A Source Book of Mediaeval History Part 32

=5.= That the Pope has the power to depose [bishops] in their absence.[376]

=6.= That we should not even stay in the same house with those who are excommunicated by him.

=8.= That he alone may use the imperial insignia.[377]

=9.= That the Pope is the only person whose feet are kissed by all princes.

=11.= That the name which he bears belongs to him alone.[378]

=12.= That he has the power to depose emperors.[379]

=13.= That he may, if necessity require, transfer bishops from one see to another.

=16.= That no general synod may be called without his consent.

=17.= That no action of a synod, and no book, may be considered canonical without his authority.[380]

=18.= That his decree can be annulled by no one, and that he alone may annul the decrees of any one.

=19.= That he can be judged by no man.

=20.= That no one shall dare to condemn a person who appeals to the apostolic see.

=22.= That the Roman Church has never erred, nor ever, by the testimony of Scripture, shall err, to all eternity.[381]

=26.= That no one can be considered Catholic who does not agree with the Roman Church.

=27.= That he [the Pope] has the power to absolve the subjects of unjust rulers from their oath of fidelity.

46. Letter of Gregory VII. to Henry IV. (December, 1075)

The high ideal of papal supremacy over temporal sovereigns which Gregory cherished when he became pope in 1073, and which is set forth so forcibly in the _Dictatus_, was one whose validity no king or emperor could be brought to recognize. It involved an att.i.tude of inferiority and submissiveness which monarchs felt to be quite inconsistent with the complete independence which they claimed in the management of the affairs of their respective states. Perhaps one may say that the theory in itself, as a mere expression of religious sentiment, was not especially obnoxious; many an earlier pope had proclaimed it in substance without doing the kings and emperors of Europe material injury. It was the firm determination and the aggressive effort of Gregory to reduce the theory to an actual working system that precipitated a conflict.

The supreme test of Gregory's ability to make the papal power felt in the measure that he thought it should be came early in the pontificate in the famous breach with Henry IV. of Germany. Henry at the time was not emperor in name, but only "king of the Romans," the imperial coronation not yet having taken place.[382] For all practical purposes, however, he may be regarded as occupying the emperor's position, since all that was lacking was the performance of a more or less perfunctory ceremony. Henry's specific grievances against the Pope were that the latter had declared it a sin for an ecclesiastic to be invested with his office by a layman, though this was almost the universal practice in Germany, and that he had condemned five of the king's councilors for simony,[383] suspended the archbishop of Bremen, the bishops of Speyer and Stra.s.sburg, and two Lombard bishops, and deposed the bishop of Florence. Half of the land and wealth of Germany was in the hands of bishops and abbots who, if the Pope were to have his way, would be released from all practical dependence upon the king and so would be free to encourage and take part in the feudal revolts which Henry was exerting himself so vigorously to crush. June 8, 1075, on the banks of the Unstrutt, the king won a signal victory over the rebellious feudal lords, after which he felt strong enough to defy the authority of Gregory with impunity. He therefore continued to a.s.sociate with the five condemned councilors and, in contempt of recent papal declarations against lay invest.i.ture, took it upon himself to appoint and invest a number of bishops and abbots, though always with extreme care that the right kind of men be selected. Pope Gregory was, of course, not the man to overlook such conduct and at once made vigorous protest. The letter given below was written in December, 1075, and is one of a considerable series which pa.s.sed back and forth across the Alps prior to the breaking of the storm in 1076-1077. At this stage matters had not yet got beyond the possibility of compromise and reconciliation; in fact Gregory writes as much as anything else to get the king's own statement regarding the reports of his conduct which had come to Rome. The tone of the letter is firm, it is true, but conciliatory. The thunder of subsequent epistles to the recreant Henry had not yet been brought into play.

Source--Text in Michael Doeberl, _Monumenta Germaniae Historica Selecta_ (Munchen, 1889), Vol. III., pp. 18-22. Adapted from translation in Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, _Source Book for Mediaeval History_ (New York, 1905), pp. 147-150.

Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of G.o.d, to Henry, the king, greeting and apostolic benediction,--that is, if he be obedient to the apostolic see as is becoming in a Christian king:

[Sidenote: Henry exhorted to confess his sins]

It is with some hesitation that we have sent you our apostolic benediction, knowing that for all our acts as pope we must render an account to G.o.d, the severe judge. It is reported that you have willingly a.s.sociated with men who have been excommunicated by decree of the Pope and sentence of a synod.[384] If this be true, you are very well aware that you can receive the blessing neither of G.o.d nor of the Pope until you have driven them from you and have compelled them to do penance, and have also yourself sought absolution and forgiveness for your transgressions with due repentance and good works. Therefore we advise you that, if you realize your guilt in this matter, you immediately confess to some pious bishop, who shall absolve you with our permission, prescribing for you penance in proportion to the fault, and who shall faithfully report to us by letter, with your permission, the nature of the penance required.

[Sidenote: The Pope's claim to authority over temporal princes]

We wonder, moreover, that you should continue to a.s.sure us by letter and messengers of your devotion and humility; that you should call yourself our son and the son of the holy mother Church, obedient in the faith, sincere in love, diligent in devotion; and that you should commend yourself to us with all zeal of love and reverence--whereas in fact you are constantly disobeying the canonical and apostolic decrees in important matters of the faith.... Since you confess yourself a son of the Church, you should treat with more honor the head of the Church, that is, St.

Peter, the prince of the apostles. If you are one of the sheep of the Lord, you have been entrusted to him by divine authority, for Christ said to him: "Peter, feed my sheep" [John, xxi. 16]; and again: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" [Matt., xvi. 19]. And since we, although an unworthy sinner, exercise his authority by divine will, the words which you address to us are in reality addressed directly to him. And although we read or hear only the words, he sees the heart from which the words proceed. Therefore your highness should be very careful that no insincerity be found in your words and messages to us; and that you show due reverence, not to us, indeed, but to omnipotent G.o.d, in those things which especially make for the advance of the Christian faith and the well-being of the Church.

For our Lord said to the apostles and to their successors: "He that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me"

[Luke, x. 16]. For no one will disregard our admonitions if he believes that the decrees of the Pope have the same authority as the words of the apostle himself....[385]

[Sidenote: Abuses in the Church to be corrected]

Now in the synod held at the apostolic seat to which the divine will has called us (at which some of your subjects also were present) we, seeing that the Christian religion had been weakened by many attacks and that the chief and proper motive, that of saving souls, had for a long time been neglected and slighted, were alarmed at the evident danger of the destruction of the flock of the Lord, and had recourse to the decrees and the doctrine of the holy fathers. We decreed nothing new, nothing of our invention; but we decided that the error should be abandoned and the single primitive rule of ecclesiastical discipline and the familiar way of the saints should be again sought out and followed.[386] For we know that no other door to salvation and eternal life lies open to the sheep of Christ than that which was pointed out by Him who said: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and find pasture" [John, x. 9]; and this, we learn from the gospels and from the sacred writings, was preached by the apostles and observed by the holy fathers. And we have decided that this decree--which some, placing human above divine honor, have called an unendurable weight and an immense burden, but which we call by its proper name, that is, the truth and light necessary to salvation--is to be received and observed not only by you and your subjects, but also by all princes and peoples of the earth who confess and worship Christ; for it is greatly desired by us, and would be most fitting to you, that as you are greater than others in glory, in honor, and in virtue, so you should be more distinguished in devotion to Christ.

