Investiture contest

Investiture contest Name given by historians to the conflicts which ensued when 11th‐cent. church reformers, popes like Gregory VII (1073–85) at their head, tried to free the church from its subordination to the secular world. To reformers that subordination was symbolized by the investiture ceremony in which a new bishop or abbot received the staff or ring of office from the hands of the lay ruler, who had in practice appointed him. In Germany and Italy the quarrels took on the dimensions of a great 50-year struggle between empire and papacy. In England the contest between kings and church reformers such as Anselm was a relatively brief one and was ended in 1107 by a compromise. Henry I renounced his right of investiture but, as before, prelates continued to be chosen in accordance with royal wishes and swore homage to the king.