Pope Saint Gregory VII (1073-1085)

The pope who gave his name to a reform

Giving one's name to a century of reforms is no small legacy. The Gregorian Reform denotes the passage from a Church deeply rooted in the feudal order — where bishoprics are bought, where sacred offices pass down like fiefs, where princes appoint bishops — to a Church claiming its freedom (libertas Ecclesiae) and the purity of its clergy.^[8][9]

Hildebrand is not the first reformer: Cluny, the Lorraine monks, Leo IX and Nicholas II came before him. But he is the one who radicalizes the movement, who gives it a theology of Roman primacy and who accepts paying the heaviest political price for it. That is why posterity attached his name to the whole enterprise.^[10]

The first pope to depose a king

The fact is unprecedented in the history of the Christian West: in February 1076, Gregory VII excommunicates King Henry IV and declares his subjects released from their oath of loyalty.^[11][12] For the first time, a pope claims not only to rebuke a sovereign, but to depose him and to undo the bond of obedience uniting a people to its king.

This claim rests on a precise theological conviction, which Gregory VII himself sets out in his famous letter to Bishop Hermann of Metz: the power of binding and loosing entrusted to Peter extends even to kings.

"Who can doubt that the priests of Christ are to be regarded as the fathers and masters of kings, of princes and of all the faithful?" — Saint Gregory VII, Letter to Hermann of Metz, 15 March 1081^[13]

Hildebrand before Gregory VII

You cannot understand the pope without the monk. Before ascending the See of Peter, Hildebrand spent nearly twenty-five years at the heart of the Roman curia, serving five popes, administering the Church's patrimony, leading legations to France and Germany, and organizing the papal elections of the reform party.^[14][15] When he becomes pope, he knows the machinery of the Church better than anyone. His firmness is not that of a theoretician: it is that of a man of government who has seen from within the corruption he fights.

The Registrum and the letters

The first-rank source for the pontificate of Gregory VII is his own register of letters, the Registrum, kept in the Vatican Apostolic Archives and critically edited by Erich Caspar in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.^[16] There one reads, dated and classified, the pope's correspondence with kings, bishops, princes and the faithful: it is one of the richest bodies of papal letters of the Middle Ages.

It is in this register that appear, between two letters of March 1075, the twenty-seven propositions of the Dictatus papae, as well as the two great letters to Hermann of Metz (1076 and 1081) setting out the Gregorian doctrine of power.^[17][18]

Medieval sources and historiography

To the letters must be added the contemporary narrative sources, often partisan: the Vita Gregorii VII by Paul of Bernried (favourable), the chronicles of Bonizo of Sutri and Lambert of Hersfeld, but also the writings of the imperial camp, hostile to the pope. The historian must therefore triangulate between narratives that defend and narratives that accuse.^[19]

Modern historiography — from Horace K. Mann's Catholic Encyclopedia to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, by way of the great medievalists of the Gregorian Reform — converges on a solid column of facts: Hildebrand's rise, the election of 1073, the reform programme, the Dictatus papae, the rupture with Henry IV, Canossa, the antipope Clement III, the sack of Rome and the death at Salerno.^[20][21]

A modest Tuscan birth

Hildebrand is born at Soana (Sovana), a small city of Tuscany, around 1020–1025: this is the dating of the Catholic Encyclopedia as of recent syntheses.^[22][23] The sources describe him as of modest origin: his father is said to have been a carpenter or a peasant.^[24][25] This detail, far from anecdotal, marks his whole career: the future pope does not belong to the high aristocracy like Leo IX, count of Alsace. His power will come not from his birth, but from the Church, from his knowledge of the law and from his will.

The Aventine monastery and Gregory VI

Very young, Hildebrand is entrusted to the Benedictine monastery of Saint Mary on the Aventine, in Rome, where an uncle is abbot.^[26] There he receives a monastic formation and meets the archpriest John Gratian, who becomes pope in 1046 under the name of Gregory VI. Hildebrand faithfully follows him, even into his exile in Germany, until the pontiff's death in 1047.^[27][28]

This bond explains the name he will later take. In calling himself Gregory VII, Hildebrand explicitly honours the memory of Gregory VI, the pope he had served and accompanied in disgrace. After the latter's death, he spends some time at Cluny, the European home of monastic reform.^[29]

In the service of five reforming popes

The turning point comes in 1049. Hildebrand meets Bruno of Toul, the future Leo IX, and returns with him to Rome. Then begins an unbroken curial career of nearly a quarter of a century.^[30][31]

