Henry IV of Germany and Pope Gregory VII: Letter and Ban

Debates in World Civilization
Table of Contents

  You don't have access to this content. Please try to log in with your institution. Sign In

Abstract

Henry, king not through usurpation, but through the holy ordination of God, to Hildebrand, at present not pope but false monk. Such greeting as this hast thou merited through thy disturbances, inasmuch as there is no grade in the church which thou hast omitted to make a partaker not of honour but of confusion, not of benediction but of malediction. For, to mention few and especial cases out of many, not only hast thou not feared to lay hands upon the rulers of the holy church, the anointed of the Lord—the archbishops, namely, bishops and priests—but thou hast trodden them under foot like slaves ignorant of what their master is doing.

Contents