History glossary
Investiture Controversy
the medieval conflict over whether rulers or the Church controlled appointments to church offices.
- Category
- Church conflict
- Region
- Europe
- Date range
- 11th-12th centuries
What it means
The Investiture Controversy was the eleventh- and twelfth-century struggle over whether secular rulers or the Church controlled the appointment and symbolic investiture of bishops and abbots. It became the central clash between papal and imperial authority.
Stories using this term
The Rise of the Medieval Church
From the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Avignon papacy, this story traces how the Christian Church built its authority through bishops, monasteries, missions, reform, and direct confrontation with Europe's rulers.
The Holy Roman Empire
From Otto I’s coronation to Napoleon’s upheaval, emperors, princes, bishops and cities built a political order sustained by contested and shared authority.
