Pope gregory vii accomplishments
He went to Rome early in his life and became a professed religious. The tradition that Hildebrand was a monk, perhaps at the Benedictine house of Santa Maria del Priorato on the Aventine, is strong, although recently Blumenthal suggested that he was instead a regular canon. For a time he was a student of the learned and exiled Bishop Laurentius of Amalfi, and also was active in the service of Pope Gregory VI — , with whom he had a familial connection.
That exile is the first precisely datable event in the future pope's life. A later tradition that Hildebrand became a monk at Cluny almost certainly is erroneous, although he may well have stayed in that house for a time before his return south. Leo's pontificate is generally considered to mark the emergence of a reform movement centered on Rome and which became predominant among other initiatives for renewal in the eleventh-century church.
Pope Leo brought to Rome a group of reform-minded churchmen from both Italy and the north, and Hildebrand's career developed in conjunction with important individuals such as Peter Damian and Humbert of Moyenmoutier. He was designated by Leo as abbot and rector of the Benedictine house of San Paulo fuori le Mura, and his importance in the evolving administrative operations of the church is seen in his appointment several times in the s as a papal legate north of the Alps.
During one such legation, in in France, Hildebrand presided over a synod at Tours that considered the question of the eucharistic views of Berengar of Tours, whose career would stretch into the s and who would be called to Rome during Gregory's pontificate for an examination of his teachings. It would be a mistake to view Hildebrand as the chief papal adviser at this juncture, but with appointment as archdeacon under Nicholas II — , and with the death of Humbert and the election of Alexander II in , his importance grew.
During Alexander's long reign he has been considered, perhaps with only slight exaggeration, as the power behind the papal throne. Alexander II died on April 21, During the ceremony for his burial Hildebrand was acclaimed by the Roman populace as Alexander's successor. That public display was at variance with the terms of the well-known decree of Pope Nicholas II , which placed the choice of a pope essentially in the hands of the cardinal bishops.
In the spring of public acclaim preceded selection by the cardinals, and this variance with the decree of later opened Hildebrand to the charge that his elevation to the papacy was illegitimate. He chose the papal name Gregory, probably in honor both of Gregory I, one of the fathers of Latin Christianity and a venerable monastic pope, and of his relative and onetime patron, Gregory VI.
Gregory's consecration as bishop of Rome was on June 30, , a date carefully selected for it is the feast day of the two great saints of the Roman church, Peter and Paul. The significance of Gregory VII's twelve-year reign must be assessed within the framework of the reforming movements underway at the time throughout Latin Christendom.
For decades sensitive churchmen had criticized abuses in religious structure and administration. Chief among those problems was simony, the gaining of an ecclesiastical office by means of payment rather than according to canonical norms. Various circles of ecclesiastical reform in the eleventh century were also adamant in condemning sexual incontinence among the higher orders of the clergy.
The offensive against simony and clerical sexual activity marked an effort to purify the hierarchy and the sacramental life of the Latin church, and the notion of puritas ecclesiae "purity of the church" became a common reform theme. From the pontificate of Leo IX, however, and especially from the reign of Nicholas II, the papacy was increasingly in a position of leadership in these efforts to purify the church.
Repeatedly, in papal letters, conciliar decrees, and through legatine missions, the Roman church fostered reform, aiming particularly at eradicating the aforementioned abuses. It must be stressed, however, that these initiatives did not involve merely administrative changes in the ecclesiastical structure. The theological and practical importance of the changes being sought reached deep into the religious mentality of Latin Christendom, and had profound effects on eucharistic theology, the cult of saints, attitudes toward property, and the role of laymen in designating appointees to church positions.
Concomitant with this evolving reform activity an ecclesiology developed centering on the Roman see. The roots of this doctrine reach deep into the history of Latin Christianity, but from the mid-eleventh century the potential and the prerogatives of the Roman church gained increased attention as reform progressed. Reform of the church in general and increased visibility and power for the Roman church occurred side by side.
This new perception of Roman authority was not, however, the invention of eleventh-century thinkers. The dossiers of claims, traditions, and incidents on which Roman leadership rested reach as far into the past as the New Testament and the so-called Petrine passages Mt. Popes such as Leo I, Gelasius I, and Gregory I were pivotal figures in antiquity who advanced claims that contributed to the special status of the Roman church and its bishop; and in the ninth century Pope Nicholas I was a vigorous proponent of those claims and that status.