Under Leo IX, he is made cardinal-subdeacon and appointed administrator of the Patrimony of Saint Peter: he recovers the Church's goods squandered by the Roman nobility. Rector of the monastery of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, he imposes a rigorous reform there. He is also sent as legate to France in 1054 to examine the case of Berengar of Tours on the Eucharist.^[32][33]

Under the following popes, his influence keeps growing:

Archdeacon of the Roman Church

In 1059, under Nicholas II, Hildebrand is raised to the dignity of archdeacon of the Roman Church: he becomes the true administrative and political arm of the papacy.^[34] He plays a central role in the decree of 1059 reserving the pope's election to the college of cardinals — a decisive reform against the grip of the Roman nobility and of the emperor on the choice of the pontiff.^[35] He is also one of the architects of the alliance with the Normans of southern Italy, sealed by the treaty of Melfi.

During the twelve years of Alexander II's pontificate, Hildebrand is chancellor of the Apostolic See. Many already see in him the effective pope behind the official pope. When Alexander II dies, on 21 April 1073, Rome knows who must succeed him.

A popular acclamation

The funeral of Alexander II, on 22 April 1073, turns into an election. While the clergy celebrates, the Roman people gathered in the Lateran basilica begin to shout: "Hildebrand for pope!"^[36][37] The election is then formalized by the cardinals assembled at the church of Saint Peter in Chains.^[38]

This popular acclamation poses a problem that Gregory VII knows better than anyone: the decree of 1059, which he himself helped impose, requires the initiative to come from the cardinals. An election "by tumult" might seem irregular. The pope explains himself carefully in his first letters: he stresses the regular canonical confirmation that followed the acclamation.^[39]

The name Gregory and the canonical scruple

Hildebrand takes the name of Gregory VII. He delays his consecration until 30 June 1073, feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the time to be ordained priest then consecrated bishop.^[40][41] A notable fact for a man who will fight imperial interference: out of prudence, he still waits for a form of royal assent from Henry IV before having himself consecrated — proof that, at the outset, the conflict is not inevitable and that Gregory VII hopes to govern with the king, not against him.^[42]

From the first Lenten council of 1074, Gregory VII takes up and hardens the three great battles of the reform: simony, Nicolaitism and soon lay investiture.^[43] These three targets are not disciplinary obsessions: they touch the very root of the Church's freedom and holiness.

Simony: the sin of selling the sacred

Simony — named after Simon Magus, who wanted to buy from the apostles the power of the Spirit (Acts 8:18–20) — consists in treating a sacred reality as an object of trade: buying a bishopric, selling an ordination, putting a price on a sacrament or an office.^[44] For the reformers, this is not a mere financial abuse: it is a profanation corrupting the very source of grace in the Church.

Gregory VII sees in it a practical heresy. As long as sacred offices are bought, the Church remains captive to money and to the powerful. The fight against simony is therefore inseparable from the fight for the Church's freedom.

Nicolaitism and priestly celibacy

Nicolaitism denotes, in the reform literature, the concubinage and marriage of clerics.^[45] The problem is not only moral. A married clergy is tempted to enrich its offspring, to pass on Church goods as a family patrimony, to settle its sons on benefices.^[46] The heredity of sacred offices empties the Church of its availability and feudalizes it from within.

Gregory VII therefore imposes the discipline of celibacy with renewed vigour, going so far as to ask the faithful to boycott the services of unamended concubinary clerics — a radical measure mobilizing the Christian people against an unworthy clergy.^[47] The discipline of Latin priestly celibacy, already ancient, finds in the Gregorian pontificate one of its firmest moments of application.

Lay investiture, heart of the conflict

The third target is the most explosive. Lay investiture is the practice by which a prince — king, emperor, lord — hands to the bishop of his choice the insignia of his office: the crosier and the ring.^[48] Yet these objects are spiritual symbols: the ring figures the bishop's union with his Church, the crosier his pastoral office. When a layman confers them, he claims to dispose of the spiritual.

At the Roman synod of 1075, Gregory VII forbids lay investiture under pain of excommunication.^[49] This is the spark. For depriving the emperor of the appointment of bishops means taking from him control over a large part of the Empire's administration, where bishops are also great temporal lords. The conflict with Henry IV is now inevitable.^[50]

Twenty-seven propositions on primacy

In March 1075, the register of Gregory VII preserves a striking text: the Dictatus papae, twenty-seven brief and trenchant propositions formulating the doctrine of Roman primacy in its highest form.^[51] There one reads notably that the Roman Church was founded by God alone, that the Roman pontiff alone is rightly called universal, that he alone can depose or restore bishops.

