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.

References

• Blumenthal, Uta-Renate (1988). The Investiture Constroversy: Church and Monarchy from the Ninth to the Twelfth Century. University of Philadelphia Press.
• Cantor, Norman F. (1993). The Civilization of the Middle Ages. HarperCollins
• Cowdrey, H.E.J. (1998). Pope Gregory VII, 1073–1085. Oxford University Press.
• Tellenbach, Gerd (1993). The Western Church from the Tenth to the Early Twelfth Century. Cambridge University Press.