Popes and Emperors 447 just, and to obey his admonitions. He explained, kindly but firmly, to William the Conqueror that the papal and kingly pow- ers are both established by God as the greatest among the authorities of the world, just as the sun and moon are the greatest of the heavenly bodies. But the papal power is obvi- ously superior to the kingly, for it is responsible for it ; at the Last Day, Gregory would have, he urged, to render an account of the king as one of the flock intrusted to his care. The king of France was warned to give up his practice of simony, lest he be excommunicated and his subjects freed from their oath of allegiance. All these acts of Gregory appear to have been dictated not by worldly ambition but by a fervent con- viction of their righteousness and of his heavy responsibility toward all men. Section j6. Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV Obviously Gregory's plan of reform included all the states of western Europe, but conditions were such that the most strik- ing conflict took place between him and the Emperor. The trouble came about in this way. Henry IV 's father had died in 1056, leaving only his good wife Agnes and their little son of six years to maintain the hard-fought prerogatives of the German king in the midst of ambitious vassals, whom even the strong Otto the Great had found it difficult to control. In 1065 the fifteen-year-old lad, Henry IV, was declared of Accession of age, and his lifelong difficulties began with a great rebellion of loesl^Xrouble the Saxons. They accused the young king of having built castles ^'^^ ^^^ ^°P^ in their land and of filling them with rough soldiers who preyed upon the people. Pope Gregory felt it his duty to interfere. To him the Saxons appeared a people oppressed by a heedless youth guided by evil counselors. But Henry continued to asso- ciate with counselors whom the Pope had excommunicated and went on filling important bishoprics in Germany and Italy, • regardless of the Pope's prohibitions.