Three propositions touch political power directly and sum up the whole drama of the pontificate:

"That he may depose emperors. […] That he himself may be judged by no one. […] That the Roman Church has never erred and, as Scripture bears witness, never shall err." — Dictatus papae, propositions 12, 19 and 22, register of Gregory VII, March 1075^[52]

To this is added the proposition that will be the legal weapon of 1076: the pope can release subjects from the oath of loyalty sworn to the unjust.^[53]

A working text, not a promulgated decree

Historical rigour requires a clarification. The Dictatus papae was probably never promulgated as an official decree. Historians see in it rather working notes — principles the pope drew from various canonical collections to support his action.^[54] The text does not appear in the acts of the synod of 1076.

This nuance does not lessen its scope: it clarifies it. The Dictatus papae does not say what Gregory VII legislated, but what he deeply believed about the authority of the Apostolic See. And it is this conviction, more than any decree, that explains his refusal to yield before the king.

Worms: the king deposes the pope (January 1076)

The first exchanges between the pope and the young King Henry IV are deferential: in September 1073, Henry writes the pope a letter of submission and promises to amend.^[55] But control of the bishoprics is a vital stake for the Empire, particularly around Milan. The rupture erupts quickly.^[56]

On 24 January 1076, Henry IV gathers his bishops at the synod of Worms and has Gregory VII declared deposed, henceforth refusing him obedience.^[57] The king addresses the pope a stinging letter ending with the famous formula: "Come down, come down!" (Descende, descende).

The excommunication and deposition of Henry IV

The pope's reply is immediate and unprecedented. At the Lenten synod of 1076, Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, suspends him from royal office and releases his subjects from their oath of loyalty.^[58][59] It is the first time in history that a pope deposes a crowned king.

The effect is shattering. In Germany, the Saxon and Bavarian princes hostile to Henry seize the opportunity. Assembled at Tribur in October 1076, they threaten to elect another king if Henry does not obtain his absolution within a year. The excommunicated king, abandoned, must make peace with the pope — and fast.^[60]

Canossa: penance in the snow (January 1077)

Here lies the most famous scene of the entire Middle Ages. To forestall the German princes and obtain his pardon before the fatal deadline, Henry IV crosses the Alps in the depths of winter and reaches the castle of Canossa, in the Apennines, where Gregory VII has stopped, guest of Countess Matilda of Tuscany.^[61][62]

From 25 to 28 January 1077, according to the traditional account, the king remains three days barefoot in the snow, in penitent's garb, before the closed gate of the castle, fasting and pleading.^[63][64] The pope, a priest before being a political leader, cannot refuse absolution to a repentant sinner. On 28 January 1077, he lifts the excommunication.

The image has endured: "to go to Canossa" has ever since meant submitting humbly to a higher authority.

But the victory is ambiguous. By absolving Henry, Gregory VII restores his freedom of action and disarms the coalition of the German princes. The penitent of Canossa will soon become an adversary again.^[65]

From Canossa to rupture: Rudolf of Swabia and the second excommunication (1080)

Without waiting, the hostile German princes elect a rival king, Rudolf of Swabia (Rudolf of Rheinfelden), on 15 March 1077. Germany sinks into civil war between Henry's partisans and Rudolf's.^[66][67]

For three years, Gregory VII attempts arbitration. Then, in 1080, he decides in favour of Rudolf and excommunicates Henry IV anew.^[68] This second sentence does not have the effect of the first: many judge it excessive, and the pope's authority emerges weakened. The death of Rudolf of Swabia, killed in battle the same year, moreover deprives the pope of his champion.

The antipope Clement III and the sack of Rome (1084)

Henry IV then goes on the offensive. At the synod of Brixen, in June 1080, he has an antipope elected: Guibert of Ravenna, who takes the name of Clement III.^[69][70] Then he marches on Rome. After several sieges, the city falls in 1084. Henry has his antipope enthroned there and has himself crowned emperor by him. Gregory VII takes refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo.^[71]

The pope calls his Norman ally, Robert Guiscard, to his rescue. The Normans free Gregory VII, but their intervention turns into disaster: they sack Rome (1084), burning and pillaging entire districts. The Roman population, revolted by this carnage, turns against the pope who caused it. Gregory VII can no longer remain in his city.^[72][73]

“I have loved justice…”

Forced to follow the retreating Normans, Gregory VII withdraws first to Monte Cassino, then to Salerno, under Norman protection. There he dies, on 25 May 1085, seemingly defeated: Rome in the hands of the antipope, the emperor triumphant, Germany torn apart.^[74][75]

