312 Gregorian reform
use of such writing was slow, and an oral tradition pre-
vailed throughout the Middle Ages.
See alsoANTIPHON; FEASTS AND FESTIVALS; MUSIC.
Further reading: Willi Apel, Gregorian Chant
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1958); Richard
L. Crocker, An Introduction to Gregorian Chant (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000); Richard
Crocker and David Hiley, eds. The New Oxford History of
Music,Vol. 2, The Early Middle Ages to 1300(Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1990); David Hiley, Western
Plainchant: A Handbook(Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1992); Hendrick van der Werf, The Emergence of Grego-
rian Chant: A Comparative Study of Ambrosian, Roman and
Gregorian Chant,2 vols. (Rochester; N.Y.: Author, 1983).
Gregorian reform The inclusive term Gregorian
reformhas designated primarily the reform of the church
conceived and attempted by Pope GREGORYVII between
1073 and 1085, but it should also include the ecclesiasti-
cal reforms begun in the mid-11th century and affecting
almost every aspect of the life of the church. Reform of
the moral and pastoral life of the clergy, especially pro-
moting clerical CELIBACYand a serious struggle against
SIMONYand NICOLAITISM, had begun well before the pon-
tificate of Gregory VII. This larger program was promoted
by all the popes from the mid-11th century. The reform
of Pope Gregory concentrated on the question of rela-
tions and power of the LAITYover investiture and the
property of the church.
Gregory VII sought to give the papacy a greater inde-
pendence from the imperial power, perhaps in fact to be
able to control it. From 1059, the election of the pope
had been in the hands of the COLLEGE OFCARDINALS
alone Gregory’s DICTATUS PAPAEof 1075 explicitly claimed
the superiority of the pope in the spiritual sphere and his
authority over the emperor. This launched a great quarrel
between the papacy and the clergy with the empire and
the noble elite of CHRISTENDOMtaking sides. The papacy
from then on often sought to control both the spiritual
and temporal spheres and even to intervene directly in
the political life of the developing states of western
Europe. These pretensions to such wide papal power
were also great stumbling blocks to a reconciliation
between the Eastern and Western Churches.
Ideally this program meant that the choice of
prelates, bishops, and abbots, and benefice holders,
canons, and parish priests was to be made in accordance
with the rules of the newly elaborated canon law. That
meant essentially clerical control, presumably without
money changing hands or much lay influence. If investi-
ture in an ecclesiastical office had been given by lay
authority, this was to have no bearing on the spiritual
aspect of priestly or clerical function or the status of the
new officeholder. By 1095, these rules were expanded to
include a prohibition on the clergy to pay any kind of
homage to a lay person. Furthermore, the church was to
have complete and unrestricted control of the properties
linked with an office or a BENEFICE; the family of the
cleric or priest would have no right over it or its fruits.
These were to remain issues between the clergy and the
laity throughout the Middle Ages.
See also ANTICLERICALISM;BONIFACE VIII, POPE;
CLERGY AND CLERICAL ORDERS;GREGORYIX, POPE;INNO-
CENTIII, POPE; INVESTITURE CONTROVERSY AND DISPUTES;
LAITY; LAW, CANON AND ECCLESIASTICAL; PAPACY;PASCHAL
II, POPE; REFORM, IDEA OF.
Further reading:John Gilchrist, trans., The Collec-
tion in Seventy-Four Titles: A Canon Law Manual of the
Gregorian Reform(Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediae-
val Studies, 1980); Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy:
Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Refor-
mation(Cambridge: B. Blackwell, 1992); Jack Lord, Saint
Peter Damiani and His Canonical Sources: A Preliminary
Study in the Antecedents of the Gregorian Reform(Toronto:
Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1956).Gregory I the Great, Saint(540–604)Roman magis-
trate, lawyer, monk, pope, doctor of the church
Born at Rome about 540, Gregory was the well-educated
son of an aristocratic Roman family and the great-great-
grandson of an earlier pope, Felix III (r. 483–492). He
began his adult life on a career path that would have led
him to the highest offices of what was left of the govern-
ment of the Roman Empire in the West. By 573 he was
the prefect of Rome, the highest civil official of the city.
However, he renounced this career in 574 and retired into
a life of austere monastic contemplation. His vast prop-
erty holdings he either sold for the relief of the poor or
used for the endowment of monasteries in SICILY.
Pelagius II (r. 579–590) became pope in 579, when
Rome itself was under siege by the LOMBARDS. The new
pope summoned Gregory from his monastery, ordained
him a deacon, and sent him as his personal representative
to the BYZANTINEcourt at CONSTANTINOPLE. There he was
to tell the emperor of the urgent need in ITA LYfor defense
against BARBARIAN invaders. Gregory stayed in Con-
stantinople for almost six years but had little success
since the emperor was too preoccupied with the defense
of the eastern frontier against the Persians to help remedy
the situation in the West.
About the same time, Leander (ca. 540–ca. 600), the
bishop of SEVILLE, was also in Constantinople on a mis-
sion for Visigothic Spain. He encouraged Gregory to write
the Moralia,a commentary on the biblical book of Job
that became a model for biblical exegesis for the rest of
the Middle Ages. About 585 Gregory returned home and
became the abbot of his monastery. At the death of Pelag-
ius II in February of 590, the people of Rome demanded
that Gregory succeed him as pontiff. He tried to escape
from the troubled city to avoid the responsibilities of the