The second reform, the correction of simony, had for its ultimate object the freeing of the lands and offices of the Church from the control of temporal lords and princes, and the bringing of them more completely into the hands of the Roman bishop.
The evil of simony[1] had grown up in the Church in the following way: As the feudal system took possession of European society, the Church, like individuals and cities, assumed feudal relations. Thus, as we have already seen, abbots and bishops, as the heads of monasteries and churches, for the sake of protection, became the vassals of powerful barons or princes. When once a prelate had rendered homage for his estates, or temporalities, as they were called, these became thenceforth a permanent fief of the overlord, and upon the death of the holder could be re-bestowed by the lord upon whomsoever he chose. These Church estates and positions that thus came within the gift of the temporal princes were often given to unworthy court favorites, or sold to the highest bidder. So long as a considerable portion of the clergy sustained this vassal relation to the feudal lords, the Papal See could not hope to exercise any great authority over them.
To remedy the evil, Gregory issued a decree that no ecclesiastic should do homage to a temporal lord, but that he should receive the ring and staff, the symbols of investiture, from the hands of the Pope alone. Any one who should dare disobey the decree was threatened with the anathemas of the Church. Such was the bold measure by which Gregory proposed to wrest out of the hands of the feudal lords and princes the vast patronage and immense revenues resulting from the relation they had gradually come to sustain to a large portion of the lands and riches of the Church. To realize the magnitude of the proposed revolution, we must bear in mind that the Church at this time was in possession of probably one-half of the lands of Europe.
Excommunications and Interdicts.—The principal instru-
- ↑ By simony is meant the purchase of an office in the Church, the name of the offence coming from Simon Magus, who offered Paul money for the gift of curing diseases.
