The ministeriales (singular: ministerialis ) were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire .
70-702: The word and its German translations, Ministeriale(n) and Dienstmann , came to describe those unfree nobles who made up a large majority of what could be described as the German knighthood during that time. What began as an irregular arrangement of workers with a wide variety of duties and restrictions rose in status and wealth to become the power brokers of an empire. The ministeriales were not legally free people, but held social rank. Legally, their liege lord determined whom they could or could not marry, and they were not able to transfer their lords' properties to heirs or spouses. They were, however, considered members of
140-498: A broad range of senses, rather than the modern connotation of a high-ranking politician or administrator . The origin of the ministerial pedigree is obscure. A mediaeval chronicler reported that Julius Caesar defeated the Gauls and rewarded his Germanic allies with Roman rank. Princes were awarded senatorial status and their lesser knights ('minores...milites') received Roman citizenship. He assigned these 'knights' to princes but urged
210-845: A fee. His main duties were the carriage of belongings, such as suitcases , and messenger duties. Well-known fictional Dienstmänner are the Dienstmann , Alois Hingerl, in Ludwig Thoma 's Satire Ein Münchner im Himmel or Hans Moser and Paul Hörbiger , the Dienstmänner in the film Hallo Dienstmann . As a so-called Berliner Original , the Dienstmann , Ferdinand Strumpf, went under the name, Eckensteher Nante. Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest ( German : Investiturstreit , pronounced [ɪnvɛstiˈtuːɐ̯ˌʃtʁaɪt] )
280-790: A fixed amount of coin or by a portion of the proceeds of mills, road or bridge tolls, or ferry fees or port taxes. As the need for such service functions became more acute (as, for example, during the Investiture Controversy ), and their duties and privileges, at first nebulous, became more clearly defined, the ministeriales developed in the Salian period (1024–1125) into a new and much differentiated class. They received fiefs , which to begin with were not heritable, in return for which they provided knightly services. They were also allowed to possess, and often did hold, allods : ownership of real property (land, buildings and fixtures) that
350-491: A form of administrative apprenticeship program. This may be the origin of ministerials as individuals in a set position. It was Emperor Conrad II (990-1039) who first referred to ministerials as a distinct class. He had them organized into a staff of officials and administrators. In documents they are referred to as ministerialis vir , or ministerial men. Ministeriales (or "ministerials", as Anglicized by Benjamin Arnold) of
420-403: A letter in which he withdrew his imperial support of Gregory as pope in no uncertain terms: the letter was headed "Henry, king not through usurpation but through the holy ordination of God, to Hildebrand, at present not pope but false monk". It called for the election of a new pope. His letter ends, "I, Henry, king by the grace of God, with all of my Bishops, say to you, come down, come down!", and
490-412: A merchant. By the 12th century a distinction was made between greater ministerials ( ministeriales maiores ) who had their own vassals and lesser ministerials ( ministeriales minores ) who had no vassals of their own. During the 12th century the old free nobility of Salzburg even found it a wise strategy to surrender their freedom in return for the safety of Salzburg's patronage. Around 1145, Ulrich I of
560-421: A military obligation didn't necessarily mean riding off with the army. The archbishops of Cologne differentiated between his poorer and wealthier vassals. Ministerials with an annual income of 5 marks or more were required to go on campaign in person, but those with smaller incomes were offered the choice to go on the march or to give half the income of their fief that year as a military tax. Ministerials fulfilled
630-533: A necessity recruited bailiffs, administrators and officials from among their unfree servants who could also fulfill a household warrior role. From the 11th century the term came to denote functionaries living as members of the knightly class with either a lordship of their own or one delegated from a higher lord as well as some political influence ( inter alia the exercise of offices at court). Kings placed military requirements upon their princes, who in turn, placed requirements upon their vassals . The free nobles under
