Reform And The Papacy In The Eleventh Century

The eleventh-century papal reform transformed the western European Church and society and permanently altered the relations of Church and State in the west. The reform was inaugurated by Pope Leo IX (1048-54) and given a controversial change of direction by Pope Gregory VII (1073-85). This book contains the earliest biographies of both popes, presented here for the first time in English translation with detailed commentaries. The biographers of Leo IX were inspired by his universally acknowledged sanctity, whereas the biographers of Gregory VII wrote to defend his reputation against the hostility generated by his reforming methods and his conflict with King Henry IV. Also included is a translation of Book to a Friend, written by Bishop Bonizo of Sutri soon after the death of Gregory VII, as well as an extract from the violently anti-Gregorian polemic of Bishop Benzo of Alba (1085) and the short biography of Leo IX composed in the papal curia in the 1090s by Bishop Bruno of Segni.

Focusing on how the papacy took an increasing role in shaping the direction of its own reform and that of society itself, this text also addresses the role of the Latin Church in Western Europe and how reformist writings sought to change the behaviour and expectations of the aristocracy.

A revolution shook the Christian world in the second half of the eleventh century. Many eminent historians point to Hildebrand, later Gregory VII (1073-1085), as the prime mover of this movement that aspired to free the Church from secular entanglements, and to return it to its state of paleochristian purity. I see the reform from the perspective of much wider developments such as the split between the Greek and the Latin Churches and the Norman infiltration of Southern Italy. Contentrating on the popes and the antipopes I delve into the character and motivations of the important personae, and do not see the movement as a smooth line of progress. I see the outcome as reversal of power of what had been a strong empire and a weak papacy.

The essays in this volume centre upon the epoch-making papacy of Gregory VII (1073-85), and complement the author's major study of the pope. They look at the formation and expression of Gregory's ideas, notably in relation to simony and clerical chastity, and emphasise his religious motivation; attention is also given to the impact of his pontificate on the Anglo-Norman lands and Scandinavia. The book further includes extended discussion of the contrasting figure of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury (1070-89), and of the complex question of the interaction between him and Pope Gregory.

This book is a study of the transformation of the role of the pope in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries.

How was the history of post-classical Rome and of the Church written in the Catholic Reformation? Historical texts composed in Rome at this time have been considered secondary to the city's significance for the history of art. The Invention of Papal History corrects this distorting emphasis and shows how historical writing became part of a comprehensive formation of the image and self-perception of the papacy. By presenting and fully contextualising the path-breaking works of the Augustinian historian Onofrio Panvinio (1530-1568), Stefan Bauer shows what type of historical research was possible in the late Renaissance and the Catholic Reformation. Crucial questions were, for example: How were the pontiffs elected? How many popes had been puppets of emperors? Could any of the past machinations, schisms, and disorder in the history of the Church be admitted to the reading public? Historiography in this period by no means consisted entirely of commissioned works written for patrons; rather, a creative interplay existed between, on the one hand, the endeavours of authors to explore the past and, on the other hand, the constraints of ideology and censorship placed on them. The Invention of Papal History sheds new light on the changing priorities, mentalities, and cultural standards that flourished in the transition from the Renaissance to the Catholic Reformation.

"This book describes the roots of a set of ideals that effected a radical transformation of eleventh-century European society that led to the confrontation between church and monarchy known as the investiture struggle or Gregorian reform. Ideas cannot be divorced from reality, especially not in the Middle Ages. I present them, therefore, in their contemporary political, social, and cultural context."—from the Preface

The so-called Investiture Conflict was a watershed moment in the political life of the Latin West and the history of the papacy. Occurring at a time of rapid social change and political expansion, the eleventh-century reform movement became a debate centered on a ritual: the investment of bishops with the signs of their sacred and secular authority. The consecration of bishops, however, was only one of several contemporaneous conflicts over the significance of consecrations. Less well known is that which occurred over the dedication of churches. This book provides an examination of the consecration, placing the fundamental questions of the Gregorian Reform and Investiture Conflict back into their original liturgical framework. This context allows us to consider the symbolic richness of the liturgy that attracted large numbers of people.