BI 3321, Early Church

1. BI 3321, Early Church Part IV

2. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • The first half of the Middle Ages saw the church struggling to survive invasions from without and controversies from within. • The second half witnessed the theological, ecclesiastical, and intellectual power struggles perpetrated by the church hierarchy. • Some figures pursued noble and worthy causes, some sought to drive out evil forces, some espoused personal and universal reform, and some were determined to gain ascendancy and power over others.

3. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • Leo IX was pope at the time of the Eastern Schism in 1054 and will perhaps be remembered for that above all else. • But the papal reforms of the 11th century owed much to the impetus of Leo IX, who did much to restore the prestige of the papacy through • his extensive travels, • his stand against simony, • his insistence upon the election of bishops by clergy and people, • his firm position on celibacy and his broadening of the College of Cardinals to include others outside Rome. • When he died suddenly in 1054, Leo IX did not know of the Eastern Schism, but he did know that the tide of reform was sweeping through the western church.

4. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • The papacy and the entire clergy, was in need of universal reform. • Problems which reflect the decadent state of the church included untrained clergy, simony (purchase of church posts), sexual laxity, and lay investiture (control of the appointment and allegiance of abbots, bishops, and popes by the lay civil authorities). • The papal reforms of the 11th century which dealt with all these problems came to be known as the Gregorian reforms, so-called after Pope Gregory VII, who was such a powerful leader before his election to the papacy that he is generally better known by his earlier name of Hildebrand.

5. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. Born about 1025 and reared in Rome, where he would someday be the chief actor in the papal scene for nearly three decades, Hildebrand was educated in a monastery and in his early twenties became a monk, probably at Cluny. • He returned to Rome in the service of Leo IX, who admitted him to minor orders. He became a close friend of Peter Damian, the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, and one of the most intense churchmen calling for reform. • Although his rise to prominence was slow compared to others, Hildebrand laid his ground work well, worked in the inner circles of power, maintained his dedication, and by the time he was 35 he was being noticed as a leader of men.

6. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. • In 1058, Hildebrand was presented with the opportunity to display his real power. • Emperor Henry III died in 1056 and his 6-year-old son came to the throne as Henry IV under the regency. • After the brief reigns of popes Victor II and Stephen IX, the royal regency elected Benedict X to the papacy. • Hildebrand was in Germany when he received the news of this blatant determination of the nobility to retain control over the papacy. • He raised an army, expelled Benedict, and seated Nicholas II on the papal throne. Nicholas’ reign lasted only two years (1059-61) but was distinguished by the establishment of the College of Cardinals to elect future popes.

7. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. • This papal decree of 1059 is still the principal basis for governing the papal elections. The guiding hands behind Nicholas’ decree were those of Hildebrand and Humbert, a cardinal-bishop from Toul. • Both Humbert and Nicholas died two years later, depriving the reformers of two outstanding leaders. • Again, it was Hildebrand who stepped into the breach. • He convened the cardinals in Rome and led them to elect Alexander II to the papacy. • The Roman nobility still had not acquiesced to this reform method of electing popes, and convinced the regent of Henry IV (still a child of eleven years) to appoint an Italian bishop, Cadalus, as pope.

8. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. • Although Cadalus was an annoying rival during Alexander’s entire pontificate, the strong influence and skillful administration of Hildebrand kept Alexander securely in control. • Alexander was an able pope and served from 1061 to 1073, when he died while in conflict with Henry IV over the appointment of the Archbishop of Milan. • With the death of Alexander, Hildebrand was the sole survivor of the band of reformers who had started together with Leo IX, and the people immediately and loudly acclaimed him as their choice for Alexander’s successor. • The cardinals, abbots, monks, and laity all agreed, and Hildebrand, while only a deacon, was elected to the papacy.

9. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. • He had to be ordained a priest before he could ascend to the throne, where he took the title of Gregory VII. • His reign lasted from 1073 to 1085 and was one of the most outstanding pontificates in history. • As Pope Gregory VII, Hildebrand wielded sweeping powers of clerical reform but without unanimous acceptance. • He enforced clerical celibacy with a strong determination to free the church from the world; but priests and their families were thrown into such turmoil and controversy that the issue was still raging at the time of the Reformation four hundred years later.

