Chronology of the Papal-Imperial Conflict

  • 870-962 Period of rampant papal corruption
  • 1039-1056 Reign of Henry III, height of Holy Roman Empire
  • 1044-1046 Three rival popes claims office after Pope Benedict IX sells the office, then recants.
  • 1046 Henry III deposes the three popes and begins a papal reform movement
  • 1049-1054 Pontificate of Leo IX; Leo begins serious reform of simony, the practice of selling church offices
  • 1054 The Great Schism; Western Roman Church and Eastern Orthodox Church break, pronouncing anathemas on each other.
  • 1056-1106 Reign of Henry IV, main opponent to papal claims of authority
  • 1059 Papal Election Decree; pope now to be chosen by college of cardinals
  • 1073-1085 Pontificate of Gregory VII
  • 1075 Gregory VII proclaims his list of papal prerogatives, Dictatus Papae; he bans lay investiture
  • 1076 Gregory VII excommunicates and deposes Henry IV; German nobles threaten to elect a new ruler.
  • 1077 Henry IV forced to humble himself before Gregory VII at Canossa
  • 1080 Second excommunication and deposition of Henry IV; Henry invades Italy
  • 1088-1099 Pontificate of Urban II
  • 1095 First Crusade
  • 1106-1125 Reign of Henry V, less interested in maintaining imperial authority
  • 1122 Concordat of Worms, recognized the right of the emperor to have symbolical territorial jurisdiction, but also stressed the separate authority of the papacy to make its own ecclesiastical appointments
  • 1152-1190 Reign of Frederick I, Barbarossa; second wave of royal opposition to papal control; tries to regain imperial control of Lombardy.
  • 1154-1159 Pontificate of Hadrian IV. Handrian acts as a chief opponent to Frederick I.
  • 1155 Execution of Arnold of Brescia, spiritual leader of the patrene rebellion in Rome, which attempted to strip papacy of its political power and wealth.
  • 1159-1181 Pontificate of Alexander III
  • 1176 Lombards defeat Barbarossa at Legnano
  • 1180 Barbarossa defeats Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony
  • 1190-1197 Reign of Henry VI
  • 1194 Henry VI becomes king of Sicily
  • 1198-1216 Pontificate of Innocent III--height of papal power in the medieval period
  • 1211-1250 Reign of Frederick II; declares a return to imperial doctrine of emperor as "God's vicar on earth."
  • 1214 Philip Augustus defeats Otto of Brunswick at Bouvines
  • 1215 Fourth Lateran Council begins the Inquisition, defines the doctrine of transubstantiation, and refines the process of the Mass.
  • 1227-1241 Pontificate of Gregory IX--suspends Frederick II as emperor
  • 1232 Gregory IX forced to flee before rebellion in city of Rome
  • 1243-1254 Pontificate of Innocent IV
  • 1245 First Council of Lyons--Innocent IV excommunicates Frederick II
  • 1254-1273 Interregnum in Germany--no imperial ruler
  • 1273-1291 Reign of Rudolph of Hapsburg, gives up imperial claims for recognition by the papacy
  • 1274 Second Council of Lyons--Gregory X attempts to heal the Great Schism with Eastern Orthodoxy; no lasting results.
  • 1282-1302 War of Sicilian Vespers, Sicilian independence gained from Holy Roman Empire for a century
  • 1291 Fall of Acre, Last Crusade ends
  • 1294-1303 Pontificate of Boniface VIII
  • 1302 Boniface VIII issues Unam Sanctam
  • 1303 Boniface VIII humiliated at Anagni by agents of Philip IV
  • 1305-1314 Pontificate of Clement V; papacy moves to Avignon
  • 1303-1378 Babylonian Captivity of papacy at Avignon; papacy controlled by Capetian kings.
  • 1378-1417 Papal schism: Two lines of popes result--one in France, the other in Rome
  • 1409 Council of Pisa--elects pope to rival first two lines; ends up creating three lines.
  • 1414-1418 Council of Constance--deposes Benedict XII (Avignon) and John XXIII (Pisa), recognizes the Roman line and elects Martin V as the new pope (1417).
  • 1417-1431 Pontificate of Martin V
  • 1431-1449 Council of Basel declared itself superior to the pope and worked to resolve various political issues. It eventually dissolves under pressure from Frederick III and Pope Martin V; end of the conciliar movement
  • 1440-1493 Reign of Frederick III
  • 1458-1464 Pontificate of Pius II
  • 1464 Pius II's attempt at leading a crusade fails