700-573: A new pope, Pope Victor III . He owed his elevation to the influence of the Normans. Antipope Clement III still occupied St. Peter's. When Victor III died, the cardinals elected Pope Urban II (1088–99). He was one of three men Gregory VII suggested as his successor. Urban II preached the First Crusade, which united Western Europe, and more importantly, reconciled the majority of bishops who had abandoned Gregory VII. The reign of Henry IV showed
770-528: A papal banner and the distant blessing of Pope Alexander II upon his invasion, but had successfully rebuffed the pope's assertion after the successful outcome, that he should come to Rome and pay homage for his fief, under the general provisions of the Donation of Constantine . The ban on lay investiture in Dictatus papae did not shake the loyalty of William's bishops and abbots. In the reign of Henry I ,
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#1732766119375840-457: A prince may have a bond of vassalage that let them get out of serving, so kings, princes, bishops and archbishops were able to recruit unfree persons into military service. Such a body made up the group called ministeriales . There were two sorts of ministerials: casati , who administered lands and estates for a liege and were paid from the proceeds of the land and non-casati , who held administrative and military positions but were paid in either
910-733: A range of offices that ran their lieges' fiefs for them. They were found in the four traditional offices of a household: chamberlain , marshal , butler and seneschal . Conrad II von Kuchl served his succession of archbishop lieges as a financial adviser for forty years, Werner von Lengfelden was master of Hohensalzburg Castle 's huge kitchen, and Ulrich II served as vidame of Salzburg in 1261, then, at various times, as marshal between 1270 and 1295, and as burgrave of Tittmoning in 1282. Ministerials could also be assigned to claim unused or poorly defended border areas, as with Laudegg Castle and Hohenwerfen Castle . Greater ministerials considered themselves above trading in money, as did many nobles of
980-446: Is independent of any superior landlord, but it should not be confused with anarchy as the owner of allodial land is not independent of his sovereign. Ministerials were found holding the four great offices necessary to run a great household: seneschal , butler , marshal and chamberlain . They were vidames ( vice dominus , or runners of estates) or castellans, having both military and administrative responsibilities. Conrad II of Kuchl
1050-521: Is often quoted with "and to be damned throughout the ages", which is a later addition. The situation was made even more dire when Henry IV installed his chaplain, Tedald, a Milanese priest, as Bishop of Milan , when another priest of Milan, Atto, had already been chosen in Rome by the pope. In 1076 Gregory responded by excommunicating Henry, and deposed him as German king, releasing all Christians from their oath of allegiance. Enforcing these declarations
1120-605: The Concordat of Worms . The agreement required bishops to swear an oath of fealty to the secular monarch, who held authority "by the lance" but left selection to the church. It affirmed the right of the church to invest bishops with sacred authority, symbolized by a ring and staff . In Germany (but not Italy and Burgundy), the Emperor also retained the right to preside over elections of abbots and bishops by church authorities, and to arbitrate disputes. Holy Roman Emperors renounced
1190-453: The ministeriales formed an intrinsic part of the lower nobility, and in the 15th century formed the core of the German knightly class ( Ritterstand ). Other regions were not as open, for as late as the fifteenth century the documents of the Dutch province of Gelderland continued to distinguish between knights of noble and of ministerial birth. Legally, a ministerial was a ministerial, bound by
1260-414: The 13th century Bavarian law held that the ministeriales (or Dienstmänner ) held a position higher than the ordinary milites , and only the monarchy and princes were permitted to maintain ministeriales . Imperial courts increasingly rendered justice for ministerials, as when Count Frederick of Isenberg murdered Archbishop Engelbert of Cologne in 1225. The archiepiscopal ministerials brought an appeal (and
1330-996: The Archbishop of York to collect and present all the relevant traditions of anointed kingship. On this topic, the historian Norman Cantor would note: "The resulting ' Anonymous of York ' treatises are a delight to students of early-medieval political theory, but they in no way typify the outlook of the Anglo-Norman monarchy, which had substituted the secure foundation of administrative and legal bureaucracy for outmoded religious ideology." Jus novum ( c. 1140 -1563) Jus novissimum ( c. 1563 -1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of
