PERHAPS this pope is better known by his real name, Hildebrand. He had been the most influential of the clergy long before he was made pope. Cardinal Hugo Candidus said of him: "He had been for more than a quarter of a century the champion of the Roman church, the restorer of domestic tranquillity, the protector of the poor and the oppressed, and the terror of tyrants."
To show that such a man was needed, we will glance at a few of his predecessors.
We must not omit to mention pope Joan. It is recorded by Roman historians that a woman was elected pope in the year 855. When young she had a strong affection for a young monk, and, in order to be in his company, she assumed the dress of a man and entered the monastery. On his death, she devoted her mind to study, and being clever, succeeded so well that she was elected pope. She eventually had a child and died. This account was never called in question until the time of the Reformation, when it was repeated by the reformers as against the church of Rome. Certainly the reformers did not invent the story, and why should any Romanist historian do so? It was not deemed worth contradiction until, as we have seen, it was brought as a proof against the holiness of that church.
Several of the popes were elected by open and acknowledged bribery, and some were men of no standing or reputation in the church. Thus John 19 (1024-1033) was a layman when elected, and was hurried through all the intermediate grades in one day.
His successor, Benedict IX, was elected pope when only ten years of age. Money overruled all objections.
Desiderius, abbot of Monte Cassino, and afterwards pope, declared that "the Italian priesthood, and among them most conspicuously the Roman pontiffs were in the habit of defying all law and all authority.... the people sold their suffrages for money to the highest bidder; the priesthood, moved and seduced by avarice and ambition, bought and sold the sacred rights of ordination, and carried on a gainful traffic with the gifts of the Holy Ghost!"
Benedict IX was so notoriously wicked by acts of " rapine, murder, and every species of felony," that the people of Rome arose and drove him from the city. The office was then sold to Sylvester III. But in three months' time Benedict gained power, and drove away Sylvester, but finding that his own crimes had made him odious to the clergy, he sold the popedom to another who called himself Gregory VI. (A.D. 1044.)
Thus there were three popes at the same time. Gregory found he had made a bad bargain, for Benedict had sold everything he could, and the new pope could scarcely find enough for his support. The roads were beset with robbers, which hindered pilgrims from coming to Rome with their gifts, and scarcely any one was safe in the city itself.
Henry III of Germany was invited to rescue the church from the dreadful state into which it had fallen. He called a synod in Germany, and addressed the bishops, with a heavy heart: "I speak to you who stand in the place of Christ in that holy church which He hath taken for His bride, and bought with the price of His blood.... you have corrupted yourselves by avarice and cupidity; you, whose duty it is to dispense freely the gifts of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, have polluted yourselves by the vile lust of gain ... .Do we not know of a truth, that all ecclesiastical decrees and orders, from the supreme pontiff himself down to the meanest doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, are already sinking under the load of that damnation which they carry within themselves? Are they not all fattening for the slaughter upon the fruits of this their spiritual felony?" The bishops made no defense, but confessed their sin and asked pardon.
Thus was the church openly rebuked by the emperor, and its leaders could only confess that the charges were too true.
The emperor then proceeded to Italy, and requested Gregory VI to call a council for the reform of the church. It assembled at Sutri. The first question was that of the three popes. Sylvester was at once deposed, as having no legitimate claim; Benedict had been reckoned as the pope, but as he had twice retired, he was also deposed. Then as to Gregory, who had called the synod, he had bought the office, and the synod resolved that he should depose himself. This he was very loth to do, but was at length constrained to comply.
The emperor then proceeded to Rome, and called for the election of a new pope, a man at least canonically pure. It was soon confessed that there was no such person at Rome; all were polluted by "simony and fornication." The election seemed at a dead lock, when the clergy agreed to delegate all their powers into the hands of the emperor. His election should be theirs. He descended from his throne, and taking Sudger, bishop of Bamberg, by the hand, seated him on the vacant throne amid the hosannas of the people. He took the name of Clement II. (A.D. 1046.) But he lived only a few months.
