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The Life and Times of Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII, Vol. 1
Excerpt from The Life and Times of Hildebrand: Pope Gregory VII
The Pontificate of Gregory VII is important as having occurred at a very critical period in the history of the Papacy, and as having left an indelible impression upon its later aims and policy. A great revival of the Empire had slowly taken place (A. D. 950 1046). "The German peoples within the empire of Charles the Great were united by the urgent necessity of protecting themselves against barbarous foes. They formed a strong elective monarchy, and shook themselves free from their Romanized brethren, the Western Franks, amongst whom the power of the Vassals was still to maintain disunion for centuries. The German kingdom was the inheritor of the ideas and policy of Charles the Great, and the restoration of the Imperial power was a natural and worthy object of the Saxon line of kings." The restoration of the Empire involved a restoration of the status of the Papacy. The great monastery of Cluny and the monastic reformers there became a centre of the revival of Christian feeling, and aimed at uniting Christendom under the headship of the Pope. The reformers aimed at a strict enforcement of the celibacy of the clergy and the suppression of simony - to check, in fact, the secularization of the clerical office, to which many causes, especially the growing wealth of the Church, had contributed. The first desideratum was a reform of the Papacy, and the Emperor Henry III was called upon to effect this.
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Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
The Pontificate of Gregory VII is important as having occurred at a very critical period in the history of the Papacy, and as having left an indelible impression upon its later aims and policy. A great revival of the Empire had slowly taken place (A. D. 950 1046). "The German peoples within the empire of Charles the Great were united by the urgent necessity of protecting themselves against barbarous foes. They formed a strong elective monarchy, and shook themselves free from their Romanized brethren, the Western Franks, amongst whom the power of the Vassals was still to maintain disunion for centuries. The German kingdom was the inheritor of the ideas and policy of Charles the Great, and the restoration of the Imperial power was a natural and worthy object of the Saxon line of kings." The restoration of the Empire involved a restoration of the status of the Papacy. The great monastery of Cluny and the monastic reformers there became a centre of the revival of Christian feeling, and aimed at uniting Christendom under the headship of the Pope. The reformers aimed at a strict enforcement of the celibacy of the clergy and the suppression of simony - to check, in fact, the secularization of the clerical office, to which many causes, especially the growing wealth of the Church, had contributed. The first desideratum was a reform of the Papacy, and the Emperor Henry III was called upon to effect this.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
- GenresHistory
344 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2007
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June 16, 2020
A critical history of the life and times of one of the greatest of the Popes, Gregory VII, also known as Hildebrand. At a difficult time in history, Gregory sought both to reform the clergy and to fight for the freedom of the Church against the power of primarily the kings of Germany, dominant in the north, and secondarily the rising Norman power in the south. Gregory's main projects with regard to the reform of the clergy were the enforcement of the celibacy of the clergy, an apostolic concept long forgotten, particularly in the German territories and in the north of Italy; and also the end of simony in the appointment of bishops in Europe. In both respects, the Pope faced enormous opposition and never completely succeeded, despite his courage and persistence. With regard to the freedom of the Church, Gregory fought to eliminate the investiture of the clergy by powerful lay-men, a work that would only be completed by his successors. The book describes in graphic detail Gregory's growing battles with the young German king Henry IV, who wished to retain the his hereditary control of the papacy and the German episcopate and who had the great ambition of being anointed Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope. It was inevitable that the Pope should lose the fight and Rome pay for his fortitude, but his understanding of a papacy that stood at a level above the kings of Europe in both the spiritual and the temporal domains (what the author calls a hierocratic system) was to last for several centuries and be advanced by later popes. Despite the author's attempt to paint the Pope as unnecessarily harsh and a warmongerer, and so not very Saintly, his virtue and his love for the Church and for his position as the Successor of Peter are compelling. May he always pray for the Church as she continues to grapple with similar problems even today.
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