergy.
The council first considered the question of lay investiture, and
ordained the method of the election of bishops. Directly the see
is vacant, a new bishop is to be elected by the combined act of the
clergy and the faithful of the diocese, without allowing any secular
prince to name a candidate, or to influence the election in any way.
A bishop, representing the Pope or the Metropolitan, who is called
the visitator, is to direct the election.
175
176 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
With regard to the question of the investitures of ecclesiastical
dignities conferred by the laity, the council passed the following
decree : " We being inspired by the statutes of the holy Fathers,
as we have already done in the Councils, which, by the help of
God, we have already held, and which treat of ecclesiastical
dignities — we hereby decree and confirm the following prescrip-
tions : If any one shall receive a Bishopric or an Abbey, as the gift
of a lay person, he shall not, on any account whatever, be reckoned
among the number of the Bishops or Abbots, and no one may act
in his regard as if he were a Bishop or an Abbot. We furthermore
declare him to be excluded from the patronage of St. Peter, and
also from the Church Itself, until such time as he, with sentiments
of sincere repentance, shall have abandoned that place which his
sinful disobedience and ambition have procured for him, sins which
are equivalent to the sin of idolatry. This applies with equal force
to all the inferior ecclesiastical dignities.
" The same penalty will be incurred by any emperor, king,
duke, marquess, count, or any other lay dignitary, or by any lay
person whatever, who shall dare to bestow the investiture of any
Bishopric or Abbey or any other ecclesiastical dignity. If he does
not repent, if he does not cede to Holy Church that liberty which
is Her right, may he suffer in this life, as well in his body as in his
goods, the effects of the divine vengeance, so that his soul, at least,
may be saved in the Day of the Lord."
Such is the complete formula of the prohibition of Gregory VII
of all lay investiture of ecclesiastical dignities. For some time he
had aimed his legislative terrors only at the ecclesiastics who had
consented to receive investiture at the hands of laymen ; he now
imposed the same penalties upon the investing laymen.
Immediately following this decree came a number of sentences
of excommunication anci deposition against several bishops. We
do not possess the complete list of these sentences, for the
Reg'ntrum speaks only of four bishops, three in Italy and one in
France — Tedaldo of Milan, Guibert of Ravenna, Roland of
Treviso, and Pelir, intruded Bishop of the Church of Narbonne.
STATUE OF (JKKGORY VII OVER lllK Ai.JAR IN IMS i HAl'EL IN ST. MATTHKW S
CATHEDRAL AT SALERNO
[To/ace />. 177
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 177
The interdict pronounced against the Normans is not so
absolute as in the preceding councils ; indeed, it would seem that
Gregory may have thought of the possibility of an alliance with
Robert Guiscard at the Synod itself. After the excommunication
of those Normans who "dare to invade or pillage the lands of St.
Peter," follows the conciliatory concluding paragraph —
" If any Norman shall have just cause for complaint against any
of the inhabitants of these countries, let him demand justice from
Us, or from our deputies and officers ; if justice should be refused
him, We authorize him to take from Our said lands compensation
for the injury that he has suffered, but he is not to take this
compensation in excess after the fashion of brigands, but in a way
worthy of a Christian who wishes to recover the goods that belong
to him, rather than to help himself to those of another, fearing to
lose the grace of God, and incur the malediction of St. Peter."
This rapprochement with the Normans, so often excommunicated
by him, was the only course left open to Gregory, in view of the
breach now imminent between Henry IV and the Holy See.
Henry, readily cast down in ill fortune, and as readily elated with
success, had sent, shortly after the victory of Harchheim, bishops to
Rome with an ultimatum to the Pope. The only writers who
mention this embassy are Berthold, Wenrich and Bonitho.
Berthold relates that the embassy consisted of the Bishops of
Bremen and Bamberg, who were provided by the King with o'old
to corrupt the Romans. Wenrich says that the Archdeacon
Burchard was also of the embassy, and says nothing of the mission
of the three ambassadors, but complains of their ill-treatment at
Rome. Bonitho, however, is more precise. His account is that
after the battle of Harchheim, the King sent Liemar, Archbishop of
Bremen, the Bishop of Bamberg, and many others, with a superbam
et inauditam mission — that he (the King) was ready to obey the
Pope, if the Pope would excommunicate Rudolph ; if not, he
would find another Pope who would do his will. Thus, Henry,
flushed with victory, threatened the Pope with deposition, and it
appears that the ambassadors appeared before the Pope, and before
12
178 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the Synod took place, for nothing is said of such an ultimatum
delivered before the Synod itself, and Wenrich says that the
ambassadors were either not admitted to the Synod, or were
commanded to keep silence there.
The ambassadors, like Henry's earlier embassy in 1076, in
which the priest Roland took part, were shamefully ill-treated.
Not only Wenrich, but Henry himself, is loud in complaint of the
humiliations his representatives were subjected to, and accuses the
Pope himself of the responsibility of this outrage.
At the Synod were also present ambassadors from Rudolph,
who, as in the February Synod of 1079, brought the bitterest
accusations against Henry. A formal act of accusation, inscribed
Propositio Rudolfi regis Romanorum et principum imperii in synodo
Romana contra Henricum IV imperatorem^ may be quoted here, but
is probably a later fabrication, composed from passages from
Bruno's Saxon War and from utterances of Gregory's. In the title,
it may be noticed that Rudolph had never been " King of the
Romans," and that Henry was not at this time Roman Emperor.
" We, the ambassadors of King Rudolph and of his princes, all
make complaint to God, to St. Peter, to Your Paternity, and to all
this holy Council, concerning this Henry, whom Your Apostolic
Authority has deprived of the kingdom, that he has tyrannically
invaded the same kingdom, notwithstanding Your interdict, and has
introduced everywhere, fire, pillage and the sword. By his impious
cruelty Archbishops and Bishops have been driven from their Sees,
which Sees he has then given as benefices to his favourites. His
tyranny has caused the death of Wezel, Archbishop of Magdeburg,
of pious memory ; Adalbert, Bishop of W^orms, still languishes in
the King's dungeons, the orders of the Holy See notwithstanding.
Many thousands of people have lost their lives through him, a very
great number of churches have been burnt and completely destroyed,
and their relics scattered. It is impossible to give any adequate
account of the insults offered by him to our princes, because they
have refused to obey him as their King, being unwilling to disobey
the decrees of the Apostolic See. If the meeting which You had
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 179
convened, in order to inquire as to who had justice on his side, and
to re-establish peace, has not been able to take place, it is Henry's
fault, and that of his adherents.
" Furthermore, we humbly ask of Your Clemency in our
interests, or, rather, in the interests of the Holy Church of God,
that You will carry into execution the sentence You have already
pronounced upon this sacrilegious invader of the churches.
"Given at Rome, in the year 1080 of the Incarnation of our
Lord, the seventh year of the pontificate of the Lord Pope
Gregory VII."
The Pope now proceeded again to the terrific sentence : again
he pronounced against Henry the decree of excommunication and
of deposition. The anathema against him — the excommunicatio regis
Henrici — the epoch-making speech of Gregory's, is worded with
great care and solemnity. It begins with prayer to St. Peter and
St. Paul. It repeats the often-repeated declaration of Gregory as
to the unwillingness with which he had entered into public affairs,
the compulsion which had forced him into the Papacy : " You have
appointed me to ascend a very high mountain, and to reproach the
people of God for their crimes." It recites the misdemeanours of
Henry, his attempts to overthrow the Pope, the excommunication
and absolution of the King. " Not only this," the speech continues ;
" but I have not re-established him upon that throne from which I
deposed him in the Council of Rome, and I have not obliged those
who had already sworn, or who should thereafter swear fealty to
him, to consider as again binding on them that fidelity from which
I released them in the same Synod.
" I had imposed all these restrictions, in order to be able later
on to perform the work of justice by re-establishing peace between
him and the Princes and Bishops beyond the Alps, who had resisted
him in obedience to the commands of Your Church. Now these
Princes and Bishops, hearing that he did not keep his promises, and,
as it were, despairing of him, without receiving any advice from me,
as You are witnesses, chose the Duke Rudolph for their King. This
King Rudolph, without delay, sent a message, announcing to me
i8o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
that he had been constrained to accept the government of the
kingdom, and that he was ready to obey me in everything. The
better to convince me of his sincerity, he has ever since treated
with me and spoken in the same terms, offering me his own son as
a pledge of his word, together with the son of his fief, the Duke
Berthold. Henry, meanwhile, entreated me to support him against
the said Rudolph. I answered him that I would willingly do so,
after having heard the causes of the two parties, and examined on
whose side lay the justice of the matter. But he, persuaded that
his own forces were sufficient to overcome Rudolph unassisted,
disdained to attend to my reply. When he found that he could not
do as he wished, two from among the Bishops who were his partisans,
viz. the Bishop of Verdun and the Bishop of Osnabriick, came to
Rome to ask me in the Council to have justice done him, whilst
the envoys sent by Rudolph asked a similar favour for that Prince.
At last, as I believe, by the inspiration of God, I decided in the
same Council that a Conference should be held beyond the Alps,
with the intention either of restoring peace, or to decide which of
the two parties had right on his side. As for me. You, my Fathers
and Lords, can bear witness, that I have never, up to this very day,
wished to take part on any side but that of justice. As I foresaw
that those who knew their claim to be unjust would be against
holding the Conference, I threatened with excommunication and
anathema all those persons, whether King, Duke, Bishop or any
other, who should by means of any artifice put an obstacle in the
way of this meeting. Now Henry, who no more fears the danger
of that disobedience, which is equivalent to the sin of idolatry,^ than
do his mistaken abettors, in opposing the holding of this Conference
has incurred the penalty of excommunication, and lies under the
ban of anathema. He has delivered a great number of Christian
people over to death, has pillaged and destroyed churches, and laid
waste almost the entire realm of Germany.
"Therefore, trusting in the judgment and mercy of God, and
^ I Kings xv. 23. Gregory \'II frequently quotes this passage.
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED
I8I
of Mary, His most holy and ever-virgin Mother, I excommunicate
and anathematize Henry, so-called King, together with all his sup-
porters ; in the Name of the Omnipotent God and in Your name,
I depose him from the kingdom of Germany and the government
of Italy, and strip him of all regal power and dignity. I forbid
any Christian to obey him as his King, and I absolve from their
oaths those who have sworn or who should hereafter swear fealty
to him. May he, with all his supporters, be impotent in battle,
and may he gain no victory so long as his life shall last. As for
Rudolph, chosen by the Germans as their King, in Your name
grant and concede to him the right to govern and defend, with
the aid of Your support, the entire kingdom of Germany, and,
in union with You, I absolve all his adherents from all and every
one of their sins and crimes, and do You grant to them, oh, ye
Apostles, Your Benediction in this life and in the next. If Henry,
by his disobedience, his pride and his insincerity, has been justly
deprived of the kingly dignity, so in reward for his humility, his
submission and his candour, Rudolph now receives the title of King
and the regal power.
" Deign now, I pray You, most holy Fathers and Lords, to make
known to the whole world that, as You can both bind and loose in
Heaven, so also on earth You have the power to deprive of and
to bestow upon every man, according to his deserts, all worldly
things, be they honours, empires, kingdoms, principalities, duchies,
marquessates, earldoms, and any other possessions whatsoever.
Many times You have withdrawn patriarchates, primacies, arch-
bishoprics and bishoprics from the perverse and unworthy, and have
bestowed them upon such recipients as were truly religious. Since
You are judges in spiritual matters, how great must be Your power
in merely temporal things ! Since you judge the very Angels who
have dominion over proud princes, what can You not do with these
princes, their slaves .'' Let the kings and rulers of this world learn
to-day the greatness of Your Authority ! May they in future
dread to think lightly of the economics and organization of Holy
Church. Let Your judgment then be accomplished upon this
1 82 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Henry, so promptly, that all the world may see and acknowledge
that he falls, not by chance, but by Your Power ! May his con-
fusion lead him to repentance, in order that his soul may be saved
in the day of the Lord.
" Done at Rome, the Day of the Nones of March, Indiction III "
(March 7, 1080).
The sentence upon Henry is given upon the ground of dis-
obediencey with the additional reason that he had delivered a great
number of Christian people to death, pillaged and destroyed
churches, and laid waste almost the entire realm of Germany,
and his disobedience consisted in his alleged hindrance of the
colloquium. But this is not the real reason of the condemnation
— it is Henry's ultimatum, delivered by Liemar of Bremen, in
which he threatens to depose the successor of St, Peter. The
King had once before, at the Diet of Worms, threatened to depose
the Pope ; for this he was excommunicated and " suspended "
from rule ; this second threat deserved, in Gregory's opinion, a
severer punishment. In the first case, Henry IV was only temporarily
forbidden to rule ; now he is deposed definitively, and for ever.
We do not know the reason of Gregory's silence upon what
constituted, in his eyes, the " head and front of the offending " of
Henry. It is certain that Liemar's mission was not public, and that
he was probably received in a special audience, perhaps with very
few or no witnesses present ; hence Gregory might not consider
himself obliged to make public and open use of it. There is
also a second consideration. Upon Henry's excommunication in
1076, voices were raised in protest, declaring that the Pope was
actuated by motives of revenge for the personal affronts conveyed
in the Decree of Worms. The Pope had been obliged to reassure ^
those dissatisfied as to his motives, and it is possible that he may
have passed over the embassy of Liemar in silence, in order to
avoid a repetition of the same reproaches.
While Henry loses his kingdom for ever, Rudolph — already
^ Ep. 14. He reassures those qui putant ms spirituakm gladium temere et — motu
animi nostri — arripuisse (1076).
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 183
elected King in 1077 at Forchheim — receives his crown as a new
gift from the Pope's hands, and it is noteworthy that he receives it
ad fidelitatem apostolicam : that is to say, Rudolph, like the Norman
princes, is to become a vassal of the Holy See. While Rudolph
is given Germany, no mention is made of the kingdom of Italy ;
and as Henry was deposed from his kingdom also, it is possible
that Gregory entertained the idea of setting up Robert Guiscard in
his place.
As was natural, Henrician writers condemned the Pope's
decision. The biographer of Henry IV says that the ban was
disregarded ; because it appeared to be the " result of caprice, not
of reason ; of hate, not of love " ; and Benzo expresses his
disgust at the Pope's procedure in the following couplet —
Ultra fur'ias furentem furit ilk rutifer
Contra Deum, contra regem, delatrando jugLter.
The allocution is a dexterous piece of party pleading, in which,
in spite of the preliminary prayer to St. Peter and St. Paul, " lovers
of truth," the truth is in certain passages obscured ; and it is
essentially the speech of an advocate, not the impartial verdict of
a judge. In especial should be noticed the misleading account
of the Pope's measures with regard to Henry IV, whom, says
Gregory, he did not re-establish upon the throne ; and whose
subjects he had not obliged to return to their allegiance. The
" restrictions " which Gregory states that he imposed, " in order to
be able, later on, to perform the work of justice by re-establishing
peace between him and the Princes and Bishops beyond the Alps,"
had no existence. As we have said, Henry IV received an uncon-
ditional absolution ; he gave the Promissio at Canossa as King ; and
was designated as King in Gregory's letters ; and even after the
Forchheim election, the Pope makes use of more than one expres-
sion which leaves upon his readers the conviction that he regarded
Henry as the legitimate King.
The unjustified action of the German princes at the Forchheim
election is very lightly, too lightly, touched upon. It was a difficult
1 84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
task to mention this election without a sacrifice of truth, and with-
out at the same time criticizing it ; and Gregory's words are very
skilfully chosen to obscure the real issue. " The Princes heard that
he (the King) did not keep his promises, and as it were despairing
of him^'' and so forth, which admits that the princes had not taken
the trouble to ask if the accusations against Henry were justified,
but they had acted on hearsay evidence.
Gregory, it seems, becomes suddenly convinced that "justice'
favoured the cause of Rudolph after Henry's aggressive embassy.
Rudolph's services — " his humility, obedience, and sincerity " — are
purely relative to Henry's policy ; positively, the Duke of Suabia
had tacitly disobeyed the Holy See in his endeavours to elude the
colloquium.
A comparison of the whole speech with Gregory's in February
1076, after Henry's personal and abusive communication to the
Diet of Worms, is unfavourable to the later utterance. In the
earlier he had shown a calm and impartial composure, he had
refrained from self -justification, and made no undeserved reproaches ;
while in the later a deep-seated hostility to Henry runs like a red
thread through the whole, and colours the speech. He hopes that
Henry may be brought to repentance, and that his " soul may be
saved in the day of the Lord," but at the same time he confidently
expects the ruin and defeat of the King as a consequence of the ban.
How soon was he to be deceived in his confidence, that he
could compel the expression of divine wrath against his enemies
in this anathema, and in an even extremer form in his Easter
prophecy !
With regard to the speech's results, Voigt, in his life of
Gregory VII, says: "Never has a voice been heard from Italy
which commanded such attention in Germany ; what the Roman
Emperors, with their legions of soldiers, could never effect, a single
monk ^ achieved by his word alone. He realized this miracle by
bringing the consciences of men under the sway of his sovereign
' See Chapter I.
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 185
moral authority." On the contrary, however, the ban of 1080 had
very little practical result. Rudolph was slain a few months after
the sentence, while Henry, from this time forward, retained posses-
sion of his kingdom, and saw his party increase. The " unique
monument to the memory of Gregory VII," as Giesebrecht calls it,
remains a singularly ineffective piece of oratory.
The anathema seemed to have lost all its terrors for the popular
mind ; no defections took place, no desertions from the court, the
council, or the army. All disclaimed at once further allegiance to
Gregory.
Not content with the ban, Gregory, shortly after the Synod,
ventured to assume the prophetic office. He declared publicly,
and either believed himself, or wished others to believe, with the
authority of divine revelation, that unless Henry made his sub-
mission before the Festival of St. Peter (June 29) (one of the
Saints whom he had invoked in his allocation to the council), he
would be deposed or dead ; and if his prophecy failed, men were
to cease to believe in the authority of Gregory. The truth of this
story is attested by both Beno and Bonitho.
Neither Beno nor Bonitho states what is the date of this
prophecy, but it can only be referred to this year (1080) ; for
Bonitho attempts to prove a fulfilment in the spiritual death of
Henry, consequent upon his setting up the anti-pope Guibert at
Brixen (June 25, 1080), although, he admits, the popular mind
interpreted Gregory's words as referring to " natural " death.
Gregory's " Easter prophecy " has been criticized as improbable
by some historians ; but, rightly considered, the improbability
vanishes. Appeals to the judgment of God by means of ordeals
were common, and a feature of these was, that God was appealed
to to declare against some person or persons. This is not widely
removed from the tendency to predict, under " inspiration " from
God, a disastrous future for some person or persons. Thus Peter
Damiani had assured the anti-Pope Cadalus that he (the anti-Pope)
would die, or lose his usurped position, before a certain date ; but
the prediction was not fulfilled, and Damiani was driven to make
1 86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
use of ignoble artifices to explain away his over-hasty prophecy.
Like Damiani, Gregory VII was not endowed with the gift of
foreseeing the future ; and after August i was passed, he was
obliged to admit that Henry was still living and unconquered.
Worse was to come, for within the year Rudolph of Suabia, whose
cause he had espoused, fell in battle. It is not surprising, there-
fore, that the Rudolphian historians preserve a discreet silence
about Gregory's Easter prophecy.
At the Synod in which Henry was again excommunicated, the
Bishop of Dol defended the autonomy of Brittany as an ecclesiastical
province, governed by the Archbishop of Dol, and at the same
time the Archbishop of Tours upheld the rights of his Church
over the same province of Brittanv ; and the Synod therefore
decided that legates of the Holy See should proceed to France, in
order to investigate and decide this complicated question on the
spot. The Pope, furthermore, confirmed the sentence of deposi-
tion which had been pronounced against Manasses, Archbishop of
Rheims, at the Council of Lyons, by Hugh of Die, as the Arch-
bishop had never fulfilled the promises he had made to the Pope,
after the Roman Synod of February 1078, and to which he owed
his reinstallation in the archiepiscopal see.
Manasses, in the summer of 1078, had written to Gregory,
making a distinction, which he endeavoured to establish, between
Roman-born legates of the Holy See and those of other nation-
alities a pretext for disobeying the latter. In answer, Gregory
stated that the popes had chosen their representatives from different
countries without any such objection having ever been raised.
Gregory cited, in support, many historical precedents, and con-
cluded by advising Manasses not to shelter himself under subter-
fuges, but to justify himself, as he had promised to do, before the
two legates, Hugh of Die and Hugh of Cluny, As to the
privileges and prerogatives of the Archbishops of Rheims, the
Pope laid down that these, having been granted according to
circumstances, and for the good of the faithful, could be abrogated
if the interests of the Church so demanded.
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 187
The real aim of the French prelate was to oppose the ancient
privileges of the Church of Rheims to the authority of the legates
of the Holy See, and to refer for necessary decisions to Rome
Immediately — the distance of this court of appeal rendering the
prelates more independent of papal control than if subject to papal
legates, who were on the spot. Manasses did not stand alone, but
many of the bishops and archbishops of France were in sympathy
with this policy, as was also the King of France himself. The
history of the Council of Poitiers reveals the King's bias, and the
French bishops, under the pretext of defending the rights and
liberties of their own Churches, were fighting against Gregory's
disastrous policy of centralization.
To Isolate Manasses, Gregory (April 19, 1079) '"•'^'-^ recognized
the primacy of the Church of Lyons over the four ecclesiastical
provinces of Lyons, Rouen, Tours and Sens. By this measure the
Archbishop of Lyons was given the precedence, and, in certain
cases, was made the counsellor and judge of a considerable number
of the clergy and bishops of France, whereas the Archbishops of
Rheims had for a long time claimed and exercised primatial rights
over all the Churches of that country. The Archbishop of Rheims
perhaps realized that he had compromised his position too com-
pletely at Rome to be able to contest the right of precedence in
the French Church with any hope of success. The Archbishops of
Rouen and Sens, however, opposed the privileges accorded to their
Churches by earlier popes to the privileges granted to the Church
of Lyons by Gregory VII, and their successors continued the
contest, not altogether unsuccessfully, until towards the close of
the twelfth century.
The Archbishop of Rheims had been ordered by Gregory VII
to appear before Hugh, Bishop of Die, and Hugh, Abbot of
Cluny. The Bishop of Die, therefore, summoned him to appear
at a council to be held at Lyons, at which, however, on various
pretexts (such as the Insecurity of the roads and the dangers of
the journey) he refused to appear. By the Council of Lyons,
which was probably held In the early part of February 1080,
1 88 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Manasses was consequently solemnly and finally deposed from the
episcopate, and the sentence was confirmed by the Roman Synod
of March 1080. On the following April Gregory made a last
attempt to move the deposed Archbishop, and proposed to him that
he (Manasses) should appear before the legate, Hugh of Die,
assisted by the Abbot of Cluny, or Aime, Bishop of Oleron, and
exculpate himself as best he could, producing six bishops as wit-
nesses in his favour. Manasses, however, made no sign, and on
December 27 Gregory had given up all hope, and wrote to the
King of France to " accord no favours whatsoever to Manasses,
sometime Archbishop of Rheims, but now deposed for ever by
reason of his crimes."
Manasses was vanquished. He left Rheims in the beginning
of the year 1081, and went to seek Henry IV, who was then in
open warfare against Gregory VII. Later on he took part in the
first Crusade, was made prisoner on his way to Jerusalem, and died
soon after his release from captivity without having been reconciled
with the Pope, as we are informed by Guibert de Nogent.
By the anathema directed against Henry IV, war was declared.
The ambassadors of the King immediately left Rome for Tuscany,
where they raised a rebellion against the Countess Matilda ; and
they next raised the standard of revolt in Lombardy. Henry IV,
who was at Bamberg when the news of the excommunication
reached him, considered it as a challenge, and issued his commands
that the prelates of the empire should be summoned to Mayence
to depose the Pope and elect a new head of the Church. At
Mayence (May 31) nineteen bishops met, and with one voice
determined to renounce Hildebrand as Pope ; and shortly after-
wards the King issued a proclamation addressed to the archbishops,
bishops, and princes of Germany and Lombardy, in which the
troubles in Church and State are regretted ; and it is stated that the
only way to put an end to the confusion is to " cut off the head of
the venomous serpent" [i.e. Gregory VII). In this proclamation
Henry promises that there shall be " no going back " upon his side.
" It were more easy to separate Hercules from his club, than me
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 189
(while I have life) from you." This proclamation, which was
disseminated by the Bishop of Spires, must have been followed by
letters convoking an assembly on the 25th of the following June at
Brixen — a small town lying hidden in the Noric valley (now the
Austrian Tyrol) which was chosen since it lay on the road of
communication which by the Brenner pass connected Italy with
Germany.
" To the Archbishops, Bishops, Dukes, Marquesses, Counts,
and to all the Princes of the Roman Empire, to great and small, to
the clergy and people of the Holy Church," Theodoric, Bishop of
Verdun, wrote to explain the necessity for the election of a new
Pope, pronouncing that Gregory's own " life accuses him, his
perversity condemns him, the obstinacy of his malice anathematizes
him." Theodoric, who was present at the assembly at Mayence,
was destined to go back from his position : on his return to
Verdun he was coldly received by his flock, and he confesses to
Guibert, whom Henry IV wished to thrust into the Archbishopric of
Treves, that he had " disowned him who is seated on the throne
of St. Peter," and disowned him without any reason. " I have
denied him," he writes, " to whom I promised obedience and
submission at the moment of my ordination, and to whose authority,
after that of Blessed Peter, I was committed, when I took upon
myself the government of my see."
At the Synod of Brixen were assembled Henry IV, Cardinal
Hugh Candidus (the stormy petrel of anti-papal movements), and
thirty prelates from Germany and Italy ; some among whom — the
Bishops of Lausanne, Bamberg, Brandenburg, and Verona — had
taken part in the Diet of Worms. Bishop Hazmann of Spires,
however, who had in 1076 brought to Italy the decree of the
deposition of Gregory VII, and who had issued the royal procla-
mation of May 31, was not present. The Synod of thirty
bishops confirmed the deposition of the " false monk Hildebrand,"
called Gregory VII, and the document was signed by all present.
Henry IV's is the last name among those who subscribed ; Hugh
Candidus, who signs " in the name of all the Roman cardinals,"
I90 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the first. Roland, Bishop of Treviso, who brought the Decrees of
Worms to Rome in 1076, cannot refrain from adding that he
signs with joy {lihentissime) ; but Guibert of Ravenna's signature
is absent. He, no doubt, was aware that he would be elected
Pope, and took no trouble to share in the debates and formalities
at Brixen.
We give the document in extenso : " In the year of the Incar-
nation of our Lord, 1080, being the 26th year of the reign of his
most serene majesty. King Henry IV, the 7th of the Kalends of
July, a Thursday, and during the third indiction (June 25, 1080)
an assembly composed of thirty bishops and a very great number
of noble and influential personages, not only from Italy, but also
from Germany, having met together, by order of the King, at
Brixen, in Norica, the most vehement complaints were preferred
against the insane fury of a certain man called Hildebrand, a false
monk, called the Pope Gregory VII. Reproaches were made against
the King (who is ever invincible), for having so long allowed the
ravages committed by this fanatic, whilst Paul, that vessel of elec-
tion, declares that a prince does not bear the sword in vain,^ and
whilst Peter, the first of the Apostles, proclaims that a king should
not only rule, but also that it is incumbent upon him to send judges
to punish the wicked and to reward the good.'^
" In order to silence these complaints, the most glorious King,
and his Princes, have decided that the judgment of the Bishops,
who are the mouth-pieces of the Divine reprobation, shall be pro-
nounced against this same Hildebrand, before proceeding against
him with the sword of the temporal power. The royal authority
having, after this sentence, absolute liberty to punish him whom
the Bishops shall first have deposed from his proud prelature. Can
any one who is faithful, hesitate to condemn him ? From his
earliest years, and without any particular merit, he has sought to
make himself remarkable by his vain glory. "^ To that order which
God has established, he has preferred his dreams, his fancies, and
^ Romans xiii. \. ^ i Peter ii. 13, 14. 3 2 Corinthians x. 18.
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 191
those of other persons. He wears the habit of a monk, whilst
he is not one in reality ; he has withdrawn himself from all
ecclesiastical discipline, and has never been subject to any master ;
he is a greater admirer of obscene theatrical representations than
even secular people are ; from love of filthy lucre, he has permitted
the money-changers to place their tables under the very portico of
the church, publicly. After having amassed much money by all
these means, he seized upon the Abbey of Blessed Paul, and
supplanted the rightful Abbot. Stretching out his covetous hand
for the Archidiaconate, he deceived a certain Mancius, whom he
persuaded to sell him that dignity ; Pope Nicholas did not wish to
have him for his procurator, he accordingly aroused sedition among
the people, and the Pope was obliged to accept him. It has been
proved against him that he has caused the violent deaths of four
of the Roman pontiffs, whom he poisoned by the aid of an
accomplice, a certain intimate of his, John Brachintus, who,
although his repentance was very late, yet, at the moment of death,
confessed in a loud voice that it was he who had administered the
poison.
" The very night when the funeral of Pope Alexander was
taking place in the Basilica of Our Saviour, this pestiferous fellow,
whom we have already named several times, arranged that all the
bridges and gates of Rome should be manned by an armed force,
as also every tower and triumphal arch. Soldiers, by his orders,
established themselves in the Lateran Palace as in the fortress of
an enemy. Among the clergy no one wanted him for Pope, but
swords were unsheathed and clerics were menaced with death if
they dared to make the slightest opposition to his election ; thus it
was that, even before the dead Pope had been laid in the tomb,
this man took possession of the throne which he had long secretly
coveted.
" Some of the clergy^ however, tried to remind him of the
decree of Pope Nicholas, promulgated under pain of anathema, by
one hundred and twenty-five Bishops and approved by Hildebrand
himself ; the decree ordained that if any one pretended to be Pope,
192 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
without the consent of the Prince of Rome^ he should be considered by
all^ not as Pope, but as an apostate. He replied that he did not
acknowledge any king, and that, further, he could annul any decree
of his predecessors.
" What more shall we say ? Not Rome alone, but the whole
Roman world, can certify that he was never chosen of God, but
that he, most impudently, intruded himself into the Throne of
Peter, by force, by fraud, and by bribery. The fruit is such as
might be expected from such roots, his deeds bear witness to what
his intentions were. He has overthrown the economy of the
Church ; he has equally modified the structure of the Christian
Empire ; he has made war to the death against the body and soul
of a most Catholic and pacific king ; he supports as king, one who
is perjured and a traitor ; he sows discord among those who are at
peace ; thanks to him, the one time contented and tranquil now go
to law one against another, there are scandals among the brethren ;
divorces take place among the married, and all those who would
fain live in peace, are disturbed and endangered.
" For all the motives, above-mentioned and afore-said, we all,
here assembled, by the Will of God, having further, with us here,
the envoys and letters, from nineteen other Bishops who assembled
at Mayence, on the holy day of Pentecost of this present year,
we, believing it to be our duty to canonically depose and rid the
Church of this strange man Hildebrand, who preaches sacrilege and
incendiarism ; who defends perjury and homicide ; who doubts and
questions the Catholic and Apostolic Faith touching the Body and
Blood of our Lord ; who was formerly a disciple of the heretic
Berengarius, a man given up to divination and dreams, an un-
concealed necromancer, possessed by the pythonical spirit, and
whom, if, after having heard this present sentence, he does not
quit his See, we hereby damn for ever and ever."
