Showdown at St. Peter's

I enjoyed, perhaps a little too much, the In Our Time podcast on the Concordat of Worms (12/15/11).

As every schoolchild knows, the Concordat of Worms - "an agreement between Pope Callixtus II and Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor on September 23, 1122" (Wikipedia) - tied up some ecclesiastical loose ends and helped clarify the roles of church and state, and, more specifically, the relationship between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor.

The Concordat itself is not without interest, but what I found most diverting was the series of events leading up to the agreement, which included:

• The excommunication of Henry IV in 1076, which greatly weakened his political position.  (Fun fact:  During his colorful reign, Henry was excommunicated five times by three different popes.)
• The election by the Germans of Rudolf of Rheinfelden as anti-king of the Germans in 1077.
• Henry IV's defeat of Rudolf (accompanied by Rudolf's death) at the Battle on the Elster in 1080.

Rudolf dis-armed

• The betrayal of Henry IV by Henry V in 1106, the defeat of Henry V's army by Henry IV, followed by the illness and untimely death of Henry IV in that same year.

At this point, Henry V has won the field and is clearly the rightful Holy Roman Emperor, both by right of hereditary succession and because the other contestants are dead.  Now all he has to do is get the Pope to crown him.  In Our Time picks up the story:

• Melvyn - We've got our horse now, because Henry V was the emperor who went to the Concordat of Worms in 1122, so, briskly, what sort of emperor was he?

• Henrietta Lyser - Well, he gets bad press because he betrays his father.  But, equally, he's also very careful, because he knows what the game is.  So he's very careful, actually, during one of the protracted negotiations with the Papacy...he gets absolution for his father, and he manages to get him re-buried with considerable dignity at Speyer cathedral.  There are so many different fights going on.  So I think Henry V does what he can for imperial dignity.

• Melvyn - Fine, now we're going to drive towards the Concordat through the investiture controversy. John Gilliam, the Pope at the time of Henry V's coronation was Paschal II, and Henry tries to strike a deal with him over the investiture controversy.  Can you just say what moves they made?

• John Gilliam - Well, because Henry V had managed to rescue his dynasty - the family dynasty -  by portraying himself as a man willing to make a peace with the popes, unlike his father; a man very sympathetic to the cause of Church reform.  In order to follow logically with that he had to come to terms, negotiate with Pope Paschal II.   And the obvious occasion to do that is when he wants to be emperor, wants to get crowned in Rome.  And so in the year 1110 he marches south with a huge army, perhaps the biggest army the German emperors ever had, thanks to a lot of money he had got from England because he had been betrothed to Matilda, the daughter of Henry I.  And with all that money he goes south with a huge army and meets the Pope's envoys not very far out of Rome at the beginning of February, 1111.

[A deal is negotiated to resolve in the investiture controversy, under which bishops focus on souls, and give up their worldly rents and emoluments.]

• Melvyn - And then what happened, Kate Cushing?

• Kate Cushing - On Henry's coronation day, there is an uproar in St. Peter's.  

Welcome to Thunderdome

• Melvyn - Inside the...

• Kate Cushing - Inside the the basilica.  The clergy, the magnates, are are horrified.  Henry V then refuses to sign the documents, Pascal refuses then to crown him.  In the uproar, with his very large army, Henry V seizes as many cardinals, magnates, priests, and the Pope, as he can.  

After turning back various rescue attempts, Henry "left Rome carrying the Pope with him. Paschal's failure to obtain assistance drew from him a confirmation of the king's right of investiture and a promise to crown him emperor.  The coronation ceremony accordingly took place on 13 April, after which the emperor returned to Germany..." (Wikipedia)

The moral of that story being, I think: don't fuck with emperors who have large armies in your basilica.  This is one of those special rules that is applicable only on certain occasions, but sure to give good service when those occasions arise.

Later on they patched it all up with the Concordat of Worms.

All good?
All good.

And let history note that Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, was a straight-up badass playa who redeemed his father and his dynasty, compelled Rome to recognize his rightful status as Holy Roman Emperor, and reconciled with the Church, through the judicious use of the  Biggest Army Ever.

And also a faithful servant of God

Respect, sir.