Several popes followed in rapid succession, until Alexander II (A.D. 1061) who raised somewhat the papal power. On his death, the people declared Hildebrand to be the right man, and rushed upon him without delay and installed him in the papal chair. The forms of election were hastily gone through, and he chose the title of Gregory VII. (A.D. 1073.)
No sooner was the news of his election spread abroad than the easy-going clergy appealed to the emperor (Henry IV of Germany) to declare the election void because his sanction had not been obtained. They feared that a man of so much energy as Hildebrand was known to be, would not leave them long at peace where abuses had crept in. They also warned the emperor that, if he suffered such a man to be pope, he himself would surely be made to feel his power.
A message was at once despatched to Rome to protest against the election of Hildebrand. But the newly-elected pope spoke with the greatest humility, declaring that the office had been thrust upon him; he had no personal ambition in the matter, and, indeed, he had delayed his enthronement until he had learned the will of the emperor and his princes.
This so pleased the emperor that he at once sent his affirmation of the election, and the enthronement took place. It was not, however, difficult to see that great and important events must follow this election—events in which the pope and the emperor would be the principal actors.
Gregory confessed that his ambition was to effect a total reformation of the church, of which, indeed, it stood in great need. Simony existed everywhere: the vacant offices of the church were given to favourites or sold to rich applicants, as we have seen, altogether apart from their real fitness for the same. And such men, when elected, cared little for the good of the people over whom they were placed, but sought rather to enrich themselves and their relatives in honors and estates.
The emperor Henry had been badly brought up by his tutors, who had allowed the young man to indulge in folly and sinful pleasures.
The sale of livings had been so shamefully carried on at his court that many a one had good cause to fear when they heard that such a stern disciplinarian as Hildebrand had been chosen pope.
France was ruled by a cruel and greedy tyrant (Philip I), who was hated and despised by his subjects.
Spain was divided among Saracens and Christians, without any power to repel the aggressions of the pope; while other continental nations were suffering from disorders of various kinds.
All pointed out to Gregory that now, when there was nothing but weakness on every hand, was the time for him to raise the church of Rome to full supremacy, not only over all in the church, but also over kings, and to see that it obtained all it claimed.
One of the first places that engaged Gregory's attention was Spain. Bands of French adventurers had been for some time encouraged by Rome to attack Spain, and whatever places they could seize were to be made over to the church. Now Gregory wrote to the Spanish princes, reminding them that the whole of Spain had been from olden time a part and parcel of the patrimony of St. Peter! And any country that once belonged to the church could never be taken there from!
Gregory took no trouble to prove his assertions. He made his demands, and would seek for power to enforce them. Of course all was done in the name and professedly for the welfare of the church of God, though really it was all for the welfare of the church of Rome, based upon what has been called ecclesiastical law. But who made these laws? Well, they were supposed to have been passed at ancient councils, or laid down by former popes. But it is an undeniable fact, that many of these ancient documents are really forgeries, of which we will now say a few words.
The Decretals.
A great deal of the power which the popes claimed as belonging to the church of Rome, was not pretended to be founded on anything in scripture, though they did not neglect the supposed dignity of Peter and of themselves as his successors. Things were asserted and claimed for Rome on the sole authority of the Decretals, or canon law of the church. These are found to be: 1, Answers given by the popes to questions asked; 2, Decrees passed by the popes and their cardinals. These, together with the canons of the general councils, formed the canon laws of the church of Rome.
It is easy to see that collections of such laws may have been made from early times, and then have been enlarged from time to time when various questions at issue were considered to be finally settled.
Of course, every collector was anxious to trace back as far as he could the source of each law, and to stamp it with an antiquity that would carry with it its due weight.
Now, in the ninth century, a collection of such laws was made by one known as Pseudo-Isidore (to distinguish him from another Isidore of Spain who also did a similar work)—a collection which professed antiquity for many of its laws, and which covered a wide field of questions touching the authority of the pope, the clergy, and internal ordering of the church, &c.
