Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Selected Sources: Empire and Papacy
Contents
Introductory Essay
The "Empire and Papacy" has been a theme of medieval history teaching for so
long that students might be forgiven for being bored out of their minds. What, they might
ask, is the possible use of studying conflicts between long dead popes and emperors.
In fact this seemingly arcane dispute had major consequences for the history of Western
culture:
- Nation-States: The papal-imperial conflict lead to the weakening of the
Western (Holy Roman) Empire, the first strong state with staying power after the
5th-century collapse of Roman Empire in the West. Instead a series of
proto-"nation" states [France, England, Spain, Portugal] achieved great power
and eventually set the "nation-state" rather than the "imperial"
standard for all European states.
- Separation of Church and State: The conflict between church and state
firmly established that church and state were distinct
entities. This is in dramatic contrast to Islam, which never made a distinction between
"religion" and "politics"; and in contrast equally to the
"Byzantine model" of "symphony" between church and state.
- Effect on Law and Education: Because both "Papal" and
"Imperial" sides in the dispute had a real basis for their power, the conflict
was long-lasting. Each side, then, tried to prove its case by consulting earlier
"authoritative" documents. In the short term this lead to a revival in the study
of Roman Law, a legal approach which has since come to predominate in
much of the world. In the longer term, the fighting lawyers had to collect information,
organize it, and then work out the principles of interpretation [e.g. was a later or
earlier law most authoritative]. They had to do all this while making arguments against
each other. In time these procedures affected western higher education,
which eschewed memory methods, and insisted that students Plearn to collect, organize and
interpret material, and then defend their conclusions in argument.
Phase I: The Invesituture
Controversy
- Emergence of Reform Ideology
- Politics and the Holy Roman Empire
- The Conflict over Investitures
[Not all these documents are available here, but may be sought in print sources]
- Gregory VII: Lay Investitures Forbidden,
1074, 1080.
- Gregory VII: Letter to Henry IV, Jul 20, 1075
- Gregory VII: Letter to Henry IV, Dec 8, 1075 or Jan 8, 1076
- Henry IV: Letter to Roman Clergy and People, 1076
- Henry IV: Letter to Gregory VII, 1076
- Henry IV: Letter to
Gregory VII, Jan 24 1076.
- Henry IV: Letter to His Bishops, 1076
- Gregory VII: Deposition of Henry IV, ,
Feb 22 1076.
- Gregory VII: Letter to All the Faithful in Germany, 1076
- Gregory VII: Letter to Hermann of Metz, Aug 26,1076
- German Bishops: Renunciation of Gregory VII, Synod of Worms, 1076
- Henry IV: Promise to Gregory VII, 1076
- Henry IV: Letter to His Princes, 1076
- Henry IV: Letter to His Mother, 1074-1076
- Henry IV: Vow at Canossa, 1077
- Gregory VII: To German Princes, on Canossa, Jan.1077
- Gregory VII: Bans on Lay Invesititures, 1078 and
1080
- Gregory VII: Second Banning of Henry IV,
March 7 1080.
- Ivo of Chartres: Letter to Hugo 1097
- Decree of Synod of Brixen, 1080
- Henry IV: To Clergy and People of Rome, 1081
- Solutions
Phase II:
Barbarossa: The Empire at its Height
- General
- The Besançon Episode 1157-
- Otto of Freising: Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa: Incident at
Besançon, 1157 [See next item]
- The Besançon Episode 1157, - in the original
documents [A: Letter of Adrian IV. to Frederick Barbarossa, Sept. 20th, 1157; B: Manifesto
of the Emperor, Oct. 1157; C: Letter of Adrian IV. to the German Bishops; D: Letter of the
German Bishops to Adrian IV - including Frederick's defence of his position; E: Letter of
Adrian IV. to Frederick Barbarossa, Feb, 1158].
- Barbarossa and Alexander III
- Barbarossa in Italy
- Barbarossa and the Lombards. Excerpts from
the Diet of Ronçaglia, 1158, and The Peace of Constance, January 25, 1183.
- Otto of Friesing: Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa
- Canonical Response
Innocent III: The Papacy
at its Height
- nnocent III: Letters [r.1198-1215], copyrighted
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Letters on Papal
Polices
- Letter to Acerbius, 1198 (on papal authority)
- Papal Policies: Letter to the Archbishop of Auch, 1198 (on heresy):
Letter to the French bishops (on usury); Letter to a bishop (on tithes); Letter to the
Venetians, 1198 (on trade with the Saracens); A Papal Decree, 1199 (on the Jews)
- Innocent and his Royal Contemporaries: Interdict of France, 1200,
Decree on the Choice of a German King, 1201, Charter of Submission for the King of
England, 1213
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Letters on
Marriage, and Women, 1203-1204
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Protest to
Philip Augustus of France Against Royal Protection of Jewish Money-Lenders, 1204
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): The Keeping of Slaves by
the Jews, 1204
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Sermon on the Resurrection
of the Lord. See also
Catholic
Encyclopedia: Pope Innocent III.
- The Fourth Lateran Council:
Selected Canons. The Full Text of the Lateran canons
is also available.
The Holy Roman
Empire: Frederick II and After
The Papacy Overreaches
- Papal Claims
- Reaction: Political
- Reaction: Intellectual and Theological
- John of Paris: Tractatus de Potestate Regia et Papali 1302-03, full text, [At Internet Archive borrow facility]
- William of Ockham (1299-1350): Dialogus [see next item]
-
William of Ockham (1299-1350): Dialogus, Latin text
edition and English translation by John Kilcullen and John Scott. [At British Academy] [Internet Archive version here]
- Raimon de Cornet (14th cent. troubadour): Poem
Criticizing the Avignon Papacy
- Petrarch (1304-1374): Letter Criticizing the
Avignon Papacy
- Marsiglio of Padua (d.1343): Defensor
Pacis: Selections from Text, 1324.
- Marsiglio of Padua (d.1343): Defensor
Pacis: Conclusions, 1324; Same Text with
Introduction
- John XXII: Condemnation of Marsiglio of Padua,
1327.
- The Condemnation of Wycliffe, 1382 and
Wycliffe's Reply, 1384. Also includes John Wycliffe (1324-1384): Condemned
Propositions 1382
See also
Catholic Encyclopedia:
Lollards.
- John Wycliffe (1324-1384): On the Sacrament of
Communion [Excerpt from Trialogus]. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Utraquism.
- Dante Alighieri (1265-1321): Divine
Comedy: Inferno XIX - Hell: third pit - on Papal Avarice,. See also
Catholic
Encyclopedia: Dante Alighieri.
- Dante Alighieri (1265-1321): Divine Comedy:
Inferno XIX. [Another version]
- Desiderius Erasmus (ca. 1469-1536): The Praise of Folly (Moriae
Encomium), 1509 [At this Site][Full text]
-
Desiderius Erasmus, ca. 1469-1536): In
Praise of Folly, trans. John Wilson, 1688 [Full text] [At Project Gutenberg]
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