Investiture Controversy
Medieval church-state clash
The Investiture Controversy was a power struggle between medieval popes and Holy Roman Emperors over who had authority to appoint bishops and abbots—specifically, who could invest them with the symbols of office.
The conflict peaked in the late eleventh century when Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV excommunicated each other.
It was resolved by the Concordat of Worms in 1122, which distinguished spiritual authority from temporal power.
- Henry IVFirst Lancastrian ruler
- papacyPope's office and authority
- simonyBuying church positions
- Holy Roman EmpireMedieval Germanic political entity
- canon lawReligious institutional regulations
lay · bishop · penance · crosier · Sovereignty · submission · regalia · pope · throne · schism · reform · cathedral · feudal · Nobility · oath · anoint · emperor · clergy
- 11th CenturyBattle of Hastings, Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror, First Crusade, Domesday Book
- Church Conflictsschism, Great Schism, church split, Protestant Reformation, heresy trial
- Gregorian Reformpapal supremacy, simony, College of Cardinals, papal authority
- Medieval EmpireHoly Roman Empire, Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa, Henry IV, Henry V
- Church SplitsGreat Schism, Western Schism, Protestant Reformation, English Reformation
invest, investment, controversy, invested, investing, controversial, investiture, reinvestment, uncontroversial