Global 9.2 The Holy Roman Empire and the Church

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 * The "Holy Roman Empire" was established when a German Duke helped to put down a rebellion of Roman nobles and was named emperor by the pope.
 * Once again this close tie between the Church and the political leader caused many problems and often led to significant conflicts.
 * One such conflict was that of pope Gregory VII and Henry IV. Pope Gregory VII was intent on making the Church independent of secular rulers, and in order to do that he forbade the king from picking church officials. This enraged Henry IV, who fought against Gregory Vii, and eventually the pope excommunicated him and the nobles began to fight against him in a power struggle. Henry IV traveled across the alps to ask forgiveness from the pope in order to save his throne. Gregory VII lifted the excommunication from Henry VII from Henry IV only to be forced into exile years later when Henry Iv led his army into Rome.
 * The dispute over "lay investure" lasted many more years until a compromise was established at the Concordant of Worms. It was agreed at Worms that only the church could invest bishops with spiritual authority, but the emperor had the power to invest the bishops with a fief.
 * The power that was gained by Pope Gregory VII was expanded upon greatly by pope Innocent III. Innocent III placed interdicts on England and France in order to control them, and launched a crusade against a group of people in southern France who wanted Christian reform.