Western Civ

Western Civ

Investiture Controversy was a major dispute between church and state in the 11th centuries over the role played by lay princes in the ceremonies by which bishops and abbots were installed in their offices Specifically at issue was the practice whereby the prince bestowed on the prelate the ring and staff that were the symbols of his spiritual (Investiture Controversy , 2006 . The pope became the figure in the dispute over the appointment of bishops and other church officials . This is known as the investiture conflict (Rao , 2007 . This conflict exposed

the corruption in the selection of the bishops by the holy roman emperor the bishops were selected based on their loyalty to the emperor and not by their spirituality

Due to the fact that the appointment of church officials should originally be done by the Roman Catholic Church , the papacy led by Pope Gregory VII felt that it had to restore unto itself the power of the selection of church officials . This led to the investiture controversy

The papacy had every right to control the appointment of church officials , since it was their responsibility . The Holy roman emperor King Henry IV ' selected church officials only by what they stood to gain (based on the loyalty of the bishops and church officials selected to the emperors ) since lands and other forms of amassing wealth were involved . On the investiture conflict , the roman emperor should be blamed he King Henry IV ' should have left the appointments to the papacy since...