Yet in the eleventh century from the reign of Leo IX onward the uniqueness and the authority of Rome was stressed increasingly and with new vigor. As the reformers, now in control of the papal office, sought to promote their aims, the prestige and potential of the Roman church became a vehicle for this strategy. As the reform progressed the theoretical authority believed for centuries to be vested in the Roman church became increasingly real, and attention was given in practice as well as theory to the rights and powers of Rome, its clergy, and its bishop.
Such was the general situation confronting Gregory VII at the beginning of his reign. Given his long association with papal reform, it was to be expected that the initiatives for purity in the church would continue. Yet these policies, along with the pope's strong personality and intense devotion to the Roman church, were on a collision course with events growing out of the final years of the pontificate of Alexander II.
King Henry IV of Germany, having reached maturity, was determined to exercise control over affairs within his sphere of influence. At issue specifically were claims to authority in both secular and church matters in important cities in northern Italy, especially in Milan. Thus in the early s Henry supported one candidate for the archbishopric of that city while the papacy supported another.
There were two questions. Did Henry have a right to grant churches on his own, to whomever he chose; and could Henry ignore directives about ecclesiastical matters from the Roman church and its bishop? Historians are fortunate to possess from Gregory VII an official papal register — a unique survival from the eleventh-century papacy — in which the development of events and ideas often can be followed in detail.
In the register, under March, , appears a series of twenty-seven epigrammatic statements that were drafted by Gregory and his advisers the so-called Dictatus papae , perhaps as titles for a new canon law collection where texts would have been presented from the canonical tradition to support each proposition. The unusual form and special content of these texts has received much attention from historians, for contained therein is a series of strong statements asserting the superiority of ecclesiastical over secular authority, and the absolute authority of the Roman church and its bishop over all churches and bishops.
Here is found, for example, in number 12, the statement that the pope may depose emperors, and in number 27, the claim that the pope may absolve subjects of unjust men from their fealty. From the outset of his reign, therefore, Gregory VII was concerned not only to advance policies to bring about puritas ecclesiae , but also, as part of a larger plan, he as eager to define and command obedience to the policies of the Roman church.
The decade between and Gregory's death in saw the genesis and development of a church-state controversy between Gregory and Henry that would outlive both leaders. Issues arose about the interaction of the ecclesiastical and secular realms of society that would be debated for centuries. Gregory maintained that he had the right to remove Henry's kingship and to release his subjects from their oaths of loyalty.
Henry, on the other hand, claimed that he reigned by the grace of God, not of the pope, and that he possessed the right to control the churches in his realm. Because of what he saw as the indefensible novelty of Gregory's positions he condemned him as a "false monk" and usurper of the papal throne. The battle extended beyond rhetoric and exchanges of letters.
In Gregory excommunicated Henry and forbade him to exercise his royal duties. After a period of complicated diplomatic maneuvering, however, in the early s Henry invaded Italy, drove Gregory from Rome into Norman territory in the south, and installed in his place another pontiff, the so-called antipope, Clement III Archbishop Wibert of Ravenna.
Siegfried, Archbishop of Mainz and Primate of Germany , when forced to promulgate the decrees, attempted to temporize, and allowed his clergy six months of delay for consideration. The order, of course, remained ineffectual after the lapse of that period, and at a synod held at Erfurt in October, , he could accomplish nothing.
Altmann, the energetic Bishop of Passau, nearly lost his life in publishing the measures, but adhered firmly to the instructions of the pontiff. The greater number of bishops received their instructions with manifest indifference, and some openly defied the pope. Otto of Constance , who had before tolerated the marriage of his clergy, now formally sanctioned it.
In France the excitement was scarcely less vehement than in Germany. A council at Paris , in , condemned the Roman decrees, as implying that the validity of the sacraments depended on the sanctity of the minister, and declared them intolerable and irrational. John, Archbishop of Rouen, while endeavoring to enforce the canon of celibacy at a provincial synod, was stoned and had to flee for his life; Walter, Abbot of Pontoise, who attempted to defend the papal enactments, was imprisoned and threatened with death.
