The Research Series: Research Question

     Coming into this class, I can proudly say that I did not know much also Medieval history of any kind. Although I am a history major, my main focus is that of American history. Which one can easily see why I know much of nothing about Medieval history beforehand. But as a history major, I find myself using the word “why” a lot. That word comes up when I am puzzled about people in history’s motives or movements in society. The word “why” in this class has crossed my mind more given that I never had any knowledge of Medieval Europe in-depth before. One of the topics that I would love to know more about is that of the Investiture Conflict.

     To me, the Investiture Conflict would be thought as a early argument between church and state. The conflict had to do with power and holy, which was more control and which should be separate. Of course, it had to do with land but a bigger issue that it had to do with was who had the power to appoint people in high positions (i.e. bishops). Was the King the person to appoint bishops or was it the Pope. It’s a puzzling argument because the bishop who was appointed by whomever is controlled by said person. That bishop would have to be loyal to the one who appointed him. The conflict begs the question should that bishop be in that office for a political reasons or for the sake of the church. I believe that this issue led to the problems it did between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV.

     The clash between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV is one of the main reasons why I want to know more about this conflict. To me, I find it interesting in the reasoning why some chose to side with the pope and while others sided with the emperor. I can see , on the business side, why some sided with the emperor and on the religious side, why others sided with the pope. But the picking and choosing sides, to me, seems like it would be a difficult choice. But I guess, it would then fall on the issue on whether you believe that you can not control society but you can control your faith, vice versa. I’m mainly interested in the attitude in the people during this time and narrowing down the importance of this conflict. I also would why this issue did not happen early on, for it is a issue of power and holy .