Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 38

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elections as an imperial right. Not exercised since the rule of the Ottonians, the reformers denied
the claim and insisted that only a general synod could depose a pope.66
Henry had crowned himself patricius, the lord over the city of Rome, and succeeded at
selecting the new pope. In effect, the papacy was integrated into the imperial state-church
system and potentially was subject to the king. For Henry, his involvement with the papacy was
an expression of his superior secular authority as emperor. His royal authority was enhanced.67
In the short years flowing these events he nominated a series of German popes that included
Damasus II, Leo IX, and Victor II between 1046 and 1055. None of them relinquished their
German bishoprics when elected pope. Instead, they remained tied to the German imperial
church system and emperor who was the system’s highest authority. Perceived control of the
Apostolic See and the universal Church enhanced the emperor’s claim to imperial power.68
It was evident that reform of the election process was in order and must begin at home. It
could not be expected to take hold throughout the Church if not first addressed by Rome at the
highest level. Imperial might had threatened and manipulated the papacy for most of its history
but by the eleventh century served as the catalyst for a great reform movement. The Synod of
Sutri placed the Holy See in an unacceptable position of deference to the German Emperor. For
some, this interference in papal elections was not to be tolerated and would not soon be
forgotten.
66

Blumenthal, The Investiture Controversy, 57.

67

Weinfurter, 95-96.

68

Weinfurter, 93.