Gregory VII

Italian pope (1073-1085)

• Born: c. 1020
• Birthplace: Sanoa, Tuscany, Papal States (now in Italy)
• Died: May 25, 1085
• Place of death: Salerno, Principality of Salerno (now in Italy)

As the dominant figure in the medieval Papacy, Gregory VII launched a wave of reform that brought about much of the structure of the modern Roman Catholic Church. His clash with Henry IV was merely the first in a series of struggles between the spiritual and temporal lords that characterized the Middle Ages.

Early Life

Little is known of the early life of the man named Hildebrand who became Pope Gregory VII. He was born to a family of moderate means. Early biographers, seeking to create or emphasize parallels with the life of Christ, wrote of his early years playing among the wood chips at the feet of his father, a carpenter. Such a picture was greatly exaggerated. Though Hildebrand’s father, Bonizo, a Roman citizen, was apparently of humble birth, his mother, Bertha, was well connected. Her brother was abbot of the monastery of Saint Mary, on the Aventine Hill in Rome.

Hildebrand was sent to his uncle and educated at Saint Mary’. He studied Latin rhetoric, mathematics, music, dialectics, and the teachings of the church fathers. He studied also at the Lateran Palace. Not surprisingly, after such an education, he decided to become a monk. He was appalled by the corruption of the Church and turned instead to the ascetic severities of monastic life. He entered the Benedictine order and traveled in both France and Germany.

Hildebrand returned to Rome as chaplain to Gregory VI, one of three rival claimants to the throne of Saint Peter. When all three were deposed by Emperor Henry III in favor of a German pope, Hildebrand left in exile with Gregory VI. He returned permanently to Rome with Bruno (Pope Leo IX) in 1049. According to tradition, the two traveled to Rome as pilgrims; Bruno refused the papacy until it was offered by the people and clergy of Rome. Hildebrand’s subsequent term of service with Pope Leo IX began the long period of his influence in Rome and in the papal administration of the eleventh century.

Hildebrand was small and slightly built, with a swarthy complexion that was set off by his bright and piercing eyes. Though small in stature, Hildebrand played a giant’s role for twenty-five years, during the reigns of Leo IX, Stephen IX, Benedict X, Nicholas II, and Alexander II. Hildebrand traveled to France to promote reform and represented the Papacy in Germany at the court of the queen regent during the minority of King Henry IV . On the death of Alexander II in 1073, Hildebrand called for three days of mourning. In the midst of the funeral service, however, the crowd shouted out their desire for Hildebrand to become pope. The cardinals led him to the throne of Saint Peter and there invested him as Pope Gregory VII.

Life’s Work

Gregory VII is the dominant figure in eleventh century European religious history. He took a fragmented and corrupt Church and altered it irrevocably, establishing the norm of clerical celibacy and laying the foundation for the doctrine of papal infallibility. (Although the dogma of papal infallibility was not officially adopted by the Roman Catholic church until 1870, many popes before that time had claimed for themselves this supreme apostolic power.) His efforts to enlarge the domain of the Papacy led inevitably toward a prolonged clash with secular powers. Gregory set himself the task of establishing norms in three major areas: clerical celibacy, simony, and lay investiture.

During much of its history, the Catholic church had allowed its priests to marry. From the lowest local priests through the highest bishops, married clergy (or unmarried clergy with recognized concubines) were common in the eleventh century. Only in monasteries was celibacy required. Inspired by the reforms of the Cluny monastic movement in France, Gregory led an attack on married clergy, demanded celibacy, and endeavored (with varying degrees of success) to bar married clergy from the administration of the sacraments. Gregory believed that a married cleric would be not only diverted from single-minded devotion to God but also tempted to lay claim to the office as an inheritance for his children.

The second major reform issue was simony the purchasing of church office. Because many church positions carried with them considerable territorial possessions and temporal power, they were often in great demand and were awarded on the basis of money paid. Gregory refused to tolerate this practice, condemning those who acquired office in this manner and refusing to allow them to officiate in religious services.

In addition to these two reforms, which concerned practices largely within the church, Gregory attacked the practice of lay investiture and brought the Church into confrontation with the empire. Traditionally, kings had invested bishops and abbots with their emblems of office (the ring and staff), and the clergy thus invested served in a feudal relationship to the king as well as being responsible to their ecclesiastical superiors. In 1075, Gregory outlawed the practice of lay investiture. This action was truly revolutionary; predictably, it was ignored by the German emperor, Henry IV, who saw investiture as his royal prerogative (a position in which he was supported by the German clergy and nobility). It was also traditional for the king to consent to the election of the pope (though not actually to invest the pope with his official symbols).

In a document called Dictatus papae , Gregory listed the basic tenets of his philosophy for it was more philosophy and politics than theology. Gregory claimed for the Papacy the right to correct abuses and laid down the foundation of papal supremacy by declaring that the clergy were dependent on the pope and that both laity and clergy were subject to the pope in all matters.