As Ranke remarked, the hatred of the Henrician party had
steadily increased since 1077, and reached its highest point in the
Synod of Brixen. To the accusations of simony, bribery, and
licentiousness which were brought forward at Worms, they added
f^S^^m*"'^A* E^vt -•••ii:'!t* ^*'!^^i
BYZANTINE PULPIT IN ST. MATTHEWS CATHEDRAL, SALERNO
[ To face /. 102
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 193
those of heresy and necromancy, of the murder of no fewer than four
popes, and of the attempt to destroy the body and soul of the King,
The accusations are more detailed, more passionate and bitterer
than those contained in the Worms document, and the only accusa-
tion which was not revived against him in 1080, is that of an
undue intimacy with the Countess Matilda, and his senatus mulierum ;
perhaps as both Agnes and Beatrice had died in the meantime, this
latter was no longer a charge that could plausibly be urged against
him. The accusation of heresy no doubt arose from Gregory's
acceptance of the ambiguous confession of Berengarius, and pro-
bably much was made of the declaration which Berengarius asserted
him to have made, that he had received a special message from the
Blessed Virgin Mary, testifying that the doctrine of Berengarius
was consonant with the Scriptures, Gregory's protection of the
heresiarch after he had subscribed to the new formula would also
have told against him. The accusation of heresy was the trump
card of the Synod of Brixen, for, as a heretic, Gregory had no right
to retain the papacy. As Henry in his Worms letter [hanc talem)
had asserted that he could be rightly deposed, if he fell from the
faith, how much the more did the Pope — the head of Christendom —
deserve deposition, if he proved false to the Apostolic and Catholic
faith !
The charge against Gregory that he had attempted to compass
the death of the King '' in body," can be paralleled by the accusation
Beno brings against him of having (at the time of the Easter
prophecy) attempted to destroy the King -per occultos proditores. The
" Death of the Soul " refers to the excommunication of Henry.
The accusation of having purchased the archidiaconate was a
bitter and telling charge to make against the Pope who fought so
long and so strenuously against simony in the Church. His election
to the Papacy is assumed by the Synod as having been compassed
by " fraud, force and bribery " ; and, in addition to this, the choice
of a Pope by the Romans, without the consent of the King, is declared
null and void ; that is to say, that Gregory had never been duly
elected to the Papacy.
194 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
The deposition of Gregory was but a preliminary measure : a
means to an end, and that end, the nomination of a new Pope by
whom Henry should receive the crown of the Holy Roman
Empire.
Landulf relates that there was some hesitation in the Synod as
to the choice between Guibert of Ravenna, and Tedaldo, Archbishop
of Milan ; but this seems improbable, and is not substantiated by
Wido of Ferrara. It is not certain whether Guibert of Ravenna
was elected by the bishops at the Synod, or nominated by the King,
who was assured of the consent of the bishops, but the latter is the
more probable. It is a mistake to suppose, with some historians,
that Henry designated Guibert in his right as Roman patrician ; for
if the patriciate had had such a definite right attached to it, the
Synods of Worms and of Brixen could not have failed to assert
that Gregory had, through his elevation in 1073, neglected and
set aside this patrician right.
Guibert of Ravenna had now attained the object of his ambition :
he was invested with the insignia of the Papacy ; and all — the King
among the number — paid homage to him as the Supreme Head of
the Church. In this adoratio of Henry, Bonitho sees the fulfilment
of Gregory's prophecy ; the King becomes spiritually dead, as a
consequence of his homage " to the beast " at Brixen.^
Guibert, who then proceeded to Italy, retained, however, his
dignity as Archbishop of Ravenna until his death.
In the course of this history Guibert has already been mentioned ;
he was, at the time of his elevation as anti-Pope, a highly intelligent
and ambitious man, in the prime of life, with numerous devoted
adherents in Germany and Northern Italy. An Italian by birth,
he had early entered into relations with the German court, and was
appointed Chancellor of Italy by the Empress Agnes shortly after
the death of Henry III. He had taken an active part in the
elevation of Cadalus, Bishop of Parma, as anti-Pope in the pontifi-
cate of Alexander II ; but when the Empress Agnes lost power
^ Qua morte, mortuum eum {Henricum) qui apud Brixianorum protius adoravit bestiam^
vulli dub'ium est. {Liber ad amicum, p. 682.)
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED
195
after the young King was snatched from her care at Kaiserwerth,
Guibert was helpless to support Cadalus ; and the party in power
in Germany wished to repudiate Guibert's action, and the anti-Pope
himself. Guibert was removed from the Chancellorship and retired
into private life. His wish to obtain the Bishopric of Parma, after
the death of Cadalus, remained unfulfilled, but, by the influence of
the Empress, he succeeded in winning the Archbishopric of Ravenna.
According to Bonitho, Alexander wished to withstand the promotion
of Guibert, but Hildebrand had obliged the Pope to withdraw his
objection. Hildebrand, adds Bonitho, was deceived, with many
others, by the hypocrisy of Guibert {ovina simulata indutus simplici-
tate)^ who appeared as a wolf, but in sheep's clothing ; but the Pope
was not blinded, and broke out into a prophetic warning of the
evils Hildebrand should endure through this same Guibert in the
future. The charges brought against him (R. I. 10) by Gregory
with regard to Imola were unfounded, and Guibert was present at
the Lent Synod of 1074, dwelt in the Lateran, and took the place
of honour at the right hand of the Pope, during the sessions.
From the time of the Diet of Worms until his death, Guibert,
throwing aside his former neutrality, ranged himself with the extreme
enemies of the Pope and with the adherents of Henry IV ; he
was the life and soul of the anti-Gregorian agitations in Northern
Italy, and so came implicitly under the ban and suspension of the
February Synod of 1076, V^hen, however, he did not answer to
the invitation to appear at the February Synod of 1078, Gregory
adopted stronger measures; and, bitterly complaining of the pride
and arrogance of the Archbishop, excommunicated him, and suspended
him from his priestly and episcopal functions.
While Bonitho heaps up all possible charges against the
Archbishop, Gregory also speaks of him, from 1080 onwards,
in the sharpest terms ; — he is " sacrilegious," " anti-Christ," and
" heresiarch," by reason of his schismatical attitude towards the
Holy See. Upon his private life, however, there is no stain ; he
was and always remained an opponent of simony and clerical
immorality. Whether bitter personal hatred of the Pope, or
196 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
antipathy to Gregory's new policy and measures, or an exaggerated
loyalty to Henry IV led him into his schismatical position, we
cannot say.
After the Synod of Brixen, Henry IV returned to Germany to
continue the struggle against Rudolph, and before his departure, he
confided his young son Conrad to the care of Guibert, as a testimony
to the confidence he reposed in the Archbishop. The anti-Pope and
the various bishops who had attended the Synod went back to their
dioceses.
The only allies and protectors to whom Gregory could now look
were the Normans ; but the Normans, who refused to abandon
certain Papal territories at the word of the Pope, were still under
the ban of excommunication. With them, however, Gregory
proceeded to make a hasty treaty, withdrawing the interdict even
without a seeming concession on their part. The wording of the
interdict in 1080 indicates that the Pope foresaw this eventuality,
and that he contemplated a reconciliation with the race he had
described in 1075 as " worse than Jews and Pagans."
Petrus of Monte Cassino relates that when his Abbot came to
Rome to petition Gregory to relieve the Duke of Normandy of
the ban, " which weighed heavily upon the Duke's Catholic con-
science," the Pope showed evident signs of an inclination to treat
with Robert Guiscard.
It is most improbable that Robert Guiscard felt any incon-
venience for the ban which had rested on him for six years ; and it
is much more likely that Gregory took the first step towards the rap-
prochement. That the alliance proved a difficult one to negotiate is
shown by the fact that the treaty was not arranged until the end
of June, for Robert Guiscard wished to embark upon a wild enter-
prise against the Greek Empire, in which a coalition with the Holy
See would be of small value to him ; and, secondly, he must have
refused any concession to the Pope.
Towards the end of June Gregory left Rome, accompanied by
several cardinals, and went to Ceprano, a small town of the
Campagna on the banks of the Liris, which he had appointed as
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 197
the meeting-place between himself and Robert Guiscard. The
interview took place on June 29 — at least that is the date upon
documents containing Robert's oath of allegiance and Gregory's
investiture. It was the first time the Duke had seen Hildebrand
after his elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate. As soon as he
approached the Pope he prostrated himself and kissed the Pontiff's
feet. His Holiness raised him up, made a sign to his two escorts
to retire to a little distance, and a long conversation took place
between the two dignitaries, the details of which are unknown. The
drawing up of the legal documents of the reconciliation shows that
the Pope and the Duke had some difficulty in coming to terms.
Gregory refused to acknowledge the conquest of Salerno, or that
of Amalfi by Robert Guiscard — still less willing was he to cede to
the Duke a part of the Marches of Fermo, which he claimed as
belonging to the Holy See. Robert, on the other hand, refused to
cede an inch of territory.
The following is the oath of fidelity sworn by Robert Guiscard
to Gregory VII and his successors, together with the formula of
the investiture of the Duke by the Pope ; with a few modifications,
advantageous to Robert Guiscard, these documents are identical
with those subscribed by the Duke when, in 1059, at the Council
of Melfi, he swore fidelity to Pope Nicholas II : —
" Robert, by the grace and favour of God and of St. Peter,
Duke of Apuleia and Calabria, and Sicily. I will from this time forth
and for evermore be faithful to the Holy Roman Church, to the
Holy See, and to You, my sovereign Lord Gregory Universal
Pope. Never will I take part in any oath or enterprise, which
is liable to endanger Your life. Your members, or Your liberty. If
any secret should be confided by You to my keeping, I will never
knowingly commit it to any other, for fear lest thereby evil might
befall You. Everywhere, and against all others I will be, according
to my strength and power. Your ally and the ally of the Holy
Roman Church, in order that she may retain, acquire and defend
the revenues and possessions of St. Peter, — with the exception of
parts of the Marches of Fermo, of Salerno, and of Amalfi, with
198 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
regard to which nothing has as yet been agreed upon. I will lend
You a strong hand in order that You may occupy the Papal See of
Rome with the honour due to Your position and in full security.
As to the lands of St. Peter which You already possess, or which
in the future You may possess, so soon as I know that they belong
to You, I will abstain from invading, ravaging or laying them waste
unless I receive express permission to the contrary either from
Yourself or from Your Successors, in whom the dignity of Blessed
Peter shall be vested. No lands shall be excepted save those which
shall be granted to me by Yourself or by Your Successors, I will
conscientiously pay to the Roman Church the tribute agreed upon
for those territories belonging to St. Peter which I now possess,
or shall in the future possess. All the churches which are actually
in my power, together with all their rights and possessions, I will
submit to Your jurisdiction, and I will maintain them in fidelity to
the Holy Roman Church. If You, or Your Successors, should depart
this life before me, I will do my utmost that the new Pope shall be
elected and enthroned according to the honour due to St. Peter
and in agreement to such advice as I shall receive from the best-
informed among the cardinals, the clergy, and laity of Rome. I
will faithfully observe these engagements into which I now enter
with You and with the Holy Roman Church, and I will continue
to act in the same way with Your Successors who shall be promoted
to the dignity of Blessed Peter, and who will grant to me, should
no fault of mine prevent it, the investiture which You have accorded
to me. May God and His Holy Gospels come to my help.
" Done at Ceprano, the 3rd of the Kalends of July (June 29,
1080)."
Investiture of Duke Robert by the Lord Pope Gregory VII.
" I, Gregory, Pope, invest you, Duke Robert, with all the
lands granted to you by My predecessors of holy memory, Nicholas
and Alexander. As to the estates which you unjustly retain, such
as Salerno, Amalfi, and part of the Marches of Fermo, I patiently
suffer you to do your will at the present time, trusting in God,
and in your goodness, and in order that for the future you may
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 199
conduct yourself in such a way as will tend to the glory of
God and of Blessed Peter, as is incumbent both for you and
myself."
Robert, it is clear, is master of the situation, and Gregory, who
had maintained the right of the Pope to dispose of empires and
kingdoms at his will, was obliged to " patiently suffer " Robert
Guiscard's encroachments, trusting in the "goodness" of the
Prince that restitution would be made in the future. He was
thus entirely unable to obtain any restitution for his ally, Gisulfo
of Salerno, or for the Holy See. Robert was released from
the ban, although he refused the one satisfaction in his power.
Whether he suffered a penance suitable to his obstinate carelessness
of the censure of the Church, and his unjustifiable encroachments
upon the possessions of the Holy See, is not recorded. By such
an absolution Gregory acted counter to ^ the principles he had often
proclaimed ; he would have appeared to far greater advantage if,
firm in danger and adversity, the very depth of his soul filled with
confidence in the justice of his cause, and the certainty of divine
favour, he had remained inflexible, refusing to absolve a penitent
who refused to give satisfaction for his sins. The consciousness
that " to things temporal " had given away " things eternal " must
have weighed upon his conscience, and he had soon to learn that no
blessing lay upon this alliance.
Ceprano must have been more painful, more humiliating to
Gregory, than was Canossa to Henry IV.
During the months following the treaty with the Normans,
Gregory was overjoyed at the apparent resultant strengthening of
his position. He announced that the Norman leaders, with
Robert at their head, had sworn to defend the Holy See " against
all men," and confidently hoped to lead an army of them to rescue
the Church of Ravenna from the hands of Guibert. This dream,
however, was destined to remain unfulfilled ; and, in the following
1 See his own words — -qui aliorum bona injuste auferunt, nisi emendaverint, si
emendare poterint, nullatenus in regno Christi et Dei partem habere credendi sunt, — •
R. II. 73-
200 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
year, Gregory was obliged to admit that Robert persisted in a wise
passivity.
The object of Robert, meanwhile, was to seize upon the throne
of Constantine the Great and become the Emperor of the East.
His pretext for attacking the Greeks was the revolution of March
1078, in Constantinople, in which Michael VII was overthrown by
Nicephorus Botoniatis, and Constantine Porphyrogenitis, Robert
Guiscard's son-in-law, exiled, while his daughter Helen was held
captive in Constantinople. Shortly after the overthrow of Michael
VII, a Greek impostor presented himself at the court of Robert
Guiscard in Salerno, giving out that he was the dethroned
Emperor of the East, who had escaped from the monastery in which
he had been confined, and had come to implore the powerful Duke
to help him to recover his throne. If the Duke believed in this
audacious charlatan, the deception lasted only a very short time.
Many members of Guiscard's suite, who had known Michael VII
at Constantinople, declared that the pretender bore no resemblance
to him ; nevertheless, the shrewd Norman prince resolved to make
use of the impostor for his own ends. The pretended Emperor
was caused to make a royal progress through the towns and villages
of Apuleia and Calabria to excite the populace against Nicephorus
Botoniatis, and Guiscard induced Gregory to write to the Bishops
of Apuleia and Calabria recommending them to support the Duke's
projects.
" Your prudence has certainly received the intelligence that the
most glorious Emperor of Constantinople, Michael, has been
dethroned in an unjust and rebellious manner, and that he has
come into Italy to implore the help of Blessed Peter and of Our
very valiant son, Duke Robert.
'' For this reason. We, Who, notwithstanding Our unworthi-
ness, occupy the throne of St. Peter, moved by compassion, have
thought well to hearken to the prayers of this Prince, as well as to
those of the Duke, and declare that it is the duty of all the faithful
subjects of St. Peter to lend him their assistance. The aforesaid
Princes being persuaded that the most availing help will be that of
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 201
the good faith and persevering affection which their soldiers will
bring, to the defence of that Emperor, We command, in virtue of
the Apostolic Authority committed to Us, that those who shall
have promised to enter into his army may beware of treacherously
passing into the enemies' camp to fight under that banner, but that
they shall faithfully give him their support, as honour and the
Christian religion demand of them. We recommend equally to
your charity to warn all those who are about to set sail with the
armies of the Duke and the Emperor to perform a sincere act
of penance before they set out, to preserve unbroken fidelity to
those Princes and in all things to keep the love and fear of God before
their eyes, and to persevere in well-doing on these conditions ; strong
in Our authority or rather in the power of Blessed Peter, you shall
absolve them from their sins.
"Given, the 8th of the Kalends of August (July 23, 1080)."
To the Council of Brixen's declaration of war Gregory had
wished to respond with a well-equipped expedition. This, how-
ever, was not to be, but Gregory still wielded his moral thunders,
and when at Ceccano, not far from Ferentino, he wrote a letter
to the Bishops of the principality and In Apuleia and Calabria.
In this document of Gregory's, Henry is singled out as the soul
and support of the anti-Papal movement, and the Pope continues
that : — " It is but three ^ years ago since at the instigation and by
the orders of this Henry, the principal bishops of Lombardy plotted
and organized abominable conspiracies against Us ; but you do not
forget that thanks to the protection of Blessed Peter We came out
of the conflict, not only unscathed, but with great access of honour
to Ourself and to all the faith. This humiliation not having sufficed
to correct them, they were struck anew by the Apostolic sword,
with a force and vigour to which the depth and gravity of their
wounds bear witness. These men are as bold-faced as harlots, and
by their shamelessness are amassing stores of Divine wrath."
Guibert is then stigmatized as a sacrilegious man, an antichrist, and
^ This is a mistake for four, Gregory is thinking of the events of 1076.
202 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
a heresiarch, the " scourge of the Church of Ravenna," and the
Brixen Synod, a " Synod of Satan," where were assembled " those
whose lives are abominable and whose ordination is altogether
heretical, and that by reason of their crimes, which are of every kind."
The whole letter bears the stamp of passion and exaggeration, a
blind antipathy to Henry, which leads him into the misleading
statement that Henry had instigated the Lombard prelates, against
the Holy See, and armed and led their rebellion. This is absurd,
and contrary to facts, for the Lombard bishops were already bitterly
hostile to Gregory in the early part of 1077, before the Synod of
Brixen, and reproached the King for seeking absolution at his
hands at Canossa, Also, Gregory himself urged no such reproaches
against Henry at the time of the King's sojourn in Northern Italy
after Canossa.
In an undated letter,^ written certainly during the last days of
July or the first days of August, and addressed to " all who are
faithful to St. Peter," Gregory announces his alliance with Duke
Robert, Jordan, " and the other great Norman nobles who have
unanimously promised Us on the faith of their oath, to give Us help
against all men, in the defence of the Holy Roman Church, and of
Our dignity " ; and his hopes of delivering the Church of Ravenna
from impious hands and his (misplaced) confidence that " before
long " all troubles will be ended by the downfall of his enemies.
In all these expectations Gregory was deceived. Peace and
victory were by no means near at hand ; the expedition against
Ravenna had to be abandoned ; the Normans proved but self-
seeking and inactive allies ; Jordan of Capua especially, added to
his earlier misdeeds "^ by an audacious act of sacrilege, in breaking
into and pillaging the Church of St. Benedict.
1 R. VIII. 7.
^ Gregory writes to him : " We must now confess that those have not been
false who represented you to us as being what indeed you are. In scorn of all rights
and justice, and despite our energetic remonstrances, you have driven your step-
mother from the sanctuary of the church, and have forced her, against her will, to
contract a second marriage. Shame did not prevent you from intercepting a bishop
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 203
Unable to drive Guibert from Ravenna by force of arms,
Gregory endeavoured to attain the same result by all the other
means at his disposal. On October 15, 1080, he ordered the
bishops, clergy, and laity of the Marches of Tuscany and Fermo,
as well as those of the Exarchate of Ravenna, to choose a successor
to Archbishop Guibert, whom he pronounced for ever deposed and
anathematized.
On the same day Gregory wrote a similar recommendation to
the clergy and laity of Ravenna. In order to invest his injunctions
with still more authority, he sent the Cardinal-Archdeacon and
several Cardinal-Deacons to Ravenna, with instructions to act with
the Bishops of the province, for the election of the new Archbishop.
This attempt to send the Papal legates was fruitless : it is question-
able whether they were able even to reach Ravenna. The Pope,
therefore, himself appointed a successor in the Archbishopric, in the
person of a priest named Richard (December 11, 1080) ; but, in
spite of all the Pope's efforts, Richard was not a formidable rival to
Guibert, and the entire body of the clergy, together with the laity,
preferred to make common cause with the excommunicated Arch-
bishop, and defy the Pope.
While Gregory was thus engaged in Italy, Germany was the
scene of events, the consequences of which were felt in Italy, and
contributed to strengthen the power of Henry IV in his struggle
against the Pope. Shortly after the Synod of Brixen hostilities
recommenced. The two armies met for a decisive battle near the
Elster.^ It might seem a religious less than a civil war. The
Saxons advanced to the charge with the bishops of their party and
the clergy chanting the eighty-second psalm as a war-song, " God
standeth in the congregation of the Princes." Henry was accom-
panied to the battle by the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves,
on his way to the tomb of the Holy Apostles, and from behaving like a true brigand,
for you robbed him of all that he possessed. Quite recently, you have committed an
audacious sacrilege, by breaking into and pillaging the Church of St. Benedict."
(R. VI. 37.)
^ Thursday, October 15.
204 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
and fourteen other prelates, and as soon as the army of Henry won
a success, the bishops of his party intoned the 'Te Deum. The
issue of this battle is again obscured by the prejudices of party-
historians. Bruno the Saxon paints the rout of Henry's troops
in the liveliest colours, and states that the King's camp was
plundered, containing much gold and silver, the baggage of the
Archbishops of Cologne and Treves, and of Duke Frederic and
others. But the account of Bruno has to be taken with great
caution, as his patriotic feeling led him into undue glorification of
the Saxons. The P^ita Henrici, on the other hand, attributes a
decisive victory to Henry, and so do Marianus Scotus, and the
Annates Laubienses. If Henry were defeated, the defeat was more
than counterbalanced by the death of his rival, the anti-King, who,
notwithstanding that he was the champion of the Pope, and the
subject of his triumphant prophecy, was mortally wounded in the
engagement. His hand had been struck off, his stomach laid open
by a sword-cut, and he lived but a few minutes after reaching the
camp. According to Bruno, he submitted piously to the Divine
will, and joyfully welcomed the news of the victory gained by his
friends ; Ekkehard, however, writes that he was carried, still living
to Moersburg, where some misgiving as to the justice of his cause
darkened his last hours. He gazed upon his severed hand and
said : — " With this hand I ratified my oath of fealty to my
sovereign Henry ; I have now lost life and kingdom. Bethink
ye, ye who have led me on, in obedience to whose counsels I have
ascended the throne, whether ye have guided me right."
The Saxons, says Bruno, buried the body of Rudolph in the
Cathedral of Moersburg, and later erected an effigy of gilded brass
over his remains, and made large offerings for the repose of
his soul.
The unexpected death of Rudolph created a deep sensation.
The hands of Henry were strengthened, while his adversaries of the
Gregorian and Rudolphian party were almost paralysed by the
blow. Gregory's adherents naturally felt that the end of the anti-
King was a humiliation for the Pope, though they dared not admit
HENRY IV AGAIN EXCOMMUNICATED 205
it. If it had been the lot of Henry to fall in battle they would
certainly have clamoured that this was a divine judgment, a verdict
in favour of the anti-King and Gregory. As it was Rudolph who
lost his life, they endeavoured to prove that his death was in no-
wise contradictory to the Pope's Easter prophecy. Paul of Bern-
ried, who before had spoken so enthusiastically of the virtues of
Rudolph, maintains a discreet silence upon his tragic death — a
proof, if proof were needed, that this was a very sore point with
Gregory's biographer. In the Life of Anselm of Lucca^ it seems
to be hinted that Rudolph died a natural death, which is another
way out of the difficulty ; while Bonitho laments that, in this
event, the ways of Divine justice were dark, but that Henry's
undeserved success only added to the tale of his sins.
Benzo, upon the Henrician side, treats of the death of the anti-
King with cruel malevolence and bitter insults, and hopes that the
same fate will befall " Folleprandus." In another passage he exults
over the death of Rudolph, and the confusion of his " prophet."
Inque brev'i meta cadet ipse suusqne propheta
Praeciso collo mor'itur, mentitur Apollo.
His pulsus caret vita, Ephod Sarabaita.
Lastly, Sigbert of Gembloux has remodelled the wording of
Gregory's Easter prophecy, in order to pour scorn upon the Pope.
" Hildebrand the Pope," he writes, " prophesied, as from Divine
inspiration, that this year the. false King should die ; and his predic-
tion came true ; but he was mistaken in his judgment as to which
king was false."
The death of Rudolph, as we have said, was a moral victory for
Henry IV ; his following had increased when the ban appeared to
have lost its terrors, and the untimely death of the anti-King
seemed like the manifest judgment of God to his adherents.
Gregory had been shown in the face of the world a false prophet ;
Heaven had ratified neither his predictions nor his anathema.
Henry could now confidently attribute his success and the fall of
his rival to the intervention of Providence — Militem nostrum quern
2o6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
ipse (/. e. Gregory) perjurium super nos regem ordinavit destruxit
T)ominus} There was no reluctance now to follow him in a war
which before seemed sacrilegious and impious.
After Rudolph's death, Henry turned his attention towards his
more irreconcilable enemy, the Pope. He also wished to fulfil
the promise he had made to Guibert, of personally conducting him
to Rome for the solemn ceremonies connected with a Papal en-
thronement ; and after Guibert's enthronement, to receive himself
the crown of the Empire. Towards the end of March 1081 he
crossed the Alps, in far different condition from that in which he
had, four years before, hastened as a penitent to the feet of the
Pope, at Canossa.
1 Mons. Bamb. pp. 500, 501.
CHAPTER X
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VH. HIS DEATH.
FEBRUARY IO81 MAY 25, IO85
Roman Synod of February 108 i — Instructions of Gregory VII to the legates in
Germany, Altmann of Passau, and William of Hirschau — Gisulfo of Salerno —
Counsels of moderation given by the Pope to the legates in France — Attitude
of Robert Guiscard towards the Holy See — He goes to Epirus to make war
upon the Emperor of the East — Henry IV in Italy and before the walls of
Rome — His proclamation to the Romans — Henry IV fails in his attempt, and
returns to Northern Italy — He attacks the territory of the Countess Matilda —
Hermann of Salm is named King of Germany — Second attack of Henry IV
on Rome, 1082 — Jordan, Prince of Capua, joins Henry IV — Letter of
Gregory VII to Robert Guiscard — Robert Guiscard's campaign in the East,
his return, and his expedition to Rome — Henry IV's third attack on Rome,
1083 — He seizes the Leonine city — Roman Synod 20th November, 1083.
Henry IV becomes practically master of Rome, March 1084 — Henry IV is
crowned Emperor by the anti-Pope, Clement III — Gregory VII besieged in
the Castle of St. Angelo — He appeals to Robert Guiscard for help — The
Norman Duke marches on Rome ; flight of Henry IV, and the taking of
Rome by Robert Guiscard, May 1084 — The Burning of Rome — Gregory VII
goes to Salerno with Robert Guiscard — Synod of Salerno, and last Encyclical
of Gregory VII — Missions confided to various legates — Robert Guiscard sets
out again for the East — His death at Corfu, 17th July, 1085 — Illness of
Gregory VII ; his last moments and death, 25th May, 1085.
During the month of February, 1081, Gregory held the annual
Synod at Rome in the Lateran basilica. The Registrum devotes
no more than a few lines to this assembly, which pronounced more
than one sentence of anathema. Henry IV and all his adherents
were again placed under the ban ; and two nobles of the Campagna,
Ildemundus, and Landon were anathematized, together with their
207
2o8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
accomplices — for what reason we do not know. Furthermore, the
Synod confirmed the excommunications which had been previously-
pronounced by the legates of the Holy See against the Archbishops
of Aries and Narbonne.
The Archbishop of Aries was a certain Achard of Marseilles,
who had long been at variance with the Holy See. So long ago
as I St March, 1079, Gregory had written to the clergy and people
of Aries charging them to elect a successor to Achard, the Arch-
bishop having been definitely condemned by the stern Bishop of
Die, the Papal legate. Achard was condemned a second time by
the Council of Avignon, and a certain Gibelin was appointed his
successor. The Archbishop of Narbonne, whom the Pope con-
demned, was Peter de Berenga, who, when Bishop of Rodez,
attempted, contrary to canonical right and justice, to seize upon
the Archbishopric of Narbonne; and to the condemnation of 108 i,
he, like his predecessor Guifred, paid no heed whatever. Finally,
the Council suspended from the exercise of their functions several
bishops who, having been summoned to take part in the Synod,
had neither appeared themselves nor sent representatives.
The renewal of the excommunication of Henry IV clearly
showed that the death of Rudolph had not shaken Gregory's
convictions. He refused all concessions, and rejected the advice of
his adherents to open negotiations for peace with Henry. Even at
a time when Henry IV was rapidly advancing towards Rome, the
Pope wrote to Hermann of Metz (18th March) a letter exposing
his principles regarding the relations between Church and State, in
which kingship is spoken of in language, for him, unprecedentedly
bold and contemptuous. The secular power is no longer admitted
as being, like the sacerdotal, divinely appointed. It is founded on
human wickedness and diabolic suggestion, in ambition and intoler-
able presumption ; kingship, moreover, is a usurpation of the
natural rights of equality among all men.
Every king, he continues, is, on his death-bed, a suppliant to
the priest to save him from hell. Can a king baptize ? Can a
king make the Body and Blood of Christ by a word ? What king
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 209
has ever wrought miracles ? Could Constantlne, Theodosius,
Honorius, Charles, or Louis, the most Christian kings, do so ?
The King is, by this reasoning, made lower than the lowest priest.
Shortly after the Synod, Gregory wrote to Altmann, Bishop of
Passau, and to William, Abbot of Hirschau, letters in which he
boldly faced the difficulties of his position : the fact that the
Italians had almost universally taken the side of Henry IV ;
the weakness of his allies ; and the possibility of the election of a
new anti-King : —
" We have to communicate to you," he says, " that since the
death of King Rudolph, of happy memory, almost all the faithful
have besought Us on various occasions and continue to entreat Us,
to receive Henry anew into favour. He, as you know, is now
disposed to make concessions to Us on many points, and almost all
the Italians take his side. The faithful also tell Us that should
Henry come to Italy, as he intends doing, and should he exalt him-
self in opposition to Holy Church, they are informed We can expect
no help from you. Should such help not reach Us, Who scorn his
pride, it will cause Us no great inconvenience. But if our daughter
M[atilda] should not be supported by you, whilst the soldiers are in
such dispositions as you are aware of, what can We expect .'' If her
soldiers refuse to fight, and treat her as a mad woman, she may be
forced rather to make a treaty with Henry, or else to lose her
possessions. Therefore it will be necessary to inform her definitely
whether she can depend upon your help, or not. If by any chance,
Henry should come to Lombardy, We desire, well-beloved brother,
that you warn the Duke Welf ^ faithfully to observe, in duty to
Blessed Peter, those promises which he made to Us in the presence
of the Empress A[gnes .''], and of the Bishop of Como -, when it was
decided, after the death of his father,^ that he should inherit his
possessions.^ We wish to attach him closely to Blessed Peter and to
^ Of Bavaria. - Rainauld, Bishop of Como, 1061 to 1084,
3 The Marquis Azzo II.
^ According to Bernold (Bernoldi, Chronicon : m.g. ss. V^, p. 465) : The death ot
Marquis Azzo II. did not take place until 1097.
14
210 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
employ him specially in our service. If he is so disposed, and if,
out of love to Blessed Peter, and to obtain the pardon of their sins,
other great personages are, to your knowledge, of the same mind,
you must so arrange that they may act according to their con-
victions, and you must give Us exact information of all you have
thus heard. This, if you believe Us, will be the most certain way to
detach the Italians from H[enry], and with the help of God, to decide
them firmly to devote themselves to the service of Blessed Peter.
" Furthermore, We charge you to warn all who fear God, and
wish for the liberty of the Spouse of Christ, not to allow themselves
to be guided either by fear or favour, and not to hurry themselves
to make choice of any person who shall be devoid of the morals,
or other qualities necessary for a king, or who will not undertake
the defence of the Christian Religion. It would be better after
some delay, to elect a king according to the heart of God, who
will act for the honour of Holy Church, than to precipitate the
elevation to the throne of one who is unworthy. We know, it is
true, that Our brethren are wearied by the long struggle and by the
numerous troubles it has involved . . .
