Investiture Controversy Essay -- Church, Pope Gregory VII

The ruler Otto controlled the church during his reign by making bishops and abbots royal princes and agents to him (425). The revival of the church however, began as the German empire weakened in the eleventh century (425). During this time, the Church declared its independence from the governments’ control by embracing a reform movement, The Cluny Reform Movement (425). The reform established at the Cluny monastary in France, aimed at â€Å"freeing the church from secular political influence and control† (425). The reformers were supported in their efforts by popular respect for the church as people admired clerics and monks (425). During this time, any man had the opportunity to become Pope; the Pope was supposed to be elected by the people and clergy of Rome (425). The church also promised a better life to peoples whose current was relatively harsh (425). The reformers condemned the state’s contemporary mixing of religions and secular institutions as well as t he clergy’s subservience to royal authority (425). They taught that the Pope alone commanded the clergy and they demanded separa...