10. Gregory VII Hildebrand

11. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. • The decree for celibacy however, did eliminate the offensive practice of holding church office by heredity and it definitely strengthened the authority of the pope over the clergy. • In fact, the absolute authority of the papal office was the central theme of Gregory VII. • In his famous Dictatus Papae, he forthrightly declared that, • the Roman Church was founded by God alone; • the Roman pope alone can with right be called universal; • he alone may use the imperial insignia;

13. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. • In his famous Dictatus Papae, he forthrightly declared that, • his feet only shall be kissed by all princes; • he alone may depose the emperors; • he himself may be judged by no one; • the Roman Church has never erred, nor will it err in all eternity.

14. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • a. Rise of Hildebrand. • Gregory also advocated that all Christian states should form a world empire with the pope at its head as God’s representative on earth. • Most of the claims to supremacy were well established at least in theory before Gregory, but no one had ever expressed them so dogmatically and enforced them so successfully. He held frequent councils in Rome to enforce his measures, with tenacious attention to stamping out simony, clerical marriage, and concubinage. • He instituted a thorough and permanent chain of command, but the bishops were totally dependent on the pope, for he was determined to destroy the practice of lay investiture which became the chief issue of his reign.

15. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • b. The Investiture Controversy. In 1059 Pope Nicholas II had articulated the reform position on the selection of important clergymen, which was to be henceforth by the authority of clergy and people and not civil rulers. • The pope himself was to be elected by a college of cardinals. • This attitude and action was opposed by the civil authorities with varying degrees of hostility rising and falling. • Gregory VII brought the whole issue to a head by decreeing through the Lateran Synod of 1075 that all clergy were forbidden to receive a bishopric or abbey or church from the hands of a secular prince or lord, even from the king or emperor.

16. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • b. The Investiture Controversy. • His unrelenting position that investiture of clergy should be received only from the pope as God’s supreme representative in the world was a radical revolution within the medieval legal and political world. • As an immediate example for implementing the investiture decree, Gregory suspended some bishops in Germany who had been appointed by civil authorities. • Henry IV retaliated in anger by appointing some bishops to sees in Italy itself. • When Gregory threatened to excommunicate Henry for this sort of action, the emperor put together the Synod of Worms in 1076, attended by disgruntled bishops who were easily convinced to declare Gregory unfit to be pope.

17. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • b. The Investiture Controversy. • Armed with the synod’s verdict, Henry demanded that Gregory resign the papacy. • The following month, Gregory deposed Henry for his “unheard-of arrogance and iniquities,” placed him under anathema, and relieved his subjects of allegiance to him. • In a swift stroke of power Gregory swung the German political factions behind him, and Henry found himself without followers. • The emperor following the line of political expediency asked the pope for forgiveness and restoration. • In the well-known and often-told incident of absolution, Henry and Gregory met at Canossa in 1077 where the pope had taken refuge in a fortress while journeying to Augsburg.

18. Henry IV at Canossa

20. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • b. The Investiture Controversy. • Gregory would not at first receive the penitent Henry who stood in the snow for three days, barefooted and thinly clad, seeking an audience. • Gregory finally received him, and after exacting specific promises from the emperor he absolved him. • This remains one of the most vivid demonstrations of papal power in history. • Later, however, both Gregory and Henry broke their vows to each other, shattering the accord of Canossa. • When Henry’s enemies in Germany elected a rival sovereign, Gregory supported them and declared Henry deposed again in 1080.

21. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • b. The Investiture Controversy. • This time the people felt that Gregory had been unfair to Henry and supported the emperor when he invaded Rome and called a synod to pronounce Gregory deposed. • The synod had elected another pope, Wibert, in Gregory’s place; Wibert proceeded to crown Henry emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. • Gregory retreated to the safety of the castle of San Angelo in Rome until he was liberated by his loyal Normans from the South. • The Normans savagely retook Rome and reinstated Gregory as pope.

22. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • b. The Investiture Controversy. • Within the year however, Gregory died a disillusioned and bitter refugee in Salerno. • He died with his dream of absolute supremacy crumbling around him. • He had wanted too much. He was not interested in separation of church and state, but wanted absolute control of church over state. • Gregory’s struggle in the investiture controversy did eventually culminate in formal settlements.

23. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers • b. The Investiture Controversy. • In 1122, Emperor Henry V of Germany agreed to the Concordat of Worms, in which the emperor relinquished the right of selection and investiture of the spiritual office of bishop; but the bishop was to be answerable to the civil ruler in temporal matters. • The compromise solutions reflected the offsetting powers of church and state, and stabilized the balance of power for centuries to come.