" If the King does not show himself obedient, humbly devoted
and useful with regard to Holy Church, as is becoming in a
Sovereign, and as We had hoped of R[udolph], not only will he
receive no favour from Holy Church, but She will war against him.
You yourself, oh well-beloved brother, know perfectly well what
the Holy Roman Church hoped from this King R[udolph], and to
what he had pledged himself in Her regard. We must, therefore,
be well assured, in the midst of so many perils and toils, that We
shall not have less to hope for from him, whomsoever he be, that
shall be elected to the regal dignity. These, then, are the promises
which the Holy Roman Church exacts from him, on the faith of
his oath :
" ' From this moment and for ever I will in good faith be loyal
to St. Peter and to his Vicar the Pope Gregory now living : all that
the Pope shall demand of me, in making use of this formula in
virtue of true obedience^ I will faithfully accomplish, as is the duty of
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 211
a Christian. On the subject of the administration of churches, on
the subject of lands and causes which the Emperor Constantine and
the Emperor Charles have given to Saint Peter, also, on the subject
of all churches or possessions offered or conceded at any time
whatever, to the Apostolic See, whether by men or by women,
which are, or which shall be, in my power, on all these subjects I
will consult with the Pope, in order to avoid danger of perjury and
the loss of my soul. With the help of Christ I will render to God
and Saint Peter the honours and services which are due to them.
When I shall come into the presence of the Pope, I will put my hands
within his, to be his leal man, and true to him and to Saint Peter.'
" For the rest, knowing your faithful attachment to the Apostolic
See, and having experienced how sincere is that attachment. We
leave to your authority and the fidelity you owe to Blessed Peter
the care of examining if in any point aught should be added to or
diminished from this formula, without in any way modifying that
which concerns the promise of fidelity and obedience. . . ."
In a second letter to Altmann of Passau, written probably before
the arrival of Henry IV in Italy, Gregory urges great moderation
in dealing with the clergy of Germany. The bishops who had
ranged themselves on Henry's side, but now wished to retrace their
steps, were to be received "in a fraternal manner"; and the Bishop
of Osnaburg, one of Henry's following, who showed signs of
wavering, was to be welcomed warmly.
At this juncture we find Gisulfo of Salerno appointed legate to
the Holy See, in France, with Peter, Cardinal Bishop of Albano.
It is somewhat surprising to find Gisulfo in this position, for the
chroniclers of the time, and in particular Aime and the chronicler
of Monte Cassino, cannot find words strong enough to express their
fear and hatred of him, and of the cruelties he had committed at
Salerno. After Gisulfo had lost Salerno, he had been employed
by Gregory to take charge of the defence of that part of the Cam-
pagna which had not yet fallen into the hands of the Normans.
Later on, after Gregory's alliance with the Normans, Gisulfo was
dispatched into France to collect the funds due from the tribute of
212 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Peter's pence, a mission which could be undertaken by a layman
without interfering in any purely ecclesiastical question.
Counsels of moderation similar to those which Gregory sent to
Altmann of Passau, and William, Abbot of Hirschau, he sent also
at this time to Hugh, Bishop of Die, and to Aime, Bishop of
Oleron, who were alike charged with the office of representing the
Holy See in Gaul. With the exception of the Archbishop of
Rouen, all the prelates of Normandy had been suspended by the
two legates of Gregory VII, including the Abbot of Couture at
Mans — who had only recently been restored to his office — because
they had not appeared at the Council to which they had been
summoned. The Pope now asked the legates to annul their
sentence of suspension, and excused the prelates, saying that they
had not been intentionally disobedient, but had acted under the
influence of fear of the King of England, ^ lest by appearing at
the Council they should excite his anger against themselves. He
adds that they ought to be careful to avoid exasperating the King
of England, because, although he was less pious than could be
desired, " this king does not sell or destroy the churches of God,
but assures his subjects the blessings of peace and justice." Gregory
also blamed the two legates for having excommunicated (under the
pretext that they would not pay tithes) several persons who had
previously aided them in their efforts to reform the clergy ; and
repeats his advice to temporize and wait for better times. Gregory
evidently felt, as chief pastor, that —
" In such a time as this it is not meet
That every nice oiFence should bear his comment."
In the spring of this year, Gregory was sorely troubled as to
the relations between Robert Guiscard and himself, and turned to
Didier, Abbot of Monte Cassino, the ordinary intermediary between
' The text of the letter runs thus, " metus Regis Francorim^'' but this is clearly
a mistake of the copyist, since the Norman Bishops were dependent on the
King of England, and had nothing whatever to fear from the King of France. The
rest of the letter proves that the Pope alluded to William the Conqueror.
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 213
himself and the Normans, to complain that hitherto the hopes he
had entertained of Duke Robert's support had not been realized.
The failure of the support from Duke Robert against the anti-
Pope at Ravenna made him doubtful of the future. Nevertheless,
he commissioned Didier to invite the Norman Duke to Rome in
Lent, " during which holy season the Normans are accustomed to
suspend their wars," and suggested that the Duke should appear
with an appropriate retinue. But Gregory had already had bitter
experience of the instability of the oaths of the Normans ; the
Duke's own nephew, Robert of Loritello, in spite of promises to
the contrary, continued to encroach upon the lands of the Church.
Not long after, the Pope was still more disquieted by a rumour
that an alliance was in progress between Henry IV, who had by
this time advanced into Italy, and Duke Robert ; and that to
cement this treaty, the King's son was to marry the daughter of
the Duke. Gregory informs Didier of this report, adding that it
will find easy credence among the Romans when they see that " the
Duke refuses us that help which he had solemnly and on his oath
sworn to send to us." ^ The report of this alliance proved to be
unfounded, and somewhat later, at the end of April, or the begin-
ning of May, 108 1, papal envoys arrived at the court of Robert
Guiscard, and found him completing his preparations for embarking
for the Empire of the East. With regard to this expedition, Anne
Comnenius says —
" Having started from Salerno Robert Guiscard came to Otranto,
where he stayed some days, awaiting his wife Sikelgaita, for she
accompanied her husband in this war, and it was indeed a hateful
sight to see that woman dressed in his armour. When she arrived,
he embraced her, and at once directed his troops towards Brindisi,
the chief port of all Apuleia. At Brindisi he reunited his whole
forces, both the warships and the land transports, and thence he
planned to depart for the invasion of our country.
" Whilst still at Salerno, Duke Robert had dispatched one of
1 R. Vlll. 34 (IX. II).
214 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
his nobles, by name Raoul, on an embassy to the Emperor Botoniatis,
who had seized upon the sovereign power after having driven
away Ducas/ and before setting sail for our country, the Duke
wished to learn the result of this Raoul's journey. The mission
with which this man had been entrusted was that of acquainting
the Emperor with the causes which had moved Robert to make war
against him. Botoniatis had separated the daughter of Robert
Guiscard from her husband, the Emperor Constantine, who had
been dethroned ; and it was to avenge this insult and injury
without delay that the Duke planned his invasion. The same
ambassador brought presents, and letters filled with protestations of
friendship, to the chief minister, and to the commander-in-chief of
all the Western troops : that is to say, to my Father, Alexis, who
at that time was vested with the supreme powers of the Empire.
Robert, therefore, awaited at Brindisi the return of Raoul.
" The concentration of his troops and fleet was not completed
when Raoul, returning from the East, landed at Brindisi, but the
replies which he brought only excited the anger of the barbarian
Robert, and most of all because they turned against himself the
absurd reasons which he had invented to make his intended aggression
appear legitimate. Thus, Raoul showed that the pretended Emperor
Michael, who was at that time under the protection and at the
Court of Robert Guiscard, was but a monk and an impostor, who
tried to pass himself off as the Emperor, and that the whole attempt
was nothing but a hoax. He, Raoul, had seen the real Michael at
Constantinople, in mourning costume, in a monastery at that City,
stripped of all power, but with his identity established beyond
dispute. To this declaration Raoul added, what he had learnt since
his return, that is to say, that my father, as I shall relate further on,
having overthrown Botoniatis, was himself possessed of the Imperial
power, and had recalled and associated with himself the illustrious
Constantine, the son of Ducas.
" Raoul took advantage of this intelligence to attempt to dissuade
Robert from making war against my father. 'For by what right'
1 Michael VII.
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 215
said he, ^ can you attack Alexis^ when it is Botoniatis who is the author
of the injury against your family^ since it is he who has deprived your
daughter Helen of her husband and of her dignity as Empress. Tou
will act unjustly^ if to avenge yourself of wrongs committed against you,
you should attack those who have done you no injury, and further, I fear
lest, in carrying on an unjust war, you should lose all, men, ships, and
ammunition.^ The words so infuriated Robert, that he could with
difficulty be prevented from falling upon Raoul, like one beside
himself with rage, whilst the false Michael, that pretended Emperor,
was all the more exasperated, because the evidence against himself
was so crushing, as to leave him no chance of reply. The Duke
had, beyond all this, another cause for his anger against Raoul,
because one of Raoul's brothers, the Count Roger, had gone over
to the Romans, and had acquainted them with the plan of campaign
meditated by Robert. Raoul, therefore, seeing that some grave
consequence, even death itself, threatened him from the wrath of
Guiscard, fled and took refuge with Boemond 1."
In the month of April, 1081, a new revolution convulsed
Constantinople. The old Emperor, Nicephorus Botoniatis, who
thought to make up by his astuteness and intrigues for his lack of
military spirit, was compelled to abdicate. He took refuge in the
monastery of Peribleptos and Comnenius assumed the Imperial
power. Alexis Comnenius, nephew of the old General Isaac
Comnenius, forced to adopt extreme measures by the jealousy of
Nicephorus Botoniatis and his subsequent malicious intrigues,
was proclaimed Emperor by his legions, and afterwards attacked
Adrianople, and marched thence to Constantinople, where he was
crowned.
As Anne Comnenius states, the new sovereign, Alexis, was not
ignorant of Guiscard's preparations against the empire, and, in order
to disarm his anger showed great solicitude regarding the family of
Michael VII. Constantine Porphyrogenitis was authorized to
adopt the title of Emperor, to assume the crown and the purple, and
' Akxiadis, C: I, 15, \'ol. I, p. 70, seq.
2i6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to take part in the government, whilst his wife, the young
Princess Helen, daughter of Robert Guiscard, was treated at
Constantinople with all the honours due to her rank.
The attitude of Comnenius made no change in the determination
of Guiscard to seize Constantinople ; and in the latter part of
May he embarked at Otranto with the bulk of his army for Valona,
on the coast of Epirus. Before setting sail, he named his son Roger
as governor of his states during his absence, and presented him to
the nobles of Calabria and Apuleia as his successor in the event of
his death during the expedition to the East. As Roger was still
very young, being scarcely twenty-one, his father appointed as his
counsellors the two counts, Gerhard and Robert of Loritello.
William of Apuleia writes that Duke Robert recommended his son
and his advisers to keep watch over the movements of Henry IV,
and to go to the help of the Pope in case of need ; but, as the
better part of the Norman troops followed Guiscard to the East, it
would not be in the power of the government he left behind to
render any very substantial service to the Pontiff, even if they
wished to do so.
When Robert Guiscard set sail for Epirus, Henry IV had
already crossed the Alps and entered Lombardy. On April 4
he kept Easter at Verona ; and thence proceeded to Milan and
Pavia. As Gregory mentions in a letter, Henry's following was
small. Among the people who accompanied him were the anti-
Pope Guibert ; Tedaldo, Archbishop of Milan ; Liemar, Archbishop
of Bremen ; Burchard, Bishop of Lausanne and Chancellor of the
Kingdom of Italy ; and lastly, Manasses, the deposed Archbishop
of Rheims. So small was Henry's army that Gregory had little
fear of an attack ; and Rome was not merely faithful to its Pope,
it was also firm, united, and courageous. The city must have been
well provisioned, the fortifications had been strengthened, and, as
two senators of Rome (according to Benzo) admitted, at the Synod
at Brixen, Gregory had " fascinated the Romans."
When Henry, on the Friday before the Feast of Pentecost
(May 21, 108 1 ), presented himself at the gates of Rome, he
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 217
found them barred against him ; no deputations sallied forth to
meet him ; his only greetings were the taunts and abuse shouted
at him from the ramparts. He was obliged to encamp outside the
City of Rome, in the Praia Neronis, and there he issued a
proclamation to the Romans, in which he proclaimed his intention
of assuming "that hereditary dignity which is by right ours," and
his wish that his visit should be a pacific one, to " put an end to the
discord which has so long divided the priesthood and the Empire,
and to restore all to peace and unity in Christ."
The Romans, however, appeared insensible to the royal pro-
clamation ; possibly they were not even aware of it. In default
of a coronation at Rome, Benzo relates an anecdote of Henry's
receiving the crown in camp, when he was celebrating Whitsunday,
but if such a ceremony took place, it was of no real importance.
Henry's expedition to Rome can be looked upon only as a
failure. The Pope, within those impregnable walls which the
Germans did not venture at first to storm, held him in defiance,
and after having obstinately remained encamped outside the city
until the end of June, Henry was obliged to raise the siege and
retire to Lombardy. On July 10 he appeared at Siena, and
proceeded to Pisa and Lucca.
On reaching the North of Italy, Henry sought to revenge him-
self upon Gregory's ally, the Countess Matilda. The biographer
of Bardo, Anselm of Lucca, writes that the King " turned all
his fury against Matilda ; he burnt the houses and destroyed the
castles in her dominions, but the mercy of God so provided that he
did not do any very considerable harm."
In order to detach the great cities of Northern Italy from their
allegiance to Matilda, Henry granted to some of them, such as
Lucca, Pisa and Siena, many and valuable privileges, together with
various rights and customs with which all students of mediaeval
history are acquainted, of which those municipalities took
advantage.
In Germany, the Saxon and Rudolphian parties, in spite of the
death of Rudolph, would not acknowledge their defeat. Some
2i8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
ten months after Rudolph's death they agreed to nominate as King
of all Germany, Count Hermann of Salm. This agreement was
made at Ochsenfurt-on-the-Maine at the beginning of August ;
and on December 26 the Count was anointed King at Goslar, and,
it would appear, also crowned. Hermann owned large possessions
in Lorraine and Franconia, and was an intimate friend of Hermann,
Bishop of Metz, who took an active part in the affair ; he was also
the candidate of the Saxon party, and just as Lambert of Hersfeld
closes his history with the Forchheim election, Bruno concludes
his Saxon War with the anointing of Hermann : — " The princes
of Saxony, greatly rejoiced, received their King, Hermann, with
great demonstrations of joy at Goslar, a few days before Christmas
day, upon the Feast of St. Stephen, the protomartyr. He was
anointed King by Siegfried, Archbishop of Mayence." We do not
know whether Gregory had any influence in the election of this
" Man of Straw " (as he has been called by Gfrorer), who died,
unnoticed, in 1088. In Gregory's letters the name of Count
Hermann never occurs and Bonitho and Paul of Bernried do
not mention him, which goes to prove that Gregory was not
instrumental in the election. Shortly after the February Synod
of 108 I Gregory had written to Altmann, Bishop of Passau, and
to William, Abbot of Hirschau, his instructions with regard to
the kind of person who should be chosen by the princes of
Germany to take the place of the dead Rudolph. Gregory insists
that the future King should be a devoted son of the Church, or
not only will he receive no favour from her, but she will openly
oppose him. The future King is to swear obedience to the Pope,
in a formula prescribed by Gregory.
This letter of Gregory's has left no apparent effect, and we
do not even know if the Bishop of Passau, and the Abbot of
Hirschau were able, and had the opportunity, to do what Gregory
recommended them.
It was probably whilst Henry IV was recruiting the army in
Northern Italy which he hoped would throw open the gates of
Rome, that he received an embassy from Alexis Comnenius,
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 219
Emperor of the East, at the head of which was the famous
Cheirophaetus. Previous to this, pourparlers had been held
between the two sovereigns, for the purpose of forming an alliance,
offensive and defensive. Alexis, while his Empire was being
invaded by Guiscard and his Normans, did everything in his
power to persuade Henry to march upon Calabria and Apuleia,
and thus compel Guiscard to abandon his Eastern expedition, and
return to defend his own States ; and, to gain Henry's help, he
sent him presents of money, a golden cross ornamented with
precious stones, a casket containing the relics of several Saints,
with the names of the Saints carefully attached to each relic, a
goblet set with sardonyx stones, a crystal vase, and a battle-axe
shaped like a star !
Early in 1082 Henry's preparations were sufficiently advanced
to enable him to renew his attempt upon Rome. When he
appeared before the city in February, he found it armed and
closed against him. From his camp he issued a second pro-
clamation to the Roman people, in which he sought to avoid the
difficulties of his position by a strange proposition : Hildebrand,
who is spoken of as a " stumbling block," " a tyrant worse than
Decius," should, the King suggests, be summoned to appear before
an assembly, which should decide whether he were innocent or
guilty : to be deposed, or to be recognized as the legitimate Pope.
In case the assembly should have to take place outside the city,
Henry offered guarantees for the safety of Hildebrand on his way
to and from the place appointed for the conference. " If Hilde-
brand is recognized by the assembly," Henry concludes, " I will
obey him. ..."
That Henry should have made such a proposal after the very
unfavourable references to Hildebrand in the proclamation itself,
and after the still more explicit accusations of the Synod of Brixen
(where the Pope was accused of murder, heresy, and a number of
other crimes), seems incredible. By such a proposition he incon-
testably throws aside Guibert of Ravenna, and treats his own
nomination of him as " Pope " as of no validity !
220 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
The whole policy is so strange that the question naturally arises,
did Henry intend his proposal to be seriously considered ? He
cannot, certainly, have wished for a reconciliation with Gregory, to
be attained by the sacrifice of his staunch adherent Guibert. The
only object of the proclamation must have been to gain time and
to win over the Romans. If he were true to Guibert, the proposal
must appear an astonishing piece of hypocrisy, unworthy of a
king.
In either case the public assumption of tht possibility of Guibert's
election at Brixen being set aside (which is implicit in the proposal
to judge whether Gregory were the legitimate Pope or not) must
have been highly humiliating and distasteful to Guibert himself.
In Rome, and before Rome, Henry effected nothing, though he
took possession of several castles in the Agro Romano. The only
advantage he gained by his second appearance before the Eternal
City was an alliance which he formed with Jordan, Prince of Capua,
who seems to have had more than his share of the " Norman
fickleness." Peter the Deacon relates that before abandoning
Gregory VII, Jordan and his Normans for some time sought to
bring about a reconciliation between the Pope and the King of
Germany ; but when they found that Gregory was inflexible, Jordan
and his party went over to Henry's side. A letter from Gregory to
John, Archbishop of Naples,^ proves that the Pope excommunicated
Prince Jordan in return for his defection.
However patriotic, the resistance of the Romans to Henry IV
was purely defensive, and could not, as the Pope well knew, be
indefinitely prolonged. Henry IV was tenacious of his purpose,
and capable of a third appearance, when the papal treasury might
be exhausted and further funds not forthcoming.
On May 14, 1082, after Henry's departure, Gregory summoned
a council composed of the cardinals, bishops, abbots, and all the
principal ecclesiastics then in Rome, and consulted with them as to
whether, under the stress of circumstances, he could alienate the
^ R. VIII. 49 (IX. 26).
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 221
possessions of the Church, and thus obtain funds tor the relief
of the most urgent necessities of the moment. The reply of the
assembly was in the negative, and to this decision Gregory was
obliged to conform.
According to Donizo, the Countess Matilda, acting on the
advice of Anselm of Lucca, whom the Pope had appointed his
vicar and representative in Lombardy, melted down all the gold and
silver vessels she possessed in the fortress of Canossa, and sent to
Gregory seven hundred pounds' weight of silver and nine pounds'
weight of gold ; but this was but a trifling sum in comparison with
what was required to meet the urgent needs of the situation.
In his difficulty, Gregory turned to his inactive but prosperous
ally, Robert Guiscard, who had written to him to inform him
of a brilliant victory over Alexis Comnenius. He urges the
victorious Duke to be mindful of his promises, " and of that promise
which you have not made, but which it is incumbent upon you to
fulfil as a Christian," and of the urgent need of the Church of his
support ; but the nature of the support is not specified. The Pope
dared not, he concludes, ai^x the leaden seal to the letter, for fear
it should be seized upon and fall into the hands of his enemies.^
This letter reached Robert Guiscard after his capture of the town
of Castoria, when he was starting for Thessalonica, intending to
march on Constantinople. It would be beyond the scope of this
work to recount in detail the history of Guiscard's campaign in the
East. It must suffice here to state that after taking the island of
Corfu, Robert Guiscard and his troops laid siege to the town of
Durazzo, the key to the western portion of the empire. Here the
Normans had to reckon with the Venetian fleet by sea, which had
come to the aid of the Greeks, whilst by land the Emperor Alexis
himself did his best to avert the fall of Durazzo. But nothino:
could save the city, and Robert, having captured and garrisoned it,
advanced resolutely with his army into the interior of the empire,
where no one dared to resist him. Castoria, where the Emperor
• R. VIII. 40.
222 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
had placed three hundred Varangians, with orders to defend
the place to the last extremity, was seized with a panic and
capitulated ; and its example was followed by all the surrounding
country.
After giving an account of this march, which resembled a
triumphal progress rather than a war, Malaterra adds that the fear
inspired by the very name of Robert Guiscard was so great that it
caused "all Constantinople and the entire empire of the East to
tremble and shake."
It was while marching from Castoria upon Thessalonica, that the
Duke checked his advance, and summoning the officers of his
army, informed them that matters in Italy required his immediate
return, and presented to them his son Boemond as their General during
his absence. The Duke himself hastened to the coast of Illyricum,and
taking with him only two vessels, landed at Otranto, accompanied
by his wife Sikelgaita. William of Apuleia relates that the Duke was
absent in the East an entire year, consequently we must place his
return about the month of May, 1082.
The first care of Robert Guiscard, after disembarking at Otranto,
was to restore peace in Apuleia and Calabria. Without loss of
time he set out for Oria, which was then besieged by Geoffi-ey of
Conversano, and when the assailants learned that the Duke had
returned to Italy and was marching against them in person, they
abandoned the siege without waiting for his arrival. The Duke
was received with acclamations at Oria by the inhabitants, who were
overjoyed at their deliverance.
Robert now proceeded to threaten his nephew, Jordan of Capua,
who had entered into an alliance with Henry IV against the Holy
See. Whenever the Norman Barons revolted against their Duke,
it was always at Capua that they found support and sympathy. The
Duke, to crush Jordan, found it necessary to call in Roger of Sicily
to his assistance, and the united brothers then invaded the Cam-
pagna. They were unable to gain possession of either Capua or
Aversa, but Jordan, hiding in his fortified towns, was obliged to
witness the devastation of his principality, while he was powerless
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 223
to hinder it. Robert Guiscard then returned to his own states, and
Roger to Sicily.^
We know only in a very indistinct way what were the motives
which induced Robert Guiscard to remain stationary in the south of
Italy, during the greater part of the eighteen months which passed
between the expedition against Capua and Aversa, and the arrival
of the Duke in Rome, in the month of May, 1084, Instead
of returning to the East, where his presence was so necessary at
the head of his army, or hindering the return of Henry IV to
Rome by organizing his forces in defence of the Holy See, he
fell upon the town of Bari, in 1083, and laid it under heavy
contributions towards his wars. After this, from May to July,
1083, he laid siege to the city of Cannes, and utterly destroyed it.
Hermann and Abagilard, who defended Cannes against the Duke,
were fortunate in being able to escape, and take refuge at the
Court of the Emperor Alexis. The rebellions of Bari and Cannes
were clearly the result of Byzantine intrigue, since it is stated
by Anne Comnenius that the Emperor Alexis himself wrote
to Hermann of Cannes, instigating him to revolt against Robert
Guiscard, and many other Norman nobles allowed themselves to be
won over by the gold and diplomacy of the Byzantines.
Henry IV meantime, after spending the month of November,
1082, at Bergamo and Verona, returned to the neighbourhood
of Rome in the December of the same year, and whilst leaving
a sufficient number of soldiers before Rome to carry on the siege
and prevent, as far as possible, any communication with the outside
world, he made several excursions into Latium to ensure the
recognition of his authority. He celebrated Easter (9th April,
1083) at S. Rufina, to the north-west of Rome. The Romans
attempted a sortie, but were compelled to retreat in disorder, when
many of them perished under the hoofs of the horses or were
drowned in the Tiber. At last, when all his attempts to storm the
city or to make a practicable breach in the walls had been in vain,
1 G. Malaterra, Historia Skula, iii. 34. — Romuald Salern .., in Muraiori, r. 1. ss. l.c.
224
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
an accident made him master of the Leonine part of Rome. " On
2nd June," writes Landulf, in his History of Milan^ " while
both parties were in profound repose, two followers of the
Archbishop of Milan stole under a part of the walls which had
been slightly broken. They climbed up, found the sentinels asleep,
killed them, got possession of the tower, and made a signal to the
royal army, which advanced rapidly to their support." It is probable
that Landulf exaggerates the prowess of his compatriots, the
Milanese, in the taking of Rome. But, whoever was responsible for
the first success, that of Henry was assured when his troops
had once made their way into the Eternal City ; the Leonine city
was won, but the Pope withdrew into the strong castle of
St. Angelo, and the whole of Rome on the left bank of the Tiber
still defied the Germans. It has been incorrectly stated that after
the taking of the Leonine city, Gregory took refuge finally in the
Castle of St. Angelo, for the chronicler Lupus states the contrary,
and says that the Pope afterwards changed his quarters to the Lateran
and the Coelian Hill. During Henry's occupation of the Leonine
city, Gregory, in the grip of a real danger, proposed that a general
Synod should be held in a " safe " place (that is to say, outside
Rome) where clergy and laymen, friends and enemies might
assemble to deliberate : to find a way out of the troubles which
oppressed, and to discover who was responsible for the strife
between. Church and State. Gregory, it would seem, inclined to
lay the blame, not upon Henry but, upon Guibert. The assembly,
however, was never held.
Henry meantime showed that he still supported Guibert, and,
oblivious of his last royal proclamation to the Romans, allowed him
to oflliciate in St. Peter's. Certain authorities have concluded that
Guibert was enthroned in 1083, but this is clearly an error, for the
ceremony did not take place until the following year.
The General Council " from all parts of the world" that Gregory
wished for, was not possible, and the Synod held at the Lateran
in November 1083 was but poorly attended ; for besides Italian
bishops and abbots, only a few prelates from France were present.
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 225
Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons, Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, and
Reginald, Bishop of Como were stopped on their way and pre-
vented from attending, as were also the Ambassadors of the anti-
King Hermann, and Odo, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, who was
charged with a diplomatic message to Henry, from the Holy See.
The council lasted three days. Gregory's allocution treated of the
faith and life of a Christian, and the firmness and constancy
necessary under the present circumstances. The Registrum does not
say that sentence of excommunication was levelled anew against the
King, but merely details the complaints and accusations against him.
As Gregory's allocution breathed of the virtue of constancy, a
letter of this date expresses his thankfulness that he has remained
inflexibly firm, unmoved by outward pressure from the path he had
decided to tread : —
" We thank God," he writes, " the Father of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. He has been Our shield and buckler against the snares of
Our enemies, and the violence of Our persecutors. He has made
use of Our hand for the defence of justice, according to the witness
of Our conscience. His strength has fortified Our human weak-
ness, so that neither false promises nor the terrors of persecution
have been able to persuade Us to make a truce with iniquity. All
Our most profound thanksgivings then go up to Him who has
enabled Us to remain firm in the midst of our torments, and
whose will it is that We should await more tranquil times without
abandoning Our liberty, without acting contrary to justice, without
deserving the reproaches of Our conscience or the blame of those
religious and serious persons who know the circumstances of Our
case."
Henry had temporarily left Rome, to reappear there in
February or in the beginning of March, 1084. The Romans at
length grew weary of enduring the manifold miseries of a siege,
there seemed no hope of speedy relief from the Normans, and the
resources of Gregory began to fail. Negotiations were commenced
between them, and the oppressed Romans agreed that, at an
appointed time, either Gregory himself, or another Pope elected for
15
226 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
that purpose, should present Henry with the Imperial crown.
Nothing is said of the anti-Pope Guibert, and it would seem
that the Romans, even in that hour of need, clung firmly to their
right of election, although they must have been aware that, if Henry
bore hard upon them, their choice must fall upon Guibert.
The oath taken by the Romans was discovered in London,
in the British Museum, in a manuscript formerly belonging to
the family of Lord Arundell of Wardour. It has been printed
in the M. G. SS. vol. viii, p. 461. The text runs as follows : —
Sacramentum : Tibi dicimus^ 7'ex Henrice^ quia nos infra terminum
ilium quern tecum ponemus ad 1 5 dies postquam Romam veneris^ faciemus
te coronare papam Gregorium^ si vivus est, vel si forte de Roma non
fugerit. Si centum mortuus fuerit vel si fugerit et reverti noluerit ad
nostrum consilium ut te coronet, et in constitutum terminum^ nos papam
elegemus cum tuo consilio secundum canones^ et ipsum papam studebimus
per bonam fidem ut te coronet, et nos studebimus per bonam fidem, ut
Romani faciant tibi fidelitatem. Hcec omnia observabimus tibi absque
fraude et malo ingenio, nisi quantum communi consilio nostro et tuo
addatur vel minuatur.
Bernold relates an extraordinary anecdote with reference to this
oath. When Gregory heard of it (according to this chronicler) he
released the Roman nobles from their oaths. When, therefore,
the King demanded the fulfilment of the treaty, they evaded it by
pitiful casuistry. They had promised, they said, that the Pope
should give the crown, not that he should crown and anoint the
King. They proposed, if the King should make satisfaction, he
should receive the crown, with the Papal benediction. If not, he
should still receive the crown — it was to be let down upon a rod
from the Castle of St. Angelo.
Bernold alone has this story, which lacks all inherent proba-
bility ; it has " a fabulous ring," as Hefcle remarks. If Bernold's
object, as is most probable, was to belittle the King, he only
succeeded in belittling the Pope, in his stead.
The oath itself, however, was never kept, for when Henry
returned to Rome, the fickle Romans were once more faithful
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VJI 227
subjects of the Pope, and he was obliged to lay siege to the
city.
Henry, as we have said, had temporarily left Rome when the
summer heats began, leaving behind him a small garrison under
the command of Ulrich of Cosheim, established in a hastily-con-
structed fortress close to St. Peter's, while he himself departed to
subdue the territory of Gregory's staunch ally, the Countess
Matilda, with fire and sword. The subjects of Matilda began
openly to revolt, and to make terms with Henry. Adelaide
the Marchioness of Susa, attempted to negotiate an alliance
between the King and the Papalist Countess, but in vain. Her
adviser, Anselm of Lucca, counteracted the intrigues of the royal
party, and raised troops to avenge the burning of Matilda's
castles by burning those of the nobles who had deserted to King
Henry.
