Investiture Controversy (redirected from Dispute concerning investitures)

Investiture Controversy

Struggle between the papacy and the secular rulers of Europe over the latter's presentation of the symbols of office to churchmen. Pope Gregory VII condemned lay investiture in 1078 as an unjustified assertion of secular authority over the church; the issue was pivotal in his dispute with King Henry IV and in the larger struggle over Henry's refusal to obey papal commands. Henry successfully drove Gregory from Rome and installed an antipope, but it would be Gregory's rejection of lay investiture that would ultimately prevail. Henry I of England renounced lay investiture (1106) in return for the guarantee that homage would be paid to the king before consecration, and the Concordat of Worms (1122) forged a similar compromise between Henry V and Calixtus II.