4 58 ITALY. 
the pontificate, Nicholas II. a creature of Hildebrand’s, 
was deified ; who, among others, parted the following ce¬ 
lebrated decree, viz. That for the future, the cardinals 
only fhould elect the pope ; and that the election fhould 
afterwards be confirmed by the reft; of the clergy and the 
people, “ faving the honour (adds he) due to our dear 
fon Henry, now king ; and who, if it pleafe God, lhall 
be one day emperor, according to the right which we have 
already conferred' upon him.” After this, he entered 
into a treaty with the Norman princes above-mentioned ; 
who, though they had lately fworn to hold their poffef- 
fions from the emperor, now fwore to hold them from the 
pope; and hence arofe the pope’s claim of fovereignty 
over the kingdom of Naples and Sicily. 
Thus was the power of the German emperors in Italy 
greatly diminirtied, and that of the popes proportionally 
increafed ; of which Henry foon had fufficient evidence. 
For, having artrtumed the government in the year 1072, 
being then twenty-two years of age, he was fummoned by 
Alexander II. to appear before the tribunal of the holy 
fee, on account of his loofe life, and to anfwer the charge 
of having exported the inveftiture of bilhops to rtale ; and 
at the fame time the pope excited his German rtubjefts to 
rebel againll him. The rebels, however, were defeated, 
and peace was reftored to Germany ; but rtoon after, Hil¬ 
debrand above-mentioned, being elefted to the pontifi¬ 
cate under the name of Gregory VII. openly affumed the 
fuperiority over every earthly monarch whatever. He 
began with excommunicating every ecclefiaftic who fhould 
receive a benefice from the hands of a layman, and every 
layman who fhould take upon him to confer fuch a bene¬ 
fice. Henry, inftead of relenting this inrtolence, fubmit- 
ted, and wrote a penitential letter to the pope; who, upon 
this, condertcended to take him into favour, after having 
feverely reprimanded him for his loofe life ; of which the 
emperor now' confefied himfelf guilty. 
The quarrel between the church and the emperor was, 
however, foon brought to a crifis by the following acci¬ 
dent. Solomon king of Hungary, being deported by his 
brother Geyrta, had fled to Henry for protection, and re¬ 
newed the homage of Hungary to the empire. Gregory, 
who favoured Geyrta, exclaimed againft this aCt of rtub- 
million; and laid in a letter to Solomon, “ You ought to 
know that the kingdom of Hungary belongs to the Ro¬ 
man church ; and learn that you will incur the indigna¬ 
tion of the holy fee, if you do not acknowledge that you 
hold your dominions of the pope, and not of the em¬ 
peror.” Henry, though highly provoked at this declara¬ 
tion, thought proper to treat it with negledt; upon which 
Gregory refumed the dirtpute about inveltitures. The 
predeeeflbrs of Henry had always enjoyed the right of no¬ 
minating bilhops and abbots, and of giving them invelti- 
ture by the crorts and the ring. This right they had in 
common with almoft all princes. The predeceflors of 
Gregory VII. had been accuftomed, on their part, to fend 
legates to the emperors, in order to intreat their afliftance, 
to obtain their confirmation, or defire them to come and 
and receive the papal fanction, but for no other purporte. 