Upon his return, after the expedition into Northern Italy,
Henry found his small garrison wasted by fever ; its leader, Ulrich
of Cosheim, dead ; the fortress near St. Peter's demolished ; the
Romans, now faithful to Gregory, banded against himself. He
renewed the siege with resolute determination to hear of no
further terms : all was to recommence anew. He made, mean-
while, some predatory excursions into Campagna, and (perhaps
to watch any hostile movements of Robert Guiscard) into Apuleia,
where he had interviews with Jordan of Capua and the avowed
enemies of the Duke. In a letter to Theodoric, Bishop of Ver-
dun, Henry states that at this time he was discouraged and
despairing of being able to take Rome, and of being crowned
Emperor, and had serious thoughts of leaving Italy altogether and
returning to Germany, where his presence was imperatively re-
quired. But, suddenly an embassy arrived from Rome offering
to surrender the city. On March 21, 1084, the King was again
at St. Peter's in the Leonine city, together with his wife Queen
Bertha, the anti-Pope Guibert, the Bishops of Padua, Basle,
Utrecht, Strasburg, and Vicenza, Duke Ranieri, and a fairlv
large army. The same day, the St. John's Gate was opened
228 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to him by the people. Henry, accompanied by the anti-Pope
Guibert, at length took possession of the Lateran, and Gregory
hastily retired into the Castle of St. Angelo. The bridges over
the Tiber, however, were still occupied by Gregory's soldiers, as
was the ancient Septizonium near the Palatine by a certain Rus-
ticus, a relative and friend of Gregory's. Near the Arch of Titus,
the Frangipani held the Cartularian tower, and finally, on the heights
of the Capitol, the family of the Corsi had barricaded every exit,
to bar the passage of the troops of Henry IV.
In spite of this Papal resistance, which lasted for two months,
Henry was practically master of the situation, and Gregory, from
the Castle of St. Angelo, could see the King, with his anti-Pope,
enter in triumph through the Lateran Gate, and the procession
pass first to an assembly of prelates to elect another Pope. From the
Lateran Henry convoked a synod in the time-honoured residence
of the Popes. Three successive summonses were sent to Gregory
to require his presence at the assembly, but it may readily be
imagined that he returned no reply to them. The meeting now
declared him excommunicate, pronounced sentence of deposition
against him, and formally chose Guibert for his successor. Henry
wrote to Theodoric, Bishop of Verdun, that all the cardinals, and
the entire people had declared against Gregory and for Guibert,
but this can only mean that the oppressed Romans dared to offer
no resistance to Henry's will.
It is not correct to assume that Henry acted at this juncture, in
his quality of Roman patrician. The patriciate deserves even less
emphasis here, as the Henrician writers differ widely among them-
selves on this point. The Vita Henrici relates that the Emperor,
when crowned, was by the new Pope named Patrician, which is
quite erroneous ; while Sigbert of Gembloux makes the nomination
come from the Romans themselves. In these two accounts some
apparent analogy is observed with the events of 1046, when the
Emperor Henry III was joyfully welcomed as Patrician by the
Romans.
As a consequence of the forced election in the synod, Guibert
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 229
was enthroned on March 24, 1084, at St. Peter's. On his en-
thronement Guibert was given by Henry IV the name of Clement
(III), which name Henry IV doubtless intended to recall the Pope
(Clement II) whom his father had nominated in the year 1046.
Deusdedit makes a jest of the name of the anti-Pope, and says that
a better one for him would have been that of Papa Demens, or
mad Pope.
Seven days afterwards, on Easter Day, March 31, Clement III
placed the Imperial Crown upon the head of Henry IV, and con-
secrated him Emperor amidst the acclamations of the multitude.
Thus the King at last reached the goal of his ambition ; and from
this time forward called himself divina favente dementia Romanorum
tribus ^ Imperator Augustus. He is, likewise, now the " defender of
the church " ; and is filled with the consciousness that he ranks
above all other men, — constat nos., divina disponente dementia^ cunctis
praecellere mortalibus.
After having received the Imperial Crown, Henry remained at
Rome in order to acquire possession of those strong strategic points
of the City which still held out. On April 29 he was master of
the Capitol, but to take the fortress of St. Angelo by storm was
beyond his power ; so he caused his troops to raise another circle
of fortifications outside the old fortress, in such a way as to bar all
egress, and all relations with those without, and then waited until
fatigue and famine should open to them the gates of the last refuge
of Gregory VII.
Tidings, however, were received which at once changed the aspect
of affairs. Didier, the Abbot of Monte Cassino, arrived in Rome
and communicated to the Emperor and the Pope the fact that the
formidable Robert Guiscard was advancing at the head of a great
army to Rome. " It was a strange army of the faithful ; from
every quarter men had rushed to his banner, some to rescue the
Pope, others from love of war. The Saracens haci enlisted in great
numbers."
Gregory had, in the hour of his distress, turned to the Duke,
1 Henry I never became Emperor. Hence Henry IV Is, as Emperor, Henry III.
230 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
and sent in embassy to him an Abbot from Dijon, named Jarento,
The Duke's great army was a response to this appeal. According
to William of Apuleia, this army consisted of not less than six
thousand horse and thirty thousand foot soldiers — Normans, Lom-
bards, Greeks, Calabrians, Apuleians, Saracens — all welded into one
as an engine of war by the military genius of the great commander.
At the news of the approach of this formidable army Henry IV
left Rome (May 21), without striking a blow. On May 27, a few
days after the departure of the Emperor, the vanguard of the
Norman army appeared before the walls of Rome and encamped
near to an aqueduct, not far from the Gate of St. John. It was
composed of one thousand picked men, and was followed at a short
distance by a body of troops three thousand strong, Robert Guiscard
himself bringing up the rear.
Not yet aware of the flight of Henry IV, and expecting an
attack, the Duke advanced with prudence, keeping his troops in
readiness for battle. When he reached the walls of Rome, he
learned the truth. Opinions differ as to the date of Robert's entry
into Rome. According to Malaterra, he waited outside Rome for
three days ; Wido of Ferrara, on the other hand, says that he
entered Rome on arriving ; while Bonitho says that he entered the
day after his arrival, May 28.^ Then, two gates, the Flaminian,
and one in the direction of Pincian hill, were opened to the soldiers,
who precipitated themselves into the city shouting " Guiscard !
Guiscard ! " a terrible and sinister cry which had been heard to
ring through the streets of many an Italian and Sicilian city on
the day of their fall. Palermo, Bari, Salerno, Durazzo and many
others in Illyricum, had trembled at the sound as the victors entered
the vanquished cities.
1 A contemporary monk, living at Grotto-Ferrata, gives the date of the entry of
Robert and his Normans into Rome in a marginal note.
We give the translation of this note, which is in Greek, and has been inserted by
MoNTFAUCON in his Diarium Italicum : " In the year of the creation of the world
6,592, (that is 1084 of the Christian era) in the 7th indiction, the 29th of May, a
Tuesday, at three o'clock the Duke (Robert Guiscard) entered Rome, and laid it
waste." But as May 29, 1084, was a Wednesday and not a Tuesday, and as the
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 231
The Norman troops took possession of the Prata Neronis and
of the Field of Mars. The first act of the Duke was to release
the Pope from his imprisonment in the Castle of St. Angelo.
Gregory, and those cardinals who had remained faithful to him,
again took possession of the Church of the Lateran, and the entire
City was then in the military occupation of the troops of Robert
Guiscard. At first, apart from the pillage of some of the churches
in the Field of Mars, the Norman band did not commit any
great excesses, but on the third day after the entry into Rome one
of Robert Guiscard's Normans was killed in a street brawl by a
Roman, and upon this small provocation the fury of the Normans
broke out. The troops of Robert Guiscard — " Christian " Normans
and "pagan" Saracens alike — spread through the city, treating it
with all the cruelty suffered by a captured town, pillaging, violating,
murdering wherever they met with opposition. A large part of the
old City between the Colosseum and the church of St. John
Lateran was burnt, and the Colosseum was partially destroyed.
The Saracens, who had been foremost in the pillage, were now
foremost in the conflagration and massacre. No religious house
was secure from plund' r, murder and rape. Nuns were violated,
matrons forced, and the rings cut from their living fingers. Besides
those murdered, thousands of Romans, both men and women,
their hands tied behind their backs, were made to defile before
Guiscard's host, and then sold as slaves ; some of them were
taken away to Calabria and sold " like Jews," as a chronicler writes.
" It is probable that neither Goth nor Vandal," writes Milman,
" neither Greek nor German brought such desolation on the city
as this capture by the Normans. From this period dates the
desertion of the older part of the city, and its gradual extension
over the site of the modern city, the Campus Martius.'''' ^
New Rome is built in the valley, on the banks of the Tiber,
monk is more likely to be correct as to the sign for the period than as to the sign
for the day of the month, many historians have accepted the date Tuesday, May 28,
1084, as that of the taking of Rome by Robert Guiscard.
^ Latin Christianity y Vol. \\ .
232 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
upon the Prata ISeronis where Henry IV encamped. The heights
about the Lateran have remained almost silent and deserted, while
the traces of the passage of the Normans are still visible, and the
undulations of the ground cover, while they still indicate, the
outlines of ancient Rome. In his history of Milan, Landulf, an
enemy of Gregory's, points the bitter and amazing contrast between
the Pope himself — the Vicar of Christ on Earth — and the Pope's
deliverer and allies ; and lays all to Gregory's charge — -Jiliis mail
chrismalisy filiahus pejus consecratis ; the baptism of blood for
Rome's sons, the infamous laying-on of hands for her daughters;
while Paul of Bernried, a Gregorian, passes over the horrors of
the time in silence. Bonitho goes further in his Gregorian sympa-
thies, and relates and triumphs over the Norman's vengeance, and
with unprecedented callousness suggests that these unfortunate
Romans deserved their fate — to be sold like Jews — because, like
the Jews, they had betrayed their Pastor !
So great was the misery in Rome that Gregory dared not trust
himself in the city without his foreign guard. As Robert Guiscard
wished to leave Rome and withdrew all his troops from the city,
the only course left to Gregory was to depart also in. the company
of the Norman duke. He left the smoking ruins and desolated
streets, and travelled first to Monte Cassino, and thence to Salerno.
To Rome he never returned ; death came slowly upon him at
Salerno.
Duke Robert took part of his troops northward to recall to
their allegiance the castles and cities which belonged to the Papal
states, notably Sutri and Nepi, and returned to Rome during
the last days of June. During the early days of July the Romans
witnessed the departure of the Norman troops, who marched
towards the south, leaving only a small garrison in the Castle of
St. Angelo. As the anti-Pope Clement III was at Tivoli, the
Normans endeavoured to capture the city by assault, but Tivoli,
protected by its strong walls, resisted, and the Duke, seeing that
a siege would be necessary to subdue the town, preferred to draw
off his troops.
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 233
When Gregory and Robert Guiscard arrived at Monte Cassino,
the Abbot Didier received them with the highest honours, and
took upon himself all the expenses of the entertainment of the
Pope and his suite, for Gregory had left Rome without resources.
In return Robert Guiscard bestowed upon the abbey many valuable
gifts, which have been recorded by Peter the Deacon in his
chronicle.
After some days spent at Beneventum Gregory reached Salerno,
where he decided to remain. By a strange irony of fate, the Pope
had in his train the Lombard Prince Gisulfo, whom the Normans
had dispossessed of the principality. We do not know the exact
date of the arrival of Gregory at Salerno, but we know from
Malaterra that Robert Guiscard started on his Eastern expedition in
September 1084, and as he had previously accompanied the Pope
to Salerno he must have done so in August or early in September.
His sojourn in Salerno must have been a humiliating and
painful trial to Gregory, for Salerno itself had been part of the
property of the Church, until it fell into the iron hand of Robert
Guiscard ; and the Pope was also entirely without resources, and
was obliged to depend upon the generosity of the Abbot of
Monte Cassino, with whom his relations had not always been quite
amicable, and who had not entirely approved his censures of
Henry IV.
The events of the few preceding years, and especially the
numerous attacks made by Henry IV on Rome, had rendered
the situation of Gregory as ruler of the Church very difficult. The
correspondence of the Pope, which was so abundant during the
early years of his pontificate, becomes reduced almost to nothing
after 1083. During the early part of his sojourn at Salerno
Gregory, finding more leisure at his disposal, occupied himself with
renewing his interrupted relations with different nations. He
summoned a Synod here, and, unshaken by the horrors he had
witnessed or the perils he had escaped, thundered out again
the greater excommunication against the anti-Pope Guibert,
Henry IV, and all their followers ; and here he wrote his last
234 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Encyclical, addressed to " all the faithful " — his " last testament."
Four legates were charged with the duty of promulgating the new
Encyclical, and the anathemas pronounced at the Synod of Salerno,
and Peter, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, and the Prince Gisulfo set
out for France with this mission. Odo, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia,
received a similar mission for Germany, while the Abbot of Dijon was
sent to Spain to the valiant Sisenand, who had recently conquered
the Arabs at Coimbra, to gain him to the Pope's cause. ^
The Encyclical, as carried and distributed by the legates, is
distinctly pessimistic in tone. There is no explicit reference to
Henry IV, or to Guibert, but reproaches against " enemies of the
church " are darkly hurled, and the reign of Antichrist is foretold
as near at hand. In an interesting paragraph, Gregory gives as the
summing up of his life and the aim of all his efforts, that the
" church should recover her ancient splendour and remain free,
chaste and catholic " : —
" Gregory, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the
faithful in Christ, and to all who truly love the Apostolic See, greet-
ing and the Apostolic Benediction.
" You are not ignorant, beloved brethren, that Our time has seen
the fulfilments of the Psalmist's words : — Why have the Gentiles
raged and the people devised vain things ? "The kings of the earth stood
up and the princes met together against the Lord and against His Christ.
The princes of the nations and the chief priests are joined together
at the head of a great multitude against Christ, the Son of God, and
against His Apostle Peter, in order to extinguish the Christian
religion, and to propagate heresy. But, by the grace of God, they
have not been able by any fear, by any cruelty, or by any bribes, to
gain those who trust in the Lord. The only reason for which they
conspire against Us, is, that We would not keep silence as to the peril
of Holy Church, or give way to those who were not ashamed to
make a prisoner of the Spouse of God. Everywhere on earth
^ Bernard mentions only two legates, Peter, Bishop of Albano, and Odo, Bishop
of Ostia. Hugh of Flavigny adds the names of Gisulfo and the Abbot of Dijon,
Jarento.
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 235
the poorest woman is allowed, by the laws of all lands, and with
their full consent, one legitimate husband, whilst Holy Church, who
is the Spouse of God, and Our mother, alone cannot, according to
the evil pretensions of the impious and their damnable customs,
unite herself legally, and by her free-will with her Divine Spouse.
We can never admit that the sons of Holy Church should have for
their fathers, heretics, adulterers, or usurpers, nor that their birth
should be stained by bastardy.
" Our legates will explain very clearly to you how, from this, all
sorts of evils have arisen, perils of all sorts, and the crimes of a
cruel war ; and if you are touched by compassion, if the ruin and
the confusion of the religion of Christ touches you, if the grief you
then feel decides you to come to our aid, these same legates will
explain how you should do so. They are most faithful to Blessed
Peter, the first of their rank in his household. No threats, no
promise of temporal goods, have been able to detach them from
him, or separate them from their mother the Church.
" To Us also, though unworthy, and a sinner, has been addressed
this word of the Prophet, Go up into a high lofty mountain} and this
also, Cry^ cease not^ lift up thy voice. '^ Thus, whether We will or not,
setting aside all shame, all affection, and all fear. We evangelize. We
cry. We cry without ceasing, and We declare to you, that the Christian
religion, the true faith, which was taught to our forefathers by the
Son of God descended from Heaven, is to-day transformed into a
detestable and secularized observance, is indeed almost reduced to
ruin, is become from the many modifications forced upon it, the
derision of the devil, of the Jews, the Saracens, and the Pagans.
These people have laws, which cannot save their souls, which are
not, like ours, confirmed by miracles, as proof of the aid of the
Eternal King, yet they observe them, whilst we, blinded by the
love of the present time, and fascinated by vain ambitions, sacrifice
all things to our cupidity, and our pride, even our religion and
honesty itself. We seem no longer to possess either principles or
^ Isaiah Ivli. 7. - Isaiah Iviii. i.
236 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
consistency ; we no longer think of honour in this life or in that
which is to come !
" If there are still some who fear God, they are rare exceptions
who think chiefly of saving their own souls, and show little zeal for
the good of their brothers. How many are there who, inspired by
the fear of God, or the love of God, in whom we live, and move, and
have our being^ suffer and work, even till death, as so many soldiers
do for their captains, and even for their friends, or their inferiors ?
Yet, every day, thousands of persons risk death for their earthly
masters. Yet, for the God of Heaven, for the Redeemer, not only
do men fear to expose themselves to danger of death, but they
hesitate lest they should incur the enmity of men ! Those who
(and thank God there are still some, though alas so few), out of
love for the law of Christ, resist the impious even unto death, are
not only unaided by their brethren, but are even regarded as
imprudent, indiscreet and senseless !
" Being now obliged to address to you these and other similar
admonitions and earnestly desiring, by the help of God, to root out
of your hearts these vices, and to replace them by Christian virtues.
We demand. We implore for the sake of the Lord Jesus, who has
redeemed us all by His death, that you will carefully study the
causes which have brought about the tribulation and agony which
We suffer, from the enemies of the Christian religion.
" Since the day when, by the dispensations of Divine Providence,
the Church placed Us upon the apostoHc chair, unworthy as We are
and in spite of Our inclinations, God is Our witness. Our most ardent
desire, and the aim of all Our efforts has been that Holy Church, the
Spouse of God, Our mistress and Our mother, should recover her
ancient splendour and remain free, chaste and catholic. But an aim
so lofty displeased the evil one ; to hinder it he has set in motion
every force he could control. The harm he has done to us and to
the Holy See has surpassed everything he has been able to accom-
plish since the time of Constantine the Great. There is nothing
1 Acts xvii. 28.
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 237
surprising in this, for, as the time of Antichrist approaches, the more
ardently does the demon strive to crush and annihilate the Christian
religion.
"And now, beloved brethren, listen to my words ; In the world,
all Christians, all who are instructed in their religion know and
acknowledge that Blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, is the Father
of all Christians, and after Christ, the chief Pastor, and that the Holy
Roman Church is the Mother and Mistress of all churches. If,
then, such is your faith, your firm belief in the name of Almighty
God, We, your brother, and in spite of Our unworthiness, your master
also, make this appeal to you, and We command that you come to the
support of your father and your mother, if you would that they
obtain for you in this world and the next the absolution of sins
and the blessing of the grace of God.
" May the Almighty Lord, the Author of all good, enlighten your
spirit and fertilize it by His love, and the love of your neighbour ;
thus you will have as debtors your father and your mother, and the
day will come when you shall be united to them. Amen."
Gregory could never go back to Rome unprotected, but all
possibility of his return was precluded by the action of Robert
Guiscard, who, still intent upon his golden dream of the Empire of
the East, in September 1084 started from Brindisi for his new cam-
paign. Boemond had remained at the head of the army after his
father's return to Italy, and had gained several victories over the
Byzantines, but gold and the intrigues of the Imperial court had
won over a number of his men from their allegiance, and dis-
organization crept into the camp of the Normans when the strong
hand of Robert no longer held them in check. At the close of
1084, when Boemond also departed for Italy, he left in the East only
some few Norman garrisons in a few fortified towns, where they
maintained themselves with difficulty.
In his new campaign the Duke, instead of seeking entrance by
way of Illyricum and Macedonia, resolved to proceed by sea and to
attack and seize the coastguard towns only, without penetrating into
the interior. He would not embark until he had succeeded in
238 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
collecting a very considerable fleet ; his ships numbered one hundred
and twenty, besides transports for cavalry and machines. After
landing at Valona and rallying at Corfu, the Duke was attacked by
the Venetian fleet, which once more came to the aid of the Empire
of the East. Beaten in the first encounter, the Normans continued
the contest without losing heart, and finally gained a decisive victory
which cost the Greeks and Venetians some thirteen thousand lives.
The season was now too far advanced for Robert to think of
reaching the Isles of Greece, and he therefore withdrew his fleet to
the mouth of the river Glycys, which flows into the Adriatic near
Orieus, and his troops wintered in Bundicia. There the plague
made its appearance, and during the winter no fewer than ten
thousand men were swept away, and his son Boemond was obliged
to return to Italy.
The Duke waited until the plague had spent its strength, and
then recommenced hostilities ; but he was attacked by fever as he
set sail for Cephalonia, intending to conquer this island, which his
son Roger had already sought to take. The ship put in at Corfu ;
and there, on July 17, 1085 — two months after the death of
Gregory VII — the Duke died in the presence of his wife
Sikelgaita and his son Roger. Upon the death of the great
Norman leader panic seized his army, and the soldiers embarked
and set sail in hot haste, unexpectedly freeing the Emperor Alexis
from his most pressing danger.
Pope Gregory died May 25, 1085, at Salerno. No mention
is made of a long illness, and it may be assumed that the bitter
agitations and troubles of the last years contributed to his death.
The attacks of Henry IV upon Rome ; the enthronement of
the anti-Pope ; the bloodshed caused by the Normans ; and his
forced exile to Salerno— all must have shaken his health and
vitality.
The accounts of his death vary considerably. One story relates
that Gregory foretold the very day and hour of his departure ; and
on that day entered the church, received Holy Communion, and
addressed the people, and died on returning to his dwelling. In
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 239
this address he bore witness to the presence of Christ in the
Sacrament, and gave a general absolution to all mankind. This
last detail is, in any case, incorrect ; Henry IV and the usurping
Pontiff Guibert were never released from the ban at Salerno.
Paul of Bernried relates that Gregory realized in the early part
of 1085 that his life was drawing to a close, and announced his
approaching dissolution to those about him ; that he gave a general
absolution to mankind, but from this all-embracing act of mercy he
excepted his enemies Henry, " the so-called King, and the usurping
anti-Pope Guibert, and those who were their counsellors and
abettors in their ungodly cause." Then the Pope proceeded to
designate his successor.
It would appear that three persons were proposed, but the
names vary in the various accounts. The most probable choice
was one of his staunch servants, Odo of Ostia, Hugh of Lyons,
Anselm of Lucca ; but according to other versions the Pope named
Didier, Abbot of Monte Cassino, alone.
The nomination of Didier by Gregory is perhaps improbable.
Didier, who, later, became Pope under the name of Victor III, had
not approved Gregory's stern measures with regard to Henry IV;
indeed, at the end of the year 1083, or the beginning of 1084,
he had approached the excommunicated King, in the hope of
bringing about a rapprochement between him and Gregory. By so
doing he fell, ipso facto., under the sentence of excommunication.
His whole policy was to spare Henry as much as possible — to
"build golden bridges" for his reconciliation with the Holy See;
and Gregory must have been aware that if Didier became Pope,
Henry IV would be reconciled to the Church upon easy terms, in
which the interests of the Church would not be sufficiently safe-
guarded.
Paul of Bernried, however, relates that Didier was nominated
by the dying Pope, who, inspired by the spirit of prophecy, recom-
mended that he, Didier, should take the name of Victor, saying
that he would be " worthy of the name, though his victory would
be of only short duration." In the same spirit of prophecy,
240 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Gregory, according to his biographer, foretold that Didier would
not be present at his death-bed. Didier, who had hastened to
Salerno on hearing of the Pope's illness, and intended to
remain to the end, is naturally surprised, and cannot see what
should lead to the fulfilment of this saying ; but receives the
unexpected information that the Normans are laying siege to a
Castle belonging to his Abbey of Monte Cassino, and is compelled
to leave Salerno. During his absence Gregory dies.
Another version is that of William of Malmesbury, who
relates that Gregory named two persons as his successors — Didier,
and Odo, Bishop of Ostia, who both became Popes in succession.
The natural reflection arises that William of Malmesbury and Paul
of Bernried were wise after the event.
Anti-Gregorian writers fabricate a dying retractation of Gregory's,
in which he admits that he has wronged Henry IV, and this story
won a wide circulation both in Germany and in Italy. Benzo gives
the fullest details of this imaginary scene. According to him,
Gregory summons the twelve cardinals to his death-bed, and
confesses to one of them his remorse for his evil deeds, and
commissions this cardinal to announce his repentance to the King,
and entreat the royal pardon ! Such a story needs no comment.
The dying words of the Pope are well and widely known.
According to Paul of Bernried, Gregory twice asserted his love of
justice and hatred of iniquity ; first, when the cardinals, who
surrounded his death-bed, spoke of the good works he had
accomplished, the dying Pope answered : " Beloved brothers, all
these things I regard as nothing ; one thing only gives me
confidence — that I have loved justice and hated iniquity." Finally,
when about to breathe his last, his words were: — "I have loved
justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile." " In exile,"
said a bishop who was present, " in exile thou couldst not die !
Vicar of Christ and His Apostles, thou hast received the nations for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy
possession." ^
^ Paul of Bernried.
THE LAST STRUGGLES OF GREGORY VII 241
It is curious to read the various interpretations that have been
put upon the last dying utterance of the great Pope. One writer
regrets that so great a man was not completely master of his
disappointment and self-love ; and while one sees in the words
a bitter expression of doubt, another sees only the expression of
the dying man's most intimate lifelong convictions. ^ Another
compares this " cry of oppressed innocence " to the " exceeding
bitter cry " that rang from the cross ! ^
The real meaning of Gregory's last words only becomes evident
when they are compared with the verse of the psalm from which
they are partly taken : "Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity,
therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows." ^ In the Epistle to the Hebrews ^
this verse is quoteci in reference to the Son of God. The Saviour
is " anointed with the oil of gladness " because He loved righteous-
ness and hated iniquity ; but Gregory himself — such was the
antithesis in his mind — had also loved the right and hated the
wrong, but had met with no gladness on earth, but humiliation ;
no praise, but defeat.
^ Ranke, " Weltgeschichte," vol. vii, p. 312. ^ Gfrorer, vol. vii, p. 958.
2 Psalm xliv. (xlv.) 8. * Hebrews i. 9.
16
CHAPTER XI
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII HIS CHARACTER
The Canonization of Gregory VII — His character — The contrast between him and
Peter Damiani — His relations with his friends and opponents — His distrust of
Henry IV — The increasing pessimism of the last years of his pontificate — His
serenity — He approves the action of the Abbot Trasmund — Gregory's warlike
character — The Father of the Crusade — Gregory no theologian — His one claim
to greatness.
Gregory's body remained at Salerno, where it was buried in the
Church of St. Matthew, and was never removed to Rome. Many
miracles took place, according to Bonitho, at his tomb, and Pope
Anastasius IV (ii 53-1 154) caused a picture to be painted re-
presenting Gregory with a halo ; but many centuries were to elapse
before the great Pope took his place in the Roman Martyrology.
Under Gregory XIII (1572-158 3) it was ascertained that his
body was preserved intact, and Paul V (i 605-1 621) canonized
him in the year 1606. At first Gregory was venerated as a Saint
only in Salerno, Florence and Siena, but later this cultus was
extended to Rome and to the Orders of the Benedictines and
Cistercians. Finally Benedict XIII (i 724-1 730) decided that the
Feast of Gregory VII (May 25) should be kept by the whole
church. For the confessor -pontifex a special office was prepared, in
which the collect refers to the virtus constantice pro tuenda ecclesiastica
libertate. The biographical sketch contained in the second nocturn,
was written by the Benedictine Tedeschi, Bishop of Lipari, but it is
full of historical errors, and is entirely valueless.
One passage in it excited great indignation at the time. The
author, speaking of Gregory VII's resistance to Henry IV, writes :
242
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII 243
Contra Henrki imperaioris imfios conatus fords per omnia athleta
impavidus (papa) permansit^ seque pro muro domui Israel tenuity ac
eundem Henricum in profundum maloru?n prolapsum fidelium com-
munione regnoque privavit atque subditos populos fide ei data liberavit.
People thought that this statement contained "a justification"
of the policy of Gregory, and a renewal of forgotten mediaeval
claims of the Papacy. There were popular disturbances in France,
Naples and Belgium in consequence of it ; the governments of France,
Venice and Austria dispatched strong remonstrances to Rome ; and
Maria Theresa ordered that the offending words should be struck
out of the book, or should be covered with paper pasted over.
The passage remains unaltered in the Roman breviary to this day.
The fact of Gregory's canonization does not, of course, affect
the verdict of history upon the character of this Pontiff. Even for
Roman Catholics, a Papal canonization has not the weight of a definitio
ex cathedra; the Pope who pronounces a canonization is not necessarily
infallible. As Schwane ^ writes, " the act of canonization rests upon
the testimony of men, which is subject to error ; and although great
care is always taken in investigating, previous to canonization, and it
may be said that it is theologically certain that the canonized person
is sure of glory in the life to come, yet many theologians consider
it not impossible that the canonized may have to spend some period
In Purgatory. The act of canonization does not state that the ' saint '
has been, during his life on earth, entirely free from sin ; nor that,
by this act, his faults are changed into virtues, nor his imperfections
into perfection ; nor that the * saint's ' doctrines and ideas in this
life are to be considered infallible."
As Peter Damlani writes in answer to his own criticism of the
Papal campaigns of Leo IX : " Leo Is not honoured for his wars,
nor David for his adultery, nor Peter for his denial." Damiani
was canonized, like Leo, whose warlike enterprises he condemned.
Hanno of Cologne was canonized, though his action at Mantua
aroused the displeasure of Hildebrand ; while Saint Gregory I's
^ " Dogmengcschichte dcs Mittelalters," pp. 544, 573.
244 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
view was far removed from those maintained by the later Gregory,
upon the power and prerogatives of the Papacy.
Hildebrand's character and attainments were of a very high
order ; he was reputedly possessed of vast theological learning ; and
Peter Damiani relates that he had a knowledge of the poetry and
philosophy of the ancients. He cultivated an intimate acquaintance
with both the Old and New Testaments, which he was fond of
quoting ; and he refers more often to events drawn from Bible
history than to those from the history of the Church. Among the
Fathers of the Church, Gregory I was an especially sympathetic
figure to him. Gregory's Latin style is vigorous, pithy and " full
of matter," and when he occasionally accuses himself of rusticity,
this is only the expression of his personal modesty.
His two speeches in council in 1076 and 1080 are masterpieces
of rhetoric, and show a splendid natural gift of oratory. In
1083, when he spoke of the faith of a Christian, the virtues of
constancy and firmness, he spoke, we learn " not as a man, but as
an angel," so that almost the whole assembly broke into sobs and
tears.
Gregory showed no deep knowledge of human nature, no ability
to rule and use men such as is often found in the great ; and this is
emphasized by Bonitho, who is otherwise uncritical as far as Gregory
is concerned. This curious lack of perspicacity, even of common
shrewdness, shows itself again and again in the course of his life. He
warmly supported Guibert, when Alexander II doubted the advis-
ability of his elevation to the Archbishopric of Ravenna ; he was,
throughout his Pontificate, in intimate relations with a man of the
doubtful character of Gisulfo of Salerno ; he accepted the action of
Hugh Candidus in furthering his elevation to the Pontificate as a
proof of amendment upon the part of that already deeply com-
promised cardinal ; he was evidently blinded by the hypocritical
policy of the Saxon princes and the Rudolphian party ; and he was
bitterly deceived in his estimate of the Norman princes, such as
Robert Guiscard and Jordan of Capua.
Gregory made little use of the " subtle policy which bordered on
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII 245
craft," which has been attributed to him ; there was, indeed, very-
little that was subtle in his political programme, and in the political
sphere he was constantly blinded and out-planned by men more far-
seeing and more unscrupulous than himself. The intrepidity which
seemed to delight in confronting the most powerful, a stern single-
ness of purpose, which, under its name of Churchmanship, gave his
partisans unlimited reliance on his firmness and resolution, also seem
overstated by many historians ; for throughout the period from
1077-1080 Gregory's policy showed manifest signs of vacillation
and lack of resource. He was, it must be admitted, once and for
all, no statesman, and his essay to arbitrate in the affairs of Germany
led eventually to the bitterness of his exile at Salerno.
Amid the gross and revolting licentiousness of a great portion of
the clergy at this period, Gregory's private life shows an austere
virtue, a simple piety. The consciousness of the purity of his life
stood him in good stead, when he came to answer, by ignoring, the
invectives of the Diets of Worms and Brixen. The absurd nature
of the charges made against him at Brixen is a testimony that of
real blots upon his private life there were none. His domestic
habits were of the simplest, and Peter Damiani, who knew him
well, speaks of his asceticism.
