The Crisis in the Investiture Crisis Narrative

Abstract

Recent research has undermined the connection between lay investiture and the iconic event usually seen as the most dramatic expression of the investiture conflict: the encounter of Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV of Germany at Canossa. This is just one, however, of many interpretive problems plaguing historical narratives of the investiture crisis. This essay briefly summarizes the classic interpretations that have dominated 20th‐century understanding of these events and sets out the major problem raised in more recent research. Arguing that a new interpretive framework is necessary, the author suggests two paths forward: a radical reconsideration of the papacy from a truly post‐confessional perspective and a reevaluation of the conflict in the context of new understandings of lordship and political change.

Homo Corruptus

“…"O tratado proporciona o pano de fundo teórico para a Reforma Gregoriana", adicionaria Riccardo Baldissone (2016, p. 118). Com tais livros, "um novo terreno fora marcado nas fronteiras da crença", resumiu Brett E. Whalen em frase lapidar (FLICHE, 1915, p. 41-76;MILLER, 2009MILLER, , p. 1572TELLENBACH, 1959, p. 108-112;WHALEN, 2009, p. 31). Os medievais, por sua vez, parecem não ter partilhado semelhante reverência.…”

Flodoard of Rheims and the historiography of the tenth‐century West

“…Hamilton, ). At the same time, the value of reform as an analytical concept is now a subject of considerable debate (Barrow, ; Leyser, ; Melve, ; Miller, ). Can one speak of reform without falling into teleology?…”