At the Council of Burgos, in Spain , the papal legate was insulted and his dignity outraged. But the zeal of Gregory knew no abatement. He followed up his decrees by sending legates into all quarters, fully empowered to depose immoral and simoniacal ecclesiastics. It was clear that the causes of the simony and of the incontinence amongst the clergy were closely allied, and that the spread of the latter could be effectually checked only by the eradication of the former.
Peter abelard
Henry IV had failed to translate into action the promises made in his penitent letter to the new pontiff. On the subjugation of the Saxons and Thuringians, he deposed the Saxon bishops, and replaced them by his own creatures. To this Henry retorted by convening a meeting of his supporters at Worms on January 23, This diet naturally defended Henry against all the papal charges, accused the pontiff of most heinous crimes, and declared him deposed.
These decisions were approved a few weeks later by two synods of Lombard bishops at Piacenza and Pavia respectively, and a messenger, bearing a most offensive personal letter from Henry, was dispatched with this reply to the pope. At first he was encouraged by his creatures to resist, but his friends, including his abettors among the episcopate, began to abandon him, and the Saxons revolted once more, demanding a new king.
At a meeting of the German lords, spiritual and temporal, held at Tribur in October, , the election of a new emperor was canvassed. It was further agreed to invite Gregory to a council at Augsburg in the following February, at which Henry was summoned to present himself. Abandoned by his own partisans and fearing for his throne, Henry fled secretly with his wife and child and a single servant to Gregory to tender his submission.
He crossed the Alps in the depth of one of the severest winters on record. On reaching Italy , the Italians flocked around him promising aid and assistance in his quarrel with the pope, but Henry spurned their offers.
Short biography of pope gregory vii wikipedia english
Gregory was already on his way to Augsburg, and, fearing treachery, retired to the castle of Canossa. Thither Henry followed him, but the pontiff, mindful of his former faithlessness, treated him with extreme severity. Stript of his royal robes, and clad as a penitent, Henry had to come barefooted mid ice and snow, and crave for admission to the presence of the pope.
All day he remained at the door of the citadel, fasting and exposed to the inclemency of the wintry weather, but was refused admission. A second and a third day he thus humiliated and disciplined himself, and finally on January 28, , he was received by the pontiff and absolved from censure, but only on condition that he would appear at the proposed council and submit himself to its decision.
Henry then returned to Germany , but his severe lesson failed to effect any radical improvement in his conduct. After his death [ change change source ]. Gallery [ change change source ]. Related pages [ change change source ]. References [ change change source ].
Short biography of pope gregory vii wikipedia
James Dixon. Other websites [ change change source ]. Popes of the Roman Catholic Church. Categories : Italian popes births deaths Benedictines. Cambridge University Press. London: Francis Griffiths. Tandem vix inventus et ad apostolicam sedem vi perductus Sede Vacante Dr. Gregory VII ". In Herbermann, Charles ed. Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company. Migne editor , Patrologia Latina Volume , columns — Mommsen , p.
Whether he got it, or whether the response was positive, is another matter. The Two Cities: Medieval Europe — Guibert continued to maintain his pretensions as pope until his death in September The First Crusade. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Hamilton Volume IV London , pp. Horace K. In Harper-Bill, Christopher ed. Anglo-Norman Studies.
Likewise, in Regestum IV. William the Conqueror. Berkeley: University of California Press. Migne, Patrologia Latina Vol. Maur editors , Gallia christiana IV Paris , pp. The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain — Curzon Press. OCLC The History of Eucharistic Adoration.
Pope gregory vii and matilda: Pope Gregory VII (Latin: Gregorius VII; c. – 25 May ), born Hildebrand of Sovana (Italian: Ildebrando di Soana), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April to his death in He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
CMJ Publishers and Distrib. Vatican website. This is a reworking of the well-known Ps. Together with Ps The grammatical variation on 'Thou didst love justice and hate iniquity', the original of which was said in apostrophe to the canonised virgin not a martyr, whose feast is being celebrated. Gregory or his eulogizers , therefore, was likely quoting from a familiar liturgical text.
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