King vs. Pope

When Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV, this started The Investiture Conflict of 1075. The conflict officially ended in 1123, when the First Lateran Council allowed the agreement between Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II which they made in 1122. During this time, conflict had begun in England and France, however Germany was still the main focus of intensity. The implications of the Investiture Conflict ran far beyond its central issue, which was whether the laypersons, who were secular princes or kings, could grant the symbols and substance of spiritual office on the clergy. The Investiture Conflict mixed up many other issues that went on after the agreement was reached. The Investiture Controversy opened four areas, they included, one, between the Church government and secular government, second, territorial or national churches and the bishop of Rome, third, between the pope and cardinals, and finally the issue between the king and politically articulate community.

The first source that I examined was the Dictatus Papae (1075). This document was a primary document, and the Dictatus Papae was written by Pope Gregory VII, and it was written in 1075. The Dictatus Papae consists of 27 brief and pointed declarations that extol papal primacy and includes the claims that the pope at the time had many rights. The application of all these rules would make the pope the most highly powerful man in the world. The pope would have been higher than the church itself, he would have also been superior to the Emperor also, and also beyond judicial review. When I examined the Dictatus Papae and whether it was trustworthy or not, it’s hard to trust all the rules of the Dictatus Papae because they seem to be a power hungry set of rules to attain a large amount of power over everyone. You can see this with some of the rules where it indicate, “All princes shall kiss the feet of the Pope alone” and “He himself may be judged by no one.” Some things that are missing from the...