[Sidenote: Gregory disposed to treat Henry fairly]

Nevertheless, that this decree may not seem to you beyond measure grievous and unjust, we have commanded you by your faithful amba.s.sadors to send to us the wisest and most pious men whom you can find in your kingdom, so that if they can show or instruct us in any way how we can temper the sentence promulgated by the holy fathers without offense to the eternal King or danger to our souls, we may consider their advice. But, even if we had not warned you in so friendly a manner, it would have been only right on your part, before you violated the apostolic decrees, to ask justice of us in a reasonable manner in any matter in which we had injured or affected your honor. But from what you have since done and decreed it is evident how little you care for our warnings, or for the observance of justice.

[Sidenote: Henry's obligation to serve and obey the papacy]

But since we hope that, while the long-suffering patience of G.o.d still invites you to repent, you may become wiser and your heart may be turned to obey the commands of G.o.d, we warn you with fatherly love that, knowing the rule of Christ to be over you, you should consider how dangerous it is to place your honor above His, and that you should not interfere with the liberty of the Church which He has deigned to join to Himself by heavenly union, but rather with faithful devotion you should offer your a.s.sistance to the increasing of this liberty to omnipotent G.o.d and St. Peter, through whom also your glory may be enhanced. You ought to recognize what you undoubtedly owe to them for giving you victory over your enemies,[387] that as they have gladdened you with great prosperity, so they should see that you are thereby rendered more devout. And in order that the fear of G.o.d, in whose hands is all power and all rule, may affect your heart more than these our warnings, you should recall what happened to Saul, when, after winning the victory which he gained by the will of the prophet, he glorified himself in his triumph and did not obey the warnings of the prophet, and how G.o.d reproved him; and, on the other hand, what grace King David acquired by reason of his humility, as well as his other virtues.

47. Henry IV.'s Reply to Gregory's Letter (January, 1076)

In 1059, when Nicholas II. was pope and Hildebrand was yet only a cardinal, a council a.s.sembled at the Lateran decreed that henceforth the right of electing the sovereign pontiff should be vested exclusively in the college of cardinals, or in other words, in seven cardinal bishops in the vicinity of Rome and a certain number of cardinal priests and deacons attached to the parishes of the city. The people and clergy generally were deprived of partic.i.p.ation in the election, except so far as merely to give their consent. Hildebrand seems to have been the real author of the decree. Nevertheless, in 1073, when he was elevated to the papal chair, the decree of 1059 was in a measure ignored, for he was elected by popular vote and his choice was only pa.s.sively sanctioned by the cardinals. When, therefore, the quarrel between him and Henry IV. came on, the latter was not slow to make use of the weapon which Hildebrand's (or Gregory's) uncanonical election placed in his hands. In replying, January 24, 1076, to the papal letter of December, 1075, he bluntly addresses himself to "Hildebrand, not pope, but false monk," and writes a stinging epistle in the tone thus a.s.sumed in his salutation.

In his arraignment of Gregory the king doubtless went far beyond the truth; but the fact remains that Gregory's dominating purposes in the interest of the papal authority threatened to cut deeply into the independence of all temporal sovereigns, and therefore rendered such resistance as Henry offered quite inevitable. In the interim between receiving the Pope's letter and dispatching his reply Henry had convened at Worms a council of the German clergy, and this body had decreed that Gregory, having wrongfully ascended the papal throne, should be compelled forthwith to abdicate it.

Source--Text in Michael Doeberl, _Monumenta Germaniae Historica Selecta_ (Munchen, 1889), Vol. III., pp. 24-25. Translated in Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, _Source Book for Mediaeval History_ (New York, 1905), pp. 151-152.

Henry, king not by usurpation, but by the holy ordination of G.o.d, to Hildebrand, not pope, but false monk.

[Sidenote: Gregory declared to be only a demagogue]

[Sidenote: The papal claim to temporal supremacy rejected]

[Sidenote: Henry also cites Scripture]

This is the salutation which you deserve, for you have never held any office in the Church without making it a source of confusion and a curse to Christian men, instead of an honor and a blessing.

To mention only the most obvious cases out of many, you have not only dared to lay hands on the Lord's anointed, the archbishops, bishops, and priests, but you have scorned them and abused them, as if they were ignorant servants not fit to know what their master was doing. This you have done to gain favor with the vulgar crowd.