It was then "the dark ages," and no one thought to question what was put forth with much apparent reverence, and mingled with pious ejaculations. Incidents of persons who lived at various times were interwoven with the laws, which seemed to give a reality to the whole.
To this the popes pointed triumphantly: who could gainsay such antiquity? who could call in question such piety? Men surely would hear, learn, and submit implicitly to such documents.
But, as we have said, the ages were dark, or people would then and there have discovered, at least, glaring errors and mistakes, if they had not ventured to call them falsehoods. There was monstrous ignorance of history, glaring mistakes in chronology, things and people jumbled up together in utter confusion, proving the whole to be unquestionably false. This has since been owned by some honest Roman Catholic writers as well as by Protestant.
What must we think of that church that needed such false decretals to bolster up its supposed authority? The whole was evidently gathered together to uphold the supremacy of the church of Rome, and especially the undisputed authority of the popes personally.
It has been disputed that the middle ages were really dark. Well, what about these false decretals? Could they have been collected by any one but an ignorant man, a man who knew next to nothing of even history and chronology? And then could the popes who used these decretals have been anything but ignorant men to have used such documents bearing falsehood on their very surface? Well, yes, there may be another answer to the question; but it is that the one who made the collection, as well as the popes who used it, may have been wicked enough to put forth and use what they knew to be false. Any way, these false decretals prove the ages to have been dark—very dark.
All this is apart from scripture. If people leave the word of God for tradition, the figure used in scripture may well apply to them: it is the blind leading the blind, and both fall into the ditch. Happy those who know the sufficiency of the word of God for all that they need, to guide them both in faith and practice. There is nothing "false" there.
But how sad to see intelligent men in the nineteenth century attempting to give the church of Rome that supremacy which it then claimed, and sought to support its claims by that which has been acknowledged by honest Romanists to be shameless forgeries!
Gregory and the Married Clergy.
In the year 1074, Gregory summoned the bishops to a special synod at Rome, and under his influence it was ordained: 1, That priests should not marry; 2, That those who were married should put away their wives, or renounce the priesthood; 3, That for the future no one should be ordained priest who did not promise celibacy.
These things had been enacted before, but, having, met with much decided opposition, had been allowed to slumber. Now, however, there was a man of energy on the papal throne, and they were to be enforced everywhere. He threatened with perdition any that should disobey the order.
"How," he asks, "shall they obtain pardon for their sins who despise him who openeth and closeth the gates of heaven to whom he pleaseth? Let all such beware how they call down the divine wrath upon their own heads."
Nevertheless there was strong opposition everywhere to the decrees. There were many of the clergy who had wives and children, and they felt they could not violate their pledges to their wives, and, indeed, disobey God, who had said that what God had joined should not be put asunder by man.
In Paris a synod was held on the subject, and it concluded that no obedience should be given to the decree touching the married clergy. Walter, abbot of Pont-Isère, insisted that the pope, right or wrong, ought to be obeyed; but he was dragged from the hall of meeting, and beaten severely before he could be rescued.
The archbishop of Rouen proceeded to expel the married clergy, but he was assailed with showers of stones, &c., so that he had to fly for his life.
In Normandy it was a recognized thing, that the clergy were allowed to marry, and their sons often succeeded to their livings.
In Spain the opposition was also most determined, and as late as the year 1104, pope Paschal II had to relax the decree in order to avoid a schism.
In England the zealous Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, declined to publish the decree, and later on all that was done was to make it a condition that no more married men should be ordained, nor any allowed to marry after ordination.
In Germany also there was great resistance. The heads of the clergy gave six months for the priests to put away their wives. But all to no purpose, the pope was not obeyed nor the council he had called.
Gregory was all the more urgent, quoting scripture in the most outrageous manner. "To obey is better than sacrifice," he wrote; "see I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant." "The decrees of the fathers, the authority of the canons, demand prompt, unhesitating obedience ... ..He whom flesh and
blood moveth to doubt or delay is carnal—he is condemned already; he hath no share in the work of the Lord; he is a rotten branch, a dumb dog, a cankered limb, a faithless servant, a time-server, and a hypocrite."
