Customs changed the opinions of the authoritative powers in the Middle ages which led to the arguments between the Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. This conflict was better known as the Investiture Conflict.
In the early Middle Ages and on the King was thought to be anointed by the power and grace of God. This was shown in the actual coronation ceremonies, which took place in the church and used practices of the church. (Miller 5). The Holy Roman Emperor had the control over who took what roles in the church. Henry IV was appointed as the Holy Roman Emperor in 1056 after his father, Henry III, died. Henry III imparted to his son all the ways to rule and so it was installed into Henry IV that is was his "God given right" to appoint bishops and popes to make sure the church and state remained united (Miller 18). The idea that important church officials were to be elected or chosen by the people was an early church law, this law was reinstituted by Henry IV. Henry, along with the Lords and other officials believed that it was their obligation to ensure the spiritual wellbeing of the people of their land and that they were to appoint the most worthy bishops (Miller 16).
Gregory VII was priest in Rome but he slowly rose up through the chain of command of the church and was appointed by Leo IX as Pope in 1073. He wished to bring the church from the leadership of the empire (Hunt et. all 319). This had been a large goal of the church for a long time, because if the church could separate from the state they could more effectively work towards bringing all souls to salvation (Miller 16). The pope was the head of this "mission" because he believed that he was the physical representation of St. Peter. In a letter Gregory VII sent to Henry IV he described himself as commissioned by God and the power of "binding and loosing in Heaven and upon earth" was given by God to him (Lualdi 195). This demonstrated Gregory's ego and sense of entitlement. Pope Gregory VII had a mission to get rid of the secular powers that the empire had placed over the church. These powers left the pope's control over the selection of church officials susceptible to the Emperor's authority. He believed that all power over the church should be relieved to him because it was his duty, since he was appointed by St. Peter, to rule over the church.
Pope Gregory VII felt that he would lose his power and control over the church to kings, such as Henry IV. The two men thought that they were appointed by himself God as the overseer of the Church. When King Henry IV appointed the new Archbishop of Milan in 1075, Pope Gregory VII saw this as a key example of the way kings and emperors could take advantage over the church. The buying and selling of anything spiritual is known as simony (Miller 15). Simony was the target of the revolt that Pope Gregory was sparking because he saw the selection of bishops and leaders of the church was an act of simony. This was because the kings were appointing were the closest to the king himself. This was looked at as heresy in the church so the power to seat men to high positions should be stripped from the kings. The king's state of holiness was attacked by the reformers who that insisted that the kings were only men (Miller 5).
Henry IV was told by Gregory VII to treat the leader fo the church with more respect than he was previously showing him. Gregory denounced Henry IV for not obeying the orders set forth by the church. These orders prhibited non-clerics from appointing leaders in the churhc (Lualdi 194). This upset Henry IV, because he was offened by being called a laymen, since Henry IV thought of himself as appointed by God, and he also didn't see the pope as a person who had priority in rank over him . A lot of the people that Gregory denounced the same people that Henry was seeking council from. Because of these aruguments those people, along with many others, got together in Worms and gave up their alliance to the pope (Miller 87). In a response letter that Henry IV sent to Gregory VII in 1076, he called the Pope by his real name, Hildebrand, reffered to him as a "false monk" and spoke to him very disrespectfully. This was to assert that the pope was also just a man. Henry also described Gregory as a man who is hungry for power and needed his position in the church to assert his need to be supreme, and also said that his kingship was something that couldn't be relinquished because it was set in place by God (Lualdi 194).
Pope Gregory responed in a letter by acting that he was set by God to rule over the church and that he was forced into the seat. He claimed that he was doing only what God wanted him to do. He also said Henry IV was a rebel against the church and demanded that he be stripped of his power. Pope Gregory VII also quitted all men who were placed into power over the church by King Henry (Lualdi 195).
After this Henry was left excommunicated from the church and stripped of the kingship, he had nothing, no power or followers. So he traveled to Canossa to speak with Gregory VII and be released from the excommunication (Miller 91). He stood outside the fortress, that Pope Gregroy VII was staying in, in the snow barefoot as repentance (Hunt et. all 320). Gregory lifted the excomunication. Not long after it was lifted and Henry was allowed back into the Holy Roman Church, a civil war was sparked between the two. Henry's supporters and followers elected an antipope, while the Gregorian reformers elected an antiking. This was all begun because when Pope Gregory lifted the excommunication he also placed restrictions that didn't really end the conflict between the two. After Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV died, and the originial conflict died down, the Concordat of Worms was brought about in 1122 and ended the conflict.
Authority in the Middle ages was thought of as tradition and that whoever was the most powerful had the most authority. Pope Gregory VII thought of himsef as higher than anybody in the church because he was appointed by God as St. Peter's vicar. King Henry IV brought the other church leaders in to augment his selection of officials. This was looked at as an act of simony. But in the end, the pope was decided to be the head of the Holy Roman Church, and the Kings still had power over the church, but much less than that of the pope.
The Investiture Conflict brought the separation of church and state, but also cause a huge division between the people of Europe (Miller 1). It also brought up the conflicts of where true power resides, with the papal or secular rulers.
