Lecture 2: Church vs. State.

The investiture Controversy in the High Middle Ages

The influence the Normans had in Western Europe did not limit to the invasion of England.
They also invaded Sicily so by the end of the eleventh century they had already settled in England,
Sicily, and southern Italy. Inevitably, the geographical spread of Norman political interests in
Europe also associated its leaders with events in the Church which were happening alongside or
inside their dominions. After the conquest of England, for example, William permitted a large part
of wealth to flow toward the Church (ecclesiastical powerful figures) so that the Church could aid
him to consolidate its rule over a rebellious England. Shortly after the conquest, he appointed
Lanfranc as Archbishop of Canterbury in an attempt to reorganize and reform the Church of
England. (The question of whether the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Archbishop of York should
take precedence was a cause of a long struggle. The dispute was temporarily resolved in 1071 after
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop of York, submitted the
matter to Pope Alexander II in Rome. He decided in favour of Canterbury, and at a subsequent
synod the matter of dispute was resolved in favour of the Archbishop of Canterbury: that is the
future Archbishops of York must be consecrated in Canterbury Cathedral and swear allegiance to
the Archbishop of Canterbury; it was during the sixteenth century that king Henry VIII settled the
dispute – through an Act of Parliament passed during his reign, the Archbishop of Canterbury was
granted pre-eminence over the Archbishop of York).
William managed to place the Church almost totally under the monarch’s control by
allowing the newly appointed archbishop to assert his own authority in England. In unifying and
centralizing the English Church, the king forced all the bishops even the ancient rival, the
Archbishop of York, to swear obedience to him, that is all the bishops and abbots were invested by
the king; they received the insignia of office (the episcopal ring and staff/crosier) from the king’s
hands and if they wanted to attend a council abroad or if they wanted to go to Rome at the Pope’s
summons they were supposed to apply for royal permission.
What was happening in Western Europe at the time?
In 1073 Gregory VII, the newly elected Pope was eager to manifest his power. He wanted to
prove that the Church was superior to the secular State (at Canossa he made Henry IV, Emperor of
the Holy Roman Empire to stand barefoot in snow to await his absolution). He issued the so called
DICTATUS PAPAE (27 church laws) which included among its most important statements, the
following:
1. the Roman Church was established by God alone
2. the Pope alone has universal authority
3. only the Pope has the authority to depose and reinstate bishops
4. the Pope has the right to depose emperors
 5. the Pope cannot be judged by anyone
6. no one shall dare to condemn a person who has appealed to the Apostolic See
7. by the Pope’s command or permission subjects may accuse their rulers
The outcome of these regulations are the Gregorian reforms:
1. prohibition of simony – promotions to ecclesiastical positions that were bestowed by
monarchs and nobles, often in exchange for oaths of loyalty.
2. the coming into being of episcopal courts which will expand in the twelfth century
into a whole system of separate courts of law (the bishop could maintain a separate
court of law in which he judged offenses brought to the Church but he could not
inflict punishment onto the culprit: gladius spiritualis/gladius materialis)
3. prohibition of secular authorities to invest bishops with the symbols of episcopal
office: the ring and staff/crosier, declaring it a form of simony. Any secular leader
who tried/dared to invest someone with a clerical office would suffer
excommunication = putting someone out of communion = a person is barred from
participating in the liturgy, from receiving the Eucharist or the other Sacraments →
Excommunication meant the loss of one’s soul.

Sacerdotium vs. Imperium. (1075 - 1122) Western Europe is caught in a struggle/clash between
papacy (the religious power) and the Western Empire – mainly Germany and Northern Italy
(secular power) = The Investiture Controversy which will eventually end with the Concordat of
Worms; the conflict was nourished by two opposing theories: the dualistic theory vs. the
hierocratic doctrine.
The dualist theory stated that: since the time of Christ, the spiritual and temporal powers had been
divided to promote humility and prevent pride; the secular ruler (emperor, king) did not receive the
power of the sword (gladius materialis) from the Pope but from the people so, the
emperor’s/king’s power could not be derived from the Pope.
The hierocratic doctrine stated that: the emperor/king received his authority from the Pope as a
mere subordinate agent therefore the Pope was entitled to claim supremacy in both spiritual and
temporal matters. The secular ruler (emperor/king) was only a mere instrument of the Pope who
assigned him those task that were thought to be ‘of too mean a character’ to be dealt with by the
Pope. One of the most important consequences of this doctrine: the Pope could judge the
emperor/king but the secular ruler could not judge the Pope (superior judge).
The outcomes of the The Investiture Controversy:
1. the imperial power diminished (decreased) in favour of papal authority;
 2. the election of bishops and abbots shall be held in the emperor’s presence (the emperor’s
presence is only symbolical since the elections were to be conducted canonically, without
simony = purchasing church offices for money or favours);
3. the emperor shall renounce the right to invest bishops with insignia of office (ring and
staff/crosier)