The archbishop of Mainz, thus urged by the pope, called a synod. The clergy protested, and many left the council in anger, and consulted together. He pressed them to return, promising them he would urge the pope to relax his orders. He then proceeded to press them for some tithes; but he was obliged to hurry away, to avoid their violence. They would not give up their wives nor give their money.
Now all this opposition of the clergy to the decree is important, as showing that the enforced celibacy of the clergy is comparatively a modern innovation. After the existence of the church for more than a thousand years, there was all this determined resistance to this "forbidding to marry." There always had been persons of ascetic habits who had preferred to remain unmarried; but there had been no direct effort to enforce it on all till about the year 952; again in 1012; and later in the year we have been looking at (1074) when it was opposed everywhere. Where, then, is the antiquity of this doctrine—the antiquity which the Romanists claim for all their doctrines and practices? As we have seen, such a claim is a mere myth that will not bear the least investigation. The practice is without the least particle of authority from the scripture—indeed, it is dead against it; for therein a bishop is to be the husband of one wife. (1 Tim. 3:22A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; (1 Timothy 3:2).) Woe be to those who, with such high pretensions to divine authority, trample under foot the word of God which should be their only guide. Their pretensions in this matter are not even ancient.
Gregory and Henry Iv
The emperor Henry governed his country so badly, that a revolution was the consequence. The people appealed to the pope against the emperor, and the emperor appealed to him also against the revolters.
The austerities of the pope had, however, alienated from himself the affections of many of the clergy. In Rome itself he had compelled the married clergy to separate from their wives, and had compelled them to live together, throwing all their private property into a brotherhood. This had led many to consider him as their enemy.
He had other enemies near Rome. Cenci, the leader of the Tusculan party, after various collisions with the pope, still waited an opportunity to take revenge upon Gregory. On the eve of the Nativity, the pope usually repaired to the church of St. Mary-the-Greater, attended by many clergy and multitudes of the laity. But on the occasion in question, it rained in torrents, and few attended the pope. Cenci, on learning this from one of his spies, determined to carry off the pope. He disposed of his followers, so that there could be no escape, and then entered the church and seized Gregory, who was slightly wounded in the scuffle.
Gregory is said to have remained perfectly composed while Cenci proceeded to "degrade” him, by stripping him of some of his robes; they then set him on a horse behind one of their party, and carried him off to one of their strongholds.
But before daybreak the whole city was in commotion; altars were stripped of their ornaments, and all religious services stopped, out of sympathy for the pope. All the gates were guarded, to prevent the pope being carried off if still in Rome.
This upset all the plans of the conspirators, who had made a mistake in remaining in the city. The prison was soon discovered, and a most determined attack was made on the place. The gates were burned, and battering-rams soon knocked down the outer walls.
In the meantime, some had gained entrance to the pope, had bound up his wounds and warmed him with additional clothing. An accomplice of Cenci threatened the pope with instant death, when a javelin from without laid the man dead at the pope's feet.
Cenci, feeling all hope of resistance was now vain, fell down at the feet of the pope, confessed the great sin he had committed, and begged for pardon. This was granted, but by way of penance he was ordered to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He started at once on his journey.
The pope, being liberated, proceeded to the same church, and there, in his tattered robes, went on with the mass from where he had left off the day before!
But Cenci and other enemies of the pope, found refuge at the emperor's court, and it became evident that the great conflict for power was to be between Henry IV and Gregory VII.
Henry had been summoned to Rome by the pope; but instead of going, Henry proceeded to summon a synod of the clergy at Worms. It met on January 24th, 1076. It was called for the express purpose of deposing the pope. Cardinal Hugo Candidus was the emperor's spokesman.
The following charges were said to be proved against the pope:—
1. His inordinate ambition and intolerable pride, whereby flames of dissension had been spread in the church.
2. He had enfeebled the authority of the clergy.
3. He had suffered the name of Christ to be altogether eclipsed by his own.
4. He had twice sworn that he would not accept the papacy.
5. His election was irregular.
6. His conduct towards certain noble females had occasioned a scandal in the church, and decrees of the church had been settled in a small senate of women.
