EAST FRANKISH STATE

1
EAST FRANKISH STATE

• East Frankish state had never been part of the
  Roman Empire nor had it been ruled by the
  Merovingians
• Most of it had only recently be conquered by the
  Carolingians
• Feudal system was not well established and
  manorial system was virtually unknown
• Basically a land of free farmers in 1000

2
When Carolingian power began to crumble, East
Frankish people were quick to revert to
independence
Dukes arose in each of the major districts of the
state, acted as military protector of their
people Saxony Franconia Swabia Bavaria
Dukes established themselves as independent
rulers, due to weak Carolingian rulers
3
DUKES PICK A KING

• Two intervening factors prevented the creation of
  4 independent states in Germany
• The Church and the Magyars
• Church wanted a strong monarchy
• Preferred to deal with one king rather than 4
  dukes
• Magyar raids could only be stopped by unified
  leadership
• Chose Conrad of Franconia as king
• Lost Lorraine and was incapable of stopping
  Magyars
• Died in 918 and was replaced by Henry the Fowler,
  Duke of Saxony

Conrad
4
HENRY THE FOWLER

• Made all dukes acknowledge him as king but left
  them free to run the internal affairs of their
  duchies as they saw fit
• Won Lorraine back from France
• Built string of castles along eastern border
• Created large force of cavalry to deal with
  Magyars
• Left strong power base to his son when he died in
  936

5
OTTO I

• One of the dominant figures of early Middle Ages
• Established strong kingship in Germany and
  founded the Holy Roman Empire
• Inflicted final devastating defeat on the Magyars
  at the Battle of Lechfeld (955)
• Magyars settled permanently in Hungary after
  battle and never invaded Germany again
• Created climate for the growth of an orderly and
  stable civilization in central and eastern Europe

6
A REAL KING

• Revived the Carolingian tradition of traveling to
  Aachen to be crowned and annointed as king
• All dukes rendered him hommage at coronation
• But rose up in rebellion shortly thereafter
• Otto crushed rebellion and took over Franconia

7
ROYAL SUPPORT

• Otto relied on support of Church in building up
  his power
• Selected all bishops and abbots and rewarded them
  with huge gifts of land
• Demanded their complete loyalty and support in
  return
• Bishops were obliged to send soldiers to the
  royal army whenever they were needed
• As long as Otto had his native Saxons and the
  Church behind him, his monarchy was very strong
  and effective

8
PAPACY

• Otto later conquered Lombardy and then went to
  Rome and had himself crowned Holy Roman Emperor
  by Pope John XII
• Pope later changed his mind and tried to foment
  rebellion against Otto
• Otto called meeting of bishops and they deposed
  the pope
• From this point on, Otto and his successors took
  it for granted that they could appoint popes the
  same way they appointed bishops in Germany

9
OTTO II and III

• Took over at fathers death in 973
• Put down serious rebellion by Duke of Bavaria
• Led major campaign against Arabs in southern
  Italy
• Suffered major defeat
• Died several months later in Rome
• Three year old son becomes ruler, Otto III
• Heavily influenced by Byzantine mother and grew
  up with Byzantine outlook
• Had unrealistic plan to make Rome capital of his
  empire
• Died when he was 21
• Cousin became new ruler as Henry II

Otto III
10
CONRAD II

• Henry II was last king of the Saxon Dynasty
• Conrad II of Franconia elected new king at
  Henrys death in 1024
• Had problem
• Numerous powerful lords had appeared in Germany
  who were neither dukes nor bishops
• Example Billung family
• Conrad II therefore had to keep these ambitious
  newcomers in line while at the same time
  maintaining royal power from attacks by older
  ducal families
• He succeeded and also took over Burgundy and
  forced Poles to recognize him as their overlord

11
HENRY III

• Continued fathers policies
• Tried to add southern Saxony and part of
  Thuringia to his power base of Franconia and part
  of Swabia
• Built castles in southern Saxony and garrisoned
  them with loyal Swabian troops
• Policy had two flaws
• Assumed nobles would accept steady growth of
  royal power
• Assumed Church would always remain loyal to
  German monarchy

12
LAY INVESTITURE

• Church began to express opposition to the control
  that the Holy Roman Emperor had over Church
  affairs during regency of Henry IV
• Holy Roman Emperors had given great secular
  wealth and power to German bishops
• But the emperors also picked them and expected
  them to be loyal royal servants
• By 11th century,rulers not only selected bishops
  but also invested them with the symbols of
  their officethe ring and the staff
• Church reformers would challenge this practice of
  lay investiture

