A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present DayTaylor, Bayard
History
A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day
Taylor, Bayard
Germany -- History
The same year Henry returned to Germany, and succeeded, chiefly through
the aid of Frederick of Hohenstaufen, in establishing his authority. The
quarrel with the Papal power concerning the investiture of the Bishops
was still unsettled: the new Pope, Calixtus II., who was a Burgundian
and a relation of the Emperor, remained in France, where his claims were
supported. After long delays and many preliminary negotiations, a Diet
was held at Worms in September, 1122, when the question was finally
settled. The choice of the Bishops and their investiture with the ring
and crozier were given to the Pope, but the nominations were required to
be made in the Emperor's presence, and the candidates to receive from
him their temporal power, before they were consecrated by the Church.
This arrangement is known as _the Concordat of Worms_. It was hailed at
the time as a fortunate settlement of a strife which had lasted for
fifty years; but it only increased the difficulty by giving the German
Bishops two masters, yet making them secretly dependent on the Pope. So
long as they retained the temporal power, they governed according to the
dictates of a foreign will, which was generally hostile to Germany. Then
began an antagonism between the Church and State, which was all the more
intense because never openly acknowledged, and which disturbs Germany
even at this day.
[Sidenote: 1125.]
Pope Calixtus II. took no notice of the ban of excommunication, but
treated with Henry V. as if it had never been pronounced. The troubles
in Northern Germany, however, were not subdued by this final peace with
Rome,--a clear evidence that the humiliation of Henry IV. was due to
political and not to religious causes. Henry V. died at Utrecht, in
Holland, in May, 1125, leaving no children, which the people believed to
be a punishment for his unnatural treatment of his father. There was no
one to mourn his death, for even his efforts to increase the Imperial
authority, and thereby to create a national sentiment among the Germans,
were neutralized by his coldness, haughtiness and want of principle, as
a man. The people were forced, by the necessities of their situation, to
support their own reigning princes, in the hope of regaining from the
latter some of their lost political rights.
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