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How Did Pope Gregory Vii Show The Abuse Of Power

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In 1075, Pope Gregory VII dictated a series of powers that he believed the pope should have. These powers became known as The Dictatus Papae, these powers were in some away a plan for Pope Gregory VII. They were his ideas for reform that he wanted to bring to the church. With a closes look at The Dictatus Papae, there are some that Pope Gregory VII actually used or tried to implement. This is seen in his letters to Emperor Henry IV and others during his time. The pope was not always the highest power of authority in Christendom. Popes were originally the bishop of Rome, however they slowly started to gain power as time went on. Pope Gregory VII wished to go one step farther then just gain power over the people of Western Europe. He wished …show more content…

“XII. That he may depose emperors.” (Miller #19 pg82) This means if an emperor is not following the rule or is doing something that the pope does not agree with he may depose him of his position. The problem that Pope Gregory VII was having with Emperor Henry IV was that he was granted lay investitures to his subjects. This means that Henry was giving the land and title of Bishop and other positions to people of his choosing and not the Pope. If the Bishops were receiving land and title from Emperor Henry IV, then they would be loyal not to the pope but Emperor Henry IV. This means that the pope is not the highest authority in the land. To counter this Pope Gregory VII wants the power and tried to depose Emperor Henry the IV. In a letter to Emperor Henry IV, Pope Gregory VII takes about Saul and King David from the bible. “Bear in mind what happened to Saul after he had won a victory by command of the prophet, how he boasted of his triumph, scorning the prophet’s admonitions, and how he was rebuked by the Lord, and also what favor followed David the king as a reward for his humility in the midst of the token of his bravery.”(Miller #20 pg87) Pope Gregory VII makes it clear that he is not willing to put up with Emperor Henry IV scorning, that he is will to take action. This does not go unnoticed by Emperor Henry IV. In a letter to the Pope Gregory

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By doing this the pope would also be able to refute the governmental of feudalism that when against his aim of unifying Europe to eventually become stable enough to expand the government. This would have brought them closer to being an established empire with a solid culture. Collectively these political drive for stability and power were the predominant motivations that Pope Urban the II had to support the Christian crusades, The desire for power was a motivation for the crusades to each their goals of full power in and out side of the Empire. Pope Urban the second was encountering an ordeal of the struggle of power with the Political officials of the Holy

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The implication is that the people are being ruled. Henry used his skills in speech to persuade the Council or Parliament that trying to rule over others was wrong. He spoke out against the way things had always been done and

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In 1074, Gregory proposed that Christians “should lay down [their] lives to liberate [the Byzantine people]”, explicitly showing his intention to protect Christian territory and reconcile with the Byzantine Empire through a defensive holy war. An ardent supporter of the Gregorian reform, Urban claimed at his election "what [Gregory] loved I embrace", which, although used heavy rhetoric to rally support from the audience, shows Urban’s resoluteness to execute Gregory’s proposal. In addition to legacy, Urban could increase his power in Christendom when Countess Matilda finally defeated Henry IV’s forces in the 1090s and Antipope Guibert of Ravenna’s influence over Rome was declining. As a result papal power was consolidating, providing a strong foundation for Urban to stabilise his rule over Christendom and to reinforce his personal status. To illustrate, Urban and his proposal received plentiful attention from 310 esteemed churchmen and numerous laymen who attended the Council of Clermont.

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This is shown when Gregory quotes Paulinus,“ … you will see that we have excellent guardians of all our faith and religion, however great may be the evils of our age” (qtd. Paulinus 13). Paulinus is explaining that the church has protection by spiritual beings, but royalty is not worthy of being examples for the people. Furthermore, Gregory of Tours is not devoted to the Frank family by his disagreement in the actions they take. For instance, he opposes the many wars Clovis has taken on over the years.

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