On the occasion of Cenci's attack upon his person, Gregory
showed high courage and self-command, which justifies his assur-
ances, when he was contemplating the possibility of a danger-
fraught journey to Germany, that he was ready to lay down his life
for the liberty of the Church. Had Gregory been placed in a
position such as that of Pope Paschal II in Rome, in the year
II II, never would he have been induced by fear or favour to
deny his principles or to surrender what he considered to be his
rights.
Gregory was permeated with the atmosphere of the Old Testa-
ment, and though a fervent admirer of St. Peter, there is no doubt
his deepest sympathies lay with the Hebrew prophets and warriors.
He was likened to Elijah ; his energetic campaign against the
immoral and simoniac clergy, to Elijah's slaughter of the priests of
246 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Baal ; and when Gregory, in 1078 and 1080 threatens the dis-
obedient with retribution in this life, we are reminded of the stern
Elijah calling down fire from Heaven to consume the emissaries of
the King who would do him wrong. With Samuel also he has
great sympathy, and it is possible that he thought of himself as
resisting Henry IV as the prophet withstood King Saul. Indeed,
in the December letter to the young King, Henry is warned to
avoid the fate of Saul. It is more than probable that Gregory's
view of kingship, as confessed in his two letters to Hermann,
Bishop of Metz, is based upon the utterances of Samuel (i Samuel
xii. 17, 19) who, to the people who ask for a king, replies : —
" Your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of
the Lord, in asking you a king ; " while the people in their turn
admit this, saying : — " Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy
God that we die not : for we have added unto all our sins this evil,
to ask us a king."
The tendency to " prophesy evil " against an adversary is also
of the Old Testament ; and we see this, not only in Gregory's
speech in the Council of 1080, but also in Peter Damiani's prophecy
with regard to the anti-Pope Cadalus.
Some aspects of Gregory's character are brought into greater
prominence by his relations with his contemporaries. Very character-
istic and interesting is the contrast between him and Peter Damiani.
Both were churchmen of pure — nay, austere — life, devoted sincerely
to the interests of the Church, and anxious for the extermination of
her crying evils, but here the similitude ceases. Damiani was a
monk at heart. He had been compelled by Pope Stephen, his
" persecutor " as he named him, rather than his patron, to take
upon himself the episcopate. He had been raised by the same
" violence " to the rank of cardinal, but had addressed an earnest
argument to Nicholas II to be allowed to abdicate the unthankful
office. He pens a bitter satire against the bishops of his day :—
" What would the bishops of old have done, had they to endure
the torments which now attend the episcopate ? To ride forth
constantly attended by troops of soldiers, with swords and lances ;
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII 247
to be girt about with armed men, like a heathen general ! Not
amid the gentle music of hymns, but the din and clash of arms !
Every day royal banquets, every day parade ! The table loaded
with delicacies, not for the poor, but for voluptuous guests ; while
the poor to whom the property of right belongs, are shut out, and
pine away with famine." He shrinks from the world, and Gregory,
to judge from the words in his last Encyclical, in which he con-
demns the " fugitive and cloistered virtue " of those who seek only
the safety of their own souls, must have found it impossible to
sympathize with the pusillanimity, the spiritual selfishness, which
caused Damiani, in anxious apprehension for his own soul, to
become a recluse. The personal qualities of the two men, and
their temptations, were as the poles asunder, as we may see by
Damiani's black account of the sins he had to struggle against.
Those which clung to him most were scurrility and disposition to
laughter and sarcasm — from which two failings we may safely assume
that Gregory was exempt.
Damiani, again, was swayed by feeling, easily led into exagger-
ation, and over-hasty action ; he was an idealist, who wished the
clergy to withdraw from the dust and turmoil of the world ; a man
by temperament opposed to strong measures. Gregory, on the
contrary, was more interested in his great scheme of dominant
churchmanship ; and was by no means averse from the use of stern
measures, and the " temporal arm " in the interests of the Church.
Hildebrand's capacity, his earnest wish for reform in the Church,
were acknowledged by the undisguised but exaggerated homage
of Damiani, who speaks of him as " twin of the apostolic seat, a
firm column, a man of the holiest and purest counsel," while the
two epigrams referring to Hildebrand's influence upon the Pope
Alexander II are well known. " You made him Pope," writes
Damiani, " he made you a god."
Papam rite colo, sed ie prostratus adoro.
Tti facis hum Dominum, te facit ilk Deum.
The inevitable breach between two such men was precipitated
248 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
by Damiani's over-hasty action in calling in Hanno of Cologne to
settle the claims of the Pope Alexander II, and the anti-Pope
Cadalus, The Synod of Mantua decided, it is true, in favour of
Alexander ; but that the Pope should have to appear to defend
himself before a council presided over by the Archbishop of
Cologne, was in itself a bitter humiliation, which was keenly re-
sented by Hildebrand, and we are not surprised to find that he
addressed a severe rebuke to Damiani for his impolitic and arbitrary
appeal. Damiani answered by a letter addressed jointly to Alex-
ander and to Hildebrand, in which he contrasts the tone of their
respective letters — the Pope's, as paternal, " kindly as the Sun of
Heaven " ; the Archdeacon's, as " angry and threatening, like the
furious CTusts of the North wind." In this letter we find the
famous description of Hildebrand as " holy Satan " — sanctus Satanus
— which Reumont interprets as an expression of the powerful demonic
influence of the Archdeacon upon the writer ; to Damiani, Hilde-
brand appears in other passages of his works, paradoxically as a
hostilis amicus^ and blandus tyrannus^ and one epigram goes so far as
to wish that the wolf might be transformed into a lamb : —
Out rabiem tyraKiiidem donat ora cruenta Iconum
Te nunc usque lupum m'lhi niitem vertat in agnum.
The bitterness of Damiani's paradoxes convinces one that he is
not in jest, and we can imagine that Damiani found something
peculiarly antipathetic in Hildebrand's personality.
Gregory has written ^ that opinions varied widely as to himself ;
and that while some thought him over-stern, nay, cruel, others
considered him too lax and mild ; and it may be generally said that
he was too indulgent towards his friends and dependents, and too
severe to his enemies and opponents. A peculiar and, it must be
considered, undeserved, indulgence was shown by him to Berengarius
of Tours, and to the princes of Germany who stood in opposition to
Henry IV. When the princes, in January 1077, causelessly refused
1 R. I. 11.
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII 249
an escort to the Pope, and thereby rendered impossible one of his
most cherished dreams, the journey to Germany as arbitrator in her
affairs, Gregory can hardly find it in his heart to blame them, and
he never openly resented the Forchheim election, which was a
very severe blow to him. Again, Gregory showed the greatest
indulgence to the Norman prince, Robert Guiscard, " a bandit
without religion," which can only be explained, but cannot be
justified, by the exigencies of his position during the last years
of his pontificate.
His severity to his opponents, such as Henry IV, is very
marked, and even William of Malmesbury ^ remarked upon his
" perhaps over-great severity towards men." The growth of his
mistrust of Henry IV distinctly biassed his policy towards the young
King, and from the time of the Diet of Worms (1076) it over-
rides all other feelings with regard to him. That Gregory, in the
February Synod, gave judgment against Henry without having
invited the King to appear, or heard his defence, is frequently
insisted upon by Henrician writers as a proof of his party-bias, and
it is impossible to clear Gregory from this imputation.
Again, Gregory himself admits that his own friends and followers
exclaimed against his " cruelty " in delaying to receive the royal
penitent at Canossa. But after the King's renewed opposition at
the time of the Synod of Brixen, Gregory's antipathy to the King
knows no bounds. In a document written in July 1080 he accuses
the King of having aided and supported the anti-Pope Cadalus, to
the injury of the Church — that is to say, he makes a boy of eleven
responsible for an act of ecclesiastical policy ! This is the more to
be regretted, as Peter Damiani expressly emphasizes Henry IV's
innocence on this point, and Bonitho leaves Henry's complicity
entirely out of the question, and even inclines to excuse the more
responsible Empress-regent.
Towards the later period of his pontificate, from 1077 onwards,
a pessimistic strain, a feeling of disillusion appears in Gregory's
1 M. G. Ser. X. p. +75.
250 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
utterances, and sometimes takes the form of unfounded complaints,
such as those of the speech of the Council of 1080, where he
accuses the kings and princes of this world of rising up against him,
to contrive his death or exile. A still deeper depression clouded
his mind, when his Easter prophecy of 1080 remained unfulfilled,
and the anti-King Rudolph met with an untimely death. His second
letter to Hermann, Bishop of Metz, runs over with bitterness
against kingship in general, and Henry IV in particular ; and in his
last letter he utters the exceedingly painful and heartfelt cry of
disappointment and sorrow, that his efforts to ensure the freedom,
purity, and catholicity of the Church are in vain.
A curious side-light — which has been almost universally over-
looked— upon his character when a cardinal, is afforded by Leo ^
of Monte Cassino. In the monastery of Tremito, which was under
the jurisdiction of Monte Cassino, a certain Trasmund, son of the
Count Oderisius, was Abbot, and he, on hearing complaints against
certain members of the community, acted with a barbarity not
unusual at the time ; the eyes of those monks were torn out ; the
tongue of one cut off. According to Leo, Didier of Monte Cassino
was bitterly moved by the occurrence, and for the disgrace of Monte
Cassino, and condemned Trasmund, the offending Abbot, to do
penance for his misdeeds. But (and this is the extraordinary
part of the story) the Cardinal Hildebrand interfered, and took
Trasmund — who had already been condemned by Didier — under his
protection, and declared that he had acted " not cruelly, but firmly
and worthily, to evil men " ; and finally, with some difficulty, he
took Trasmund out of the monastery ! Later on, when Hildebrand
became Pope, he raised Trasmund to the bishopric of Valva, in
F'ermo.
The conduct of Trasmund in his bishopric was such as to justify
Didier's action, and affords another proof, if proof were needed,
of Gregory's blindness to the characters of men. The Bishop
of Valva suddenly, in 1080, decided to abandon his bishopric.
1 M. G. Ser. VII. p. 715.
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII 251
Gregory was naturally angered by this move, and stigmatized
Trasmund's action as " folly," and recommended him to retire to
Monte Cassino, and place himself under the authority of Didier.
As might be expected, Trasmund paid no attention to the Pope's
commands, but decided to return to his abandoned bishopric. Upon
this the people of his diocese were warned to avoid Trasmund, who
had committed the sin of disobedience, which in Gregory's favourite
quotation, was equivalent to that of idolatry.
That Gregory could have approved the atrocious barbarity of
Trasmund is a proof that he was a child of his age, and that age
a callous one. A similar callousness marks his support of the
Norman invasion of England.^
There remains another characteristic of Gregory, which has not
been sufficiently emphasized. It has been generally assumed that
he was a monk by disposition, one who wished to convert the world
into a monastery, where the same self-command and rigour were to
be practised, which he enforced upon himself. This view leaves
out of consideration the fact that he possessed the warrior's, one
may say the Napoleonic, disposition loving conquest and com-
mand.^ Wido of Ferrara remarks that Hildebrand from his
boyhood interested himself in military matters ; and we know that
when the anti-Pope Cadalus threatened Rome, Hildebrand was the
moving spirit of the defence of the city. The Registrum^ too, shows
how characteristic of him were a soldier-like turn of phrase, and
military images, and that he demanded from the clergy as well as
the laity, a military obedience. God appears to him as " the
unconquerable King " ; the priests are " soldiers of the eternal
King " ; the ban of excommunication is frequently likened by him
to a weapon, a sword, a spear, or a dart. In spite, however, of
this predisposition to military enterprise, Gregory only once led a
^ Qua pro re a qutbusdam fratribui magnam paene infamiam pertuli, submurmur-
antibus quod ad tanta homicidia perpetranda tanto favore meam operant impendissem. Deus
vero in mea conscientia testis erat quam recto id animo feceram. R. VII. 23.
- A puero terrence militice studuit, rebus bellicis semper operant impendit. (Libelli I.
P- 554-)
252 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
campaign, as Pope : viz. the uneventful campaign against the
Normans in 1074.
In connection with Gregory's military aspirations may be con-
sidered his desire for a crusade to gain possession of the Holy
Land, and to lead that crusade in person. Such a bold vision had
floated before his eyes in the early part of the year 1074 ; and he
endeavoured to interest Henry IV in the cause. He does not,
however, suggest that the young King is to lead the campaign ; he
himself will be the leader and general ! In a confidential letter to
the Countess Matilda, which for good reasons was not included in
the Registrum^ the Pope admits that his desire to lead an army
" across the sea " might be criticized as a proof of worldly ambition
(Jevitas)^ but he cannot relinquish his cherished idea. He even
wished to associate with him the Empress Agnes and the Countess
Matilda : — Ego^ taltbus ornatus sororibus, libentissime mare transirem^
ut anmam meam^ si oporteret^ vobiscum pro Chris to funerem !
Had Gregory's cherished dream been realized the world would
have been the richer for a strange and unprecedented spectacle —
that of the head of Christendom, the representative of the -Prince
of Peace, as general, at the head of an army, accompanied, as by a
staff, by his " sisters," the two princesses.
For the conquest of the Holy Land a zealous Pope might
alone, in more favourable times, have raised a great Christian army;
he might have enlisted numbers of nobles, even sovereigns, in the
cause. But the cause and the time were not yet ripe. Humbler
and more active instruments were wanted for a popular and general
insurrection in favour of the oppressed pilgrims, for the restoration
of the Holy Land to the dominion of the Cross. The great con-
vulsions of society are from below. Gregory's dream, like his
scheme of a hierarchy, was not fulfilled in his time.
Yet further signs of Gregory's truculent disposition are shown
in his anxiety to attack the anti-Pope Guibert, and to rescue the
Church of Ravenna by force of arms from " impious hands,"
thus ridding himself effectually of a dangerous enemy ; and in his
express prediction of victory to the followers of King Rudolph,
THE CANONIZATION OF GREGORY VII 253
with defeat in battle to the adherents of King Henry, when the
excommunication was renewed in 1080.
In conclusion we may say that Gregory was a child of his age,
with his full share of its weakness, callousness, and errors. A
sincere Christian, direct,^ simple, energetic and stern, he was filled
with a deep sense of his dependence upon God,^ and of the
nothingness of this world, as we may realize from his letters ; but
in his policy his ambitious and warlike character and his haughty
autocratic spirit are more apparent than this milder strain, William
of Apuleia well writes of him : — " Neither the love of gain, nor
favouritism had any influence with him. His life was in perfect
harmony with his doctrine ; there was nothing unstable in it,
nothing of the lightness of the reed shaken by the wind." He was
no theologian ;'^ and in his efforts for ecclesiastical reform he followed
in the footsteps of his immediate predecessors ; his one claim to
greatness lies in his creation of the hierocratic system — his undying
legacy to Church and State.
^ He lays great stress upon truthfulness. God, the creator of all things, " cannot
lie " {mentiri nescit) ; and Gregory cannot approve a lie, even when spoken with good
intent. (R. VIII. 25.)
2 R. II. 73 ; R. IV. 28 ; R. II. 9.
3 On the first occasion when he came into contact with Berengarius of Tours, he
probably referred Berengarius to Rome because he was conscious of his own unfitness
to deal with a subtle point of doctrine. Again, when Pope, in writing to the
Mohammedan Emir Anazir (who had released all Christian captives in his kingdom),
he gives him (1076) the Apostolic blessing, which is only given to Christians, and
which would not have been considered by a follower of Islam to have any virtue.
CHAPTER XII
GREGORY VII AS POPE ; AND AS THE FOUNDER OF
THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM
Gregory as chief Pastor — His views of the Power of the Pope — His desire for uni-
formity in the services of the Church — His relations with the Bishops and with
his legates— His reforms — His campaign against simony — The celibacy of
the clergy — The question of investiture — Cardinal Humbert an opponent of
lay investiture — Gregory's measures against lay investiture — Gregory the origi-
nator of the hierocratic system — Gregory the " earthly Peter " — His views as to
the origin of kingship — The subordination of secular princes to the Holy See —
Censures and punishments directed against rulers — The interdict, the ban, the
hierocratic suspension and deposition — The absolution of the subjects' oath
of allegiance — Military expeditions — The imprecation of ill-fortune and evil —
The hierocratic power of deposition — The Pope the absolute sovereign of
things secular and spiritual.
Gregory VII entertained an exaggerated idea of the Pontificate.
The Pope is, officially, divinely inspired ; his judgment is that of
the Holy Spirit ; ^ he who obeys the Pope obeys God. From the
divine command that God, rather than man is to be obeyed, Gregory
draws the conclusion that the Pope, rather than the King is to be
obeyed by all Christians. The Pope's hierarchic power of binding
and loosing is unlimited, unconditioned,- and the jurisdiction of the
Pope, again, has the widest sphere. Especially can he ordain whom
he will and when he will. Although Gregory VII, like Pope
Gelasius I, had declared against compulsory ordination, yet, strangely
enough, he wished, in one instance, to force a priest who had been
chosen bishop but who did not wish for the episcopate, to receive
consecration. An Archdeacon had been chosen Bishop of Macon, but
^ Monita nostra^ immo I'crbum Del suscipite. R. IV. 27.
2 r.ipa quoscunque et ubicunque vult^ I'lgat et absolvat. R. III. 12 ; IV. 6 ; VI. 4.
254
GREGORY VII AS POPE 255
was unwilling to accept the dignity. Gregory wrote to Humbert,
Archbishop of Lyons, December 1073, recommending him, and
Bishop Aguno of Autun, to use force ^ to induce the Arch-
deacon to accept episcopal rank. As a matter of fact force was not
used, for the Archdeacon waived his objection, either of his own free-
will, or in consequence of the Papal threat, and the Pope himself
consecrated him in Rome. But, in any case, the instructions in the
letter to Humbert of Lyons were an interference with personal liberty,
a measure that was not in harmony with the teaching of the Church.
As a consequence of Gregory's high conception of the pontifical
position, an attempt to unseat the rightful Pope, or even the threat
to do so, ranked with him as the greatest imaginable crime. In
his early life, however, he had seen, in 1046, Gregory VI deposed
by means of the formality of a Synod, by Henry III, and had,
notwithstanding, always sincerely honoured the truly pious Emperor
no less than the undeniably simoniacal Pontiff", whom, as we have
seen, he followed into exile.
Gregory VII considered himself justified in setting aside, if
necessity arose, the decrees and decisions of his predecessors. At
the same time, he, in one instance, limited the action of his
successors ; by the Decree of the Lent Synod, 1078, that the
priest Roland, who had been appointed to a bishopric, should never
receive consecration, and that none of his successors in the Holy
See should ever consent to his consecration. He forgot that every
Pope has the same rights and privileges, and that it was within the
bounds of possibility that a later Pope might set aside the prohibi-
tion of the Synod of 1078.
He had a strong desire for uniformity in the services of the
Church in various countries, and wrote twice to the Spanish King^
^ Si {Landricum) hunc ordinem susctpere renuerit et inflexibilem se exhibuer'tt^ volumus^ ul
cum ep'ucopo siio ft. e. Bishop Aguno of Autun) vim sibi in/eras eumque ad recipiendum
episcopalem ordinem vigilanti studio atque pastorali rigor e constringas. (R. I. 36.)
2 Moneo, ut vos^ sicut bonae saboks etsi post diuturnas scissums^ demum tamen lit matrem
a vera vestram Romanam ecclesiam recognoscatis^ in qua et vos fratres reperiatis ; Romanac
ecclesiae ordinem et officium recipiatis^ vel Toletanae vel cujuslibet aliae . . . R. I. 64.
256 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
to disapprove the variations from the Roman rite which were
practised in Spain. In the same spirit the appeal of the Bohemian
Duke Wratislas for the use of the Slav tongue in the officium
divinum was resolutely ^ withstood by him.
It was a bitter trial to the fiery zeal of the Pope that he was
constantly withstood by so many unsympathetic churchmen. In
spite of his dislike to compromise, he was obliged to tolerate the
customs that he hated. In an interesting letter, written by him at
the beginning of April 108 1 to Altmann, Bishop of Passau and to
William, Abbot of Hirschau, he recommends tolerance " on account
of the evils of our times, and because of the small number of
the good," but suggests that greater strictness must be observed
when peace and tranquillity return to the world : —
" As to the priests, with regard to whom you have asked
us certain questions, it seems to us that, at this moment, they must
be borne with, and that the rigour of the canons in their case,
should be somewhat softened, and this on account of the evils of
our times, and because of the small number of the good, for there
are indeed but few who fulfil the duties of their calling, as faithful
Christians, on the return of peace and tranquillity, which, it is to
be hoped, may before long be accomplished, you can more con-
veniently occupy yourself with them, and make them observe
the canonical regulations." With the worldly Bishops — of whom
his complaints are frequent- and terrible — he inclines to no com-
promise. Besides general strictures, which may be paralleled by
similar complaints of Peter Damiani — who in one passage declares
that there is no single clerk fit to be a bishop : one is little better
than another — we find specific accusations of the evil deeds of
certain bishops. Thus, Bishop Stephen, of Annecy, is branded
as a murderer {liomicida). Bishop Jubellus, of Dole, is not only a
simoniac but a Nicolaita, i. e. married, and Bishop Jaromis of Prague
meets with the reproach that he has taken refuge in lies. In con-
sequence of his painful experiences with single bishops, Gregory
1 R. VII. II. 2 R. I. 9; R. I. 42 ; R. II. 9.
a K
GREGORY VII AS POPE 257
frequently adopted a slighting, bitter and contemptuous line
towards them as a class. ^
Difficulties with these unruly and powerful prelates caused
Gregory also to adopt a mistaken policy towards them. Thus, he
informs Count Robert - of Flanders that bishops who are dis-
obedient to the Papal decrees must not expect to be obeyed in their
dioceses. Such an informal suspension of the relation of obedience
between the Bishop and his diocesans is, canonically, unjustifiable.
So long as the Bishop had not been definitely removed from
his Episcopal dignity, or suspended from his bishopric he had
the right to expect obedience from his diocesans.
Then, too, Gregory was only too much inclined to use the strong
arm of secular princes against disobedient prelates. Thus the
young king, Henry IV, is asked to use force, if necessary, to oblige
the German bishops^ to appear in Rome, as the Pope had com-
manded them. One of the most comprehensive and astounding
threats Gregory ever uttered was directed against the bishops of
France, who were instructed to use their influence upon Philip, their
King. If the King persisted in his obstinacy, he was threatened
with the loss of his kingdom ; but if the bishops showed themselves
lukewarm and negligent in the affair, they were all threatened with
the loss of their bishoprics, " as accomplices " in the King's crimes ! *
A natural consequence of Gregory's language and methods was
to arouse a violent opposition in the hostile, and irritation even in
the well-disposed, bishops. It will be remembered that one of the
accusations brought against Gregory by the Diet of Worms was his
humiliating treatment of the bishops ; but even before the Diet
two of the most prominent and individual personalities among the
German prelates, Liemar, Archbishop of Bremen, and Udo, Arch-
bishop of Treves, had expressed their disapproval of Gregory's
attitude. Udo openly reproached Pope Gregory for his un-
founded denunciations of the German bishops, and to this outspoken
criticism Gregory had no answer. He must have been conscious
1 R. I. 61 ; Ep. 16. - R. IV. II.
3 R. II. 30. 4 R II .
17
258 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
that Udo was right, and, as later events proved, he retained, in
spite of, and perhaps because of, Udo's candour, a sincere respect
for that excellent Archbishop.
Although Gregory's relations with the bishops were not altogether
harmonious, he was better served by his legates, who were men chosen
by him for their " piety and wisdom " as his representatives, and
entrusted with special missions. As far as we know, he only once
employed a layman (Prince GisuJfo of Salerno) upon a legation.
Among the legates dispatched by Gregory upon various missions
were Peter, Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, the Cardinal-Bishop Gerald
of Ostia, the Cardinal Hugh Candidus, the Cardinal-Deacon
Bernard, the Sub-Deacon Hubert (or Humbert), the Bishops Ulrich
of Padua and Altmann of Passau.
Gregory reposed especial confidence in Hugh, Bishop of Die,
who afterwards became Archbishop of Lyons. Hugh's fiery zeal,
which no doubt recommended him to the Pope, led him into several
hasty and imprudent decisions, which the Pope was obliged to
rectify.
Another zealous legate was Richard, the successor of Bernard,
Abbot of Marseilles, who, with the Cardinal Bernard, had been
entrusted with a legation to Germany in the year 1077. The
devotion of Richard, and of Hugh of Lyons, to Gregory is counter-
balanced by their disobedience to his successor, Victor III, who
found himself obliged to excommunicate them both. They persisted,
however, in their obstinacy, and were never reconciled to the Pope.
In his efforts to root out simony, Gregory followed in the foot-
steps of Clement II, Leo IX, Nicholas II, and Alexander II, his
immediate predecessors. In the first half of the eleventh century,
simony, though acknowledged to be a crime and a sin, was deeply
rooted in the Church. The layman who purchased holy orders
bought, usually, peace, security, and comparative ease. What was
so intrinsically valuable began to have its money price ; it became
an object of barter and sale. At this time, even the acts and
decrees of Councils declare that from the papacy down to the lowest
parochial cure, every spiritual dignity and function was venal. The
GREGORY VII AS POPE 259
Bishopric of Rome had often been notoriously sold, and Tedaldo,
Bishop of Arezzo, so detested simony that he would have become a
simoniac Pope himself to root out the sin — at least, so says Donizo ;
and John Gratian himself bought the papacy, some say, to end
the vicious pontificate of Benedict IX. Clement II, who declared
that until Henry III intervened the Church of Rome had laboured
under the morbus hcereticus (simony), forbade the sale of spiritual
offices under the penalty of anathema ; and Leo IX and Nicholas II
also strove to root out the deep-seated evil. Alexander II had
vigorously combated it in the synods of 1063 and 1068, as also did
the Cardinal-Bishops Peter Damiani and Humbert in their works
Liber Grattssimus and Contra Simoniacos ; but while Peter Damiani
rejoiced in the salutary intervention of Henry III, Humbert's wish
was that the Church should reform itself from within.
Like Damiani and Humbert, Gregory was keenly alive to "the
plague," and almost his first public act was a declaration of war
against simony, and the marriage of the clergy, in the Lent Synod
of 1074. The Regis trum is silent as to details. The two Synods of
1078 also deal with this subject, and in both of them simoniacal
priests, as such, are anathematized. This was the last time Gregory
brought the question of simony before a Synod. To the end of his
life, however, he continued to use his influence to extirpate this sin
— this commune malum pcene totius terne^ as he writes to his legate
Hugh of Die.
An important decision is given by Gregory in the year 1079,
that a cleric who received ordination at the hands of a simoniacal
bishop, if he were unaware of the bishop's simony and if there were no
other defect in the ordination, should be considered validly ordained,
provided the ordination took place before the year 1059, and that
the ordained had led a blameless life. Gregory, like Nicholas II,
recommended the faithful to hold themselves aloof from the services
performed by simoniacal priests and attempted to enlist the power
of secular princes against them. The Dukes of Suabia and
1 R. IV. 22.
26o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Carinthia were asked to drive the simoniacal clergy, by force if
necessary, from the churches and altars ; and foreseeing the ill
impression that this intervention of the secular powers would cause,
Gregory wrote very characteristically, that if any protested they were
to go to Rome and complain to the Holy See itself ! ^
As in the campaign against simony, the efforts of Leo IX,
Nicholas II, and Alexander II preceded those of Gregory VII in
the campaign against clerical marriage. In the Lent Synod of 1074
Gregory first appears as an opponent of any breach of celibacy
among the clergy. The faithful are not to attend the divine offices
performed by clergy who do not respect this decree. It was decided
that if a priest, deacon, or sub-deacon had a wife or a concubine,
and did not dismiss her and do penance, he should be excluded
from the service of the altar and declared incapable of holding any
benefice in the Church.
Further, Gregory anathematized the Hceretici Nicolaikr who
persisted in their obstinacy, together with the simoniacal clergy, at
the Lent Synod of 1078 ; and we learn from the Registrum of the
November Synod of this year that if any breach of celibacy among
the clergy is condoned by the bishop of a diocese, that bishop is to
be suspended.^ This is the last time the question is brought before
a Synod ; but, as in the case of efforts to uproot simony in the
Church, he continued the war against the marriage of the clergy
throughout the later years of his pontificate. In an Encyclical
addressed to all the clergy ^ and laity of Germany, he again adopts
the doubtful policy of recommending their diocesans to withdraw
^^^l qui autem contra vos, quasi istud officii vestri non esset, aliquid garrire incipiant, hoc
illis respondite ; ut, vestram et popuH sahitcm non impedientes, de injuncta vobis obedientia
ad nos nobiscum disputaturi veniant. — R. II. 45.
- Si quis episcopus fornicatiottempresbyterorum diaconorum seu subdiaconorum vel crimen
incestus in sua parrcechia, precibus vel pretio intervenicnte, consenserit, vel commissum sibique
compertum auctoritate sui officii non impugnaverit, ab officio suspendatur .
3 Audivimus, quod quidani episcoporum apud vos commorantium ut sacerdotes et diaconi et
subdiaconi, mulicribus commisccantur aut consentiunt aut negligent. His prcecipimus vos nulla
modo obedire, vel illorum praceptes consentire. Ep. 10 (probably written December
1074).
GREGORY VII AS POPE 261
their obedience from bishops who condone breaches of celibacy
among their clergy, a proof of Gregory's dissatisfaction with the
negligence of the bishops or their covert resistance to his reforms
and the deeply-rooted power and influence of the married clergy. In
1079,^ a letter, addressed to both Italy and Germany, recommends
the faithful not to attend the services performed by churchmen
who are guilty of an infringement of the rule of celibacy ; and
priests, deacons, and sub-deacons who are thus guilty are to be
denied the introitus ecclesice.
Gregory never holds out any reason for the duty of celibacy ; ^
he probably considered this superfluous. The supporters of celibacy
had the prejudices of centuries in their favour, the greatest names
in the Church, long usage, positive laws, decrees of Popes, and
axioms of the most venerable Fathers ; the married clergy only a
vague appeal to an earlier antiquity with which they were little
acquainted, the true sense of many passages of the sacred writings
which had been explained away, a dangerous connection with sus-
picious or heretical names, and the partial sanction of the unauthori-
tative Greek Church. Gregory's eflbrts for reform were certainly
not uninfluenced by political motives, such as that (which has often
been attributed to him) of securing the independence and isolation
of the clerical caste, and thus clearing the ground for the stately
fabric of his theocracy. Such a view must be supported by any
one who reads Gregory's decrees and letters and who is capable
of understanding the fundamental ideas and aspirations of the
great champion of Pontifical autocracy and despotism.
Gregory's headstrong tendency to coerce, to cut and hack at
the root of the tree, is shown by the policy advocated in his letters.
The Dukes of Suabia '^ and Carinthia were by violence to expel
1 Ep. 28.
2 Unless In R. W . 1 1 . : Insania et scelus est, uno eodemque tempore corpus meretricis et
corpus attrectare Christi.
See also A History of Sacerdotal Celibacy, by H. C. Lea, LL.D., 2 vols., 3rd ed.,
1907.