7. His slander and abuse of some of the clergy.
Lastly. For all these things they judged him unworthy of obedience as their apostolic head.
The document was signed by two archbishops and twenty-two bishops. Two other bishops objected that any one should be condemned without being heard. They were told they must resign their livings unless they signed. They gave way, and appended their names.
Henry's chancellor in Italy lost no time in publishing the document, and exhorted the people to join their king (for Henry IV was still nominally king of Italy) in deposing the pope.
Henry also despatched a letter to the pope, proceeding thus: "Henry, by divine ordinance, king, to the false monk Hildebrand..... Such is the merited salutation to one who, like you, hath dealt out confusion rather than peace, a curse instead of a blessing, to the catholic church..... Hath he not, the blessed, the true pope, Peter, said, ‘Fear God, honour the king'? But you dishonor us because you do not fear God..... Now, therefore, seeing that you are smitten by the anathema, and by our judgment, and by the unanimous verdict of our bishops condemned and deposed, descend now from the chair you have usurped ... .I, Henry, by the grace of God, king, with all my bishops, do command you, Hildebrand, to come down— and again I say, Come down."
The way adopted in delivering the king's letter added to the affront. One of the inferior clergy was sent as messenger. He chose the time when the pope sat in the Lateran, surrounded by the assembled clergy. He began, "My lord the king, and the bishops of the empire, do, by my mouth, command you, Hildebrand, without delay, to resign the chair of Peter; for it is unlawful for you to aspire to so lofty a place without the royal consent and investiture." Turning to the clergy, he said, "You, brethren, are hereby commanded that at the coming feast of Pentecost, you present yourselves before the king, to accept a pope at his hands, for this Hildebrand is not pope, neither is he your shepherd, but a wolf in the fold of the Lord."
The lay brethren rushed upon the king's messenger with drawn swords, and would have slain him then and there, had not the pope quickly wrapped his own mantle round him; thus saving the assembly from the charge of slaying the king's herald.
Gregory calmly addressed the assembled clergy, quoting, "It must needs be that offences come, but woe to that man by whom they come." Again, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
Nevertheless, he proceeded to denounce Henry, and to declare him no longer emperor of Germany, saying, "I do hereby, for the honour and defense of the church, on behalf and in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and by thy [the synod's] power and authority, inhibit and drive out Henry the king, son of Henry the emperor, from the crown, rule, and government of the kingdoms of Germany and Italy, and do absolve all Christian men from the bond of the oath which they have sworn, or may hereafter swear unto him; and I do forbid all men from this time forward to serve or obey him as king."
We see in the above what a false position Henry took in seeking to usurp power in the church, over which he had no true power; while on the other hand, the pope, instead of obeying "the powers that be," acted directly contrary, and sought to dethrone the king, and impiously absolved those who had taken oath to obey their sovereign. Indeed, he did more, for he exhorted to civil war and bloodshed, quoting the passage, "Cursed be he that withholdeth the sword from blood."
The pope's condemnation was sent with all speed to all parts of Germany. As we have said, Henry IV ruled his kingdom badly, and his Saxon subjects were often at variance with him. These, with all the king's enemies, gladly hailed the pope's letters, and began to plot against the emperor. The clergy too began to waver; some indeed had secretly communicated with the pope, declaring that they had signed the resolutions of Worms by compulsion, and that they really sided with the pope. Others waited to see who would be victors in the great struggle.
Henry tried to make light of the pope's curse, but he began to see that some who had held with him were now lukewarm, and others deserted him altogether.
Through the pope's influence it was agreed to convoke a general convention of the estates of the German empire, to consider the question of the emperor and the pope. It assembled at Trebur, but was greatly under the influence of the pope. His legates were to exhort the convention to choose another king if Henry remained impenitent, that is, if he did not submit to the pope, but the pope's legates were not to hold any intercourse with the heads of the nation then assembled, until they had been purified from their defiled influence with their deposed king.