Gregory VII was also active in the secular world, seeking to extend the territorial holdings of the Papacy and to extend his authority in the German and Italian monarchies surrounding him. Inevitably, Gregory came into conflict with Henry IV, despite the fact that Henry had assented to Gregory’s elevation to the papacy and the two had initially worked together. When Gregory declared that to disobey the pope was to disobey God’s will, Henry became enraged. At the imperial synod at Worms in 1076, Henry deposed Gregory, who responded by excommunicating the emperor and suspending him from governing. It soon became clear to Henry that he had overreacted; he was told by his bishops and princes to seek reconciliation with the pope lest he lose his crown.

Henry determined to go to the pope and seek absolution. Crossing the Alps in midwinter, Henry met the pope at Canossa, where, barefoot and dressed in penitential sackcloth, the emperor received absolution. Although frequently viewed as a triumph of the Church over secular power (indeed, the phrase “go to Canossa” has come to mean “beg forgiveness”), it was in fact a royal victory. It suited Henry’s political purposes to seek absolution from the pope, and Henry’s presence in Italy created problems for Gregory.

The peace between these two strong men did not last long. Henry soon violated his agreements with the pope, and rebellious German nobles elected Rudolf of Swabia as king. In 1080, Gregory again excommunicated and deposed Henry, offering papal support to Rudolf. Meanwhile, Henry, in full control of the German clergy, declared Gregory deposed and supported the election of Guibert of Ravenna (Clement III) as antipope. Henry conquered Rome, installing Clement III in Saint Peter’; Henry was, in turn, crowned emperor by Clement in 1084. Gregory escaped Rome and fled to Salerno, where he died in 1085. According to one biographer, Gregory’s last words were eloquent: “I have loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile.”

Significance

Gregory VII played a major role in the development of the modern Roman Catholic Church. His pontificate was the turning point in the medieval Papacy. His insistence on clerical celibacy turned all the clergy into one great monastic order in an attempt to separate it forever from the conflicting claims of the secular world. His attack on simony and lay investiture similarly strengthened the Church, setting up barriers to the competitive claims of lay politics. Gregory’s overriding achievement was to strengthen the Papacy and extend its influence. He was the first to claim for the pope universal authority. Calling the authority of the pope the authority of Christ, Gregory assumed the power to depose both bishops and emperors: As Christ had given to Saint Peter the power to bind or loose on earth, so the pope could claim such authority in Christ’s name. Gregory endeavored to extend papal power over broad areas of Western Europe, seeking to establish papal authority in England, Spain, Corsica, Sardinia, Hungary, Serbia, and Kiev.

For the grandeur of his vision, his efforts to extend power, his zeal for an active life, and even his small stature, Gregory has often been compared to Napoleon. Although Gregory died in exile, deemed a failure by the world, he was triumphant in his effort to move the Church forward, reformed within and extending its power without. He fell as a result of his challenge to the power of the state in the person of Henry IV. It had not been his intention to seek conflict, but his zeal for reform and for expanded papal authority led him into the confrontation.

Gregory possessed a fiery and forceful personality, passionate beliefs, and an inflexible and uncompromising will. Such a man sowing the wind of reform and in so doing asserting papal authority could not fail to reap the whirlwind of opposition to his demands on the part of secular rulers. Like Luther in a later era, he could “do no other.” In recognition of his formidable character and far-reaching accomplishments, Gregory VII was canonized by Pope Paul V in 1606. His papacy remains one of the rocks on which the Roman Catholic Church is built.

Bibliography

Cowdrey, H. E. J. Pope Gregory VII. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. A comprehensive biography of Gregory VII that begins with background and examines his early years, his conflicts with Henry IV, the events at Canossa and their significance, the further conflicts between Gregory VII and Henry IV as well as with the German church, the issues in his final years, and his church reforms, including those regarding monasticism. Bibliography and index.

Cowdrey, H. E. J. Popes and Church Reform in the Eleventh Century. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate/Variorum, 2000. A study on the topic of church reform in the eleventh century, dealing with Gregory VII’s role as reformer.

Cushing, Kathleen G. Papacy and Law in the Gregorian Revolution: The Canonistic Work of Anselm of Lucca. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Primarily a work on Saint Anselm II’s canonistic work, this volume also deals with Gregory VII and his influence on canon law.

Gregory VII. The Correspondence of Pope Gregory VII: Selected Letters from the Registrum. Translated by Ephraim Emerton. 1932. Reprint. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. The introduction to this translation of some of Gregory VII’s letters provides valuable information about his life and works. Bibliography and index.

Gregory VII. The Register of Pope Gregory VIII, 1073-1085: An English Translation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. This modern translation of Pope Gregory VII’s register, along with the commentary, provides an invaluable look at the pope’s life and thoughts. Bibliography and index.