3 R. II. +3.
262 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
the simoniacal priests from the service of the Church ; they were
to treat those in crimine fornicationis jacentes in a like rigorous
manner. In his zeal, indeed, he occasionally ^ uttered unfounded
accusations against the lukewarmness of the bishops in their treat-
ment of the Nicolaitae ; while many in Germany and other lands,
with much reason, condemned Gregory's measures as too sweeping,
too sudden, and too rigorous. Sigbert of Gembloux is discontented
with Gregory ; and Wenrich ^ accuses him of having stirred up
the " madness of the laity " against the clergy. Moreover, the
Pope draws no distinction between those ecclesiastics who had
contracted marriages in the Church, who were in the majority, and
those who were leading vicious lives. All are branded and con-
demned alike as living in fornication ! Even the Archbishop Sieg-
fried of Mayence, who declares his willingness to endeavour that
the celibacy of the clergy shall be observed, recommends the Pope
to take milder measures, and lets him know that he may " break the
bow by overstraining it." It is noteworthy, however, that some of
Gregory's bitterest opponents were at one with him in their desire
for clerical celibacy. Among the Henricians, Benzo was strongly
in favour of it, and Guibert, the anti-Pope, promulgated a decree in
1089 recommending celibacy to the clergy as a duty.
It is astonishing that among Gregory's partisans, Paul of
Bernried and Bonitho make no mention of Gregory's efforts in
that direction. This is the more surprising, as the question is so
prominent in Gregory's correspondence and decrees ; and in his
last letter (Ep. 46), summing up the programme of his life, Gregory,
in the phrase that describes his efforts that the Church should be
" free, chaste, and Catholic," makes in the word " chaste " a special
reference to his life-struggle to secure universal clerical celibacy,^
and thus promote the aggrandizement and supremacy of the
Pontifical authority.
1 R. I. 30.
2 Libelli I. p. 287.
^ Summopere procuravi, ut sancta eccles'm ad proprium rediens decus, libera, casta, et
catholica permaneret.
GREGORY VII AS POPE 263
The war of investitures, strictly speaking, began after the death
of Gregory VII, and ended under Pope Calixtus II and Henry V,
During Gregory's pontificate, from 1073 to 1085, this question of
the modus of the secular co-operation, and the investiture by Ring
and Crozier was not disputed. Upon the other hand, the nomina-
tion of churchmen to bishoprics by laymen, which Gregory VII so
sternly withstood, was one of the burning questions of his reign.
Already, before Gregory's accession, Cardinal Humbert, in his
work Contra Simoniacos^ had disapproved in the strongest terms the
nomination to bishoprics by secular princes as a maximum nefas^
and lamented that the evil was so widespread that such nominations
were regarded as canonical. The Lateran Council of 1059^ had
decreed that no cleric or priest should obtain a church from the
hands of laymen. This prohibition, however, did not prevent
Bishop Anselm (who later on became Pope Alexander II) from being
present, as Roman legate, at the ceremony in 1060, by which the
Archbishop Siegfried of Mayence was invested by the King of
Germany.
During the Pontificate of Alexander II, a Lateran Synod ^
repealed the prohibition, almost verbatim^ but no notice was taken
of these measures in Germany. Hanno of Cologne, for instance,
upheld the royal privilege of nomination ; and, in one instance,
intrigued for the nomination of his relative Conrad, to the Arch-
bishopric of Treves. Hanno, however, was so detested that
Conrad was refused entrance into his archbishopric, and when
captured he was cruelly murdered ; whereupon the people of
Treves chose Udo as Archbishop, a choice that the ruling party in
Germany was obliged to recognize. This example is interesting,
as showing that the old right of the Diocesans to elect was not yet
entirely abrogated, in spite of the many cases of royal appointments.
In 1074 Gregory himself nominated and consecrated several
Italian archbishops, and in the Lent Synod of 1075 forbade the
^ Ut per laicos nullo niodo quilibet ckricus out presbyter obtineat ecclesiam nee gratis
nee pret'to.
2 This council was probably held during the year 1063.
264 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
nomination to ecclesiastical positions by laymen. Unfortunately
the text of this decree is lost ; and the Registrum passes over the
event in silence. Of the November Synod of 1078 fuller details
are given ; we learn that " no cleric shall receive investiture of a
bishopric, abbey, or church at the hands of the Emperor, or King,
or any other lay person, man or woman." ^ In the event of his
doing so he lies under sentence of excommunication. After a
delay of a year and a half, the Lent Synod of 1080 took up the
matter again, and gave directions regarding the choice of a bishop.
Two very important decrees, which deal with investiture by lay-
men, in especial by princes, were next considered. They belong
to the year 1080. These decrees prohibit lay investiture — both the
acceptance of it by the clergy, and the grant by the laity— and the
investing layman is threatened with " divine vengeance " in this
life ; whereas, in the Synod of 1078, there are no such impreca-
tions.- In cases where the bishopric, etc., was not procured by
means of simony, the imprecation appears far too severe a measure ;
but it is accounted for by Gregory's deep and rooted distrust of
the laity in general and of princes in particular, which was intensi-
fied at this juncture by his strained relations with Henry IV,
whom he again excommunicated at the same Council. Such a
prohibition no doubt appeared to him as a death-blow to his
mortal enemy, simony. Like his predecessors, Gregory did not
1 R. I. 56.
- Seguentes statuta sanctorum patrum — s'lciit in pr'iorihus conciliis, quee Deo miserante
celebravimus, de ordinatione ecclesiasticarum dignitatum statuimus — ita et nunc apostoUca
auctorttate decern'imus ac confirmamus : ut, si quis de'inceps episcopatum vel abhatiam de manu
alicujus laica persona susceper'it, nullatenus inter episcopos vel abbates habeatur nee ulla et
ut episcopo seu abbati audientia concedatur. Insuper etiam ei gratiam sancti Petri et
introitum ecclesiee interdicimus, quo usque locum, quern sub criminc turn ambitionis quam
inobedienticc, quod est scelus idolatricc, cepit, resipiscendo non deserit. Similiter etiam de
inferioribus ecclesiasticis dignitatibus constituimus.
Item si quis imperatorum, regum, ducum, marckionum, comitum vel quilibet scecularium
potestatum aut per sonar um invcstituram episcopatuum vel alicujus ecclcsiasticoe digiitatis dare
presumpserity ejusdem sentential vinculo se obstrictum esse sciat. Insuper etiam, nisi resipiscat
et ecclesion propriam libertatem dimittat, divincp animadversionis ultionem in hac prcesenti
vita tum in cor pore suo quam ceteris rebus suis scntiat, ut in advent u Domini spiritus salvus fiat.
GREGORY VII AS POPE 265
assume that simony was the inevitable consequence of the in-
ordinate wealth of the clergy, or that it was a wild moral paradox
to attempt to reconcile enormous temporal possessions and enormous
temporal power, with the extinction of all temporal motives for
obtaining, all temptations to the misuse of, these all-envied treasures.
He was far from the point of view of his successor, Paschal II,
who, thirty years later, was convinced that the possibility of freedom
in nominating to ecclesiastical positions was only to be obtained by
a sacrifice of the possessions of the Church. It has often been
asserted that by his decrees against investiture, Gregory wished to
strike a death-blow at the mediaeval feudal system ; but that is
unlikely. He probably, however, thought of what might be the
political results of the decrees he promulgated, ostensibly for the
Church alone.
While Gregory is extremely adverse during the later period of
his pontificate to lay investiture, he still speaks of princes, such
as the Emperor Henry III, who nominated bishops, gave away
ecclesiastical preferments, before lay investiture was prohibited,
without blaming them for their actions in this respect. It must,
however, be remembered that lay investiture was not forbidden
during the reign of that Emperor. After the year 1075, when
Gregory had decided upon his line of policy, he speaks of lay
investitures scornfully as " arrogant customs invented against the
liberty of the Church." It is not, indeed, the presence and influence
of a body of laymen in conjunction with the clergy — in the nomina-
tion of a churchman to an ecclesiastical dignity — that Gregory with-
stands so vigorously : it is the influence of any single layman, whether
prince or commoner — ah homine ecclesia tradi aut donari non potest.
In consequence of this conviction, Gregory (May 1080) declared
a privilege granted by his predecessor (Alexander II) to a certain Ger-
man count, allowing him to appoint the Abbot of a certain monastery,
to be " null and void " and " contrary to the ordinances of God " !
In sharp contrast to the complete exclusion of the laity stands the
absolute right of the Pope to intervene, and to nominate any person
he chooses, consulting only his own will, whim or caprice.
266 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
A proof that Gregory did not wish to disturb the feudal rela-
tions between bishops and their suzerains may be found in the
extremely interesting declaration that the bishop ^ (when elected
without lay intervention) might give his oath of fealty to his over-
lord— a concession that was afterwards condemned by later Popes.
Indeed, in the first year of his pontificate, to judge by a letter to
Bishop Anselm of Lucca, he appears to regard the prohibition of
royal investiture as only a temporary measure, directed against
Henry IV until the King should have given up his intercourse
with excommunicated persons and have become reconciled to the
Holy See.2
W^hen Gregory adopted this strict theory is uncertain ; he may
have hesitated for some time, but at the close of 1074, or, at the
latest, at the beginning of 1075, ^^ must have made up his mind
to an energetic campaign against lay investiture. In his letter to
Henry IV, of December 1075, ^^ ^^ clear that he wished to effect a
compromise with the young King,^ and if possible to soften the
categorical prohibition ; and that this was the case is shown by
the fact that such great publicity was given to the decree.* Even as
late as 1079, when the colloquium in Germany was in prospect,
Gregory warns his two legates, Peter and Ulrich, not to meddle
with the question of those bishops who have accepted lay investi-
ture— that question is to be reserved for himself. But any hopes
of compromise were destroyed by Henry IV's threat to depose
the Pope if the Pope did not immediately condemn his rival
^ Gregory writes to the Diocesans of Aquileia : —
Cetcrufjt, quod ad servitium et debitam fidel'itateni regis perthiet, nequaquam contradicere
4iut impedire volumus. — R. V. 5 .
2 Gregory says to Anselm of Lucca, who had asked his advice upon the question
whether it were permissible to be invested by the King : —
Ut viam qua ambulcs postulasti tibi notificaremus, nullum novum, nullum expeditiorem
scimus ea, qucp nuper delictioni tu<e s'lgnijicavimui, videlicet : te ah investitura episcopatus
de manu regis abstinere, donee, de communione cum excommunicatis Deo satisfaciens, rebus
bene compositis, nobis cum pacem possit habere. — R. I. 21.
3 R. III. 10.
< R. IV. 22 ; V. 8.
GREGORY VII AS POPE 267
Rudolph, and Gregory pursued his course without any hope of a
peaceful settlement of the question.
History proves that Gregory went too far, and that it was
impossible to carry out his programme. His ideal of a canonical
choice, by means of an assembly of the clergy and laity, has ceased
to exist ; the laity have now no part in the election. The
clergy, as a body, are no longer electors and only definite clerical
organs and corporations are entrusted with the election. On the
other hand, secular princes have entirely lost the right of nominating
bishops, or of setting aside the choice of the Pope in such matters.
Gregory is, in the fullest sense, the originator of the present
hierocratic system ; his efforts to carry out the ecclesiastical reforms,
to which his predecessors had led the way, fade before his epoch-
making position as hierocrat. So original is Gregory in this creation
of his that it is difficult to trace the influence upon him of any of
his contemporaries or predecessors. Certainly no such influence
is to be ascribed to Peter Damiani,^ who was filled with a sense of
the ethical and spiritual pre-eminence of the papacy, but had no
vision of the Pope as appointed by Christ to be the overlord above
all the kingdoms of the earth, the universal Autocrat ; but certain
passages from the pen of the Cardinal-Bishop Humbert, speaking
somewhat slightingly,^ of the princes of the world and their power,
may not have been uninfluential.
The theory of Augustine's City of God — in which a new Rome
was to use and rule the world by religion — no doubt floated before
the mind of the Pontiff. Augustine's theory, indeed, was aristocratic
rather than monarchical, or rather the monarchical power remained
centred in the Invincible Lord — in Christ Himself. To the Pope
there could be no Rome without a Caesar, and the Caesar of the
spiritual monarchy was himself : in him were gathered and concen-
trated all power and all jurisdiction. He was their sole source.
^ Damiani is referring only to the spiritual powers of the Pope in passages such
as that of the Rclatio de rebus Mediolanensibus, Romanam Ecclesiatn solus ipse fundavit,
qui beato v'ltce eeterrne Clavigero terreni simul et calestis imperii jura commisit.
2 In his worlc Contra Simoniacos.
268 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
We shall see upon what Gregory's new doctrine was based,
what he deduced from his fundamental prepossession — that of
the power of St. Peter upon earth — and his application of this
doctrine to the system he created. St. Peter is the central point of
Gregory's scheme, and to Gregory, the first of the Apostles appears
in a twofold light. To Peter, as a Saint in Heaven, Gregory bows
in veneration, as a man and as a subordinate ; in his official capacity
Gregory is equal to St. Peter, and is in some aspects " the earthly
Peter " himself.^ To Peter, in Gregory's mind, attributes almost
divine are conceded '-^ : his power is next to that of God.^ In his
position as the " Earthly Peter," the Vicar of Christ upon earth,
Gregory felt his power to be unlimited in spiritual things. " How
much the more therefore in things temporal," * he argued, using
his favourite argumentum a fortiori.
When we consider the relation of the State and the royal power
to the power of the Holy See, we are met by a contradiction at
the outset, Gregory expresses two irreconcilable points of view ;
that the royal power (i) owes its origin to God, (2) to man
alone ! In an early letter to Henry IV Gregory reminds him that
he has received his kingship from God.^ William I of England
and Alphonso of Spain are princes " by the Grace of God."
" God," Gregory writes to the same William, " has created the
apostolic and the royal powers, as He has created the sun and the
moon." So much for the first doctrine !
A second doctrine, as to the origin of the royal power, was
1 In a letter to Hermann, Bishop of Metz, Gregory writes : De aliis autem rebusy
super qu'ibus me interrogast'i, ut'inam beatus Petrus per me respondeat : qui seepe in me^
qualicunque suo famulo, honor atus vel injur iam patitur. — R. IV. 2.
^ Agite et omnino procurate, beatum Petrum apostolorum principem vobis adjutorem, immo
debitor cm facer e ; qui potest vobis hujus vita et futura salute m et honor em dare vel toller e,
quique nescit fideles suos relinqere, sed potius novit super bis re sister e et confundere., humilibus
autem gratiam dare eosque exaltare. — R. VIII. 6.
^ Beatum Petrum solummodo donmium et imperatorem post Deum habere desiderant. —
R. III. 15.
4 R. IV. 24; R. VII. 14^.
5 R. I. 9.
GREGORY VII AS POPE 269
brought forward by Gregory VII, when Bishop Hermann of Metz
wrote to him of his doubts and difficulties, resulting from the
excommunication of Henry IV, and desiring some justification from
the religious and ecclesiastical standpoint for that stern measure.
In his answer to the Bishop of Metz, Gregory wished to gild the
authority of the Church at the expense of that of the King. This
he did by declaring that the pontifical dignity was of divine origin,
but not so the royal. This assertion is repeated with even greater
emphasis in a letter of the year 1080, addressed to the still dis-
satisfied and inquiring bishop, because Gregory's feelings towards
Henry were embittered by the intrusion of the anti-Pope Guibert,
and the ineffectiveness of the decree of excommunication of that
year. The power of the Church is God-given (he writes), whereas
that of Henry IV is based upon the arrogance of men, and of bad
men. So great a stress is laid upon this evil basis ^ of the secular
power that certain historians have asserted that Gregory's view was
that the power of princes was devil-born, and that " the Prince of
Darkness was the Suzerain and overlord of secular princes." Gregory,
however, does not say precisely this ; but he does say that the devil
tempts men to ambition and the lust of power, and is the instigator
of many crimes ; that the secular power, no longer admitted as,
with the sacerdotal, a coincident appointment of God, has its
origin in human wickedness and in the blind ambition and intolerable
presumption of devil-tempted men ; that kingship is an audacious
usurpation, except in subordination to papal control.
Gregory, however, was far from approaching to the doctrine of
Wiclif and Huss, who proclaimed, at the close of the mediaeval
period, that every secular potentate lost his throne ipso facto from
committing mortal sins. His view was that if a ruler, through
his misdeeds, disgraced his position, or if he were disobedient to
ecclesiastical commands or prohibitions, it was the Pope's duty to
^ Quis ncsc'iat reges et duces ah iis habuisse pr'incipium qui Dcuni ignorantes, superbia,
rapinis,perjidia, homicidiis,postremo untvcrsis pene sceleribus, mund'i principe diabolo videlicet
agitante, super pares scilicet homines, dominari cceca cupidine et intolerbili prasumptione
affcctaverunt. — R. VIII. 21.
270 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
decide whether that ruler should be deposed, by means of his
hierocratic decree.
The further assumption that Gregory considered himself the
overlord of all Christian princes, and all Christian princes as his
vassals, and that he set out to found a universal monarchy is not un-
founded. The Pope did not wish to become king, perhaps, nor a king
of kings ; the royal power was, to Gregory, so infinitely beneath
that of the papacy, that he would not have stooped to pick it up.
Following the example of Christ, Gregory rejected the " kingdoms
of the earth " ; the insignia and marks of royalty had for him no
attraction ; his aim was to guide and govern the rulers of this world,
to punish and chastise them if necessary, as the " Earthly Peter,"
On the other hand, his ideal, if not a universal monarchy, was
a universal hierocracy ; and whoever as prince submits to this
hierocracy is truly " free," whereas the vassals of secular princes are
" in bondage." In this the temporal powers are subordinate in rank
to the Pope, the highest spiritual power, as the moon is less than
the sun.^ As the State is subordinate to the Church, so the laws
of the State are to be subordinate to the laws of the Church. The
laws of the Church and the will of the Pope are to be obeyed,
rather than (if they run counter to) the laws of men or the will of
secular princes. It is obvious also that it is incumbent upon every
ruler to protect and defend the Church, to help forward the will of the
Pope, and to force those disobedient to the Holy See into obedience.
Starting from the standpoint of the subordination of the secular
powers to the Holy See, we observe various hierocratic measures to
punish disobedient princes, either directly or indirectly. Gregory VII
made use of the following censures and punishments directed
against secular rulers : —
(i) The Ban (which is to be distinguished from the excom-
munication pronounced against private persons, owing
^ Notum aiitem t'lbl esse credmus, regnum Vngaria, shut et alia nobilissima regna in
propria liber tatis statu debere esse, et nulli regi alterius regni subici nisi sanctee et universali
matri Romance ecclesice ; qua subjectos non habct ut servos, sed ut Hlios suscipit universos. —
R. II. 63.
GREGORY VII AS POPE 271
to its operation upon the relation of obedience between
rulers and subjects).
(2) The hierocratic suspension and deposition.
(3) The annulling of the Oath of Allegiance.
(4) Military expeditions.
(5) The imprecation of misfortune or evil.
Indirectly the ruler might be affected by throwing the whole
country over which he ruled under an interdict — a measure through
which the innocent subjects suffered more than the guilty prince.
The ruler was expected to yield from fear of the anger of his
subjects. Such a measure was never actually employed by Gregory
VII, but he certainly proposed to put the kingdom of France
under an interdict, because of the misdeeds of Philip I. That
monarch (1060-1108) was guilty of simony, and at the close of
the year 1073 Gregory began seriously to consider the condition
of the Church in France. He threatened severe censure if the
King persisted in his " sins." If he, in spite of this, remained
obstinate, Gregory proposed the interdict by the anathema generale ^
as a last resource, which he hoped would rouse the French to with-
draw their allegiance from the King. The interdict threatened was
never actually pronounced against France.
The sentence of excommunication, which withdraws from
excommunicated persons the sacraments and the blessings of the
Church, was directed alike against princes and persons in private
stations of life. As, however, in the Middle Ages it was forbidden
to hold any intercourse with the excommunicated, its effect upon
rulers and persons occupying public positions was infinitely more
disastrous — the king was deserted by his officials, his generals, and
his soldiers, and government was rendered well-nigh impossible.
Thus, this ecclesiastical censure resulted, when effective, in the de-
position of the excommunicated prince ; it became a hierocratic and
political measure. The ban was pronounced by Gregory against
^ Franci pro certo, nisi Jidem christianam abjicere maluerint, generalis anathematis
mucrone percussi, illi {i.e. to the King) ulterius obtemperare recusabunt. — R. I. 35.
272 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Henry IV of Germany, against the usurping Emperor of the East,
Nicephorus Botoniatis, and against several Norman princes. In
neither of the last two cases can it be considered to have been
an effective measure ; the censure of the Roman Church could not
affect the " schismatic " Greeks ; and Robert Guiscard remained
six years under the ban without acknowledging any of its ill results.
It was utterly disregarded by the people and the clergy ; the prohibi-
tion of intercourse with the excommunicated was set aside ; and the
Duke lost none of his Norman following. Gregory was aware of
this, and sought in vain to render the ban effective. In the spring
of 1078 he suspended the Norman bishops who had not appeared
at the Synod, and added that he would remove from his sacred
office for ever any bishop or priest who gave the sacraments to the
excommunicated Normans ; but all in vain.
When we compare the effect of these " vain thunders " upon
the Normans, and the extraordinary impression caused by the
excommunication of Henry IV in his own country, we are driven
to the conclusion that this impression in Germany was, to a great
extent, brought about by the vast and formidable conspiracy of
Henry's enemies, who looked upon the ban as a means to hallow
all the other motives for jealousy, hatred, and dissatisfaction which
prevailed in so many parts of the kingdom. Had there been no
opposition in Germany, had that kingdom not been divided against
itself, we must suppose that the canonical " prohibition of inter-
course " would have made as small an impression there as in those
parts of Italy subject to the Normans.
It is impossible to ascertain precisely at what moment Gregory
became persuaded of his power, as the successor of St. Peter,
to suspend and depose rulers from their kingdoms, indepen-
dently of the suspension or deposition that resulted from the ban
itself.
The assumption of this power dates, at the latest, from the
second year of his Pontificate; for in December 1075 ^^ threatens
Henry IV with irrevocable deposition. Again, after Henry's
unlucky venture of the Diet of Worms, Gregory proceeds, in
GREGORY VII AS POPE 273
February, to proclaim the contradictio regiminis^ which is followed by
the anathema; from which it must be concluded that the contradictio
is an independent measure, not to be regarded as the consequence
of the ban. Gregory never expressly removed this contradictio
regiminiSj even at Canossa, although, in the great speech in the
Council of 1080, he declared that, in 1077, he had granted a formal
instauratio in regno to the King.
It is probable that by this contradictio Gregory had in view only
a temporary censure like that of the bishops who had taken part in
the Diet of Worms who were suspended from their office ; the final
and definitive sentence of deposition of Henry IV was pronounced
in 1080, when the kingdom of Germany was "given" by the Pope
to the Duke of Suabia.
Gregory was fully convinced of his power ^ to loose and absolve
from oaths, and twice released^ the subjects of Henry IV from
their oath of allegiance. Connected with this release was the
natural consequence — a prohibition to Henry's subjects from
obeying their King and ruler.
The question of this release of subjects from their obedience was
never raised at Canossa ; and Gregory, in his speech in Council in 1080,
stated that he had never granted a restitution of this allegiance.'^
Gregory, in spite of the clear condemnation of violence in the
teaching of the New Testament,^ obviously considered that force
and violence were fit means to use to attain his ecclesiastical
ends. Not content with spiritual and ecclesiastical fulminations,
he thought fit, in certain cases, actually to attack with an army the
offending person. Twice he proposed to invade the kingdoms of
disobedient princes " as a last resource if other measures fail."
^ Gregory rarely makes any remarks upon the hierocratic measures we are treating
of, but in his second letter to Bishop Hermann, of Metz, he remarks that in early
times the Church had frequently made use of its right to absolve from oaths.
2 1076, 1080.
3 Nee fidelitatem omnium qui s'tbi juraverant vel erant jur atari, a qua omnes absolvi in
eadem synodo (of 1076) ut sibi servaretur prcecepi.
■* St. Matthew xxvi. 51, 52 ; St. Luke xxii. 50.
18
274 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
Philip I of France had been threatened with the ban, and his
country with an interdict ; but the Pope was obliged to consider
the eventuality of ban and interdict being disregarded. "What,
then, remained but to use force — to snatch his kingdom from him ?
Similarly, in the case of King Alphonso of Spain, if the ban is pro-
nounced, and his subjects will not abandon the king, Gregory
proposes to go himself to Spain et adversum ^ eum^ quemadmodzim
Christiana religionis inimicum dura et aspera moliri. He will
gather an army, and lead it against the King himself ! Fortu-
nately, this scheme was never put into execution. Had he really
attempted the invasion of France or of Spain, he would only have
aroused the anger and discontent of the people, without succeeding
in " saving the soul " of the king. Sigbert of Gembloux speaks
very bitterly of the use (or perversion) of violent means to attain
spiritual ends : " David did not deserve to build a temple to God,
because he was a blood-stained man ; how shall the high priest
enter into the Holy of Holies if even a drop of blood has stained
his garment ? "
The imprecation of evil upon the disobedient and the hostile
was customary long before Gregory VII in the Councils of the
Church. At the close of the Lateran decree of 1059, he who
falsifies this decree is to taste the dregs of all worldly bitterness :
" May he feel the anger of God ; " " May his habitation be
desolate ;" " May his children be orphaned and his wife a widow ;"
" May the earth fight against him, and all the elements be contrary
to him." Gregory, as a child of his age, was entirely in sympathy
with such a manifestation of its spirit. The sentence of excom-
munication is looked upon by him as the source of definite temporal
misfortunes or evils. In the case of two brothers who were at
variance, Gregory (who wishes to effect a reconciliation) threatens
whichever party remains obstinate with the anathema, " so that he
shall in future have no victory in war and no prosperity." '-^
Gregory also used a similar imprecation, in his official capacity,
1 R. VIII. 2. 2 R. VI. 16.
GREGORY VII AS POPE 275
at the Synod of 1080. Here, princes who persist in investing
bishops are excommunicated, and " may they, unless they repent,
feel the force of divine vengeance in this present life in their persons
and in other things ; " while " may Henry IV and his adherents
in all battles gain no strength, in their lives no victory."
No one, not even those who approve the hierocratic system,
and are in favour of its fullest extension, can approve these
imprecations of Gregory's, or fail to recognize how far they are
removed from the sanction of the Church. The founder of
Christianity, it will be remembered, rebuked the zeal of John
and James, who would have called down " fire from heaven " to
consume the people of Samaria.
In addition to the hierocratic right of censure and the hierocratic
right to punish and chastise, Gregory claimed a right hitherto
unknown to the Church, of disposing of kingdoms, which is a
distinct increase and advance in the Papal power. He considered
himself justified in granting territories as a reward for services to
the Pope, or as a recognition of good conduct. How he arrived at
this theory we do not know, but in 1080 it was already familiar to
him, and was for the first time brought into the sphere of practical
politics. The conclusion of his great speech in the council of that
year brings forward the statement that St. Peter and St. Paul (and
therefore Gregory, as the Earthly Peter), as they possess the power
of binding and loosing in heaven, have also the power of taking
away and granting the kingdoms of this world, principalities,
duchies, marquisates, earldoms, and " the possessions of all men." ^
The Pope becomes thus an absolute sovereign over all things,
spiritual and temporal, the dominus dominantium . His power is a
potestas ordinaria and directa. By this assumption proclaimed to the
Synod, Gregory brings his hierocratic system to completion ; it
becomes incapable of any further extension. The libido dominationis
is satisfied !
^ Agtte nunc, qiieeio, patres et pr'incipes sancttssimi, ut omnis mundus intelkgat et cognoscat,
quia, si potestis in ccelo ligare et solvere, potestis in terra imperia, regno, principatus, ducatus,
marchias, comitatus et omnium hominum possessiones pro meritis tollere unicuique et concedere.
276 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
We may imagine that with the tremendous weight upon his
shoulders of the duty, as he considered it, to support, Atlas-like,
the burden of all things secular and spiritual, Gregory was often
weary ; and it occurred to him occasionally that the purely worldly
was really not his province. But this feeling was at once suppressed,
and the principle regained the upper hand — Portamus^ he writes, non
solum spiritualium^ sed et scecularium ingens pondus negotiorum ^ ; an
immense burden too heavy to be borne by mortal man.
R. I. 62.
CHAPTER XIll
THE AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM
(i) Henry IV from 1085-1106 — (2) Henry V 1106-1125 — (3) The remaining
period of the Middle Ages — (4) To the present day.
The influence of Gregory VII did not cease with his death in
1085. He left behind him the hierocratic system, which though it
lay dormant long after his death, sprang into renewed life in the
twelfth century and obtained a widespread influence. This
influence became much lessened from the fifteenth century, and
after a short revival in the Reformation period, its traces gradually
disappeared from history.
After Henry IV had received the Imperial crown the anti-Pope
Guibert became a stumbling-block in his path. Guibert's position
in Rome was insecure, and he was constantly obliged to retire to
his archbishopric of Ravenna, which he retained until his death.
Only a few German and Italian states recognized him as head of
the Church, all other countries refused their allegiance to the
creature of the Emperor, who died September 8, iioo, in Civita
Castellana. After Guibert's death, attempts were made to carry on
the scheme, but Henry IV had no hand in the intrusion of Albert,
Theodoric and Maginulf (Silvester IV).
In the various negotiations for peace after 1085, the Emperor
only desired and asked for the removal of the ban of excommunica-
tion. Even under the strongest pressure he held firm to the
principle that his rank and power could not be taken from him by
any earthly instrument. During the pontificates of the three
recognized successors of Gregory VII, though none of the
277
278 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
hierocratic measures of the year 1080 were annulled or withdrawn,
no new decrees of deposition, or of absolving Henry IV's subjects
from their oaths of fidelity, were pronounced.
Victor III, weary of strife, would have gladly come to an
understanding with Henry IV, if the latter would have abandoned
his creature Guibert. Upon Guibert, Victor laid all the responsi-
bility of the King's actions. Hence, no further censure was
pronounced against Henry IV during Victor's pontificate. Victor's
moderation rendered him unpopular with the extreme Gregorians.
Hugh of Flavigny even refused to recognize him as the legitimate
Pope. Hugh of Lyons writes that Victor contemplated an entire
departure from the policy of Gregory VII, and openly asserted
that Victor III had consented to crown King Henry ; more
incredible still he averred that the invasion of the patrimony of
St. Peter took place with Victor's cognizance and assent. The
uncompromising partisans of Henry IV and of Guibert also
found fault with Victor Ill's pacific and moderate policy ; his
" golden mean " did not, indeed, please any faction.
To Victor III succeeded in 1088, Otto, Cardinal-Bishop of
Ostia, as Urban II. Otto, by birth a Frenchman, who had been
brought up under the severe monastic discipline of Cluny, had all
the resolute firmness and energy without the vacillation of Gregory
VII, tempered with caution and prudence. He declared that he
followed in the footsteps of Gregory VII, but did not know of the
sentence of deposition of 1080. He contented himself with insisting
that Henry IV, as an excommunicated person, should be avoided and
abandoned. Meanwhile, in Germany, after the death of Gregory
VII, the deposition of 1080 and the prohibition of intercourse with
the excommunicated Emperor became gradually forgotten. King
William I of England recognized Henry IV as Emperor ; an
abbot speaks of him as invictissimus Romanus princeps monarchiam
strenue gubernanSy and after the death of the anti-King Hermann, the
Saxons returned to their allegiance. From 1085 to 1093 Henry's
power and prestige were on the increase ; but after that date
a series of misfortunes fell upon him. The most terrible and
AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM 279
saddening tragedy in his own family helped to break his spirit. The
revolt of his beloved son Conrad, who abandoned him and
formed an alliance with Duke Welf, crushed him to the earth, and
the defection of Henry IV's wife, Praxedis (whom he had married
after the death of the Empress Bertha in 1087), was a bitter blow.
It is said that at the revolt of Conrad, Henry abandoned himself to
despair, threw off the robes and insignia of royalty, and was hardly
prevented by his friends from falling on his own sword. The black
accusations brought by Praxedis at the Council of Piacenza
(March i, 1095) struck a mortal blow at the fame and popularity of
Henry, and almost resulted in the total ruin of the Imperial party
in Lombardy.
