Letter of the Bishops to Gregory VII., Jan. 24, 1076.
We, Siegfried archbishop of Mainz, Udo of Treves, William of Utrecht, Herrman of Metz, Henry of Laudun, Ricbert of Verdun, Bibo of Touts, Hozemann of Spires, Burkhard of Halberstadt, Werner of Strasburg, Burkhard of Basel, Otto of Constance, Adalbero of Wurzburg, Rodbert of Bamberg, Otto of Ratisbon, Ellinard of Frising, Odalric Of Eichstadt, Frederick of Munster, Eilbert of Minden, Hezil of Hildesheim, Benno of Osnabruck, Eppo of Naples. Imadus of Paderborn, Tiedo of Brandenburg, Burkhard of Ijausanne, Bruno of Verona: to brother Hildebrand.
Although
it was well known to us, when thou didst first invade the helm of the
church, what an unlawful and nefarious thing thou, contrary to right
and justice, wast presuming with the well-known arrogance to do: we
nevertheless thought best to veil the so vicious beginnings of thy
elevation bv a certain excusatory silence; hoping, namely, that such
wicked commencements would be recti. fied, and to some degree
obliterated by the probity and zeal of the rest of thy reign. But
now, as the lamentable state of the church universal proclaims and
bemoans, thou dost, with pertinacious continuance, fulfill the
promises of thy evil beginnings through the still worse progress of
thy actions and decrees. For although our Lord and Saviour impressed
upon his faithful followers the special advantages of peace and
charity, in testimony of which too many proofs exist to be comprised
in the extent of a letter, thou, on the contrary, striving after
profane novelties, delighting more in a widely known than in a good
name, being swelled with unheard of pride, hast, like a
standardbearer of schism, torn with proud cruelty and cruel pride all
the members of the church, which, following the apostle, were
enjoying a quiet and tranquil life before thy times. Thou hast; with
raging madness, scattered through all the churches of Italy, Germany,
Gaul and Spain the flame of discord which, through thy ruinous
factions, thou didst start in the Roman church. For by taking away
from the bishops, as well as thou wast able, all the power which is
known to have been divinely conferred upon them through the grace of
the holy Spirit, which chiefly manifests itself in ordinations; and
by giving over to the fury of the people all the administration of
ecclesiastical affairs, seeing that now no one is bishop or priest
over any one unless he has bought this by most unworthy assent from
thy magnificence, thou hast disturbed, with wretched confusion, all
the vigour of the apostolic institution and that most beautiful
distribution of the members of Christ which the Teaeher of the
nations so often commends and inculcates. And thus, through these thy
boasted decrees,, we can not speak of it without tears, the name of
Christ has almost perished. Who, moreover, for the very indig nity of
the thing, is not astounded that thou should'st usurp and arrogate to
thyself a certain new and unlawful power in order to destroy rights
which are the due of the whole brotherhood? For thou dost assert that
no one of us shall have any further power of binding or loosing any
one of our parishioners whose crime, or even the mere rumour of it,
shall reach thee,save
thou
alone, or him whom thou dost especially delegate for this purpose.
What man that is learned in the sacred Scriptures does not see the
more than madness of this decree ? Since, therefore, we have decided
that it is worse than anv evil longer to tolerate that the church of
(Iod should be so seriously endangered, nay, almos b ruined, through
these and other workings of thy presumptions, we have agreed, by
common consent of all of us, to make known to thee that about which
we have hitherto kept silent: why it is that thou neither now may'st,
nor at any time eould'st preside over the apostolic see. Thou
thyself, in the time of the emperor Henry (III.) of blessed memory,
did'st bind thyself by an oath in person, never while that emperor
lived, or his son our master the most glorious lying who is now at
the head of affairs, thyself to accept the papacy, or, so far as thou
could'st prevent it, to permit any one else to receive it without the
assent and approbation either of the father during his life, or of
the son so long as he too should live. And there are very many
bishops who can to-day bear witness to this oath, having seen it at
that time with their eyes and heard it with their ears. Remember this
also, how, when the ambition of securing the papacy tickled some of
the cardinals, thou thyself, in order to remove rivalry, did'st bind
thyself by an oath, on the condition and with the understanding that
they should do the same, never to accept the papaey. See how
faithfully thou hast observed both these oaths ! Moreover, when, in
the time of pope Nicholas, a synod was held with 125 bishops in
session, this was established and decreed: that no one should ever
become pope except by election of the cardinals, with the approbation
of the people and through the consent and authority of the king. And
thou thyself wast the author, the sponsor and the signer of this
decree.
