936–973

Otto I and the Church Policy of the Holy Roman Empire

Carolingian power had collapsed, and Northmen, Saracens and Magyars carried out devastating raids. Against this background the German king Otto I relied on bishops and archbishops as an administrative counterweight to unruly nobles. He granted them lands in exchange for loyalty (ecclesiastical investiture). Clerical celibacy ruled out hereditary claims to these holdings.

In 962 Pope John XII crowned Otto emperor, founding the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. But Otto soon came to control papal elections in practice. This brought the Church not peace but frequent rivalry among several claimants to the see of Peter.