Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Life and Times of Hildebrand: Pope Gregory VII
With Henry III the Empire attained its maximum of power, its maximum of in?uence upon the Roman See. In Rome no German sovereign had ever been so absolute. He became hereditary Patrician, and wore constantly the circlet of gold and the green mantle which were the badges of that office, seeming, as one might think, to find in it some further authority than that which the Imperial name conferred. To Henry was granted the nomination of the Pope, and by his instrumentality German after German succeeded to the Papacy, at the bidding of a ruler so powerful, so severe, and so pious.
A mere chance checked the course of Imperial patronage. The great Emperor died suddenly in 1056, leaving as his successor his son, a mere child, the unfortunate Henry IV.
Under the line of German popes the Papacy learned to borrow the strength of the Imperial system under which it had grown to power. So strengthened, the Papacy aimed at independence. A critical step was taken by entrusting the Papal election 'to the cardinal-bishops, priests and deacons, which aimed a blow at Imperial interference. Politically, an alliance with the Norman settlers in Southern Italy enabled the popes to count upon a counter-balance to the Imperial power. The Papacy slowly prepared to assert its independence.
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