1400-505: The Archbishopric of Salzburg the ministerials and clergy together elected Archbishop Gebhard in 1060, as well as every archbishop from 1147 to 1256 save for Conrad III (r. 1177–83). Ministerials could be drawn from different occupational groups. In Salzburg , Austria a Timo appears in 1125/47 in the traditionsbuch (book of traditions) as a miles (knight) of the archiepiscopal ministerialage who functioned as burgrave and also as
1470-645: The Church withdrew support. Henry IV spent the last years of his life desperately grasping to keep his throne. It was a greatly diminished kingdom. The Investiture Controversy continued for several decades as each successive pope tried to diminish imperial power by stirring up revolt in Germany. These revolts were gradually successful. The reign of Henry IV ended with a diminished kingdom and waning power. Many of his underlords had been in constant or desultory revolt for years. Henry IV's insistence that Antipope Clement III
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#17327661193751540-623: The Czech Republic) to confirm the marriage contract that Gerhoch II of Bergheim-Radeck, an archiepiscopal ministerial, had made with Bertha of Lonsdorf, a Passau ministerial. The couple had agreed, presumably with their lords' consent, that their first two children were to belong to Salzburg and the third to Passau, and that any remaining children would be divided equally between the two churches. Gerhoch and Bertha could confer their allod on each other, and their children would share their paternal and maternal inheritances equally. The usual rule
1610-456: The Great (936–72), the bishops had been princes of the empire, had secured many privileges, and had become to a great extent feudal lords over great districts of the imperial territory. The control of these great units of economic and military power was for the king a question of primary importance due to its effect on imperial authority. It was essential for a ruler or nobleman to appoint (or sell
1680-472: The Holy Roman Empire in a document named a Dienstrecht, or "service code." One constant is that all arrangements included a duty owed to the lord for military service. This could take the form of actual personal service by the ministeriales or a payment to fund others who went to war. The monastery of Maurmunster records the following: When a campaign ( profectio ) of the king is announced to
1750-543: The Holy Roman Empire. Gregory VII was meanwhile still resisting a few hundred yards away from the basilica in the Castel Sant'Angelo , then known as the house of Cencius . Gregory called on his allies for help, and Robert Guiscard (the Norman ruler of Sicily, Apulia, and Calabria) responded, entering Rome on 27 May 1084. The Normans came in force and attacked with such strength that Henry and his army fled. Gregory VII
1820-608: The Lenten synod of 7 March 1080 excommunicated Henry IV again. In turn, Henry called a council of bishops at Brixen that proclaimed Gregory illegitimate. The internal revolt against Henry effectively ended that same year, however, when Rudolf von Rheinfeld died. Henry IV named Guibert of Ravenna (who he had invested as bishop of Ravenna) to be pope, referring to Clement III (known by the Catholic Church as Antipope Clement III ) as "our pope". In October 1080, troops raised by
1890-690: The Saxons after the First Battle of Langensalza, he wore a hair shirt and stood barefoot in the snow in what has become known as the Road to Canossa . Gregory lifted the excommunication, but the German aristocrats, whose rebellion became known as the Great Saxon Revolt , were not as willing to give up their opportunity and elected a rival king, Rudolf von Rheinfeld . Three years later, Pope Gregory declared his support for von Rheinfeld and then on
1960-663: The Staufen, also known as Hohenstaufen , and the heirs of Lothar III, paving the way for the rise to power of the Hohenstaufen Frederick I (1152–1190). At the time of Henry IV's death, Henry I of England and the Gregorian papacy were also embroiled in a controversy over investiture, and its solution provided a model for the eventual solution of the issue in the empire. William the Conqueror had accepted
2030-659: The army moves against Saxony, Flanders or elsewhere on this side of the Alps, only half that amount will be given. From these additional taxes the wagons and pack animals will be loaded with rations and other items necessary for the journey. In Bamberg the Carolingian method of providing for a campaign remained in effect. Ministeriales were grouped into threes; one went on campaign while the other two were responsible for equipping and victualing him. This ensured that those who were sent to war were prepared for war. this also shows that
