III.

Attempted Solutions

Gregory's successors, while holding to many of the same ideals, were more flexible in trying to work out solutions. The essential interest of the church was to ensure that lay rulers would not confer spiritual office. The essential interest of the kings was that bishops who were also going to be secular rulers be made to acknowledge the authority of the king. St. Anselm, when named archbishop of Canterbury, came into a severe conflict with King Henry I of England over the issue but in 1107 was able to work out a solution by which both archbishop and king achieved their aims.

The Concordat of Worms in 1122 between Pope Callistus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V reflected the English solution and set a pattern for future relations between the church and temporal rulers; it is sometimes said to have settled the Investiture Controversy. According to the concordat, the church was to have the right to elect bishops, and investiture by ring and staff was to be done by the clergy. Elections were to take place, however, in the presence of the emperor, who also would confer whatever lands and revenues were attached to the bishopric by investiture with a scepter, a symbol without spiritual connotations. Despite the concordat, the church in the Middle Ages never obtained complete control over the nomination of bishops, and the problem recurred in many forms. Investiture was a key issue in the Gallican controversies of the 17th century (see Gallicanism) in France, and it was a controversial issue in Spain until recently.