The "Empire and Papacy" has been a theme of medieval history teaching for so
long that students might be forgiven for being bored out of their minds. What, they might
ask, is the possible use of studying conflicts between long dead popes and emperors.
In fact this seemingly arcane dispute had major consequences for the history of Western
culture:
Nation-States: The papal-imperial conflict lead to the weakening of the
Western (Holy Roman) Empire, the first strong state with staying power after the
5th-century collapse of Roman Empire in the West. Instead a series of
proto-"nation" states [France, England, Spain, Portugal] achieved great power
and eventually set the "nation-state" rather than the "imperial"
standard for all European states.
Separation of Church and State: The conflict between church and state
firmly established that church and state were distinct
entities. This is in dramatic contrast to Islam, which never made a distinction between
"religion" and "politics"; and in contrast equally to the
"Byzantine model" of "symphony" between church and state.
Effect on Law and Education: Because both "Papal" and
"Imperial" sides in the dispute had a real basis for their power, the conflict
was long-lasting. Each side, then, tried to prove its case by consulting earlier
"authoritative" documents. In the short term this lead to a revival in the study
of Roman Law, a legal approach which has since come to predominate in
much of the world. In the longer term, the fighting lawyers had to collect information,
organize it, and then work out the principles of interpretation [e.g. was a later or
earlier law most authoritative]. They had to do all this while making arguments against
each other. In time these procedures affected western higher education,
which eschewed memory methods, and insisted that students Plearn to collect, organize and
interpret material, and then defend their conclusions in argument.
Phase I: The Invesituture
Controversy
Emergence of Reform Ideology
[Tierney 35.3] Cardinal Humbert: on Investiture, 1054, copyrighted
[Tierney 57] Otto of Freising: Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa: Incident at
Besançon, 1157 copyrighted, but see next item
The Besançon Episode 1157, - in the original
documents [A: Letter of Adrian IV. to Frederick Barbarossa, Sept. 20th, 1157; B: Manifesto
of the Emperor, Oct. 1157; C: Letter of Adrian IV. to the German Bishops; D: Letter of the
German Bishops to Adrian IV - including Frederick's defence of his position; E: Letter of
Adrian IV. to Frederick Barbarossa, Feb, 1158].
Barbarossa and Alexander III
The Struggle Between Frederick Barbarossa and
Alexander III, 1160-1177, in the original documents [A: Epistola Minor of the Council
of Pavia, Feb. 5-11, 1160 A.D. (Encyclic.), B: Letter of John of Salisbury concerning the
Council of Pavia, June 1160, C: The Peace of Venice, 1177].
Barbarossa in Italy
Barbarossa and the Lombards. Excerpts from
the Diet of Ronçaglia, 1158, and The Peace of Constance, January 25, 1183.
[Geary 41] Otto of Friesing: Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa, copyrighted.
Canonical Response
[Tierney 58] Hugaccio and Alanus: Views on Imperial and Papal Power, copyrighted
Papal Policies: Letter to the Archbishop of Auch, 1198 (on heresy):
Letter to the French bishops (on usury); Letter to a bishop (on tithes); Letter to the
Venetians, 1198 (on trade with the Saracens); A Papal Decree, 1199 (on the Jews)
Innocent and his Royal Contemporaries: Interdict of France, 1200,
Decree on the Choice of a German King, 1201, Charter of Submission for the King of
England, 1213
[Tierney 81.3, Geary 36] Marsiglio of Padua (d.1343): Defensor
Pacis: Conclusions, 1324; Same Text with
Introduction also available, complete, and in a different version from Tierney. [Geary
has copyrighted selections from body of the text, chaps. 3 and 13.]
NOTES: copyrighted means the text is not available for free distribution. In
some cases alternate versions are available, and are working through the pipeline. Dates of accession of material can be seen in the New Accessions Page. The date of inception was 1/20/1996. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or
location]. No indication means that the text file is local. WEB indicates a link to one of small
number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable
overview. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook participates in ORB, the Online Reference Book for
Medieval Studies.