2100-529: The bishop (of Metz, in this case) the bishop will send an official to the abbot, and the abbot will assemble his ministeriales . He will inform them of the campaign, and they will assemble the following men and equipment...: one wagon with six cows and six men; one packhorse with saddle and equipment and two men, the leader and the driver...If the king moves the army to Italy, all the peasant farms shall contribute for that purpose their usual taxes (that is, probably an entire annual rent as an extraordinary tax). But if
2170-465: The blood-stained clothing) to the Royal Court to demand justice. The count's brothers, the bishops of Münster and Osnabrück, were brought before the court for complicity, and bloodshed at the court was narrowly averted. Count Frederick was convicted in absentia , all his ministerials were released from his service, and Frederick was captured and broken on the wheel . By the 13th and 14th centuries
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2240-399: The crowd erupted in anger. Henry took the pope and cardinals hostage until the pope granted Henry V the right of investiture. Then he returned to Germany—crowned emperor and apparent victor over the papacy. Henry's victory was, however, as short-lived as that of his father, Henry IV over Gregory VII. The clergy urged Paschal to rescind his agreement, which he did in 1112. The quarrel followed
2310-460: The elections of Pope Alexander II and Pope Gregory VII proceeded according to church rules, without the involvement of the Emperor. In 1075, Pope Gregory VII composed the Dictatus papae , though this was not published at the time, cataloging principles of his Gregorian Reforms . One clause asserted that the pope held the exclusive power to depose an emperor. It declared that the Roman church
2380-478: The empire. This combination of factors forced Henry IV to back down, as he needed time to marshal his forces to fight the rebellion. In 1077, he traveled to Canossa in northern Italy, where the Pope was staying in the castle of Countess Matilda , to apologize in person. The pope was suspicious of Henry's motives, and did not believe he was truly repentant. As penance for his sins, and echoing his own punishment of
2450-500: The end of the 12th century the term miles —theretofore reserved for free warriors—was also being applied to ministerials. Over the course of the 13th century their status was slowly assimilated to that of the free nobility, or vassals . The remaining traces of the taint of servility gradually faded, and the "fiefs for service" turned into proper hereditable fiefs, partly also because impoverished free nobles, while reserving their personal free status, voluntarily became ministeriales . By
2520-455: The era, but Freed notes a number of ministerials who couldn't afford to turn up their noses to income. Circa 1125, Timo served not only as the burgrave of Salzburg but also as a merchant of the city. Ortolf of Kai - also a Salzburger - brokered the produce of his own vineyards. Gerhoh Itzling even appeared as a 'zechmeister' (guildmaster) in Salzburg. Nobility was a social distinction, so even
2590-584: The family may have established a proprietary church or abbey on their estate. Since a substantial amount of wealth and land was usually associated with the office of a bishop or abbot, the sale of church offices—a practice known as " simony "—was an important source of income for leaders among the nobility, who themselves owned the land and by charity allowed the building of churches. Emperors had been heavily relying on bishops for their secular administration, as they were not hereditary or quasi-hereditary nobility with family interests. They justified their power by
2660-520: The hands of the church, but of contested title. He would not interfere with ecclesiastical affairs and churchmen would avoid secular services. The church would be given autonomy and to Henry V would be restored large parts of his empire that his father had lost. And finally, Henry V would be crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor by Paschal. When the concessions of land were read in St. Peter's, however,
2730-432: The heat of exchanges between Westminster and Rome induced Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury , to give up mediating and retire to an abbey. Robert of Meulan , one of Henry's chief advisors, was excommunicated, but the threat of excommunicating the king remained unplayed. The papacy needed the support of English Henry while German Henry was still unbroken. A projected crusade also required English support. Henry I commissioned
2800-454: The lesser-noble Sims family chose to subjugate his household to the archbishop by marrying the Salzburg ministerial Liutkarda von Berg. Their son, Ulrich II, was born into his mother's status as was the practice, but now the Simses enjoyed the protection of one of the most powerful houses in the region. This was a wise strategy, considering the weak Simses were surrounded by greedy neighbors. By
