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A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the Germanic Invasions to the Renaissance
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Historical SummaryIN 1059, when Nicholas II. was pope and Hildebrand was yet only a cardinal, a council assembled 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 participation 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 passively 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 assumed 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.
47. Henry IV’s Reply to Gregory’s Letter (January, 1076)
Source—Text in Michael Doeberl, Monumenta Germaniœ Historica Selecta (München, 1889), Vol. III., pp. 24–25. Translated in Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, Source Book for Mediœval History (New York, 1905), pp. 151–152.
Henry, king not by usurpation, but by the holy ordination of God, to Hildebrand, not pope, but false monk.
Gregory declared to be only a demagogue; The papal claim to temporal supremacy rejected; 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 God. 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 God. 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 God, and who, according to the teaching of the fathers, can be judged by no one save God alone, and can be deposed for no crime except infidelity. For the holy fathers in the time of the apostate Julian1 did not presume to pronounce sentence of deposition against him, but left him to be judged and condemned by God. St. Peter himself said, "Fear God, honor the king" [1 Pet., ii. 17]. But you, who fear not God, 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 God, with all my bishops, say unto you: "Come down, come down, and be accursed through all the ages."
1 Julian succeeded Constantine’s son Constantius as head of the Roman Empire in 361. He was known as "the Apostate" because of his efforts to displace the Christian religion and to restore the old pagan worship. He died in battle with the Persians in 363.
Contents:
Chicago: "Henry IV’s Reply to Gregory’s Letter (January, 1076)," A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the Germanic Invasions to the Renaissance in A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the Germanic Invasions to the Renaissance, ed. Frederic Austin Ogg (1878-1951) (New York: American Book Company, 1908), 269–272. Original Sources, accessed November 25, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=JKXL3QGC4XTAMVQ.
MLA: . "Henry IV’s Reply to Gregory’s Letter (January, 1076)." A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the Germanic Invasions to the Renaissance, in A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the Germanic Invasions to the Renaissance, edited by Frederic Austin Ogg (1878-1951), New York, American Book Company, 1908, pp. 269–272. Original Sources. 25 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=JKXL3QGC4XTAMVQ.
Harvard: , 'Henry IV’s Reply to Gregory’s Letter (January, 1076)' in A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the Germanic Invasions to the Renaissance. cited in 1908, A Source Book of Mediaeval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the Germanic Invasions to the Renaissance, ed. , American Book Company, New York, pp.269–272. Original Sources, retrieved 25 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=JKXL3QGC4XTAMVQ.
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