Gregory, however, lent two legates to rtummon Henry to 
appear before him as a delinquent, becaufe he Hill conti¬ 
nued to bellow inveltitures, notwithftanding the apoltolic 
decree to the contrary ; adding, that, if he Ihould fail to 
yield obedience to the church, be mult expeft to be ex¬ 
communicated and dethroned. Incenfed at this arrogant 
meflage from one whom he conlidered as his vaflal, Henry 
dirtmilrted the legates with very little ceremony, and in 
1076 convoked an afiembly of all the princes and digni¬ 
fied ecclefiaftics at Worms ; where, after mature deli¬ 
beration, they concluded that Gregory, having ufurped 
the chair of St. Peter by indirect means, infedted. tlie 
church of God with a great many novelties and abulas, 
and deviated from his duty to his rtovereign in feveral rtcan- 
dalous attempts, the emperor, by that rtupreme authority 
derived from his predeceflors, ought to divert him of his 
dignity, and appoint another in his piace. In conrtequence 
of this determination, Henry fent an ambaflador to Rom?, 
with a formal deprivation of Gregory ; who, in his turn, 
convoked a council, at which were prefent one hundred 
and ten bilhops, who unanimoufly agreed that the pope 
had juft caufe to depofe Henry, to diffolve the oath of al¬ 
legiance which the princes and ftates had taken in his fa¬ 
vour, and to prohibit them from holding any correfpon- 
dence with him on pain of excommunication; which was 
immediately fulminated againft the emperor and his ad¬ 
herents. “ In the name of Almighty God, and by our 
authority (faid Gregory), I prohibit Henry, the fon of 
our emperor Henry, from governing the Teutonic king¬ 
dom and Italy : I releafe all Chriftians from their oath of 
allegiance to him; and ftridtly forbid all perfons from 
rterving or attending him as king 1” The circular letters 
written by this pontilf breathe the fame fpirit with his 
fentence of depofition. He there repeats feveral times, 
that “ bilhops are fuperior to kings, and made to judge 
them !” expreflions alike prefunaptuous and artful, and 
calculated for bringing in all the churchmen of the world 
to his ftandard. 
Gregory knew well what confequences would follow 
the thunder of the church. The German bilhops came 
immediately over to his party, and drew along with them 
many of the nobles ; the flame of civil war Itill lay fmo- 
thering, and a bull properly directed was fufficient to fet 
it in a blaze. The Saxons, Henry’s old enemies, made ufe 
of the papal difpleafure as a pretence for rebelling againft 
him. Even Guelfe, to whom the emperor had given 
the duchy of Bavaria, fupported the malcontents with 
that power which he owed to his fovereign’s bounty : nay, 
thofe very princes and prelates who had afllfted in deport¬ 
ing Gregory gave up their monarch to be tried by the 
pope; and his holinefs was folicited to come to Auglburg. 
for that purpofe. 
Willing to prevent this odious trial at Augfburg, 
Henry the unaccountable refolution of fuddenly pair¬ 
ing the Alps at Tyrol, accompanied only by a few-do- 
meftics, to afk abfolution of pope Gregory his opprertlorj 
who was then in Canoza, on the Appenine mountains, a 
fortrerts belonging to the coontefs or duchsrts Matilda 
above-mentioned. At the gates of this place the emperor 
prefented himfelf as an humble penitent. He alone was 
admitted within the outer court; where, being (tripped 
of his robes, and wrapped in fackcloth, he was obliged to 
remain three days, in the month of January, bare-foote.d 
and fafting, before he was permitted to kifs the feet of 
his holinels ; who all that time was Ihut up with the de¬ 
vout Matilda, whole fpiritual director he had long been, 
and, as fome lay, her gallant. Be that as it may, 
her attachment to Gregory, and her hatred to the Ger¬ 
mans, was fo great, that (he made over all her eftates to 
the apoltolic lee ; and this donation is the true caufe of 
all the wars which fince that period have raged between 
the emperors and the popes. She poflefled in li6r own 
right great part of Tufcany, Mantua, Parma, Reggio, 
Placentia, Ferrara, Modena, Verona, and almoll the whole 
of what was till lately called the patrimony of St. Peter, 
from Viterbo to Orvieto; together with part of Umbria, 
Spoleto, and the Marche of Ancona. 
The emperor was at length permitted to throw himfelf 
at the pontiff’s feet; who condefcended to grant him ab- 
folution, after he had fworn obedience to him in all things, 
and promifed to fubmit to his folemn deciiion at Augf- 
burg; fo that Henry got nothing but dilgrace by his jour¬ 
ney ; while Gregory, elated by his triumph, and now 
looking upon himfelf (not altogether without reafon) as 
the lord and mailer of all the crowned heads in Chrilten- 
dom, faid in feveral of his letters, that it was his duty 
“ to pull down the pride of kings.” 
This extraordinary accommodation gave much difguft 
to the princes of Italy. They never could forgive the 
inrtolence of the pope, nor the abjeit humility of the em¬ 
peror. Happily, however, for Henry, their indignation 
at Gregory's arrogance overbalanced their deteftation. of 
his 