2870-460: The nobility since that was a social designation, not a legal one. Ministeriales were trained knights, held military responsibilities and surrounded themselves with the trappings of knighthood, and so were accepted as noblemen. Both women and men held the ministerial status, and the laws on ministeriales made no distinction between the sexes in how they were treated. The term is a post-classical Latin word, meaning originally "servant" or "agent", in
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2940-537: The nobility would have no part in the selection of popes (though the Holy Roman Emperor might confirm the choice) and that electors would be cardinals (which would later evolve into the College of Cardinals ) assembled in Rome. The bull also banned lay investiture. In response, all the bishops in Germany (who supported the Emperor) assembled in 1061 and declared all the decrees of Nicholas II null and void. Nevertheless,
3010-463: The office to) someone who would remain loyal. Problems with simony became particularly unpopular as Pope Benedict IX was accused of selling the papacy in 1045. Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 to 1056, settled the papal schism and named several popes, the last emperor to successfully dominate the selection process. Six-year-old Henry IV became King of the Germans in 1056. Benedict X
3080-697: The old right of naming the pope. The Concordat of Worms in 1122 was the result. After the Concordat, the German kings never had the same control over the Church as had existed in the time of the Ottonian dynasty. Henry V was received back into communion and recognized as legitimate emperor as a result. Henry V died without heirs in 1125, three years after the Concordat. He had designated his nephew, Frederick von Staufen duke of Swabia , also known as Frederick II, Duke of Swabia as his successor. Instead, churchmen elected Lothair III . A long civil war erupted between
3150-514: The post-Classical period who were not in the royal household were at first bondsmen or serfs taken from the servi proprii , or household servants (as opposed to the servi casati who were already tilling the land on a tenure.) These servants were entrusted with special responsibilities by their overlords, such as the management of a farm, administration of finances (chancery) or of various possessions. Free nobles ( Edelfreie ) disliked entering into servile relationships with other nobles, so lords of
3220-478: The predictable course: Henry V rebelled and was excommunicated. Riots broke out in Germany, a new Antipope Gregory VIII was appointed by the German king, and nobles loyal to Rome seceded from Henry. The unrest and conflict in Germany continued, just as under Henry IV. And the controversy with respect to investiture dragged on for another ten years. Like his father before him, Henry V was faced with waning power. Ultimately, he had no choice but to give up investiture and
3290-580: The princes "to treat the knights not as slaves and servants but rather to receive their services as the knights' lords and defenders. "Hence it is," the chronicler explained, "that German knights, unlike their counterparts in other nations, are called servants of the royal fisc and princely ministerials." In England there was no group of knights referred to as ministeriales, for the tight grip that English lords held upon their knights gave them less freedom than their German counterparts who had codified (and well-defended) rights. Abbot Adalard of Corbie (d. 826)
3360-668: The pro-Imperial bishops of Northern Italy clashed with the pro-papal forces of Countess Matilda in the battle of Volta Mantovana . The pro-Imperial forces were victorious, and in March 1081 Henry IV marched from the Brenner Pass into the March of Verona unopposed, entering Milan in April that year. He then attacked Rome and besieged the city with the intent of forcibly removing Gregory VII and installing Clement III. The city of Rome withstood
3430-485: The right to choose the pope. In the meantime, there was also a brief but significant investiture struggle between Pope Paschal II and King Henry I of England from 1103 to 1107. The earlier resolution to that conflict, the Concordat of London , was very similar to the Concordat of Worms. After the decline of the Western Roman Empire , investiture was performed by members of the ruling nobility (and
3500-415: The rights and duties enumerated in their area. Socially, there was a distinction between the greater ministerials and the lesser ones in the order of precedence. Greater ministerials maintained their own subordinate milites , or armigerous soldiery. These could be either free knights (such as Werner of Bolland, who maintained 1,100 subordinate knights for Frederick Barbarossa ) or lesser ministerials like