Under Paschal II, another monk of Cluny, who showed himself
harsh and irreconcilable to Henry IV, the Emperor's misfortunes
increased. In 1102 his second son Henry V (who had been
crowned king in 1099) revolted from him, under the pretext
that he would have nothing to do with one under sentence of
excommunication, and succeeded in the Christmas of 1105 in
taking the aged Emperor prisoner at Bingen. At a Diet assembled
at Ingelheim, the fallen Emperor stood before an assembly of his
enemies, his son and the Papal legate at their head. Broken by
indignities, he was forced to abdicate and acknowledge that he had
unjustly persecuted the holy Gregory, wickedly set up the anti-
Pope, and oppressed the Church. He implored, if he conceded all,
that he might at once be cleared from excommunication. The legate
replied that that was beyond his powers ; the Emperor must go to
Rome to be absolved. Henry IV made his escape to Cologne, and
on August 7, 1 106, worn out with fatigue and sorrow, he closed
his long and agitated life and his eventful reign of nearly fifty
years, at Liittich.
During Henry's lifetime, we are forced to admit that even the
ecclesiastical terms of the ban had fallen into oblivion. One of the
many ecclesiastics of high rank and character about his court was
Otto, the apostle of Pomerania. Otto, of a noble Suabian family,
who was born about 1070, entered the service of the Emperor in
28o THE LIi^E AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
1093 '^^ chaplain, and instructed him in church psalmody. The
Emperor even learned to sing and to compose church music. Otto
prepared for him a course of sermons for the whole year, so short
as to be easily retained in the memory. By accepting the office as
chaplain to Henry, he fell ipso facto under the sentence of excom-
munication, and yet he took no steps to obtain absolution. In
1 102 he became Chancellor of the Empire; a year later he was
appointed, by Henry IV, Bishop of Bamberg. While Henry had
to admit, in 1073, ^^at he had been guilty of appointing unworthy
persons to high offices in the Church, his later years are quite guilt-
less in this respect. Otto of Bamberg honoured his memory in a
service in the memory of the pious Emperor, Henry IV.
Henry IV's character has been undeservedly blackened by his
enemies. Numberless fables and anecdotes were invented to
dishonour his memory. The Annales Palidenses assert that he
worshipped an Egyptian idol, and was bound by this cult to kill
a Christian or to commit some sin upon a feast-day of the Church ;
while Praxedis, his wife, was induced to accuse him of the most
horrible and unspeakable offences — of urging her to incest with her
own son, among other charges, which show an almost inconceivable
depth of malignity in Henry's opponents. But, while Henry's
weaknesses and faults are obvious, he was certainly better than his
reputation. He was always a convinced Christian — even when he
protested against Gregory VII's threat of deposition, he admits that
he might with justice be deposed, if he denied the Christian faith.
His kindness to the poor, erat valde misericors, " very compassionate
and pitiful in alms to the poor," was often praised by the churches.
On his death, the people mourned " as though they had lost a
father " ; they kept watch by his sepulchre and wept and prayed
for the soul of their deceased benefactor. Shortly before his death
he wrote to Philip of France the beautiful words : Benedictus
per omnia Deus exaltandi et humiliandi quemcunque voluerit rex
potentissimus.
Henry V (1106-1125) had agreed in Rome, to cease from
the investiture of bishops. Hardly was he, however, in peaceful
AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM 281
possession of his father's throne when the dispute about the in-
vestitures was renewed ; Henry V broke his pledged word, and in
spite of the warnings of Paschal II, continued to appoint whom he
would to the bishoprics in his dominions. He proceeded to invest
the Bishops of Halberstadt and Verdun, and commanded the Arch-
bishop of Treves to consecrate them ; he reinstated the Bishop
Udo, who had been deposed by the Pope, in the See of Hildesheim.
After this breach with the Papacy, Henry V descended into Italy,
to receive the Imperial Crown in Rome, at the head of an army.
In such a position the King was not likely to make any concession ;
and the Pope, utterly defenceless, declared his willingness to sur-
render his temporal possessions in order to obtain freedom in the
elections to the high offices of the Church. If the Church sur-
rendered all the possessions and all the royalties which it had
received of the Empire and of the Kingdom of Italy from the time
of Charlemagne, all the cities, duchies, marquisates, earldoms, rights
of coining money, customs, tolls, advocacies, rights of raising soldiers,
courts and castles, held by the Empire ; all material advantages
from the State, the right of the King to nominate persons to
bishoprics naturally fell to the ground. The treaty concluded at
Sutri, in 11 11, has been variously judged. Some consider the
Pope's proposal, an expedient devised, in the consciousness of his
desperate and helpless position, to gain time, while others attribute
to the Pope a secret conviction that this was the real intention of
the Church, as well as the most Christian course.
When the treaty became known, the clergy who accompanied
Henry V broke out into open disaffection. Paschal had sur-
rendered at once half the dignity and more than half the power of
the Church. The blow lay heaviest on the German prelates. The
great prince-bishops ceased at once to be princes, they became
merely bishops. Paschal was obliged to bow before the storm he
had aroused, and withdraw the concession. Henry, in no mood
for further fruitless negotiations, took the Pope prisoner, and
demanded for himself both the Imperial Crown, and the right of
investiture with Ring and Crozier. Paschal was forced to yield, and
282 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
is reported to have said : " 1 am compelled for the deliverance of
the Church, and for the sake of peace, to yield what I would never
have yielded to save my own life." An imperialist writer strangely
compares the conduct of Henry V, on thus extorting the surrender,
with Jacob's wrestling with the angel for a blessing ! To Henry V
was surrendered the right of investiture over the bishops and abbots
of the Empire, and upon April 13 the King was crowned by the
Pope as Emperor at St. Peter's — within closed doors, for a tumult
of the people was feared.
Henry V returned to Germany, having wrested in one success-
ful campaign that which no power on earth would have wrung
from the less pliant Gregory VII. But the Pope, however, sincere
in his wish to maintain the treaty, was unable to resist the in-
dignation of the clergy. The strong party in the Church which
was imbued with the principles of Gregory VII, was loud in con-
tempt of the Papal concession of the Privikgium. They called
upon him to annul the unholy compact. Bruno, Bishop of Segni,
denounced the Pope for violation of the Apostolic Canons and for
heresy, and Paschal was branded as an enemy and a traitor to the
Church. At length the violence of the cardinals, and the general
discontent of the clergy, overpowered the unfortunate Pope, who
was obliged to declare that he had acted from compulsion, that he
had yielded up the right of investiture only to save the City of
Rome from total ruin. He declared the whole treaty null and void.
At the same time the wavering Pope kept the promise he had made
to Henry V at his coronation, that he would not utter an anathema
against him. But though Paschal refused to take upon himself
this act of vengeance, certain bishops decided to do so, and Henry
was excommunicated at the Council of Vienne. The Pope made
no attempt to hinder them — Indeed, had he attempted it, his efforts
would have proved unavailing ; his power and prestige had suffered
a mortal blow by the treaty of 1 1 1 1 . He died in the Castle of St.
Angelo, recommending to, the cardinals that firmness in the assertion
of the claims of the Church which he had not displayed, in the year
1 1 18. His successor, Gelasius II, reigned but one year. When
AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM 283
Henry V appeared anew in Rome, the unfortunate Pope was obliged
to escape from Italy to his native town of Gaeta, where he was
consecrated. Henry V, who considered the elevation of Gelasius
as a hostile demonstration against himself, now determined to set
up as anti-Pope Burdinus, Archbishop of Braga, who took the
name of Gregory VIII, and Gelasius, after a vain attempt to become
master of Rome, died, in the early part of 11 19. Guido, Arch-
bishop of Vienne, descended from the Kings of Burgundy, was
unhesitatingly chosen by the cardinals as his successor, and took the
name of Calixtus II (1119-1124). The conclave saw in its midst
the prelate who had boldly taken the lead in the excommunication
of Henry V, and had condemned the Privilegium as " an accursed
writing," and had sent the decrees of Vienne with a letter to the
Pope with this threatening and significant passage : " If you will
confirm these decrees, abstain from all intercourse with and reject
all presents from that cruel tyrant, we will be your faithful sons ; if
not, so God be propitious to us, you will compel us to renounce
all subjection and obedience."
As Pope, Calixtus II did not hesitate to excommunicate anew
Henry V. But he soon realized that such measures were un-
availing, and sought a compromise and a reconciliation with the
Emperor. With regard to the question of investiture, a change
had come over men's minds since the time of Gregory VII. Under
Urban and Paschal the form or symbol of investiture was brought
to the fore. It became obvious to all that the use of the Ring and
the Pastoral-staff in investiture by the lay prince, was unsuitable, as
the Ring and Staff were the peculiar signs of the spiritual office of
the Bishop. Another symbol, that of the Sceptre, was henceforth
to be appropriated to the investiture by secular princes. Thus, in
the year 11 22, peace was concluded by the so-called concordat of
Worms, which closed one period of the long strife between the
Church and the Empire. The Emperor gave up the right of in-
vestiture by the Ring and Pastoral-staff, and granted to the clergy
throughout the Empire the right of free election ; the Pope granted
that all elections of bishops and abbots should take place in the
2 84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
presence of the Emperor or his commissioners. The bishop-elect,
in Germany, was to receive, by the touch of the Sceptre, all the
temporal rights, principalities, and possessions of the See, and
faithfully discharge to the Emperor all duties incident to those
principalities.
When, in the year 1119, Calixtus excommunicated Henry V,
the Pope also solemnly absolved from their allegiance all the subjects
of the Emperor nisi forte resipisceret et ecclesi<£ Dei satisfaceret.
This definitive deposition of the Emperor was, however, not pro-
nounced, and yet Henry V had deserved deposition far more than
his father. Henry V's imprisonment of Paschal, in the year iiii,
was far more serious than any measure taken by his father against
Gregory VII ; and Henry V's unprovoked action in setting up
Burdinus as anti-Pope has not the excuse of his father's support of
Guibert. Again, compare the difficulty that Henry IV had in 1077,
in obtaining absolution and Gregory VII's delay and inhumanity
during the King's penance, with Henry's reconciliation in the year
1 122. The papal legate, the Bishop of Ostia, in administering
Holy Communion to the Emperor, declared him reconciled to the
Holy See, and received him and all his partisans with the kiss of
peace into the bosom of the Church. Neither an express absolution,
nor a renewal of the oaths of allegiance of the Emperor's subjects,
was pronounced, and it is clear that Calixtus, laying aside his earlier
extreme policy, decided to throw in his influence in favour of the
Empire, and to strengthen his authority by allowing the Emperor
greater freedom, and greater consideration. Henry IV was " beaten
with many stripes," whereas we are forced to admit that his son,
whose character has many repulsive traits, who sinned in his dis-
graceful treatment of his father, in his harsh imprisonment of Pope
Paschal, and by his hypocrisy, was " beaten with few."
Calixtus had restored peace to Christendom ; his strong arm
during the latter part of his pontificate kept even Rome in quiet
obedience ; hence there were no opportunities for a considerable
period after the Concordat of Worms for the exercise of hierocratic
measures by the Pope. The theory, however, was not dead, though
AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM 285
dormant ; and when St. Bernard ascribes the " two swords " to
the hand of St. Peter, he gives us to understand that he was at
one with Gregory VII in claiming for the Church the controlling
power over the State.
Under Frederick Barbarossa the conflict broke out anew. When
the Emperor determined to support the anti-Pope Victor IV,
he was forthwith opposed by the Pope Alexander III, who, in
accordance with antiqua patroni consuetudo^ excommunicated him
(May 24, 1 1 60) and released his subjects from their allegiance;
and the hierocratic deposition followed. When the Emperor finally
decided to acknowledge Alexander III as Pope, he received absolu-
tion, after the peace of Venice, 1177 ; but no question was raised
as to the withdrawal of two other hierocratic measures, any more
than a hundred years before at Canossa.
The most successful exponent of the hierocratic system among
the successors of Gregory VII was Innocent III (1198-1216), who
has been justly named the "Augustus of the Papacy." Though
not in name an Emperor, Innocent adopted the position and power
of a great ruler ; and obtained for the Papacy that absolute
supremacy, both spiritual and temporal, in the struggle for which
his great predecessor, Gregory VII, had failed more than a century
before him. The energy, skill, persistence, and political ability of
Innocent enabled him to wield an immense influence throughout
the whole duration of his pontificate in the affairs of the Empire,
and in those of almost every other State of Christendom.
The great Pope deposed and reinstated princes and released
subjects from their oaths ; the theory of Gregory VII was in
Innocent's pontificate fully received. Otto IV was deposed by
him. In England, when King John began to persecute the clerg)^
in consequence of their adherence to the cause of Stephen Langton,
the Papal nominee to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, his own
excommunication followed forthwith ; the kingdom was laid under
an interdict, his subjects released from their allegiance, himself
deposed, and the King of France empowered to occupy England
in the name of Pope. John submitted to Innocent, and solemnly
2 86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
declared himself the Pope's vassal — a relation, however, that lasted
but a short period.
The Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated by Gregory IX ;
his subjects were released from their allegiance, and he was deposed
by Innocent IV in a General Council which met in 1245 ^^ Lyons.
Boniface VIII, who meddled incessantly in foreign affairs and
put forward the strongest claims to temporal as well as spiritual
supremacy, put forward the hierocratic theory in a special Bull,
which, however, has not found a place in the actual Corpus juris
canonici. In this Bull {Unam Sanctam)^ the theory that every
Christian is subject to the Pope, is treated as a dogma, and the
traditional interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the " two
swords " is explained away by affirming that this temporal sword
borne by the monarch is borne only at the will and by the
permission of the Pontiff {ad nutum et patientiam sacerdotis^.
With the death of Boniface fell also the Papacy of the Middle
Ages, both in theory and in fact — in theory through the ascendency
of counter theories, such as those put forward in the T>e Monarchia
of Dante, and in the writings of iEgidius Colonna and John of
Paris, which enforced the reasonableness and necessity of the
supremacy of the political power ; in fact, from the manner in
which the French King succeeded in eventually reducing the
Roman See itself to a mere agent of his will. The period of the
so-called " Babylonian captivity " of the Popes at Avignon, where
Pope after Pope held his court for nearly seventy years, was not
suitable for furthering the hierocratic system. Nevertheless, both
John XXII and Clement VI, in their bitter war against the Emperor
Ludwig the Bavarian set the machinery of hierocratic measures to
work, with results that led later to the so-called " Golden Bull " of
1356.
The outbreak of the Great Schism in 1378 struck deeply at the
sentiments of veneration and deference which had been wont to
gather round the successor of St. Peter. In a period of thirty-
eight years, Europe was scandalized by the spectacle of two rival
Popes — the one holding his court at Rome, the other at Geneva ;
AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM 287
each hurling anathemas and the foulest accusations at the other,
and compared by Wiclif to " two dogs snarling over a bone " —
a jest which in itself affords significant proof of the low estimation
into which the Papacy had fallen. Though, however, the power of
the Pope sensibly declined, the theory of the Bull Unam Sanctam
obtained a wide literary currency ; and in the fifth Lateran Council
of the year 1517 the Abbot and Cardinal, i^gidius of Viterbo,
asserted the power of deposing princes to be " a necessary attribute
of the Papacy."
It is curious that, as the Middle Ages drew to their close, one of
the worst of all Roman pontiffs made a very wide application of
the unconditioned power of the Pope over things temporal. In
May 1493 Alexander VI addressed to Ferdinand of Aragon and
Isabella of Castile a Bull, containing this paragraph :
T)e nostra mera liber alitate et ex certa scientia ac de aposlolicce fotes-
tatis pleniiudine omnes insulas et terras firmas inventas ac inveniendas^
auctoritate omnipotentis Dei nobis in beato Petro concessa in perpetuo
donamus.
In this utterance we get the last glimpse of what has been
described as the " cosmic authority " of the Papacy.
In the latter half of the fifteenth century the Popedom retires alto-
gether into the background of the history of Europe. The Pontiff's
pretensions were not, indeed, in any way modified, but his actual
policy was no longer commensurate with them, and the weapons of
the interdict and anathema fell into disuse. It is, however, a curious
phenomenon, that during the Reformation period inaugurated by
Luther, Zwingli and Calvin, which so greatly reduced the numbers
of the Roman Catholic Church, and erected an insuperable barrier
between the communion of Rome and the separated churches, the
old hierocratic weapons were again unsheathed by the more energetic
and powerful Popes. Princes who came into conflict v/ith
Rome, or who supported the new beliefs were forced to realize
that their high station did not protect them from Papal
censures and punishments. After Henry VIII of England had
been excommunicated by Clement VII (i 523-1 534), Paul III
288 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
(i 534-1 549) in a Bull {Cluum Redemptor) reverts to the mediaeval
standpoint, and like Gregory VII releases vassals from their oaths,
and forbids subjects, under pain of anathema, to obey the king.
Paul, it is true, no longer comes forward as suzerain of England,
for the short-lived relation of allegiance to Innocent III had long
been forgotten. Again, the action of Paul IV (i 555-1 559) in
emphasizing the theory contained in the Bull Unam Sanctum is
highly significant. On February 15, 1559, appeared the Bull duum
ex apostolatus officio^ of which the most important heads are these : —
(i) The Pope as representative of Christ on earth has complete
authority over princes and kingdoms, and may judge the same.
(2) All monarchs, who are guilty of heresy or schism, are
irrevocably deposed, without the necessity of any judicial form-
alities. They are deprived for ever of their right to rule, and fall
under sentence of death. If they repent, they are to be confined in
a monastery for the term of their life, with bread and water as their
only fare.
(3) No man is to help an heretical or schismatical prince. The
monarch guilty of this sin is to lose his kingdom in favour of rulers
obedient to the Pope.
Paul IV, in his zeal, had gone beyond all his predecessors, as
we see by the Bull whose provisions were so exorbitant that they
remained a dead letter. None of his successors dared to make a
practical application of his pretensions.
St. Pius V (i 566-1 572) and St. Sixtus V (i 585-1 590) trod in
the footsteps of Paul III. The former, who, in 1569, had ex pleni-
tudine apostolicce potestatis named Duke Cosmo de' Medici Archduke
of Florence, turned the weapons of the hierocratic system against
Queen Elizabeth of England (February 25, 1570). Elizabeth, " the
pretended Queen of England," is excommunicated, her subjects are
released from their oath, her kingdom is taken from her.
Gregory VII began the series of hierocratic depositions by the
contradictio of Henry IV of Germany, and Sixtus V closed the series
with his deposition of the French king, Henry IV. Like Gregory
VII, of humble birth, Sixtus was the last exponent of the Gregorian
AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM 289
System. His death marks another great crisis in the history of the
Papacy. At the close of the decree of deposition of Henry IV of
France, there stands an important protest against the new doctrines
of the great Jesuit, Cardinal Bellarmine. He had elaborated a theory
of the so-caWed poles tas indirecta in temporalia and denied that the Pope
had officially the power to rule all things secular as well as sacred (as
Gregory VII had assumed), and, in especial, that the Pope had the
power to depose princes. Bellarmine's theory was that the Pope
only had the right in special and extraordinary cases, when the
spiritual condition of the subjects demanded such a step. This new
power he designated the potestas extraor dinar ia or reladva.
Bellarmine's theory was strongly opposed by Sixtus V, who in
1590 placed the Book upon the Index. It is a mistake to suppose,
with Scheeben, that Sixtus V was over-hasty in this prohibition.
The last of the really great Pontiffs, and a man of strong character
and good sense, was not liable to hasty and unconsidered impulse.
Shortly after Sixtus V's death, Bellarmine's theory won a wide
currency. It was owing to his influence that, in 1603, a work
received ecclesiastical censure in Rome, which expounded the
hierocratic doctrine of Gregory VII. The Paduan, Carriero, in his
book de potestate Romani Fontificis adversus impios politicos offers
the following statements : —
1 . Papa habet plenissimam potestatem in universum orbem ierrarum,
turn in rebus ecclesiasticis turn in rebus politicis.
2. Papa^ si ex causa reges et imperatores destituit fortius eos instituere
potest.
3. Imperator in omnibus sub est Romano pontifici.
So Paul V condemned the very principles that his predecessor
Sixtus V had wished to maintain.
Later, the power of the ruler increased, while the authority of
the Pope in political matters sensibly decreased. Very significant
are the relations between Pope Pius VI (1775-99) and the Emperor
Joseph II. In spite of the Emperor's opposition to the Roman See
— for Joseph suppressed half the monasteries and priories throughout
the Empire, declared the Bulls Unigenitus and In Qjena Domini null and
19
290 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GREGORY VII
void within the limits of the Empire, and forbade the introduction
of Papal dispensations, unless it could be shown that they were
obtained without payment — he was most considerately treated by
the Pope, and no censures of the Church are directed against him.
His successor Pius VII had to cope with the all-powerful
Napoleon. When Napoleon compelled the Pope to disown all
claim to rank as temporal ruler, Pius VII issued a Bull of
excommunication in which, however. Napoleon is not censured
by name. Those who had been actively concerned in robbing the
Papacy were censured in general terms. Pius VII expressly says
that the ban (unlike that pronounced by Gregory VII against
Henry IV of Germany) brings with it no " loss of right," no
natural detriment ; that is to say, Napoleon is not deprived, by
the ban, of his position of Emperor. Napoleon, as far as we
know, never sought absolution from this censure ; and was
certainly never absolved in foro externo^ yet Pius VII, after the
Emperor died in St. Helena, celebrated mass for the repose of
his soul.
Leo XIII, who, on his accession, found the Papal States removed
from his control, did not excommunicate the King of Italy by
name, but only declared that the occupier of those States fell
under sentence of excommunication. Although he felt the loss
of the temporal sovereignty keenly, as the representative of the
Prince of Peace, he was adverse to all violent attempts at Restora-
tion. In the important Encyclical of November i, 1885, which
begins with the words Immortale Dei^ which deals, among other
matters, with the relations between Church and State, we read :
Deus hiimani generis procurationem in duas potestates partitus est^
scilicet ecclesiasticam et civilem, alteram divinis, alteram humanis rebus
prcepusitam. — Utraque potestas est in suo genere maxima; utraque hahet
certos^ quibus contineatur^ terminos.
Leo XIII does not tread in the footsteps of Gregory VII and
does not bring forward the fundamental proportions of the Bull
Unam Sanctam. Though he rightly repudiates the theory that the
power of the State has no limitations, he is at the same time far
AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIEROCRATIC SYSTEM 291
from assuming, with Gregory VII, a Petrine omnipotence. He
will not sit in judgment over the kingdoms of the earth, and
does not require kings and princes to act ad nutum et patientiam
sacerdotis, as Boniface VIII required them. His words are : Q^uce
civile et politicum genus compkctitur^ rectum est civili auctoritati esse
subjecta, quum Jesus Christus jusserit quce Ccesaris sint^ reddi
CiPsari quce Dei, Deo.
19*
APPENDIX
THE SECOND LETTER OF GREGORY VII TO HERMANN, BISHOP OF
METZ, MARCH 1 5, IO81
" Gregory, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Our
well-beloved brother in Christ, Hermann, Bishop of Metz, health
and the Apostolic Benediction.
" We know your desire to employ yourself, and to confront
dangers, in the defence of truth, and We see in your good-will,
the action of Divine Providence. The ineffable grace of God and
His marvellous bounty, never permit His chosen ones to lapse
into complete error, nor do they allow them to be altogether
conquered and enslaved by sin. After the salutary trials of per-
secution, and the anxieties which they have experienced, the elect
come forth stronger than before. Fear makes cowards shamelessly
rival one another in flight ; in like manner, those inspired by manly
courage, strive to be in the front rank and to obtain the palm of
valour and bravery. If We address this language to your charity,
it is because you too wish to be in the front rank in the Christian
army ; that is, amongst those who, you know well, are closest to,
and most worthy of, the God who gives the Victory.
" You ask Us to come to your aid by Our writings and to refute
the insanity of those, who maintain with their guilty tongues, that
the Holy Apostolic See had not the right to excommunicate
King Henry, that despiser of the Christian law, that destroyer
of Churches, and of the Empire, that abettor and accomplice of
heretics, and that it had not power to absolve from the oath
of fidelity, which had been sworn to him. It does not seem very
necessary for Us to do this, for this power is established by many
292
I
APPENDIX 293
authentic texts of Holy Scripture. We cannot indeed believe,
that those who, for their own damnation, and with unblushing
impudence oppose and fight against truth can, in their ignorance
or madness, have had the audacity to use these texts as their
justification. There would not, however, be anything astonishing
in that, for it is the custom of the wicked to seek protection for
their vices, and to defend their accomplices ; it matters little to
them if they ruin themselves by their lies.
" To quote one proof from among many. Who does not
know that saying of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the
Gospel, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church ;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 1 will give to you
the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever you shall hind
on earth, shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall
loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven} Are kings an
exception .'' Do they not form part of the flock confided to
St. Peter - by the Son of God .'' Then, We ask, who will dare
to claim that he has nothing to do with the power of St. Peter,
that the universal power of binding and loosing given to St.
Peter, has no reference to him } No one would act in this
manner, but that unhappy man, who, unwilling to bear the yoke
of the Lord,-^ would submit to that of the devil and renounce
his right to belong to the fold of Christ. By this proud denial
of the power divinely granted to St. Peter, he would obtain liberty,
a sad liberty indeed, for the more he denied the power, the more
heavily would his eternal damnation weigh upon him, on the day
of judgment.
" As the Holy Fathers accepted, with the greatest respect, this
institution ordained by the divine will ; this fundamental basis of
the constitution of the Church, this privilege, granted by a decree
from heaven to blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles ; they have
always given to the Holy Roman Church, in their general councils,
as well as in their decrees, the title of Universal Mother. Just as
1 St. Matt, xvi, 18, 19. - St. John xxi. 17. 3 St. Matt. xi. 30.
294 APPENDIX
they have acknowledged her authority in matters of faith and in the
teaching of holy religion, so they have also bowed down before her
judgments. They have been unanimous in thinking and declaring
that the most important questions, the most weighty matters,
the declarations of all the Churches, were within her jurisdiction,
because she is the Mother and head of all the Churches. They also
declared, that it was no more allowable to appeal from her decisions
than to modify or reject them. Thus, Pope Gelasius, speaking in
the name of a divine authority, and writing to the Emperor
Anastasius to show him what his attitude should be towards the
head of the holy Apostolic See, expresses himself in these terms :
If^ in general^ all the faithful ought to be submissive to the priests^ when
the latter are the faithful interpreters of God, with much more reason
ought the Pontiff of the Holy See to be obeyed, placed as he is by God,
above all priests, and honoured by the Church with humble and continual
submission. Human wisdom, however perfect it may be, cannot rise to
such heights of knowledge, as he who enjoys the privilege of being raised
above all by Christ Himself, and whom the Church considers and
has always held to be her Primate} In a similar manner. Pope Julius,'-^
writing to the Bishops of the East concerning the power of the
Apostolic See, speaks as follows : My brethren, since you were speak-
ing to the Holy Roman and Apostolic Church, you ought to have
expressed yourselves, not with irony, but with respect, as our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself spoke to His Church,when He said to her, ' Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not pre-
vail against her ; I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven ^
By a unique privilege she can indeed open and close, to whom she will,
the gate of the heavenly kingdom. Is not he who has such power, he
who can open or shut Heaven itself competent to judge of the things
of earth ! The contrary cannot be maintained. Do you remember
the words of St. Paul : Know you not that we shall judge angels ? how
much more the things of this world ?^ The blessed Pope Gregory,
^ Jaffe, Regesta Pont'tf. roman. 632 ; Migne, Pair. lat. 59, p. 41.
2 St. Julius I, 341-52; ]di9ie, Regesta Pontif. roman. 196; Migne, P^/r, /<?/. 8, p. 981.
It is, however, a false decretal ; cf, Hinschius, p. 464. ^ i Corinth, vi. 3.
APPENDIX 295
writing to a certain senator abbot, asserts that kings, who allow
themselves to violate the decrees of the Apostolic See, ought to be
deprived of their dignities. If^ he writes, any king^ priest^ judge or
any secular^ knowing the present decree^ dares to offend against it, let him
lose his power and dignity^ and let him declare himself guilty before God
of the iniquity he has committed. If he does not restore what he has un-
justly stolen, and do penance in proportion to his fault, let him be deprived
of the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ ;
and may the vengeance of the eternal judgment fall upon him}
" If blessed Gregory, who was the meekest of the doctors,
decreed that kings, who violated the statutes, which he gave
to a hospital, should not only be deposed, but excommunicated and
damned for ever, who would dare to reproach us for having deposed
and excommunicated Henry, the despiser of the apostolic judg-
ments, the fierce enemy of Mother Church, the infamous despoiler
and merciless scourge of the whole kingdom, and of the churches ?
Who, but one, who is still more unworthy than he, would dare to
cast reproach upon us ? We read in a letter of the blessed Peter,
concerning the ordination of Clement : If any one is a friend to
those to whom he (Clement) does not speak, through that very fact, he
belongs to those who wish to destroy the Church of God ; in the body he seems
to be with us ; but his spirit and his heart are against us. Such an enemy
is to be dreaded more than one whose enmity is open, and apparent
to all ; for the former works evil under cover of false friendship
and causes disunion and destruction in the Church.^ Remark this
well, dearly beloved, the blessed Peter judges him, whose conduct
is condemned by the Pope, in so severe a manner, that he even goes
so far as to condemn those, who are bound to him by friendship,
and even those who hold converse with him.
" It is, therefore, impossible for a dignity which owes its origin to
men of the world, and even to those ignorant of God, not to be in
subjection to that dignity, which the Providence of the all-powerful
^ JafFe, Reg. 1875; Migne, Patr. lat. 77, p. 1265.
- JafFe, Reg. 10 ; Migne, Patr. lat. 56, p. 731. It is also a false decretal ; cf.
Hinschius, Decretales Pseudo-Isidorienses, p. 36.
296 APPENDIX
God instituted, to bring honour to Him, and which, in His mercy,
He has granted to the whole world. If the Son of this all-powerful
God is undoubtedly God and Man, He is also the High Priest, the
chief of all priests, and He is now seated at the right hand of the
Father, where He intercedes for us without ceasing.^ The Son of
God despised the earthly kingdoms, of which the sons of this world
are so proud ; it was of His own accord that He chose and
embraced the priesthood of the Cross. Every one knows that the
first kings and the first dukes, were men ignorant of God, who,
influenced by blind cupidity, and intolerable presumption, aided,
moreover, by the Demon-prince of this world, strove by the help
of robbery, lies and homicide, and almost every vice, to have
dominion over their equals, that is, over other men. When these
kings and dukes sought afterwards to draw the priests of the Lord
into their ways, to whom can one more fitly compare them than to
him who is the head of all the sons of pride,^ to him who tried
to tempt the Sovereign of Pontiffs Himself, the Chief of Priests,
the Son of the Most High, by showing Him all the kingdoms of the
world and saying to ¥{.\m, 1 will give you all this if you fall down at my
feet and adore me? Who can doubt that the priests of Christ are the
fathers and masters of kings ; that they are the princes of all
the faithful ? Is it not an act of utter madness, when the son
tries to rule the father, the disciple the master ; when he wishes to
reduce him to submission by imposing on him iniquitous conditions,
though he knows well that this father and master has the power of
binding and loosing on earth, as well as in heaven } The blessed
Gregory reminds us of this in a letter to the Emperor Maurice.*
The Emperor Constantine the Great, chief of almost all the kings
and princes of the world, thoroughly understood the power of the
priesthood. At the Nicean Council, he wished to be placed below
the bishops ; nor did he try, in any way, to maintain his opinions
against theirs ; on the contrary, he styled them Gods^ and protested
that it was for him to follow their opinions, and not for them
1 Romans viii. 34. 2 Jq^ xii. 25. ^ St. Matt. iv. 9.
^ Jafte, I Reg. 1359 '■> Migne, Patr.ht. 77, p. 765.
