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Cathedra

VII1046-1198

Reform and Investiture

The papacy breaks free: celibacy enforced, elections sealed in conclave, and an emperor kneeling in the snow.

Popes No. 149-175

The reformers who took the papacy after Sutri had a single, explosive conviction: the church belonged to God, not to emperors, kings, or Roman clans. Leo IX carried reform across the Alps in person; Nicholas II locked papal elections inside the college of cardinals, where they remain; and Gregory VII pushed the logic to its summit, claiming the right to depose an emperor.

Canossa, 1077: Henry IV barefoot in the snow for three days, begging a pope's absolution. The image overstates the victory (Henry recovered and drove Gregory from Rome to die in exile), but the era permanently reversed the ninth-century bargain. After it, no one doubted that the papacy was an independent power, and popes like Urban II could summon all Europe to a crusade.

The world at the time

  1. 1054

    schismThe East-West Schism

    Mutual excommunications in Constantinople formalize the estrangement of Rome and the Orthodox East that endures to this day.

  2. 1095

    religiousThe First Crusade

    Urban II's summons at Clermont sends armed Christendom east and makes the papacy the moral commander of Europe.

  3. 1122

    politicalConcordat of Worms

    Empire and papacy compromise on investiture, conceding that the church, not the crown, makes bishops.

Popes of this era

  • Clement IINo. 149 · 1047
  • Damasus IINo. 151 · 1048
  • Leo IXNo. 152 · 1049-1054
  • Victor IINo. 153 · 1055-1057
  • Stephen IXNo. 154 · 1057-1058
  • Nicholas IINo. 155 · 1059-1061
  • Alexander IINo. 156 · 1061-1073
  • Gregory VIINo. 157 · 1073-1085
  • Victor IIINo. 158 · 1086-1087
  • Urban IINo. 159 · 1088-1099
  • Paschal IINo. 160 · 1099-1118
  • Gelasius IINo. 161 · 1118-1119
  • Callixtus IINo. 162 · 1119-1124
  • Honorius IINo. 163 · 1125-1130
  • Innocent IINo. 164 · 1130-1143
  • Celestine IINo. 165 · 1143-1144
  • Lucius IINo. 166 · 1144-1145
  • Eugene IIINo. 167 · 1145-1153
  • Anastasius IVNo. 168 · 1153-1154
  • Adrian IVNo. 169 · 1154-1159
  • Alexander IIINo. 170 · 1159-1181
  • Lucius IIINo. 171 · 1181-1185
  • Urban IIINo. 172 · 1185-1187
  • Gregory VIIINo. 173 · 1187
  • Clement IIINo. 174 · 1188-1191
  • Celestine IIINo. 175 · 1191-1198