3570-455: The siege, but the Vatican and St. Peter's fell in 1083. On the outskirts of the city, Henry gained thirteen cardinals who became loyal to his cause. The next year the city of Rome surrendered and Henry triumphantly entered the city. On Palm Sunday , 1084, Henry IV solemnly enthroned Clement at St. Peter's Basilica ; on Easter Day, Clement returned the favour and crowned Henry IV as Emperor of
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#17327661193753640-477: The term Dienstmann could also refer to men who were obliged to pay duties or render socage to their liege lords a socager , or socman . Unlike ministeriales , they held a lower social rank equivalent to the English serf . Later, the term described was used to describe a hired man who, in public service or in a private household, was contracted to perform time-limited functions of all types in return for
3710-467: The theory of the divine right of kings . Many of the papal selections before 1059 were influenced politically and militarily by European powers, often with a king or emperor announcing a choice which would be rubber-stamped by church electors. The Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian dynasty believed they should have the power to appoint the pope. Since the ascendance of the first of that line, Otto
3780-691: The unfree ministerials were considered higher in precedence than a free commoner. Being of a noble estate, ministerials were exempt from the more odious of corvée duties that other types of serfs performed, though some lieges would reserve the right to commandeer plow-teams and draft horses. Some ministerial women did perform household duties but were well-compensated for the chores. Ministerials were serfs, and as such could not move without expressed permission of their lord or lady, though in certain clergy lands they could take holy orders without permission. Ministerials were in many places forbidden to marry without permission, but in other places, their freedom to marry
3850-499: The weakness of the German monarchy. The ruler was dependent upon the good will of the nobility of his land. These were technically royal officials and hereditary princes. He was also dependent on the resources of the churches. Henry IV alienated the Church of Rome and many of the magnates in his own kingdom. Many of these spent years in open or subversive rebellion. Henry failed to create a proper bureaucracy to replace his disobedient vassals. The magnates became increasingly independent, and
3920-425: The wealthy widow Diemut von Högl, who held four castles with ministerial chaplain, chamberlain and seneschal. The lesser ministerials were ones who held no subordinates at all, but rather held an office and may or may not have maintained arms and armor. As with all medieval terms of vassalage, the duties, obligations and benefits varied by region and even individual negotiation or tradition. These are often recorded in
3990-424: Was Emperor Charlemagne's chief adviser, and described the running of the government in his work De ordine palatii . There he praises the great merits of his imperial staff, made up of household servii proprii ( serfs ) who were the first ministerials authoritatively recorded. His letters specify that not only were they considered exceptional by their superiors, but the ministerials also mentored their successors in
4060-674: Was a medieval retainer or vassal and, later, a hired man, in German-speaking countries, particularly in Austria until the first half of the 20th century. The term Dienstmann first surfaced in the Middle Ages as a Germanicization of the Latin word ministerialis , for men, who served at a court and, in the course of time, were raised to be armigers with a social status similar to that of free knights ( Ritter ). However
4130-645: Was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture ) and abbots of monasteries and the pope himself. A series of popes in the 11th and 12th centuries undercut the power of the Holy Roman Emperor and other European monarchies , and the controversy led to nearly 50 years of conflict. It began as a power struggle between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV (then King, later Holy Roman Emperor) in 1076. The conflict ended in 1122, when Pope Callixtus II and Emperor Henry V agreed on
4200-542: Was a different matter, but the advantage gradually came to be on the side of Gregory VII. German princes and the aristocracy were happy to hear of the king's deposition. They used religious reasons to continue the rebellion started at the First Battle of Langensalza in 1075, and to seize royal holdings. Aristocrats claimed local lordships over peasants and property, built forts, which had previously been outlawed, and built up localized fiefdoms to secure their autonomy from