13
CANON LAW

• Group of reformers had appeared who wanted to
  return the Church to the discipline of early
  Church
• Believed that the Church had drifted too far from
  its original mission
• Collected ancient Church regulations and rules
  (canons) to serve as guide for their reform
  program
• Found plenty of evidence to support popes claim
  of supreme power within the Church but little to
  support similar claim by kings
• Also found no basis for lay investiture
• Practical reason
• No real reform of Church could take place if
  Church appointments were made at the whim of
  kings who might or might not be responsible
  Christian rulers

14
POPE NICHOLAS II

• Most important goal of reformers was to get
  control of the papacy away from the Holy Roman
  Emperor
• Pope Nicholas II issued a decree in 1059 which
  excluded emperor from election of popes
• Entrusted papal elections to cardinals
• Also declared that no priest in the future should
  receive any Church office from a lay person
• Nicholas II died in 1061 and College of Cardinals
  elected Alexander II as new pope
• German advisors to Henry IV recognized election
  in 1063

15
ALEXANDER IIS PAPACY

• Hildebrand, the most radical of the reformers,
  became dominant in Rome while, at the same time,
  Henry IV grew up in Germany
• Bitterness of dispute between reformed papacy and
  imperial government can be explained in part by
  the personalities of these two men
• Henry IV needed support of German bishops to
  reassert royal power and was not about to let
  pope meddle in his selection of them
• Could care less about reform
• Hildebrand was convinced that lasting reform
  could be carried out only if royal control over
  appointment of bishops was broken
• Could care less of political implications of this
  demand

Hildebrand
16
GREGORY VII

• Hildebrand became Pope Gregory VII in 1073
• Relations already strained between papacy and
  Henry IV
• Dispute over position of bishop of Milan
• Henry IV and pope supported different candidates
  for the position
• Milan important to both men
• If Henry was to control northern Italy, he had to
  control Milan
• If principle of election of bishops was to be
  meaningful, Gregory knew it had to be applied to
  the important see of Milan

17
CRISIS

• Gregory wrote Henry and told him to stop
  intervening in Milan
• Henry makes a conciliatory reply
• Encouraged Gregory to decree in 1075 that no
  bishop or abbot could receive lay investiture
• Direct challenge to theory and practice of
  imperial government
• Henry resumes support for his candidate for
  bishop of Milan
• Gregory threatened to excommunicate Henry
• Henry responds by calling meeting of German
  bishops which declared Gregory had illegally
  seized position of pope and was unworthy of papal
  office
• Gregory responds by excommunicating Henry and
  deposing him as emperor

18
GREGORY APPEARS TO WIN

• German lords used Gregorys action as a pretext
  to rebel against Henry
• Thought he was too powerful anyway
• Some German bishops also refused to support Henry
  once they heard the pope had excommunicated him
• Henry was trapped and agreed to attend a diet in
  Augsburg
• Made up by German nobles and bishops, presided
  over by the pope
• Henry would then formally submit and apologize to
  the pope
• Diet would then decide if he was fit to become
  king again
• Looked as though Gregory had won

Gregory VII
19
CANOSSA

• Henry intercepted Gregory at Canossa
• As the pope traveled to attend Diet of Augsburg
• Presented himself barefoot as a humble penitent
  sinner and begged absolution
• Gregory granted absolution because he had no
  other choice
• Henry was released from sentence of
  excommunication and was able once more to attract
  supporters in Germany
• German lords felt betrayed by Gregory and elected
  a rival king named Rudolph without consulting the
  pope
• Result was civil war for the next three years

20
ELSEWHERE

• Gregory also tried to apply reform program to
  France and England
• Threatened to excommunicate French king Philip I
  in 1075 if he did not stop practice of simony
  (selling Church positions)
• But because of his trouble with Henry IV, he did
  not take any direct action at this time
• William I refused to let decree against lay
  investiture be enforced in England
• Gregory reproached him but did not excommunicate
  him
• Because William was always careful to appoint
  good bishops