This being done, the impeachment of the king followed-raking up all that could be brought against him. In the meantime, he had his army and his enemies had theirs; but no result followed by the sword. Negotiations were tried; but the assembled nobles declared that as Henry was cut off from the church by "the sword of the apostolic anathema," they could hold no communion with him; the pope had also released them from their oath of obedience.
Henry's cause got worse and worse. Negotiations were opened, notwithstanding the above declaration, and it was proposed that the estates should wait till a year and a day from the time of the papal anathema, and if the king did not submit by that time, the pope should go to Augsburg, and with the estates, choose another king. In the meantime, Henry was to lay aside all signs of royalty.
Henry now saw that it was no use to resist any longer. He sought by all means, before the fatal day arrived, to meet and submit himself to the pope. On the other hand, his enemies sought to prevent his doing so. Henry sent to Rome, by Archbishop Udo of Treves, letters of submission, and a request that he might meet with the pope. The confederates besought the pope not to grant an interview, but to come himself to Germany and dispose of the king's matter.
The pope assured the confederates that he would come to Germany, and proposed to arrive at Mantua, January 8th, 1077. Henry thought that his only chance of success was to post off to Rome before the pope could cross the Alps. The confederates seized some of the passes, to prevent his egress into Italy; Mont Cenis alone remained open to him. By permission of William, duke of Burgundy, he passed into Savoy. There the duchess, his mother-in-law, demanded a grant of estates as her price for letting him pass. The worst part of his journey yet remained. The passes of the Alps were so blocked with snow and ice, that his progress seemed hopeless, but a path was cut by a number of laborers, to whom he promised large rewards, and he reached the summit; but to descend was even worse. His wife and child were wrapped in cow hides, and slid down by the guides. The men slipped down on their hands and knees; but at length the emperor landed with his small party on the plains of Lombardy.
Here many received him joyfully, but on passing into Italy, the pope's party as loudly denounced him. As soon as the pope heard of Henry's arrival in Italy, he thought it best to make himself secure in the strong castle at Canossa, belonging to his devout friend the countess Mathilda.
The clergy who had held with Henry were as anxious to be absolved as was the king. These had passed the Alps and hastened to Canossa, and there, with bare feet and clothed in sackcloth, they begged the pope's pardon. By way of penance, they were placed in solitary confinement, and fed on but one meal of bread and water in twenty-four hours.
Henry used the influence of others to beg the pope to grant him an interview, and he besought the countess Mathilda to intercede for him.
Henry being in Italy was not the same thing as his being in Germany. He had a powerful party in Lombardy, who might gain ascendancy over the pope's followers, and thus make him a prisoner. Still, after all the pope's protestations to the German confederates, he could not without much seeming hesitation grant an interview. At length, however, he agreed to receive him, providing the king would make full confession of his guilt, express repentance for the insults against the apostolic throne, obey in future the papal mandates, &c.
Henry was determined to agree to everything. On the appointed day he presented himself the castle. He was admitted to the first enclosure, where he was divested of all signs of royalty, clothed in a coarse woollen garment, and made to stand barefoot, fasting from morn till sunset. And thus he was kept for three days, waiting for the pope's permission for his admittance, until all were moved to beseech the pope to have pity on the king. The three days were 25th, 26th and 27th of January, 1077—only six days before the year and a day had run out!
The conditions of absolution were:—
1. That Henry should submit himself to a general synod consisting of all the ecclesiastical and lay princes of the empire, as to whether, by the laws of the church, he was worthy to be their emperor.
2. That till the trial he should lay aside royalty.
3. That he should collect such taxes and revenues only as were necessary for support of him self and family.
4. That until that time his subjects should be absolved from their oaths.
5. That he should dismiss from his council all counsellors objected to by the pope.
6. That in case of acquittal he should in all things be obedient to the holy see.
7. That if he should fail in any of these things his absolution should become void.
The king solemnly pledged his oath to obey these conditions, and he was absolved.
