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.
