Masculinity, reform, and clerical culture: narratives of episcopal holiness in the Gregorian era (1). From: Church History | Date: March 1, 2003| Author: Miller, Maureen C. | COPYRIGHT 2003 American Society of Church History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Historical narrations of the Gregorian Reform tend to cultivate a certain machismo. The traditional narrative emphasizes a struggle for dominance between two men, Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV, which escalated from epistolary sparring to armed combat and culminated in a dramatic scene in which one man was on his knees before the other at Canossa. (2) Even the newer narratives, such as the late Karl Leyser's "Gregorian Revolution," while highlighting broad social and religio...