24. Concordat of Worms

25. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers. • c. The Influence of Cluny. The sweeping papal reform of the 11th c. which came to be called the “Hildebrandine” or “Gregorian” reform, owed its instigation, in great part, to the influence of a monastic reform movement which originated in the monastery of Cluny. • So powerful in fact was the impact of this monastery, that all the reforms of the 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries are often referred to as the Cluniac Reformation. • In 910, William, Duke of Aquitaine designated the town and manor of Cluny, in southern Burgundy, for the erection of a Benedictine monastery. • The religious order received not only the lands, waters, and revenues in the donation, but also the serfs, the workers on the land.

29. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers. • c. The Influence of Cluny. • Thus, with the serfs supplying the essential physical labor the monks were free to give themselves to spiritual pursuits. • They were also free, according to the conditions of the grant, from interference from the patron, his successors, or the king. • The monks were to retain their own possessions and elect their own abbot. • The monks of Cluny were directly responsible only to the papacy. • A deep sense of piety resulted from the long hours of attention to prayer and study, and soon a conviction for reform began to prevail.

30. Cluniacs at Worship

31. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers. • c. The Influence of Cluny. • The program of Cluny involved, first of all, a call for clerical reform, especially as related to simony, celibacy and concubinage. • But it also spread to include all of society—monastic, civil, and ecclesiastical. • The goal was to permeate society with Christian ideals. • To implement this goal, the monks dedicated themselves to prayer, education, and hospitality. • The monasteries of the Cluny chain became the inns of the Middle Ages where Christian teachings were imposed on the travelers.

32. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers. • c. The Influence of Cluny. • Many new monasteries were erected in the Cluny tradition and many older monasteries became affiliated, until there were more than 300 houses in the Cluniac movement, with all of them subject to the mother house at Cluny • The cluniac reformers worked to eliminate feudal warfare, teaching that nobles should use their arms only to vindicate the weak and protect the church. • They inaugurated the “Truce of God” which restricted the times for fighting, and the “Peace of God” which restricted the combatants. • Under the Truce of God, there could be no hostilities from sunset Wednesday to Monday morning or on holy days.

33. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers. • c. The Influence of Cluny. • Under the Peace of God, there were to be no attacks upon priests, nuns, pilgrims, merchants, farmers, their animals, tools, or properties. • These efforts often did more harm than good, the princes breaking their vows to keep the “Truce” and “Peace.” • The bishops began organizing armies to punish the oathbreakers, and then the kings raised armies to suppress the church’s armies. • The Cluniacs were extremely influential in the fight to free the church from the control of secular powers. • Since Cluny had been founded upon independence from local bishop and civil authorities, it would naturally tend to support the independence movement.

34. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers. • c. The Influence of Cluny. • Pope Gregory VII, who waged the great investiture controversy with Henry IV, received his training in the monastery at Cluny. • Cluny appears to have achieved its stated objects, which were: • return to strict Benedictine rule, • cultivation of the personal spiritual life, • reduction of manual labor, • expansion of the splendor of worship, • foundation of a sound economical organization, • and independence from lay control.

35. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 1. The Gregorian Reformers. • c. The Influence of Cluny. • The success of the Cluniac monasteries, however brought a backlash of concern about worldly success within monasticism. • The wealth of the Cluny houses, their easy relations with the secular world, and their emphasis on worship services led some reformers to seek a more austere and primitive path.

36. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • Both the advocates of Cluny and those who desired a new direction supplied new fervor for the monastic life-style. • In fad, during this period, monastic orders multiplied so rapidly that the pope was forced to prohibit additional orders at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. • Later, an exception was made in the case of some Mendicant Orders, but the issue reflects the intensity with which medieval piety had plunged into asceticism, the renouncing of the world to search for holiness.

37. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • a. Ascetic Orders. There were some orders which retreated to remote regions, practicing severe discipline and constant contemplation. • These “Knights of Asceticism” were determined to reverse the Cluniac trend of involving Christianity in the affairs of the world. • (1) The Carthusians. In 1004, Bruno, a German from Cologne, resigned his teaching position in the cathedral school of Rheims and established an extremely strict, contemplative order of monks near Cartusia at the Grande Chartreuse.

38. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • a. Ascetic Orders. • (1) The Carthusians. • The emphasis of this order was renunciation of the world and mortification of the flesh. • To attain these goals, the monks lived in austerity and self-denial, vowed to silence and committed to solitude. • Each monk had his own private cell and private garden and prepared his own food, eating with his brothers only on feast days. • Some of the Carthusians became scholars, mystics, and writers of devotional works; but they had limited influence on society.

39. Carthusians

40. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • a. Ascetic Orders. • (1) The Carthusians. • Their main achievement was spiritual separation and anonymity through cultivated silence. • Because of their isolation and extreme asceticism, the Carthusians were the least affected by the decline of monasticism in the later Middle Ages. • During the Reformation, numbers of them were put to death by Henry VIII and even more were killed during the French Revolution. • Most of them found refuge in Spain and were not able to return to Grande Chartreuse until 1940.

41. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • a. Ascetic Orders. • (2) The Cistercians. The most celebrated order of ascetic monks was founded at Citeaux in 1098 by Robert of Molesme, who sought to establish a form of Benedictism stricter and more primitive than any existing. • As a reaction to the Cluniac style of monasticism, the Cistercians emphasized the spirit of prophecy rather than the spirit of power. • Whereas the Cluniacs were free from manual labor the Cistercians stressed labor instead of scholarship, believing that “to work is to pray.” • They became proficient in the tasks of farming, cooking, weaving carpentry and sheep raising.

42. Cistercians

43. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • a. Ascetic Orders. • (2) The Cistercians. • They became important agricultural pioneers, and played a notable part in English sheep farming. • Their life-style, characterized by simplicity discipline, manual labor, vegetarianism, and spiritual contemplation, was very appealing to the medieval mind. • Thus the order spread rapidly and before the end of the twelfth century 530 Cistercian abbeys had been established, and 150 more in the next hundred years. • The most famous Cistercjan monk, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) bridged the age of feudal values and the rise of towns and universities.

44. Bernard of Clairveaux

46. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • a. Ascetic Orders. • (2) The Cistercians. • He was the first of the great medieval mystics. • He entered the monastery at Citeaux when he was twenty-one, but soon led a group to found a new house of Clairvaux in the Champagne region. • Bernard became the most extreme Cistercian of them all, emaciating his body through deprivation; lashing out at the worldly tendencies of the church, and denouncing pride, injustice, and greed wherever found. • Because of his moral integrity, knowledge of the Bible, devotion to love, and fearless attacks on evil, he was often referred to as the conscience of Europe.

47. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • a. Ascetic Orders. • (2) The Cistercians. • Bernard’s spiritual and intellectual pursuits centered in mysticism and produced the concept of Christian love being the imitation of Christ, especially as one contemplates the wounds of Christ. • He wielded great power throughout Christendom, with at least two popes (Innocent II and Eugenius III) being elected on the strength of Bernard’s support. • Christians today still sing some of his beautiful hymns, such as “Jesus, The Very Thought of Thee,” and “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts.” • Cistercian observances widely influenced those of other medieval orders, until after the 13th c. when the Cistercian fame waned considerably. • During the 17th c. the Cistercians enjoyed a revival of interest and a flurry of new congregations.

48. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • b. Mendicant Orders. The Carthusians and Cistercians were representatives of a group of monastic orders which could have been known as the “working monks” because of their devotion to manual labor and contemplation. • Another popular group could have been called the “preaching monks” because they went out from their monasteries into the world to preach among the ordinary population. • They became known as “the friars” (brothers) rather than monks, and exist to the present. When the friars left their monasteries, they had no financial support or physical provisions. • They depended on the alms or charity of the people, and thus became known as the mendicant (to beg) orders.

49. Power Struggle (1054-1305) • A. Spiritual & Intellectual Renewal • 2. Flourishing Monasticism. • b. Mendicant Orders. • (1) The Franciscans. The Order of Friars Minor (lesser brothers) was founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi, the son of a rich cloth merchant of Assisi. • Rejecting his father’s wealth and renouncing his earlier life of carefree gaiety, Francis resolved to devote his life to the ideals of “lady poverty.” • On a pilgrimage to Rome, he dumped all his money at St. Peter’s, exchanged clothes with a beggar, and begged himself. • Returning to Assisi, Francis devoted himself to serving lepers and repairing chapels and churches in the area.

50. Assisi