Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 50

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kingship and the future of Salian dynastic succession and royal authority (manifested in the
possibility of deposition), he felt threatened. Henry claimed that his authority came from the
hand of God at his birth, not from the pope. He justified the ideology of Salian kingship with a
claim to an absolute, divinely predestined directive.91
Henry IV also possessed a clear perspective on his relationship
with the pontiff. The title that Henry’s father had once assumed,
patricius, was the Byzantine honorific that Pope Leo III gifted to
both Pepin and Charlemagne when he acknowledged their role
as protector of the Holy See. At that time it conferred no special
rights or duties. But over the next two centuries its association
with western emperors who meddled in papal affairs,
exemplified by Henry III’s actions at Sutri and after, changed the
perception of the title to one that included the ability to create
Henry IV

popes.92 Henry IV assumed such authority rested in him. He
claimed exemption from papal jurisdiction because he was the

anointed king and as such was stationed above all others, including the pope.93 Peter Damian, in
a letter addressed to Henry IV in the year 1065 warned that royal and priestly power were bound
together in a covenant. The priesthood could rely on royal protection for its defense and the
holiness of the priestly office sustained the king. Priests prayed for the favor of God to fall upon
the earthly ruler and his people and so long as he was obedient to heavenly authority, he was to

91

Ibid., 153.

92

Miller, 64.

93

Ullman, 160.