The practice of secular princes and lords to appoint laymen of their choices to ecclesiastical positions. The practice was finally proscribed by the reforms of Hilderbrand (Pope Gregory VII) in the 12th Cent.
As the Catholic Church grew in extent across western Europe in the 11th Cent, it also became more and more powerful polically. Church offices, therefore, became highly significant nexus of local power. Any ambitious secular lord who could get one of the local bishops on his side, e.g., (or better still, to get one of his men elected as bishop), his grip on the local politics would have been augmented many times over. This became, naturally, a course for gross corruption, both in the politics and in the church. The problem was difficult to resolve, since many of the popes were themselves involved in the scandalous practice. Lay investitute was finally proscribed by Hilderbrand. After that all senior clergy, including all bishops and archdeacons in the churches in Western Europe had to be appointed by the Pope. Solving one problem, it added fuel to another: it made the pope even more powerful politically.
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