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Quellen Zur Geschichte Des Investiturstreits
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Historical SummaryONE of the great struggles of the Middle Ages involved the imperial-papal partnership. Who was entitled to the dominant place—the German kings, who claimed to be the Holy Roman emperors, or the pope? The issue came to a head during the pontificate of Gregory VII, who, until his election to the see of St. Peter, bore the name of Hildebrand. Small and unattractive in person, but possessed of a genius for leadership and a mastery of statecraft rivaling Napoleon’s, he applied himself diligently to the task of achieving a theocratic society, at the head of which was to be the pope. In his Dictatus Papae he claimed that "the pope is the only person whose feet are kissed by all princes" and declared himself supreme. Only churchmen, he further contended, should confer the symbols of ecclesiastical authority on elected bishops—a tender point with kings and princes who had been accustomed to interfere in the selection of the higher clergy. When Henry IV, at this time king of Germany, refused to accept papal overlordship, Gregory warned him to "treat with more honor the head of the Church, that is, St. Peter, the prince of the apostles." Henry wrote a stinging reply, beginning: "Henry, king not by usurpation, but through the holy ordination of God, to Hildebrand, at present not pope but false monk. This is the salutation 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." The letter ended with the words: "I, Henry, king by the grace of God, do say unto thee: ’Come down, come down, and be damned through all the ages!’ " In a brilliant gamble that public opinion would support him, Gregory countered by straightway excommunicating Henry. The German nobles—feudal and ecclesiastical lords who were envious of Henry—promptly advised the monarch that unless he were freed within a year from the ban of excommunication, he would be deposed. Faced with this ultimatum, Henry swallowed his pride and agreed to make amends. As the year 1076 was drawing to a close Henry set out on his humiliating journey to Italy to come to terms with the pope. In January of the following year he reached the town of Canossa. Learning that the pope was stopping at the castle of the countess of Tuscany, Henry stood for three days and three nights before this edifice, stripped of all regalia, "wretched, barefooted, and clad in wool," awaiting the forgiveness of the pope. The spectacle of the mightiest king in Christendom begging pardon from the pontiff in this sensational fashion was one to amaze the whole Christian world—king, lord, and peasant alike. Henry had shrewdly impaled Gregory on the horns of a dilemma. Should the pope ignore him and assume the dictatorship of German affairs so dear to his heart or should he receive him as a penitent and grant him absolution? As a good Catholic, there was in fact only one course open to the pontiff, and Henry pocketed his pride and seized the chance to rebuild his fortunes. Gregory’s own account of the submission at Canossa:
Key QuoteThe entire Christian world is amazed by the spectacle of the mightiest king in Christendom beseeching the pope for forgiveness.
E. Bernheim
Leipzig
1907
Canossa: Humiliation of a Monarch
[1077]
Gregory, Bishop, slave of the slaves of God, to all archbishops, bishops, dukes, counts and other princes of the kingdom of the Teutons, who defend the Christian faith—greeting and apostolic blessing.
Since, from your love of justice, you have made common cause with us and shared our peril in the struggle of Christian warfare, we have taken pains, with our sincere affection, to inform you, beloved, of how the king, humbled to penitence, obtained the pardon of absolution.
As was arranged with the envoys, who were sent from you to us, we came into Lombardy about twenty days before the date on which one of the military leaders was to meet us at the pass. We awaited the arrival of the escort so that we might be able to cross to your land. But when the date had passed and we learned that it had not been Possible for you to send an escort to meet us, we were indeed perplexed as to what we had better do.
In the meantime we learned for certain that the king was coming. Before he entered Italy he sent suppliant messengers to us and promised to render satisfaction in all things to God, to St. Peter and to us. Moreover, he promised to amend his life and to maintain complete obedience, if only he might be considered worthy to obtain the grace of absolution and apostolic blessing from us.
We had many consultations with him by messenger, during which we upbraided him severely for his evil deeds. At last he came in person. He had but few attendants and no air of hostility or defiance when he came to Canossa, where we were waiting.
There he laid aside all royal state. For three days he remained at the gate of the castle, wretched, barefooted and dad in wool. He continued with much weeping to implore the aid and consolation of the apostolic mercy until he moved all who were there or who heard of it to such pity and compassion that they all interceded for him with many prayers and tears. They were astonished by the unusual hardness of our minds. Some even said that we were showing not the weighty severity of art apostle hut the cruel ferocity of a tyrant.
At last, overcome by his persistence and by the urgent prayers of all present, in the end we loosed the bond of the anathema and admitted him to the grace of communion. We received him again into the bosom of the Holy Mother Church.
Chicago: Gregory, Quellen Zur Geschichte Des Investiturstreits, trans. E. Bernheim in History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, ed. Louis Leo Snyder and Richard B. Morris (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Co., 1951), Original Sources, accessed December 3, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=21FMWEYZFDRQTQ6.
MLA: Gregory. Quellen Zur Geschichte Des Investiturstreits, translted by E. Bernheim, in History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, edited by Louis Leo Snyder and Richard B. Morris, Harrisburg, Pa., Stackpole Co., 1951, Original Sources. 3 Dec. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=21FMWEYZFDRQTQ6.
Harvard: Gregory, Quellen Zur Geschichte Des Investiturstreits, trans. . cited in 1951, History in the First Person: Eyewitnesses of Great Events: They Saw It Happen, ed. , Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, Pa.. Original Sources, retrieved 3 December 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=21FMWEYZFDRQTQ6.
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