If you are a Protestant, the church history you are familiar with probably consists of mostly the Reformation starting in the 1500s, which probably birthed the denomination you are a part of. You might also be familiar with some figures such as Augustine and Emperor Constantine from the Patristic Period. I want to turn your attention to a lesser-known character in history who played a pivotal role in reforming the church in the 11^th century. That man is Hildebrand of Sovana, also known as Pope Gregory VII.

The Cluniac Revival

Before Hildebrand and his effects on the church can be discussed, a brief run-through of his day and time is in order. In 909 A.D., the Duke of Aquitaine, William the Pious, founded a monastery in Cluny. This monastery was part of rebuilding society and injecting Christian values and morals into Western Europe after it had been hit hard by Norse invasions. The abbots of this monastery would lead a moral reform and plant other monasteries to reignite a love for piety in the church of the day. This reformation was not so much doctrinal as the one spearheaded by Martin Luther 600 years later, rather it was more focused on reforming the morality of the monasteries and church life. At this time, simony (the buying and selling of church positions) was rampant, monks were not living moral lives, and monks were not celibate.

The Cluniac revival lead to these issues being “solved” in their day, but it also grew into a movement to lead the church out from under the control of secular rulers. Though the Cluniac revival brought piety back to monasteries, the papacy was still in moral decay throughout the 900s. That was until the Cluniac king Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire (1039-56), a pious man devoted to reforming church and society, called a Synod and deposed the three (yes three) rival popes at the time in favor of Clement II, a German bishop fit for the office. This event is referred to as the “cleansing of the papacy” and is what gave the Cluniac revival the opportunity it needed to have a greater impact on Christendom.

Hildebrand’s Rise to the Papacy

That little history lesson takes us to Hildebrand. After Henry III’s cleansing of the papacy, a string of reforming popes rose to office. One such pope was Gregory VII, aka Hildebrand. Hildebrand was described as a short man with bright eyes and a weak voice. He had an unwavering devotion to justice, righteousness, and purity in the church. While he was devoted to these things, it is also said that he was open to doctrinal disagreements and was broad-minded on theological issues. Mixing all this with his dominating will and his ability to convince those around him to do what he wanted, it is no surprise that people either hated him or loved him. Even one of his friends called him a “holy Satan”, in jest.

In his day, Hildebrand saw how the governments of the world were misusing the church and oppressing the poor. He called them, “Christ’s poor ones”, and saw himself as their protector against the greed of secular powers. At the age of 50 in the year 1073, he was elected Pope Gregory VII after being a guiding voice for the reforming popes before him. Around this time the ideas of the “Church Militant” (the Christians on earth), and the “Church Triumphant” (Those in heaven) were being spoken of more and more as opposed to the idea of Christians being pilgrims on earth, the “Pilgrim Church” and the church in heaven, the “Church at rest”. Hildebrand carried the idea of the church militant with him in his outlook on life and it inspired the reforms he would make in the church.

In 1075 Hildebrand made a papal decree which said the following among others:

• The Roman Church was founded by God alone,
• Only the Roman pope is called universal,
• Only the pope can depose ad reinstate bishops,
• The pope is the only one whose feet all the princes must kiss,
• The pope may depose emperors,
• The pope may be judged by no one,
• The Roman Church has never erred and will never err,
• And he who is not in conformity with the church should not be considered Catholic,

Many of these might be striking to us protestants, but more on that later.

Growing Conflict

Along with these decrees, Hildebrand also fought against lay investiture. Lay investiture is when, by his own choice, a king or ruler would appoint or “invest” a man as bishop or abbot over an area or monastery. If there was a righteous king in the land this might be a good thing, but most of the time these bishops were put in place for political reasons rather than their commitment to God. Hildebrand saw the corruption in the church as stemming from the interests of secular rulers and appointees, so he directly attacked lay investiture to strike at the root of the problem. He saw this act as an unholy infringement on the church which biblically should be free of secular control. By restoring the monasteries and churches to papal authority, Hildebrand would effectively be cleansing them of secular influence and allow the church to return to serving God freely.

The ensuing events after his decrees are known as the investiture conflict. This is where Hildebrand’s story starts to get crazy. He decreed Henry IV (1065-1105) of the Holy Roman Empire should stop investiture or be excommunicated. Hildebrand knew how much of a force to be reckoned with Henry was, and if he was able to defeat him then the church could easily be freed from secular grasp across Europe. It was not an easy task and Henry did not back down. Eventually, Henry was excommunicated, and this caused all his allies to desert him, sending Henry into exile. This was not the last Hildebrand would hear of Henry though, as he would travel to a castle in north Italy where Hildebrand was staying and ask for forgiveness while standing with his wife and kids in the snow and cold. After some convincing Hildebrand, living justice, knew the right thing to do was restore Henry to the church, though he was not dumb and suspected he would be betrayed.

After Henry’s reconciliation with the church, he was able to rise back to power in Germany, and after a civil war with the current ruling powers and a march on Rome, he would place his own pope on the throne, Clement III, and send Hildebrand into exile, just as he had expected. Hildebrand would live the rest of his days with his Nordic allies and died a year later in 1085 with some of his last words being, “I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore, I die in exile.”

Power-hungry Pope, or a Man Who Loved Righteousness?

So, what should be made of Hildebrand and his story? As Protestants, his papal decrees are jarring to us. Many of those very decrees were used to anathematize the Reformers. They would also quickly be misused by the popes following him. Arguably, these decrees are some reasons why Pope Urban II was able to end investiture later on, but it was also this newfound authority that allowed him to initiate the 1^st Crusade. Hildebrand saw the corruption in the church that stemmed from secular influence and wanted to end it by elevating the papacy, though his views on the church’s role in society would cause him to say that the pope could depose and instate kings, something most protestants today would disagree with. All this being considered, Hildebrand was a man who had an unrivaled zeal for righteousness and he wanted to see the church purified from internal immorality and external evils.

In his own works, Hildebrand saw the secular rulers as oppressive to the poor and even compared them to Satan when they had priests bow down and kiss their feet. In his Letter to Bishop Hermann of Metz (1081) he says in his concluding paragraph,

“In brief, any good Christian has a better right than a bad prince has to think himself a king. For a good Christian seeks to glorify God, and rules over himself strictly, whereas a bad prince seeks his own interest rather than God’s and is an enemy of his own soul and a tyrannical oppressor of others.”

He continues,

“Faithful Christians are the body of Christ, the true King, evil rulers are the body of the devil.”

Hildebrand – Letter to Bishop Hermann of Metz (1081)

Hildebrand was not seeking to make the papacy powerful for his own gain or the gain of the church, rather he saw all Christians, all kings, and all people as subjugate to the true king that is Christ and wanted to build a society that reflected that truth. Sadly for him and his aspirations, this would not be. Not long after his death the reforms and new powers he invested into the office of the pope would be gravely misused to bring about the same oppression the from the church as was seen from the secular rulers. The Reformers would eventually echo Hildebrand’s sentiments on secular authority, except they went further saying not only is the church not subservient to secular authorities, but that it is not subject to clerical authority when it has departed from scripture, because Christ is the ruler of his church. Hildebrand has rightfully gone down as one of the great popes in history.

Further Reading:

• Needham, Nick. 2000 Years of Christ’s Power, Vol. 2 The Middle Ages. Chapter 4, The Cluniac Revival.
• NewAdvent.org https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06791c.htm
• Shelly, Bruce L. Church History in Plain Language, 2nd Edition. Chapter 18, The Christian Middle Ages.