Philip I of France
21
THINGS GO BAD FOR GREGORY

• Gregory officially supports Rudolph as king
  (1080) and excommunicates Henry a second time
• But Henry defeated and killed Rudolph just two
  months after this
• Henry then denounced Gregory as an anti-pope,
  appointed a new one, and invaded Italy
• Henry captured Rome in 1084 and Gregory had to
  take refuge in fortress of St. Angelo
• Called on Normans for help but they looted and
  burned Rome after they had driven Henry out
• Gregory died a few months later

22
COMPROMISE

• Henry had to deal with rebellions by German lords
  for the rest of his reign
• Popes also continued to reassert all the main
  points of Gregorys reform program
• Including prohibition of lay invesiture
• Compromise finally reached in 1100s, first in
  England and then in France
• Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Anselm, and King
  Henry I worked out deal
• Bishops would be elected according to canon law
  and then do hommage to king as a feudal vassal
• Then bishop would be invested with ring and staff
  by a representative of the pope

St. Anselm
23
ISSUE SETTLED IN GERMANY

• Pope Pascal III proposed that bishops renounce
  all their feudal lands and secular power
• Would deprive kings of any justification to
  interfere with their appointment
• But bishops in Germany had no intention of doing
  this and rejected proposal
• Henry V then invaded Rome, kidnapped the pope,
  and threw him in prison
• Pascal caved in after a few months and announced
  that Henry had right to invest bishops with ring
  and staff
• Cardinals rejected this
• Pascal died in 1119 and new pope, Calixtus II,
  worked out agreement with Henry V that was same
  as previous deal with kings of England and France

Henry V
24
RESULTS

• Kings gave up right to confer spiritual office as
  vicars of God
• But they continued to nominate candidates for
  bishop
• But it now more difficult for them to put forward
  flagrantly unsuitable candidates
• Quality of bishops therefore improved after 1100
• Investiture compromise also began process of
  separation of church and state
• By ending royal claims that kings had both
  secular and spiritual authority within their
  realms
• There would now be persistent tension between
  church and state as both continually tested the
  boundaries of their respective jurisdictions

25
POLITICAL AFTERMATH

• Henry IV would have been able to easily repress
  uprising of German lords if it had not been for
  his conflict with the pope
• Lords were therefore able to increase their power
  during the confusion of his reign
• When Henry V died in 1125 without an heir, lords
  elected Lothair, duke of Saxony, as new king
• He owed his throne to German lords and were at
  their mercy
• Lords grabbed up royal fiefs, built castles, and
  forced many small, free farmers into serfdom,
  thereby establishing the manorial system
  throughout Germany
• Lothair became as much a figurehead ruler as Hugh
  Capet in France

Lothair
26
CHURCH ORGANIZATION I

• Pope was at top of Church organization
• Then came the cardinals
• Then came archbishops and bishops
• Archbishops had larger and richer sees than
  bishops and could hear appeals from bishops
  courts
• But they did not have any effective control over
  the way bishops ran the internal affairs of their
  dioceses

27
BISHOPS

• Bishops possessed full spiritual authority of the
  Church
• Could perform all the sacraments, could ordain
  priests, and, in theory, they appointed all lower
  clergy within their diocese
• Responsible for clerical discipline and had
  control of all church land within their diocese
• Master of the personnel and property of the
  Church with their diocese
• Practically independent of all other spiritual
  authority except the pope

28
CATHEDRAL CANONS

• In theory, bishops were elected by the clergy and
  lay people within their diocese
• In practice, only the higher clergy attached to
  the diocese cathedral participated in this
  election
• Known as cathedral canons
• Also served as principal officers who helped the
  bishop administer the diocese and run the
  cathedral

29
ARCHDEACONS AND OTHERS

• Each diocese divided into four subunits known as
  archdeaconries
• Each administered by an archdeacon
• Enforced discipline among lower clergy
• Highly sought-after position because it was a
  stepping stone to higher church positions
• Archdeacons assisted by rural deans
• Below them came ordinary priests
• Bishops, archdeacons and cathedral canons were
  drawn from the nobility
• Priests were drawn from the peasantry
• Not impossible for man to rise from priest to
  bishop but it was very difficult and unlikely

30
MINOR ORDERS

• Men who had joined Church and accepted its
  jurisdiction but who were not ordained as priests
• Many monks included in this category
• Served as clerks and secretaries to Church and
  lay leaders
• Also copied manuscripts and served as teachers,
  interpreters, and translators
• Because the were agents of literacy in a
  basically illiterate world, these made a vital
  contribution to civilization for the next 200
  years