Eli’s Mind

(1) What were the problems besetting the Church in the tenth and eleventh centuries? What was “moderate reform”?

During the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Church faced issues such as simony, lay investiture, clerical marriage and celibacy. “Moderate Reform”, installed by Pope Leo IX, was an attempt at silencing and dealing with these impediments. The pope essentially asked that laymen choose candidates for church offices who were of good moral value.

(2) Describe the events that took place during the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV. What was at stake?

Gregory VII and Henry IV had a raging conflict over the dominating system for nominating church leadership, lay investiture. After Gregory installed the “radical reform”, which threatened the kings control over the church, he and Henry battled over the increasing power of the clergy. This ultimately lead to the historic excommunications of the king. Despite the effort and hard work done by the pope to separate church and state, Henry had rallied his base of power and finally exiled the pope.

(3) What was Christendom?

Christendom historically refers to the Catholic states, countries, and empires where the faith of Christianity dominated, prevailed, or was culturally or historically intertwined with the governance of the nation.