Furthermore
thou hast filled the whole church, as it were, with the ill odour of
a most grave charge concerning the too familiar living together and
cohabitation with a strange woman. By which thing our sense of shame
suffers more than our cause, although this general complaint has
resounded every where: that all the decrees of the apostolic see have
been set in motion by women, in a word, that through this new senate
of women the whole circle of the church is administered. For no
amount of complaining suffices concerning theinjuries
and
insults against bishops whom thou most unworthily dost call sons of
harlots and the like. Since, therefore, thy accession has been
inaugurated by such perjuries; since, through the abuse of thy
innovations, the church of God is in danger through so severe a
storm, and since thou has defiled thy life and conversation with such
manifold infamy: we renounce the obedience which we never promised to
thee, nor shall we in future at all observe it. And since, as thou
did'st pub
licly proclaim, not one of us has been to thee thus far a bishop, so also shalt thou henceforth be pope for none of us.
8. Summons of Henry IV. to the Council of Worms--Royal Justification (1076).
Henry, king by the grace of God, sends favour, greeting, love, not to all, but to a few.
In
very important matters the wisest counsels of the greeted men are
needed, men who shall both outwardly have the ability and inwardly
shall not be without the will to give their best advice in a matter
in which they are interested. For there is nothing whatever in the
tarrying out of which either ability without will or will without
abilityavails
.
Both of which thou, most faithful one, dost possess, as we think, in
equal measure; or to speak more truly, although thou who art very
great art not lacking in very great ability, nevertheless, if we know
thee rightly and have noted thy fidelity with proper care, thou dost
abound with a good will greater even than this very great ability; to
our own and to the country's advantage. For from the faithful
services of the past we are led to hope for still more faithful
services in the future. We rely moreover on thy love not to let thy
faithfulness disappoint our expectations; for from the loyalty of
none of the princes or bishops of the land do we hope for greater
things than from thine, rejoicing, as we have done, not only in the
showing of the past but also in what thou hast led us to expect from
thee in the future. Let, therefore, thy timely good will be present
now with thy ability; for it is called for not only by our own
straits but also by those of all thy fellow-bishops and brothers,
nav. of the whole oppressed church. Thou art not ignorant, indeed, of
this oppression; only see to it that thou do not withdraw thy aid
from the oppressed church, but that thou do give thy sympathy to the
kingdom and the priesthood. For in both of these, even as the church
has hitherto been exalted, so now, alas, in both it is humiliated and
bereaved. Inasmuch as one man has claimed for himself both; nor has
he helped the one, seeing that he neither would nor could help
either. But, lest we keep from thee any longer the name of one who is
known to thee, learn of whom we are speaking--Hildebrand, namely,
outwardly, indeed, a monk; called pope, but presiding over the
apostolic see rather with the violence of an invader than with the
care of a pastor, and, from the seat of universal peace, sundering
the chains of peace and unity, as thou thyself dost clearly know.
For, to mention a few cases out of many, he usurped for himself the
kingdom and the priesthood without God's sanction, despising God's
holy ordination which willed essentially that they, namely the
kingdom and the priesthood, should remain not in the hands of one,
but, as two, in the hands of two. For the Saviour Himself, during His
Passion, intimated that this was the meaning of the typical
sufficiency of the two swords. For when it was said to Him: "
Behold, Lord, here are two swords "He answered: " It is
enough," signifying by this sufficing duality that a spiritual
and a carnal sword were to be wielded in the church, and that by them
every thing evil was about to be cut off, by the sacerdotal sword,
namely, to the end that the king, for God's sake, should be obeyed;
At by the royal one to the end that the enemies of Christ without
should be expelled, and that the priesthood within should be obeyed.
And He taught that every man should be Unstrained so to extend his
love from one to the other that the kingdom should neither lack the
honour due to the priesthood, nor the priesthood the honour due to
the kingdom. In what way the madness of Hildebrand confoundod this
ordinance of God thou thyself dost know, if thou hast been ready or
willing to know. For in his judgment no one is rightfully priest save
him who has bought permission from his own capricious self. Me also
whom God called to the kingdom, not, however, having called him to
the priesthood---he strove to deprive of my royal power, threatening
to take away my kingdom and my soul, neither of which he had granted,
because he saw me wishing to hold my rule from Clod and not from him,
because he himself had not constituted me king. Although he had
often, as thou dost know, thrown out these and similar things to
shame us, he was not as yet satisfied with that but needs must
inflict upon us from day to day new and ingenious kinds of confusion,
as he recently proved in the ease of our envoys. For a page will not
suffice to tell how he treated those same envoys of ours, how cruelly
he imprisoned them and afflicted them, when captive, with nakedness,
cold, hunger and thirst and blows; and how at length he ordered them
to be led like martyrs through the midst of the city, furnishing a
spectacle for all; so that one would call him and believe him as mad
as Deeius the tyrant, and a burner of saints. Wherefore, beloved, be
not tardy, may all in common not be tardy, to give ear to my request,
and to that of thy fellowbishops, that thou do come to Worms at
Pentecost; and that thou there, with the other princes, do listen to
manv things a few of which are mentioned in this letter; and that
thou do show what is to be done. Thou art asked to do this for love
of thy fellow-bishops, warned to for the good of the church, bound to
for the honour of our life and of the whole land.
Source: http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Investit.html
Excerpted from Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, Ernest F. Henderson, ed. and tr. (London: Bell and Sons, 1892), pp. 329-333
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