His last words, which became his epitaph at Salerno, sum up his life in a lapidary formula:

"I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile." — Saint Gregory VII, at Salerno, 25 May 1085 ("Dilexi iustitiam et odivi iniquitatem, propterea morior in exilio")^[76]

His body is buried in the Cathedral of Saint Matthew in Salerno, where his tomb is still venerated today.^[77]

The spiritual testament

The sentence of Salerno is not a cry of defeat; it is a profession of faith. Gregory VII dies convinced he fought for God's justice against the iniquity of men. The apparent political defeat hides a long-term victory: the principles for which he lost everything — the Church's freedom, the end of lay investiture, the independence of bishops' appointment — will end up prevailing, a generation later, at the Concordat of Worms of 1122.^[78]

A monk made pope

Before being a man of government, Hildebrand is a Benedictine monk, formed on the Aventine and marked by the spirit of Cluny.^[79] His reform is not a political strategy in disguise: it springs from a monastic conviction that the Church must be pure, free and holy, torn from money and from the powers of this world. The iron pope remains a monk at heart, demanding first of himself.

Libertas Ecclesiae as a spiritual combat

The great cause of Gregory VII holds in two Latin words: libertas Ecclesiae, the freedom of the Church. For him, this freedom is not a worldly privilege but a condition of holiness: a Church captive to princes can be neither pure nor faithful.^[80] His theology of power, set out in the letter to Hermann of Metz, boldly ranks the spiritual above the temporal.

"Consider, brother, that greater power is granted to an exorcist, when he is made a spiritual emperor for driving out demons, than could ever be granted to a layman for earthly rule." — Saint Gregory VII, Letter to Hermann of Metz, 15 March 1081^[81]

This vision has its strength and its limits. Its strength: it affirms the transcendence of the spiritual over the temporal, a principle the Church will never abandon. Its limit: applied as a direct political programme, it led to clashes whose outcome escaped the pope himself.

Canonization and cult

The memory of Gregory VII was long disputed. His cult was officially confirmed by Pope Paul V in 1606, and his feast extended to the universal Church by Benedict XIII in 1728.^[82][83] This extension caused scandal in the Gallican and imperial circles of the 18th century: the antiphon of the office recalled that he had deposed an emperor, which several Catholic states refused to proclaim.^[84] Part of the scholarship traces the first act of beatification to Gregory XIII (1584), showing the slowness and prudence of the recognition.^[85]

His liturgical feast is fixed on 25 May, the day of his death.^[86] The Church honours in him not the political strategist, but the pastor who sacrificed everything to the freedom and purity of the bride of Christ.

The Gregorian turning point

Gregory VII dies defeated, but he has won what matters: he made irreversible the idea that the Church must be free in the face of temporal powers. His immediate successors — Victor III, Urban II — continue his work. A generation later, the Concordat of Worms of 1122 achieves a compromise on investiture: the king renounces conferring the crosier and the ring, spiritual symbols, but keeps a role in granting the temporal goods of the bishopric.^[98]

The movement bearing his name durably transforms the West: centralization of the papacy, rise of canon law, a sharp distinction between the spiritual and the temporal, preparing from afar the secularization of politics. Many historians see in the Gregorian Reform one of the birth certificates of Europe.^[99]

Lights and limits of an iron pontificate

Two excesses must be avoided. The first would be to make of Gregory VII a hero without shadow: his second excommunication of Henry IV in 1080 was widely judged excessive, his appeal to the Normans ended in the sack of his own city, and his intransigence left Germany torn apart and the papacy weakened in the short term.^[100]

The second excess would be to reduce his fight to an ambition for power. That would be to forget the monk, the reformer, the man who dies poor and exiled for refusing to hand the Church over to merchants and princes. His greatness is not in having conquered, but in having stood firm. And the Church, in canonizing him, recognized that this iron pope was first a saint: the one who loved God's justice more than his own life.

• The Gregorian Reform — the great movement of purification and ecclesial freedom of which Gregory VII is the most radical face.
• The Investiture Controversy — the conflict between the papacy and the Empire, from Gregory VII to the Concordat of Worms of 1122.
• Pope Saint Leo IX — the reforming pope who brings Hildebrand back to Rome and opens the way of reform.
• The Great Eastern Schism — the rupture of 1054, another great dossier of the 11th-century papacy.
• Priestly celibacy — the discipline Gregory VII imposes with renewed vigour against Nicolaitism.