The Investiture Dispute in England

In England there was no bitter confrontation between the two powers (secular and religious);
conflicts were solved through diplomacy and negotiation until the conflict (1162 - 1170) between
Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and King Henry II. In the twelfth century, both
England and France had strong centralized forms of government. In England, starting with William
the Conqueror and the Norman monarchy, a powerful form of government was established which
often opposed papal intervention (Norman kings were not anti-papal, they were cautious about the
extent of papal power). Nevertheless, in the tradition of previous Norman kings, Henry II (1154–
1189) was keen to dominate both the Church and the State. At Clarendon, the king’s royal residence
– a place near Salisbury - the King set out sixteen constitutions/articles, aimed at
decreasing/restricting ecclesiastical interference from Rome/Pope == Constitutions of Clarendon
Stipulations:
1. members of the clergy were not to leave the kingdom without the king’s permission
2. a member of the clergy who had committed a serious crime but was not condemned by an
ecclesiastical court could be convicted in a king’s court (For example, an ecclesiastical case
of murder often ended with the defendant being defrocked (dismissed from the priesthood).
In a royal court, murder was often punished with mutilation or death.)
3. the decision whether a piece of land was held by right by a lay or religious person was to be
made by 12 laymen who could testify to the past history of the fief

It was for the first time that an English king attempted to legislate in writing the general customs
that passed orally from one generation to the next. Thomas Becket refused to sign and attempted to
flee. There were other disputes which fired the relations between the king and the archbishop (1170
– after a so-called reconciliation, Thomas Becket returned to England). In June 1170, the
archbishop of York and the bishops of London and Salisbury held the coronation of Henry the
Young King, the fifteen-year-old son of the king, in York. This was a breach of Canterbury's
privilege of coronation. In November 1170, Becket excommunicated all three. While the three
bishops fled to the king in Normandy, Becket continued to excommunicate his opponents in the
church. Soon word of this reached Henry who was in Normandy at the time. After these reports of
Becket's activities, Henry is said to have raised his head from his sickbed and roared a lament of
frustration. The King's exact words are in doubt, and several versions have been reported. The most
commonly quoted is "Will no one rid me of this turbulent archbishop?" Whatever the King said, it
was interpreted as a royal command, and four knights set out to face the Archbishop of Canterbury.
When the Archbishop failed to consent to meet their demands to account for his actions they
attempted to kill him. Here is an account of what happened next according to Edward Grim,
Becket’s biographer (the only eyewitness to actually observe the killing itself):

...The wicked knight leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of the crown which the unction of sacred
chrism had dedicated to God. Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he stood firm and
immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and saying
in a low voice, 'For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death.' But the
third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated
from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain, and the brain no less red from the blood,
dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who had entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck
of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about the
pavements, crying to the others, 'Let us away, knights; this fellow will arise no more.'

After the Archbishops’ death Henry agreed to do public penance; he made a pilgrimage to the
archbishop’s tomb, a pilgrimage which is said to have reversed the king’s fortunes: in the year
1174, David king of Scotland invaded the north of England – the defeat of the invading army was
said to be a miraculous effect of the archbishop’s intercession. Other consequences of the
archbishop’s death:

1. the king promised to restore all possessions of Canterbury

2. promised to support a Crusade against the Infidel

3. the king abandoned the Constitution of Clarendon

4. agreed to lift the ban on clerical appeals to Rome

In other words, the Church benefited more from the death of Thomas Becket rather than from the
alive Archbishop who constantly opposed the King. The Cult of Becket who was slain on sacred
ground (inside Canterbury cathedral) became an enormous source of income (in 1173 the Pope
declared Thomas Becket a saint and, as a result, Canterbury cathedral became one of the most
important pilgrimage destinations which, over the centuries had been visited by important political
and religious figures: King Louis VII, King Edward I, King Edward III, King Henry VI, Emperor
Charles V, Erasmus).
Accounts of the impact which the relics of the slain Archbishop had on the faithful testify to the
highly emotional load of the story of his martyrdom:

Within a week of Becket’s martyrdom in 1170, the first blood miracle occurred. A man
dipped his garment in the martyr’s blood, diluted it in water and gave it to his paralyzed wife
to drink, curing her instantly. Accounts of this extraordinary healing power spread very
quickly, and soon sick people were ‘lying in pain all about the church.’ The monks of
Canterbury were initially reluctant to allow access to the blood, as hitherto, the only blood
associated with church practice was the Eucharistic wine/blood of Christ. The monks’
objections were quickly overcome as a mob broke into the church demanding access to the
blood and its healing powers. The monks yielded and provided in a small vial or pilgrim
ampulla the first Canterbury Water, water tinged with the blood of St. Thomas Becket.
(Blick 2001:7)

Conclusion:
Despite the clashes between the secular and religious powers in the Age, during the Middle
Ages, the Catholic Church was the supreme political and religious power in Europe.

Optional bibliography: The Middle Ages Almanac: “Thomas Becket” – pp.115-117; “Gregory
VII and Henry IV” – pp.145-151