Then followed a solemn and irreverent scene. The pope said, having been accused by the king, he would prove his innocence. Standing before the altar, with a piece of consecrated bread in his hand, he said, " May the body of the Lord, which I now take and receive in witness thereof, either free me from the guilt of the crimes thus laid to my charge, or, if guilty, strike me with sudden death!"
He swallowed part of the bread, and remained alive! A sensation ran through the company at that, which appeared to them, a certain proof of the pope's innocence.
Henry was now invited to give the same proofs of his innocence. But after consulting with his friends, he said he did not know definitely of what he was accused, and thus in his case such a proceeding would have no meaning.
One cannot but be struck with the dreadful profanity of using the bread of the Lord's supper for such a purpose, and that too by one calling himself the successor of Peter. The forbearance of the man of the world should have put the pope to shame.
One can hardly suppose that the pope really thought that Henry could or would fulfill the above conditions. To be emperor, and yet to lay aside all signs of royalty, was ridiculous. Indeed, the conditions seem to have been purposely drawn up so as to keep Henry in check by the proposed synod, while at the same time it might seem as if the pope were acting in good faith towards the confederates.
In fact, the conditions settled nothing, and the confederates soon complained of the way they had been treated. Though a synod had been spoken of, no time had been named for its assembling. Eventually the estates assembled together and chose another emperor—Rudolf of Swabia.
No sooner did Henry leave the pope than in Lombardy he was assailed with reproaches for humbling himself before the pope in the way he had done. Here he could soon have raised an army, but he hastened back to Germany.
We must not follow him in his struggles with his subjects. Rudolf was slain, and when Henry gained power, he marched into Italy to avenge himself on the pope. Henry had assembled another council, and had again deposed the pope, and had appointed Guibert (or Wibert), archbishop of Ravenna, to be pope as Clement HI.
Henry's army reached the gates of Rome; but the pope had allied himself with Robert Guiscard, the Norman conqueror of Apulia and Sicily, and the city being well defended, Henry was unable to take it. He tried again the next year (1082) and the year following, but without success.
A council was called of those in Rome in 1083, to try and settle the questions at issue between the pope and Henry. All were desirous of peace, but the pope would not yield, and things remained as they were.
In the next year Henry was invited to enter Rome by some who were dissatisfied with the pope. Henry acceded to the request, took possession of the Lateran and the principal parts of the city. Gregory fled for refuge into the castle of St. Angelo, and Clement III was proclaimed pope. He crowned Henry in St. Peter's, who was hailed as king by acclamation.
But Robert Guiscard was approaching with his army, and Henry left the city and retired to Tuscany. Guiscard took his place in the city under the pretence of aiding the pope, but his army pillaged the city, and committed many atrocities. They set the city on fire, and carried away many inhabitants and sold them as slaves.
Gregory, on leaving his castle, called another council, in which, for the fourth time, he excommunicated Henry and Guibert. But Henry had now power enough to care nothing for the pope's anathemas.
Gregory, not feeling himself safe in Rome when Guiscard left, went with him to Salerno, but took hostages from Rome to ensure their future submission. The pope died the next year, 1085.
One of the great things contended for by Gregory was that he, and he alone, had power to invest the clergy with authority, and not only at Rome, but in every other place; whereas Henry would not agree to this. The clergy appointed by Rome were too much under Roman influence to serve the emperor. He would appoint his own clergy. If they were dependent on him, he could count on them to serve him and carry out his purposes.
Alas, that the church of God should have thus become a mere citadel, open to the attacks of, and governed by, a merely worldly man, and made to serve his purposes, right or wrong! or, on the other hand, to be ruled and used by such a crafty man as Gregory VII, who did not scruple to depose the emperor when he would not obey his mandates, in direct opposition, as we have seen, to the exhortation to "obey the powers that be" in worldly matters.
The papal chair was vacant for a year, at the expiration of which Victor III was elected; then in 1088 Urban II, in whose time the Crusades commenced.