4270-527: Was elected under the influence of the Count of Tusculum , allegedly by bribing the electors. Dissenting cardinals elected Pope Nicholas II in 1058 at Siena . Nicholas II successfully waged war against Benedict X and regained control of the Vatican. Nicholas II convened a synod in the Lateran on Easter in 1059. The results were codified in the papal bull In nomine Domini . It declared that leaders of
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#17327661193754340-413: Was forced to abdicate and was succeeded by his son Henry V , who had rebelled against his father in favor of the papacy, and made his father renounce the legality of his antipopes before he died. Henry V realised swift action and a change in his father's policy was necessary. Pope Paschal II rebuked Henry V for appointing bishops in Germany. The king crossed the Alps with an army in 1111. The pope, who
4410-510: Was founded by God alone—that the papal power (the auctoritas of Pope Gelasius ) was the sole universal power; in particular, a council held in the Lateran Palace from 24 to 28 February the same year decreed that the pope alone could appoint or depose churchmen or move them from see to see. By this time, Henry IV was no longer a child, and he continued to appoint his own bishops. He reacted to this declaration by sending Gregory VII
4480-475: Was known as lay investiture ) despite theoretically being a task of the church. Many bishops and abbots were themselves part of the ruling nobility. Given that most members of the European nobility practiced primogeniture , and willed their titles of nobility to the eldest surviving male heir, surplus male siblings often sought careers in the upper levels of the church hierarchy. This was particularly true where
4550-513: Was recognized based on papal authority, deriving from Galatians 3:28 . If a liege disliked any marriage, though, the liege could easily withdraw any lands or income held by his subject. Any marriage was subject to review or approval of the liege, as in Salzburg: In July 1213 Archbishop Eberhard II of Salzburg (1200–1246) and Bishop Manegold of Passau (1206–1215) asked King Frederick II at the imperial court held at Eger (today Cheb in
4620-402: Was rescued, but Rome was plundered in the process, for which the citizens of Rome blamed him. As a result, Gregory VII was forced to leave Rome under the protection of the Normans, fleeing to Salerno, where he grew ill and died on 25 May 1085. The last words he uttered were, "I have loved justice and hated iniquity, and therefore I die in exile." Upon the death of Gregory, the cardinals elected
4690-754: Was that children of a mixed-status marriage would have the legal standing of the lesser of the parents. The child of a free knight and an unfree ministerial, therefore, was a ministerial. The liege of the mother would be the child's liege, for the child "followed the womb" ( partus sequitor ventrem ). Not everyone agrees with this interpretation, as some examples allow for free lords to challenge this ruling and maintain their status as free knights. Dienstmann A Dienstmann ( German: [ˈdiːnstˌman] plural: Dienstleute , German: [ˈdiːnstˌlɔɪ̯tə] or, in Austria, Dienstmänner , German: [ˈdiːnstˌmɛnɐ] )
4760-486: Was the financial adviser to four archbishops over the course of 40 years. From the reign of Archbishop Conrad II (1024–1039) they were employed as stewards ( Vögte ), castellans ( Burggrafen ) and judges in the administration of the imperial territories, and in the lay principalities. As Imperial ministerials ( Reichsministerialen ) they upheld the Salian , and particularly the Hohenstaufen , imperial polity. In
4830-454: Was the real pope had initially been popular with some of the nobles, and even many of the bishops of Germany. But as years passed, this support was slowly withdrawn. The idea that the German king could and should name the pope was increasingly discredited and viewed as an anachronism from a by-gone era. The Empire of the Ottos was virtually lost because of Henry IV. On 31 December 1105, Henry IV
4900-526: Was weak and had few supporters was forced to suggest a compromise, the abortive Concordat of 1111 . Its simple and radical solution of the Investiture Controversy between the prerogatives of regnum and sacerdotium proposed that German churchmen would surrender their lands and secular offices to the emperor and constitute a purely spiritual church. Henry gained greater control over the lands of his kingdom, especially those that had been in
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