Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 92

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How Pope Gregory VII
related to the earthly princes
cannot be considered in a
juridical context. His claim to
supremacy was one based on
authority over Christian men
and his power to judge and
depose those deemed unworthy
of their office. The pope’s
authority over the king extended
to him because he was a Christian in communion with the Roman Church.184 The election of
Rudolf was irrelevant. Henry had performed a symbolic act of subordination to the authority of
the Roman See at Canossa as Gregory had advocated. Henry, at Canossa, behaved as a Christian
king.185
The excommunications and deposition against Henry were the result of the challenges to
the moral prestige of the papacy that Henry had initiated. The first was brought on by the synod
of Worms in 1076 when the German episcopacy avowed Gregory unfit for the papacy at Henry’s
prompting. They revoked their submission to him and denied his supreme jurisdiction in
diocesan matters.186 The second occasion was the culmination of several grave affronts to the
papacy by Henry which included the dispatching of excommunicated envoys to Rome and
bribery of a papal legate. Henry repeatedly and brazenly disobeyed the moral judgment of the
184

Morrison, “Canossa: A Revision,” 122.

185

Robinson, “The Princes and the Pactum 1077-1080,” 754-55.

186

Morrison, “Canossa: A Revision,” 146.