Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 1, 2025
In the year 1073 Hildebrand became Gregory VII., and his memorable pontificate began as a reformer of the abuses of his age, and the intrepid defender of that unlimited and absolute despotism which inthralled not merely the princes of Europe, but the mind of Christendom itself.
The monk Hildebrand, for a long time the power behind the pope until he himself became pope in 1073, was a constant visitor at Matilda's home, and he it was who finally took her education in hand and gave it its fullest development.
In 1073 the citizens of Le Mans took advantage of his absence to set up a "commune," and invited Fulk of Anjou to protect them. William was soon in the field, this time assisted by English troops. He harried the country, recovered Le Mans, and made an advantageous peace with the count.
In A.D. 1073 Hildebrand was elected pope under the title of Gregory VII.; this man, perhaps, more than any other, augmented the temporal power of the papacy.
In A.D. 756 the Pope became a temporal sovereign. Yet the power of Papal usurpation did not reach the summit until the reign of the impious Hildebrand, who succeeded to the Popedom in A.D. 1073, under the title of Gregory VII. But according to the symbols before us, we must look for a period not so much when the Popes were enabled to definitely enforce their arrogant claims, as when the ministry became corrupted and when the inhabitants of the city, or the devotees of the visible church, became a profane multitude entirely estranged from the covenant of promise.
Having founded their liberties upon the episcopal presidency, the cities now proceeded to claim the right of choosing their own Bishops. This privilege was virtually won when the war of Investitures broke out in 1073. After the death of Gregory VI. in 1046, the Emperors resolved to enforce their right of nominating the Popes.
Matilda seems to have always stayed in Normandy; she is never mentioned in England after the year of her coronation and the birth of her youngest son, and she commonly acted as regent of the duchy. In the course of 1072 we see William in England, in Normandy, again in England, and in Scotland. In 1073 he was called beyond sea by a formidable movement.
The magnitude of the task which the popes had undertaken first became fully apparent when Hildebrand himself ascended the papal throne, in 1073, as Gregory VII. Among the writings of Gregory VII there is a very brief statement, called the Dictatus, of the powers which he believed the popes to possess.
Heinrich IV. 1105. Heinrich V. Popes of Rome. 1066. Victor III. 1073. Gregory VII. 1088. Urban II. 1099. Paschal II. Great struggles took place in the eleventh century, between the spiritual and temporal powers.
In 1073 Hildebrand assumed the tiara as Gregory VII., and declared a war that lasted more than forty years against the Empire. At its close in 1122 the Church and the Empire were counterposed as mutually exclusive autocracies, the one claiming illimitable spiritual sway, the other recognized as no less illimitably paramount in civil society.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking