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Monarchy and Church
Monarchy and Church; Part 2

Monarchy and Church; Part 2

The most distinguished of the Cluniac reformers was Hildebrand, who, after being the trusted adviser of two popes, became himself Pope in 1073, under the title of Gregory VII. He entered with immense vigour on the work of making the Church independent of all kings and princes. He even claimed the right of excommunicating and deposing those who defied him. He embarked in a desperate quarrel with the Emperor, Henry IV, which lasted all their lives, and survived them to convulse Europe for many years after they were dead.

Oddly enough, Gregory never quarrelled with William the Conqueror, although William was in the habit of "investing" his own bishops, and had declared that no Pope's bulls or decrees should be obeyed in England unless he himself gave leave. Even when Gregory demanded homage, and William had refused, because no king of England had ever paid it before, Gregory gave way. He probably did so because he saw in William a king who, unlike most of the kings of the time, was really trying to improve his Church. And William, too, had, of his own accord, taken a step which must have delighted Gregory. When he came to the throne, he had found the bishops accustomed to sit in the Shire Courts, and having churchmen and ecclesiastical offenders tried before them there, just like laymen, and under the same law. William had withdrawn the bishops from the Shire Courts; he had replaced the English bishops by Normans; and he had permitted them to have courts of their own in which they tried and punished their own offenders under their own "canon" law. Church matters which had hitherto been discussed by a mixture of laymen and churchmen in the Witan were now transferred to a synod in which laymen had no place. And as William had also appointed Lanfranc as Archbishop of Canterbury, and supported him in his efforts to make the clergy put away their wives and do their duty, Gregory may well have felt that it would be a mistake to quarrel with him, even though he did refuse homage and claim to appoint bishops himself.

William Rufus, however, proved equally obstinate and far less honest of purpose. He was intensely greedy of money, and he and his Justiciar, Ranulf Flambard, strained every means to amass it. Under the feudal system large payments were always due to the feudal superior, in many cases the king, when one of his tenants died. There were heriots to be taken from the dead man's estate, and reliefs to be paid by the heir: if the heir was a minor, the administration of his estate came into the king's hands, and good profits might be drawn from it. Rufus and Flambard cast covetous eyes on the Church. Church lands did not pay heriots or reliefs, but if when an office fell vacant, it were not filled at once, the king might easily lay hands on the revenue that came in during the vacancy. Hence arose a practice of keeping offices vacant for a considerable time. This gross abuse came to a head in 1089, when Lanfranc died, and no successor was appointed to his Archbishopric. Four years passed away, and, to the scandal of everyone, the Church in England was still left without a head, in order that the king might pocket its revenues.

Monarchy and Church; Part 2

Chronology