WORMS, CONCORDAT OF

Also called the Pactum Calixtinum (Sept. 23, 1122), it ended the investiture struggle. After two weeks of negotiation between the Emperor henry v and legates of callistus ii, each side issued a formal concession in favor of the other. To the Church, the emperor conceded the right to invest any bishop or abbot with ring and crozier, symbols of the prelate's spiritual authority. Everywhere in the empire, election was to be canonical and consecration free. Callistus, on his part, conceded to Henry personally the privilege of having elections to German bishoprics and abbeys held in his presence. Moreover, if the electing chapter divided between two candidates, the emperor was to settle the dispute in favor of the sanior pars. Before consecration, the electee was to receive his temporalities (regalia) from the emperor, who invested him with a scepter. In Italy and Burgundy, election was to be local and investiture automatic within six months after consecration. The settlement was thus a compromise effected to end the hostilities honorably for both sides.

Bibliography: Monumenta Germaniae Constitutiones (Berlin 1826–) 1.1:159–161, for the text, ed. l. weiland. b. gebhardt, Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, ed. h. grundmann (Stuttgart 1954–60) 1:278–280. a. hofmeister, "Das Wormser Konkordat: Zum Streit um seine Bedeutung," Forschungen und Versuche zur Geschichte des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit: Festschrift Dietrich Schäfer (Jena 1915) 64–148. g. barraclough, tr., Mediaeval Germany, 911–1250: Essays by German Historians, 2 v. (Oxford 1938) 1:98–102.

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Worms, Concordat of (1122) Agreement between Holy Roman Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II settling the investiture conflict, a struggle between the Empire and the papacy over control of Church offices. The Emperor agreed to the free election of Bishops and Abbots, and surrendered his claim to invest them with the spiritual symbols of ring and staff. They were, however, obliged to pay homage to him as feudal overlord for their temporal possessions.