Investiture Controversy

The Investiture Controversy was the most significant conflict between secular and religious powers in medieval Europe. It began as a dispute in the 11th century between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Gregorian Papacy concerning who would control appointments of church officials (investiture). The controversy, undercutting the Imperial power established by the Salian Emperors would eventually lead to nearly fifty years of civil war in Germany, the triumph of the great dukes and abbots, and the disintegration of the German empire, a condition from which it would not recover until the reunification of Germany in the 19th century.

External links

• "Conflict of Investitures", from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
• "Canonical Investiture", from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
• "Investiture", from the Columbia Encyclopedia.
• "The Owl, The Cat, And The Investiture Controversy", from the Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies (ORB).
• "Empire and Papacy", from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.

Sources

• Henry IV: Letter to Gregory VII, Jan 24 1076.
• Gregory VII: First Deposition and Banning of Henry IV (Feb 22, 1076)
• Gregory VII: Second Banning and Dethronement of Henry IV (March 7, 1080)
• Gregory VII: Dictatus Papae 1090
• Ban on Lay Investitures, 1078
• The Concordat of Worms 1122
• The Canons of the First Lateran Council, 1123
• Avalon Project, Yale University: Documents relating to the War of the Investitures