Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 43

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cardinal-bishop of Ostia and Humber of Silva-Candida as papal chancellor.74 Henry III had
exercised great influence over several papal elections which resulted in a string of German popes
but his choices for pontiffs were fortunately well-made. Henry’s sense of Christian duty allowed
the popes the opportunity to act freely against that which was harming the Church.75 At a time
when the German monarchy could have established a permanent German papacy and exerted
absolute authority over it, no such crisis occurred. Instead, the door was opened for correction
and the reformers wasted no time; first battling simony and then investiture.
Hand in hand with simony was the growing practice of investiture, which raised the same
concerns among reformers of this era. Investiture was a simple and visually striking ritual that
concerned the bestowing of power. Lords invested their vassals with property, known as the fief.
The ceremony itself was not about ownership, but rather illustrated who held authority. The lord
granted power over lands and the people who lived on that land. He possessed greater power
than the recipient and this was indicated by the ceremony itself and witnessed by those in
attendance. The lord stood over the kneeling vassal and handed to him the objects that
symbolized the investing and the transfer of power. A staff or baton symbolized authority.
When this ritual involved the investing of a bishop, he received a ring that signified his marriage
to the appropriate see and a crosier which represented the pastoral care and sacred authority he
would hold over the flock. Both objects were holy. Medieval investiture was typically a custom

74

Ibid., 68.

75

Tierney, 27.