Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 54

47 actual political function and challenged his authority. Henry, unwilling to accept such challenge, believed that he must preserve and protect the prestige of both the monarchy and the realm, even if force was necessary.100 Control over the proprietary church system was critical to any hope of success. The reform program in general, explained in Cardinal Humber of Silva Candida’s treatise Against Simoniacs was perceived as an act of aggression against the German monarchy; having established that the grant of ecclesiastical office by the laity was nothing short of simony.101 Papal and imperial power had worked well together in combating clerical marriage and simony in the past, but as the reform shifted toward attacking the related issue of lay investiture, the cooperation ended. The proprietary church system which had created the powerful OttonianSalian state church and bolstered the monarchy required control by the laity over the selection of abbots and bishops and the right to settle ecclesiastical properties.102 In order for church reform to succeed within the Holy Roman Empire, the reformers, especially Pope Gregory VII, needed greater influence over the bishops there. This was complicated by Henry’s unpredictable pattern of behavior toward the papacy which depended on his own circumstances as king. When the Saxon war seemed to be lost, King Henry adapted a conciliatory posture toward the pope. When he was victorious, as happened in 1075 after the victorious Battle of Homburg, the pontiff was ignored as Henry resumed his policies to 100 Weinfurter, 141. 101 Joachimsen, 18. 102 Blumenthal, The Investiture Controversy, 87.