A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle AgeThatcher, Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph)
History
A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age
Thatcher, Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph)
Europe -- History -- 476-1492 -- Sources; Middle Ages -- Sources
The chief purpose of the documents offered in this section is to
illustrate the growth of the papal power and the development of the
conflicting claims of the empire and the papacy. The organization of the
church was a matter of slow growth, and at first the bishop of Rome
actually exercised ecclesiastical authority in a decisive way only in
his own diocese. But by 1073 the organization of the church was so
developed that the supremacy of the pope over the church and
ecclesiastical affairs in the west was in a fair way of becoming an
accomplished fact. He had secured the sole right to be called pope,
universal, and apostolic.
The growth of his temporal power is even more clearly marked. At the
time of Constantine the bishop of Rome had no temporal authority. But
gradually he acquired power over temporal matters and exercised various
secular and even imperial prerogatives, until Gregory VII found it easy
to formulate and put forth the claim that the pope was master of the
emperor and the real ruler of the world even in temporal things. Before
1073 there was occasional friction between the empire and the papacy,
but this did not develop into a real and definite struggle for world
supremacy until Gregory VII became pope.
Selections are here given to illustrate (1) the election of bishops, and
especially the early election of the bishop of Rome, nos. 33, 34, 37,
38; (2) the chief means by which the pope acquired recognition of his
ecclesiastical headship in the west, that is, his missionary work, nos.
35, 39, 40; (3) the rebellion of the pope against the rule of the Greek
emperors, nos. 41, 42; (4) the acquisition of land and of temporal
authority by the pope, nos. 36, 43-46, 54; (5) the development of
specific conflicting claims of pope and emperor regarding the election
and consecration of the pope, the creation and coronation of the
emperor, and the exercise of functions which had been regarded as
imperial, nos. 47-53, 55-59.
33. Legislation Concerning the Election of Bishops, Fourth to the Ninth
Century.
Corpus Juris Canonici. Dist. LXIII, c. vi, vii, and i.
In the election of the clergy, especially of the bishops, it was some
centuries before the theory and the practice of the church entirely
agreed. In theory the laity should have nothing to do with the election
of the clergy, but in fact, they have, at various times and in different
degrees, exercised authority over such matters. Thus, for instance, the
people of Rome had a part in the election of their bishop; the emperors
at Constantinople, at first in person, later through the exarch at
Ravenna, confirmed his election; Karl the Great and his successors named
the bishops of Germany; Otto I and Henry III made and unmade bishops of
Rome. This state of affairs lasted well into the eleventh century. The
church strove more and more to free itself from all outside influence,
while the emperors struggled to retain their control of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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