call the "Great Schism". The pope at Rome excommunicated his rival and enemy, the patriarch of Constantinople, who also excommunicated the pope and consigned his soul to hell. The churches thereafter would come to be called by separate names in order to distinguish them: the Roman Catholic Church in the west, and the Greek Orthodox Church in the east. "Catholic" merely means "universal," and "orthodox" means "correct"; of course, both churches considered themselves universal and correct. They maintained serious differences in Christian theology, but much of the long running dispute which had been going on for decades had more to do with politics than religion. It involved the support by the pope at Rome of the Norman invasion of Sicily, to which the Byzantine emperor had a claim, and it most especially involved the papal claim to superiority over all churchman, which was not recognized by the patriarch at Constantinople. Patriarch and Pope were merely honorary titles of bishops who were more equal than other bishops. Until this Great Schism, the unified religion of Christianity was seen as the one thing which was the unity in an otherwise fragmented world. Even though bishops and archbishops were separated by great distance, they rarely communicated, still the church was seen as one entity. From 1054 onward, that was no longer the case, and to this day the eastern and western churches have not reunited, although many attempts have been made at reconciliation.
The Norman Conquest
In 1066, William Duke of Normandy invaded England and made good his claim to be King of England as well as Duke of Normandy. He had the claim due to an earlier marriage between the two royal families. The Bayeux tapestry, a remarkable piece of embroidery, depicts the epic battle at Hastings in cartoon-like form. William brought much of his French speaking court to England with him, assigning titles and landholdings in return for financial support and local influence and support. The influence of French on the local language was considerable, and is a dividing line between Old English and Middle English. It was at this time that the English language adopted many Latin terms, via French. In an attempt to discover more about his new possessions, William ordered the creation of the Domesday Book, which listed every parcel of land in England, noting its extent and its value, its production and its ownership. This is an extremely valuable legacy and record for medieval English affairs. The Norman Conquest also embroiled England and France in wars for the next several centuries, since the King of England had holdings in France.
The Battle of Manzikert
In 1071, the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV Diogenes was defeated in battle at Manzikert which lies in eastern Anatolia, by a band of Seljuk Turks. The loss cost him a little territory and reputation…but that was all. However this was significant because the loss marks the arrival of the Turks into what has now become known as Turkey. The Turks were originally from central Asia and migrated westward in large numbers. Their presence was felt by the Byzantine Empire and by some of the Muslems of the Near East. It was the Byzantine Empire which lost much of its territory to the new invader, however, most of Asia Minor (todays Turkey) would soon be under their control, and the successor dynasty, the Ottoman Empire, took Constantinople itself in 1453, which ended the Roman Empire in the east. The Ottoman Empire controlled most of the Middle East until 1918. It isn’t surprising that the Turks western movement into Christianity move them to conversion to Islam, a religion which remains dominant in Turkey today.
The Investiture Controversy
A tumultuous crowd of Roman citizens and clergy raised Hildebrand to the papacy during the funeral solemnities for Pope Alexander II on April 22, 1073. He was enthroned immediately in the basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli even though he was not ordained a priest until June 29, the feast day of the apostles Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the Apostolic See and the city of Rome. Hildebrand’s elevation by the combination of citizens and clergy was a hostile reaction to the reordering of the papal election ordered at the 1059 Lateran Council, which had given the cardinal-bishops the leading voice in papal elections. The Roman people and clergy had been disenfranchised by the order, which thus ended the domination of the papacy by various Roman factions. Hildebrand’s election, however, followed the ancient rules that had been prominently upheld in the canonical collection of Deusdedit, cardinal-priest of San Pietro in Vincoli.
Hildebrand took the name Gregory in memory of Gregory I, whose writings greatly influenced him. Gregory VII interpreted his election as a special call by God to continue unhesitatingly the fight for what he described as iustitia (“justice”), meaning the restoration of the church to what Gregory and his collaborators saw as its proper place in the world order. Indeed, they intended to revive the church’s ancient splendor and unquestioned leadership as instituted by Christ when he founded the church on the rock that was St. Peter (Matthew 16:18). Gregory was convinced that the pope was the living successor and representative of St. Peter. Because of this link, the pope, and he alone, would always remain a true Christian, never deviating from the faith and always cognizant of the will of God. Therefore, all Christians owed him absolute and unquestioned obedience. Disobedience was regarded as heresy, and obedience to God became obedience to the papacy.
Gregory linked the battle against simony and for clerical celibacy...chief characteristics of 11th-century ecclesiastical reform...with a marked emphasis on the papal primacy, a concept based on the primacy of the Roman church, which at the time of Leo IX in 1054 led to the break in diplomatic relations between Rome and Constantinople. Papal primacy included the subordination of all secular governments to papal authority as long as they were Christian, but it applied first of all to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Gregory’s chancery revived and strengthened an oath of obedience that was required of all archbishops and bishops. Outranking every local authority, his legates intervened freely in internal diocesan affairs throughout Latin Christendom. Bishops had traditionally governed their dioceses more or less independently, and the changes introduced and systematized by Gregory VII were most unwelcome among all ranks of the clergy, including the highborn bishops, especially in Germany. The lower clergy in France and Germany also rebelled, but in this case against draconian decrees designed to enforce priestly celibacy.
On the basis of decisions by Leo IX and the Lateran synod of 1059, Gregory did not hesitate to call for popular rebellions against disobedient bishops that flew in the face of ancient canon law prohibiting inferiors (especially laymen but also clergy of a lower rank) from judging or accusing their superiors. Gregory created havoc in the French church when he established a new dignity, the primacy of Lyons, subjecting the prominent archbishops of Sens, Rouen, and Tours to its authority. Only the archbishop of Tours, a close friend of Gregory VII, willingly recognized the new “primate,” Hugh of Die. In general, Gregory insisted that canon law should be upheld, but he also ascribed to the pope alone the right to issue new laws if required by contemporary needs.
In the case of the primate of Lyons, Gregory was misled by a collection of canon law (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) which, unknown to him, had been forged in the 9th century. This forgery had introduced the concept of primate, with poorly defined functions designed to protect bishops from interference by their superiors, the archbishops. Gregory VII used it in an attempt to supervise the French bishops constantly and more closely, for the primate of Lyons also served as his standing legate. Not surprisingly, Gregory’s regimen aroused opposition and hostility among bishops in northern Italy and Germany especially, but also in France. On the other hand, a large extent of the English church was left to the government of William I and Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury.
Fortunately, Gregory’s pontificate can be evaluated not only on the basis of the often-polemical writings of his contemporaries but also in the light of a precise official source, his original register. It contains numerous letters and general notes as well as numerous excerpts from the councils that Gregory held regularly in Rome. In addition, there are charters for monasteries and bishoprics as well as his letters and conciliator decrees, which survived outside the register in the hands of their recipients or in canonical collections. Nonetheless, it is not easy to interpret
