Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 32

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were subordinated to the king. His wishes took precedence regarding episcopal and abbatial
elections.51 Such traditions established by his predecessors would leave a great impression upon
Henry IV and impact the way he carried out his relationship with Rome.
The Ottonian and Salian Dynasties
After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, a new dynasty known as the Ottonians
emerged and rose to prominence after their successful campaign against the threat of Hungarian
invaders. The Ottonians were recognized and rewarded in the year 962 by Pope John XII when
he granted an imperial title to the Germanic ruler Otto I, which effected the transfer of imperial
power from the French monarchy to the German.52 This brought an unforeseen and different
perspective to the relationship between pope and emperor. Otto III, who reigned from 980 until
1002, believed that the city of Rome was the universal capital and that the Church of Rome was
the mother of all churches. In his view, the pope was a metropolitan who had no equal however
the status, dignity, and power of the Roman Church was granted by the emperor’s good will.53
This outlook stood in stark contrast to the growing awareness that the reformers had of the
stature of Church and papacy.
Otto III’s son, Henry II, aided the development of the imperial state-church system and
exercised greater authority over it than had his predecessors. He convened and presided over
ecclesiastical synods. He nominated and deposed abbots. He demanded recognition of his
51

Blumenthal, The Investiture Controversy, 34-35.

52

Miller, 11.

53

Ullman, 121.