- In Search of the High Middle Ages. Change and Continuity in 11th–12th-century Italy
- Edited by Alberto Cotza, Giuseppe Petralia
Investiturverbot or definition of the canonical procedure for promoting bishops? The Gregorian turn of February 1075 and its consequences until 1122-3
- © 2026 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8.05
This essay aims to shift attention from the alleged existence of a “prohibition of investiture” issued by Gregory VII in 1075, to the strictly canonical approach he, at the Lateran Synod of that year, chose to give to the process of promoting bishops. Referring to the canons of Leo I, the pope established that the sequence of election, confirmation, and consecration could not be interrupted by external intervention, although he was willing to leave to King Henry IV (as with any other Christian king) the task of overseeing the regularity of the election and, once the ca-nonical procedure was completed, of confirming the bishop’s royal property and rights. Henry IV, however, refused to give up the right to freely choose bishops and then invest them with the pastoral staff, even before they were consecrated. The Investiture Controversy was therefore above all a procedural dispute: after two solutions put forward in 1111 but not accepted by both sides, the final agreement was reached at Worms (1122).
- Keywords:
- Middle Ages,
- 11th-12th centuries,
- Gregory VII,
- Henry IV,
- Papacy,
- Empire,
- Investiture Controversy.,
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Chapter Information
Chapter Title
Investiturverbot or definition of the canonical procedure for promoting bishops? The Gregorian turn of February 1075 and its consequences until 1122-3
Authors
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8.05
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
In Search of the High Middle Ages. Change and Continuity in 11th–12th-century Italy
Editors
Alberto Cotza, Giuseppe Petralia
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
560
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1075-1
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1076-8
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1078-2
Series Title
Reti Medievali E-Book
Series ISSN
2704-6362
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2704-6079