You have declared that the bishops know nothing and that you know everything; but if you have such great wisdom you have used it not to build but to destroy. Therefore we believe that St. Gregory, whose name you have presumed to take, had you in mind when he said: "The heart of the prelate is puffed up by the abundance of subjects, and he thinks himself more powerful than all others." All this we have endured because of our respect for the papal office, but you have mistaken our humility for fear, and have dared to make an attack upon the royal and imperial authority which we received from G.o.d. You have even threatened to take it away, as if we had received it from you, and as if the Empire and kingdom were in your disposal and not in the disposal of G.o.d. Our Lord Jesus Christ has called us to the government of the Empire, but He never called you to the rule of the Church. This is the way you have gained advancement in the Church: through craft you have obtained wealth; through wealth you have obtained favor; through favor, the power of the sword; and through the power of the sword, the papal seat, which is the seat of peace; and then from the seat of peace you have expelled peace. For you have incited subjects to rebel against their prelates by teaching them to despise the bishops, their rightful rulers. You have given to laymen the authority over priests, whereby they condemn and depose those whom the bishops have put over them to teach them. You have attacked me, who, unworthy as I am, have yet been anointed to rule among the anointed of G.o.d, and who, according to the teaching of the fathers, can be judged by no one save G.o.d alone, and can be deposed for no crime except infidelity. For the holy fathers in the time of the apostate Julian[388] did not presume to p.r.o.nounce sentence of deposition against him, but left him to be judged and condemned by G.o.d. St.

Peter himself said, "Fear G.o.d, honor the king" [1 Pet., ii. 17].

But you, who fear not G.o.d, have dishonored me, whom He hath established. St. Paul, who said that even an angel from heaven should be accursed who taught any other than the true doctrine, did not make an exception in your favor, to permit you to teach false doctrines. For he says, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" [Gal., i. 8]. Come down, then, from that apostolic seat which you have obtained by violence; for you have been declared accursed by St. Paul for your false doctrines, and have been condemned by us and our bishops for your evil rule.

Let another ascend the throne of St. Peter, one who will not use religion as a cloak of violence, but will teach the life-giving doctrine of that prince of the apostles. I, Henry, king by the grace of G.o.d, with all my bishops, say unto you: "Come down, come down, and be accursed through all the ages."

48. Henry IV. Deposed by Pope Gregory (1076)

The foregoing letter of Henry IV. was received at Rome with a storm of disapproval and the envoys who bore it barely escaped with their lives. A council of French and Italian bishops was convened in the Lateran (Feb. 24, 1076), and the king's haughty epistle, together with the decree of the council at Worms deposing Gregory, were read and allowed to have their effect. With the a.s.sent of the bishops, the Pope p.r.o.nounced the sentence of excommunication against Henry and formally released all the latter's Christian subjects from their oath of allegiance. Naturally the action of Gregory aroused intense interest throughout Europe. In Germany it had the intended effect of detaching many influential bishops and abbots from the imperial cause and stirring the political enemies of the king to renewed activity. The papal ban became a pretext for the renewal of the hostility on part of his dissatisfied subjects which Henry had but just succeeded in suppressing.

In the first part of the papal decree Gregory seeks to defend himself against the charges brought by Henry and the German clergy to the effect that he had mounted the papal throne through personal ambition and the employment of unbecoming means. It was indisputable that his election had not been strictly in accord with the decree of 1059, but it seems equally true that, as Gregory declares, he was placed at the helm of the Church contrary to his personal desires.

Source--Text in Michael Doeberl, _Monumenta Germaniae Historica Selecta_ (Munchen, 1889), Vol. III., p. 26. Translated in Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, _Source Book for Mediaeval History_ (New York, 1905), pp. 155-156.

[Sidenote: Gregory denies that he ever sought the papal office]

[Sidenote: Henry deposed by papal decree]