APPENDIX 297
to yield to him. In the letter of Pope Gelasius to the Emperor
Anastasius, already quoted, in order that the Emperor might not be
offended by the truths he had just heard, the Pope adds : Oh,
Emperor Augustus I two powers govern the worlds the sacred authority
of the pontiffs and the power of kings ; but the authority of priests is the
superior one^ because before the judgment-seat of God the priest will be held
responsible for the conduct of the king} And a little farther on : Tou
see by this^ that they are not to submit to your wishes ; you^ on the contrary^
are to bow to their decisions.
" Supported by such facts, and by such authority, several
Pontiffs have excommunicated kings and emperors. The blessed
Pope Innocent excommunicated the Emperor Arcadius, for having
allowed St. John Chrysostom to be driven from his See.^ The
Roman Pontiff Zachary made the king of the Franks descend from
his throne, not so much on account of the evil deeds he may have
committed, as because he was not doing any service in the high
position he held. He released the Franks from their oath of
fidelity which they had taken to their king, and he put in his place
Pepin, the father of the Emperor Charlemagne. The Church acts
in the same way when, by right of her apostolic authority, she
deposes bishops from their episcopal sees, and releases the soldiers
of Christ from the oath of fidelity sworn to them. The blessed
Ambrose, who was a saint, but was never Pope, excommunicated
and kept out of the Church the Emperor Theodosius the Great,
for a crime, which did not appear very serious to other priests.
He proved in his writings that the sacerdotal dignity is as much
above the royal dignity as gold is superior to lead. Thus, he
writes, concerning the very principle of the pastoral office : 'There
is nothing., my brethren.^ worthy of being compared to the honour and
1 J.-ifFe, Reg. 632 ; Migne, Pat. Gr. 59, p. 41.
2 JafFe, Reg. 290 ; Migne, 20, Pat. Gr. p. 629. The letter of Innocent I to the
Emperor Arcadius and the Empress Eudoxia, to which Gregory VII alludes, is a
document now admitted to be apocryphal : see this letter in Migne, Patr. Gr. I. 146,
p. 1037 ; it forms the 34th chapter of the 13th book of the Ecclesiastical History of
'Nicephorus Caliistus.
298 APPENDIX
greatness of the episcopal office ; to liken it, for example, to the splendour
of the royal State, to the diadem of princes, is like comparing the bright-
ness of gold to the dull lustre of lead. Do we not indeed see kings and
princes throwing themselves at the feet of priests, kissing their hands and
imploring a share in their prayers ? A little farther on, he says :
Tou understand, my brethren, that, if I have written to you at such
lengthy it is solely to impress upon you that nothing in this world can
equal the excellence of the priesthood and the grandeur of the episcopacy}
" Your fraternity must remember that, no layman receives
power equal to that granted to the exorcist,^ since the latter is made
a spiritual emperor^ for the purpose of casting out demons.^ Kings
and princes, who neither live in accordance with their religion, nor
perform their actions from the fear of God, place themselves in
the power of the devils, and are held by them in the trammels of
bondage. If, truly God-fearing priests, desire to rule, it is because,
inflamed by Divine Love, they desire to promote the honour of
God and the salvation of souls. Princes, such as those mentioned
above, seek power only in order to gratify their passions, and to
give free course to their indomitable pride.
" The blessed Augustine says of them, in the first book Of
Christian Doctrine * ; Whoever aspires to rule those who are natur-
ally his equals, that isy other men, gives proof of intolerable pride.
Since, as has been said, exorcists have received from God power
over the demons,^ much more have they power over those who
^ This passage is an extract from a work often entitled De dignitate sacerdotali,
for a long time attributed to St. Ambrose : cp. Migne, Patr. lat. T. xvii. p. 367,
Appendice aux ceuvres de Snint Amhro'ise. According to the Benedictine editors ot
St. Ambrose, this treatise is not by this Father of the Church.
2 The exorcist is a cleric, who has received the third of the four minor orders,
which he must receive before arriving at the sub-diaconate, diaconate, and priesthood.
3 When ordaining exorcists the Bishop says : Deum patrem deprecemur, ut hos
famulos suos benedicere dignetur in officium exorcistarum, ut sint spirituales imperatores ad
abjiciendos dcemones. Cp. Pontif. Rommi. de Ordinatmie exorcistarum.
■* Lib. I. c. 2, 3. 0pp. 5. Auguitini, ed. Caellan, I. iv. p. 435.
^ When the bishop ordains exorcists, he says : Domine benedicere dignare hos
famulos tuos ut imperium habeant spiritus immundos coercendi — Pontific. Roman. 1. c.
APPENDIX 299
are enslaved by the demons, and are members of the demon. If
the power of exorcists is so great, that of priests is much greater.
" Moreover, on his death-bed, every Christian king who wishes
to escape hell, to pass from darkness to light, to appear at the judg-
ment-seat of God, after having received absolution for his faults,
humbly implores the ministry of the priest. But who is there,
I do not say, priest, but even layman, who has ever begged the
help of an earthly king, when at the point of death, and filled with
anxiety for the salvation of his soul .'' What king or emperor
can, by right of his office, give holy baptism to a Christian, deliver
him from the power of the devil, give him entrance among the
children of God, or anoint him with the holy chrism ? Who,
among them, can consecrate the Body and Blood of the Lord, in
other words, perform that greatest act of the Christian religion ?
Has the power of binding and absolving in heaven and on earth
been given to any one of them ? In all these things, the superiority
of the sacerdotal dignity is evident. If not one among them has
the power to ordain a cleric of Holy Church, still less have they
the right of deposing him for any fault. In ecclesiastical orders,
the authority which deposes, ought to be superior to that which
ordains. Bishops can consecrate other bishops, but they cannot
depose them, without the authority of the Apostolic See. Very
little discernment is therefore necessary to understand the supe-
riority of the priesthood over the royal state. If, in all that
concerns their sins, kings are amenable to priests, much more must
they be so, to the Roman Pontiff.
" On closer examination, the title of king is much better suited
to good Christians than to bad princes. The former seek the
glory of God, and know how to govern themselves ; the latter,
preoccupied with their own interests, and not with the interests of
God,^ are enemies to themselves and tyrants to others. The
former are part of the Bociy of Jesus Christ ; the latter of the body
of the devil. The first-mentioned govern themselves,^ that they
^ Philip ii. 21. - I Corinthians xii. 27.
300 APPENDIX
may reign eternally with the Supreme Emperor : the power of
the second is exercised in such a way, that they will be lost for
ever, with the prince of darkness, the king of all the sons of pride.^
" It is not surprising if bad bishops make common cause with an
impious king ; they receive their honours from that king, in an
unlawful way, hence they both love and dread him at the same
time. By their consent to perform simoniacal ordinations, they, as
it were, sell God at a low price. The elect are indissolubly united
to their head ; the reprobate, in like manner clings tenaciously
round him who is the author of evil, especially when the matter at
stake is to resist the good. To argue with them is of little avail,
rather weep over their sad fate, that the all-powerful God may
deliver them from the snares of Satan, and that He may in the end
open their eyes to the truth.
" So much for kings and emperors, who, intoxicated by earthly
glory, reign, not for God, but for themselves. Now, the duty of
our office is, to exhort each one according to his position and
dignity. We must, therefore, with the help of God, speak of
humility to emperors, kings, and other princes, in order that they
may resist the waves of pride, which impel them, like the motions
of the sea." Earthly glory and worldly cares rapidly develop pride,
especially in those who rule ; carried along in its current, they cast
aside humility ; and filled with desires of their own glory, they
long for dominion over their fellow-men. It is most important
for emperors and kings to learn to practise humility, when their
minds aspire to great things, and when they wish to shine with
resplendent glory in the eyes of the world. Let them seek motives
of fear in all that has hitherto been to them a subject of joy. See
what danger is involved in the royal or imperial dignity, how liable
it is to fill the heart with uneasiness ! Very few of those invested
with royal greatness attain to salvation ; and those who, by the help
of God, are not lost eternally, by virtue of a judgment of the
Holy Spirit, are not glorified in Holy Church, as are such numbers
^ Job xli. 25. '^ Ps. xcii. 4.
APPENDIX
301
of the poor. From the beginning of the world down to our own
times, it is impossible to name seven emperors or kings, whose
lives have been such models of religious perfection, so filled with
miracle, as the lives of innumerable persons who were nothing in
the eyes of the world. We believe, however, that through the
mercy of the omnipotent God, several of them have been able to
save their souls. What emperor or king could be compared, we do
not say to the Apostles and Martyrs, but to blessed Martin, or
Antony, or Benedict, in regard to the gift of miracles ? What
emperor or king ever restored the dead to life, cured lepers or
gave sight to the blind t We have the Emperor Constantine, of
pious memory, the Emperors Theodosius, Honorius, Charles and
Louis, who loved justice, spread the Christian religion, and defended
the Church : the Church praises and venerates them, yet she does
not say that they had, to a striking extent, the gift of miracles.
What altars or basilicas are there dedicated to a king or an
emperor ; has the Church ever allowed Mass to be celebrated in
honour of any one of them .'' Kings and princes, so proud of being
above other men, in this life, ought to fear all the more, lest they
should be condemned to eternal fire in the life hereafter. Thus it
is written : The mighty shall he mightily tormented} They will have
to render an account of each subject under their sway. If it
is no small labour for any ordinary mortal, filled with the spirit of
religion, to save one single soul, that is, his own ; how great is not
the responsibility of princes who have the charge of thousands of
souls ! Holy Church punishes severely the sinner who has com-
mitted homicide ; what then will happen to those who have caused
death to thousands of persons for the sake of the glory of this
world ? It sometimes happens that, after having been the cause of
death to many, they utter with their lips a mea culpa ; but in the
depths of their hearts, they rejoice at the extension of their glory
and power. They are very far from wishing that they had left
their great deeds undone ; the fact of having sent their fellow-
^ Wisdom vi. 7.
302 APPENDIX
creatures to Tartarus, fills them with no compunction. Their
repentance is worthless in the sight of God, it is not inspired by-
true contrition of heart, as they do not wish to give up what they
have acquired by conquest, and at the cost of so much human
blood. They have reason to fear ; they ought often to recall to
their minds what we have already said, that a very small number of
saints is to be found amongst the multitude of kings who have
succeeded one another, on the different thrones of the earth, since
the beginning of the world. On the other hand, in one single line
of Pontiffs, as for instance, the Roman Pontiffs from the time of
St. Peter, more than a hundred are distinguished for eminent
sanctity.^ What reason is there for this, unless, as has been already
said, it is that kings of the earth and princes, fascinated by a vain
desire of glory, subordinate their spiritual interests to the temporal
interests of themselves and their kingdoms. Truly godly pontiffs,
on the contrary, allow no earthly matters to come between them
and the cause of God. The first-mentioned are remorseless in
avenging personal affronts ; but, when the offence is committed
against God, they seem to lack energy to punish the offenders :
the second easily forget the wrongs done to themselves, but with
difficulty pardon the injuries done to God. The former, engrossed
in the things of this world, set little value on spiritual things ; the
latter, having their thoughts constantly directed towards heaven,
feel nothing but contempt for all that is of this earth.
" All Christians, therefore, who desire to reign with Christ,
must be cautioned against seeking power from motives of earthly
ambition ; they must not lose sight of the warnings given by the
holy and blessed Pope Gregory in the Pastoral ^ : the line of action to be
followed is, he says, not to accept power, unless we are forced to do so ;
unless moreover, we possess the virtues necessary to exercise that power ,•
in case these virtues are wanting, we must not yield, and assume authority,
even if we are subjected to violence. He, who is filled with the fear
of God, will take his seat on the Apostolic See with feelings of the
^ Gregory was the 155th Pope ; of his predecessors 75 were venerated as Saints.
2 In the Regidce Past., P. I. c. 9, S, Gregor. 0pp., ed. Benedict, II. 10.
APPENDIX
303
keenest anguish, and then only under the utmost compulsion.
The merits of blessed Peter, however, will give renewed strength
to him who has legitimately obtained his power. What must be
the terror and anxiety of one who occupies an earthly throne for
the first time, a throne on which even the good and humble, lose
their virtues, as is proved by the example of Saul and David ! In
support of the remark, which we have just made, concerning the
Apostolic See, the decrees of Pope Symmachus — in accordance
with experience — contain the following expressions : Blessed Peter
has transynitted to his successors an inexhaustible dowry of merits^ to-
gether with an inheritance of innocence ; and later he says : fVho
could doubt of the sanctity of him^ who is invested with such a high
dignity ? To supply his want of personal merits he has the merits of
his predecessors. To remain worthily on such a height, he requires the
bright light that beams from his own life, or that which St. Peter
procures for him}
" Those who are called spontaneously, and after mature deliber-
ation, to royalty or empire, by Holy Church, ought therefore to
answer this call with humility. They should embrace this dignity,
not to acquire transitory glory, but to save souls. Let them reflect
well on these words of blessed Gregory in the same pastoral - :
He who disdains to be like other men, becomes like a rebellious angel.
Saul, when raised to sovereign power, instead of continuing to gain merit
by his humility, let himself be ruled by pride. His humility was the
cause of his elevation to that power of which his pride deprived him.
God Himself gives testimony of this when He says : When thou
wast a little one in thine own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the
tribes of Israel? ^ And, farther on, he says : Strange contradiction, when
he was little in his own eyes he was great in the sight of God; and on
the contrary, when he thought himself great, his acts were worthless before
God. Let them engrave on their hearts the words of our Lord in
^ In Envodii libello pro synodo IV a Pseudoisidor'iana Symmachi synodo V approbato.
Cf. Decret. Pseudo-Isid., ed. Hinschius, p. 666.
2 In the ReguU Past., P. II. c. 6, /. c, p. 2 i .
3 I Kings XV. 17.
304
APPENDIX
the Gospel : / seek not My own glory} and that other sayhig of His,
Whosoever shall be the first among you shall be the servant of all?- Let
them always place God's honour before their own ; let them practise
justice by being faithful in respecting the rights of every one ; let
them not frequent the assemblies of the wicked ; ^ let them, on the
contrary, adhere with fidelity to the advice of godly men. They
ought never to seek to rule the Church and make a slave of her ;
instead of acting thus, they must duly honour the priests of the
Lord, who are the eyes of the Church, and see in them masters and
fathers. If we are obliged to honour our fathers and mothers
according to the flesh, much more are we obliged to honour our
parents according to the Spirit. If he who curses his own father or
mother is to be punished by death, how severely ought not he to
be punished who curses his spiritual parents } Under the impulse
of their carnal love, princes must not try to place any son of theirs
at the head of the flock for which Christ shed His blood ; if they
know of some one more fitted and more useful than that son, by
their inordinate love for that son they might inflict on the Church
a grievous wrong. It is a clear proof that we do not love God and
our neighbours as Christians ought to love them, if we are unwilling
to do all we can to assist our Holy Mother, the Church, in such an
important matter. Without the love of God and one's neighbours
— that is, without charity — all the good which is done is absolutely
worthless for salvation. Those, on the contrary, who act with
humility, and give proof of a constant love of God and their neigh-
bours, may hope in the mercy of Him who said. Learn of Me^
because I am meek and humble of heart} Imitating Him in His
humility, they will reject this ephemeral royalty, which is nothing
but slavery, exchanging it for another sovereignty, one of true
liberty, to last for all eternity.
" Reasons such as these may help kings and princes to fortify
themselves against pride and vainglory. We have thought it
right to lay them briefly before your fraternity, and those who
^ St. John viii. 50. 2 St. Mark x. 4.4.
3 Psalm i. I. •* St. Matt. xi. 29.
APPENDIX
305
speak through the mouthpiece of the Church, to enable vou to pay
a courageous and persevering homage to truth — that truth now
almost abandoned and left to the defence of but a few brave
champions. You remember what blessed Gregory says in the
* Seventh Book of his Morals,' ^ in explaining the verse, They that
fear the hoar frosty the snow shall fall upon them. Here are his
words : The fear of the adversities of this world causes some to run
the risk of eternal misfortune?
" In the name of the Omnipotent God, and through the
authority of blessed Peter, prince of apostles. We grant you, brother
Hermann, permission to fulfil the Episcopal duties in all the
bishoprics of the kingdom of Lorraine in which the Bishops
have been excommunicated, for having held intercourse with
Henry, formerly called king. This permission will hold good
so long as these Bishops remain excommunicated — that is, until
they have been absolved, either by Us or by Our lawful
successor." ^
1 L. vii. c. 26 App. : 5. Gregor'ii, ed. Benedict, T. I. p. 225.
2 Jobvi. 16.
3 This letter of Gregory VII to the Bishop of Metz is to be found in the corre-
spondence of this Pope : Greg. VII, Regist. viii. 21; Jaffe, Mon. Greg., pp. 453-67.
A Brussels manuscript, and the version of Udalrich of Bamberg, have some other
quotations from St. Gregory the Great, and some expressions of Gregory VII, but
nothing that adds to the real meaning of the letter. We have followed in this latter
part the MS. in the British Museum, from the Arundel Library. Jaffe has taken
care to give both texts. Cf. p. 465.
INDEX
ACHARD, Archbishop of Aries, 208
Adalbero, Bishop of Wiirzburg, 102, 138, 146
Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen, 48-9, 71
Adalbert, Bishop of Worms, 159, 178
Adelaide, Marchioness of Susa, 125, 128, 227
^gidius, Abbot and Cardinal, 287
Agnes, Empress, 5, 14, 17, 18-19, 29, 30, 48,
50-1. 59, 73- 75, 84, 87, 103, 109, 1 1 1,' 118,
193, 194, 195, 209, 249, 253
Alexander II, Pope, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 36,
37, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46-7, 5°, 5i, 258,
259, 260, 265
Alexander III, Pope, 285
Alexander IV, Pope, 287
Altmann, Bishop of Passau, 158, 209, 211,
212, 218, 256, 258
Altwin, Bishop of Brixen, iio-ii, 114
Ambrose of Milan, St., 117, 118, 224, 297-8
Andrew, King of Hungary, 10
Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, 73, 142, 217, 221,
225, 227, 239, 266
Anselm of Badagio, 16-17, 27, 263. (See a/so
under Alexander II)
Arcadius, Emperor, 297
Ariald, 16, 33, 34-5, 89
Arnulf of Milan, 134, 138
Arnulfo, Bishop of Cremona, 156-7
Atto, Archbishop of Milan, 36-7
Augustine, St., 298
Beatrice, Duchess, 14, 15, 27, 31, 43, 59,
66, 78-9, 84, 88-9, 94, 95, 103 and 103-4 /;.,
112, 193
Bellarmine, Cardinal, 289
Benedict VIII, Pope, 3
Benedict IX, Pope, 3, 4, 6, 259
" Benedict X, Pope," 17, 19-20
Benedict XIII, Pope, 242
Beno, 7, 109, 185
Benzo, Bishop of Albi, 2, 7, 15, 19, 22-3, 24,
28-9, 141 «., 144, 183, 205, 216, 217, 240,
262
Berenga, Peter de, Archbishop of Narbonne,
208
Berengarius, Archdeacon of Angers, 12-13, 14,
23-4, 163-6, 193, 248
Bernard, Abbot of Marseilles, 137, 140, 141,
143, 147, 150, 152
Bernard, Cardinal-Deacon, 36, 137, 139, 140,
141, 143, 147, 151-2, 258
Bernold, 62, 134 5, 139 and «., 141, 142, 151
»., 155, 226
306
Berthold, 62, 122-3, 124 w., 125, 130, 134, 139
and «., 141, 142 and ;/., 146, 151 w., 153
«., 155, 172-3, 174, 177
Berthold, Duke of Carinthia, 74, 91, 136, 138,
146, 259-60, 261-2
Bibo, Bishop of Toul, 102 n., 113, 149
Boemond, 65, 222, 237, 238
Boniface VIII, Pope, 286, 291
Bonitho, 6, 7, 8 «., 19, 24, 27, 51, 54-5, 56, 58,
61, 63, 89, 101, 102, 112, I24«., 130, 135,
151, 162, 170, 174, 177, 185, 194, 195, 205,
218, 230, 232, 242, 244, 249, 262
Botoniatis, Nicephorus, 90, 163, 200, 214-15,
272
Bruno, 124 «., 129, 138, 139, 143, 151 «., 159,
204, 218
Bruno, Bishop of Osnaburg, 102 «., 128, 153,211
Bruno, Bishop of Segni, 282
Burchard, Bishop of Halberstadt, 30, 68, 92,
102 n.
Burchard, Bishop of Lausanne, 216
Burdinus, Abbot of Braga ( " Gregory VIII " ),
283, 284
Cadalus, Bishop of Parma ( " Honorius II " ),
28-9, 30-2, 37
Calixtus II, Pope, 86, 283-4
Candidus, Cardinal Hugh, 22, 54, 55, 62-3,
101, 102, 122 «., 156-7, 189-90, 244, 258
Cenci, 99-100, 121
Cenci, Prefect of Rome, 152
Clement II, Pope, 5-6, 258, 259
Clement VI, Pope, 286
Clement VII, Pope, 287
Comnenius, Alexis, 214-15, 218-19, 221, 223,
238
Comnenius, Anne, 213-15, 223
Comnenius, Isaac, 90, 215
Conrad, Duke of Lorraine, 113, 279
Conrad II, Emperor of Ciermany, 86
Constantine (son of Michael VII), 90, 200,
214-15
Cunibert, Bishop of Turin, 81-2, 88
Damasus II, Pope, 6
Damiani, Peter, 4, 5, 10, 15-16, 18, 28, 29,
30. 31, 32, 50, 51, 86-7, 89, 242, 243, 245,
246-8, 249, 256, 259, 267
Didier, Abbot, 7, 46, 55, 57, 65, 69, 80-1,
111-12, 211, 212, 213, 229, 233, 239-40,
250-1. (See also under Victor III)
Dionysius, Bishop of Piacenza, 16, 88, 146
Donizo, 7, 127, 130, 221, 259
INDEX
307
Ebbo, Bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz, 102 «., 114
120
Eberhard, Count of Nellenburg, 51, 61, 73,
95, 99, 106, 135
Eckbert, Count of Brunswick, 30
Egilbert, Archbishop of Treves, 167, 203, 204
Ekkehard, 7, 120, 140, 204
Elizabeth, Queen of England, 288
Frederick Barbarossa, 285
Frederick II, Emperor, 286
Frederick, Duke of Suabia, 172
Frederick of Eorraine, 14, 15. (See also tnider
Stephen IX)
Gerhard, Bishop of Salzburg, 106, 158
Gelasius II, Pope, 282-3
Gerald, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, 62, 73, 128,
142, 150, 258. [St-e also under Urban II)
(jisulfo of Salerno, 66, 72, 79, 98, in, 123-4,
160, 199, 211-12, 233, 234, 244, 258
Godfrey ("the Bearded") of Lorraine, 9, 13,
14, 15, 19, 27, 29, 31, 32, 42-3, 49, 50
Godfrey ( " the Hunchback " ) of Lorraine, 59,
102, 103-4 «., 106, 112
Gregory I, Pope, 117, 243-4, 294-5, 296, 302,
303, 305
Gregory VI, Pope, 3, 4, 5, 6
Gregory VII, Pope, 47-8, 54 ei seq.
Gregory IX, Pope, 286
Gregory, Bishop of Vercelli, 59, 128, 135
Gualbert, St. John, 37, 38, 41
Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna ("Clement
III"), 19, 28, 50-1, 62,63, 112, 135, 156,
163, 176, 189, 190, 194-6, 199, 201-2, 203,
206, 216, 219, 220, 224, 227-9, 233, 238-9,
244, 262, 269, 277, 278
Guido, Archbishop of Milan, 33-5, 36
Guido, Bishop of Beauvais, 77
Guiscard, Robert, 11, 24, 44, 45, 64-5, 66,
68-9, 72, 78, 80-1, 84, 88, 90, 98, III, 123-
4, 159, 160, 161-2. 177, 196-200, 203, 212,
213-16, 219, 221-3, 229-33, 237-8, 244,
249, 272
Guiscard, Roger, 44-5, 68-9, in, 161, 222-3
Hanno, Archbishop of Cologne, 30, 31-2,
48, 49, 50, 92, 99, 243, 248, 263
Hazmann, Bishop of Spires, I02 «., 106, 189
Henry II, Emperor of Germany, 86
Henry III, Emperor of Germany, 4, 5, 6, 9,
10, 13, 14, 17, 86
Henry IV, Emperor of Germany, 14, 27, 30,
48, 49-50, 51, 58, 59, 60-1, 67-8, 73-5, 76,
83-4, 88, 91-2, 93-5, 96-8, 99, 100-3, 104-
7, 109, III, 112, 113, 114-16, 118-23,
124-32, 133, 134-6, 137-8, 141-3, 144-7,
149-54. 159. 162, 167-8, 174, 177-8, 179-
82, 183-5, 188-9, 194. 201-2, 203-6, 207,
208, 209, 210, 213, 216-17, 218-20, 223-4,
225-30, 233, 238-9, 240, 246, 249, 257,
266, 268, 269, 271-3, 277-80, 284, 292, 295,
305
Henry IV, King of France, 288-9
Henry V, Emperor of Germany, 86, 279,
280-4
Henry VIII, King of Britain, 287
Henry, Bishop of Augsburg, 29
Henry, Bishop of Llittich, 102;/., 114
Henry, Patriarch of Aquileia, 169-70
Ilerlembald, 33, 34, 36, 88, 89-90
Hermann of Cannes, 223
Hermann, Bishop of Bamberg, 82, 92-3, 95,
102 n., 114- 1 5, 120, 129, 177, 189
Hermann, Bishop of Melz, 102, 114, 115, 116-
18, 149, 208, 218, 246, 250, 268 «., 269,
273, 292-305
Hezil, Bishop of Hildesheim, 102 n., 105 n.
Hildebrand, 2, 5, 6, 7-8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16-17,
18, 19-20, 21, 22, 23, 27-9, 31, 32, 37,
39, 43> 47. 51-2, 53-4- ^See also tinder
Gregory VII)
Hildorf (or Ilildalf), Archbishop of Cologne,
99, 113, 120, 203, 204
Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, 128, 150, 159, 186,
187, 188
Hugh, Archbishop of Lyons, 225, 239
Hugh, Bishop of Die, 76, 186, 187, 188, 208,
212, 239, 259
Hugh of Flavigny, 59, 106
Humbert, Archbishop of Lyons, 255, 278
Humbert, Cardinal-Bishop, 18, 20- 1, 23, 24,
27, 51, 87, 163, 259, 263, 267
Humbert, Cardinal-Bishop of Prceneste, 73,
128
Innocent I, Pope, 297 and n.
Innocent HI, Pope, 285-6, 28S
Innocent IV, Pope, 286
John X, Pope, 85
John XIX, Pope, 3
John XXII, Pope, 286
John, Archbishop of Naples, 220
John, King of England, 285-6
Jordan, Prince of Capua, 161, 162, 202 and
202-3 «., 220, 222-3, 227, 244
Joseph II, Emperor, 289-90
Julius I, Pope, 294
Lambert of Hersfeld, 7, 18, 48, 60-1, 83,
99, loi, 102, 103, 119-20, 124, 125-6, 129-
30, 130-2, 135-6, 139 «•, 141-2
Landulph (the historian), 144, 194, 224, 232
308
INDEX
Landulph (the Patarine), i6, 33
Leo IX, Pope, 6, 8-12, 13, 87, 258, 260
Leo XIII, Pope, 290-1
Leopold of Moersburg, 51, 73
Liemar, Archbishop of Bremen, 81, 88, 105 «.,
135, 177, 182, 216, 257
Ludwig, Emperor, 286
Magnus, Duke of Saxony, 49, 68, 91, 115
Mainard, Cardinal-Bishop of Silva-Candida,
35
Manasses, Archbishop of Rheims, 155, 186,
187-8, 216
Manegold, CouiU, 142-3
Maria Theresa, 243
Matilda, Countess, 14, 43, 59, 66, 72, 78-9,
84, 88-9,94, I03and 103-4 «., in, 112, 114,
123, 124, 127, 128, 144, 171, 188, 193, 209,
217, 221, 2^7, 252
Michael VII, Emperor of the East, 90, 163,
200, 214-15
Minuto John, Cardinal-Priest, 35
Napoleon, 290
Nicholas II, Pope, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 258,
259, 260
Odo, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, 225, 234, 239,
240
Otto IV, Pope, 285
Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, 279-80
Otto, Bishop of Constance, 82, 102 ;/., 119
Otto of Nordheim, 30, 49, 68, 91, 115-16, 138,
159
Paschal II, Pope, 265, 279, 281-2, 283, 284
Paul III, Pope, 287-8
Paul IV, Pope, 288
Paul V, Pope, 242
Paul of Bernried, 24, 56, 99, 102, 109, 135,
139, 142, 143, 149, 151, 205, 218, 232,239,
240, 262
Peter, Bishop of Florence, 37-8, 39, 40, 42
Peter, Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, 59, 169-71,
172-3, 211, 234, 258, 266
Philip I, King of France, 69, 70, 76-7, 88,
257, 271, 274, 280
Pius V, Pope, 289
Pius VI, Pope, 289
Pius, VII, Pope, 290
Praxedis, 279, 280
Raoul, Archbishop of Tours, 156
Richard, Abbot of Marseilles, 258
Richard, Prince of Capua, 24, 27, 42, 43, 47,
64, 66-7, 68, 79, 80-1, 90, 98, 160-1
Robert of Loritello, 65, 88, 98, 213, 216
Roger, son of Robert Guiscard, 65, 216, 238
Roland, Bishop of Treviso, 156-7, 169, 176,
190, 255
Rudolph of Suabia, 49, 74, 91,119, 122, 136,
137-47, 149-54, 159, 162, 167-9, 174, 178-
9, 182-3, 1S6, 204-5, 209, 273
Sergius IV, Duke of Naples, 80
Siegfried, Archbishop of Mayence, 30, 49,
56 w., 75-6, 81-2,92-3, loi, no, 119, 136,
138, 159, 218, 262, 263
Sigbert of Gembloux, 143, 205, 228, 262,
274
Silvester III, Pope, 3, 4-5
Sixtus V, Pope, 288-9
Stephen IX, Pope, 15, 16, 17
Synmiachus, Pope, 303
Tedaldo, Archbishop of Milan, 95, 156-7,
169, 176, 194, 216, 224, 259
Tedeschi, Bishop of Lipari, 242-3
Theodoric, Bishop of Verdun, 102, 1 14-15,
119, 149, 153, 189, 227, 228
Theodosius the Great, Emperor, 1 1 7, 297
Trasmund, Abbot of Monte Cassino, 250-1
Udo, Archbishop of Treves, loi, n4, 115,
122-3, 149-50, 151, 152, 158-9, 162, 257-8,
263, 281
Uirich, Bishop of Padua, 169-71, 172-3, 227,
258, 266
Uirich of Cosheim, 51, 72ii 129, 135, 227
Urban II, Pope, 278, 283
Victor II, Pope, 13, 14-15
Victor III, Pope, 3, 239, 258, 278
Welf, Duke of Bavaria, 68, 91, I19, 136,
138, 146, 167, 171, 172, 173, 209, 279
Wenrich, 7, 177, 178, 262
Wezel, Archbishop of Magdeburg, 68, 91, 92,
IIS, 159, 178
William, Abbot of Hirschau, 209, 211, 218,
256
William, Bishop of Utrecht, 102 «., 103, 113,
114, 119, 122 «., 227
William of Montreuil, 42, 43-4
William of Normandy, 42, 45, 47-S, 78, 278
Wratislas, Duke, 115, 146, 256
Richard Clay <5r» Sons, Limited, London and Bungay.
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