v19_0516 - CHAMPAGNE - ARCHEVÊCHÉ DE REIMS - MANASSÈS IER Denier

CHAMPAGNE - ARCHBISHOPRIC OF REIMS - MANASSES I

(1069-1083)

The second half of the 11th century and the first years of the 12th century were dominated on the religious level by the problem of lay investitures and by the reform of the Church. The need for the latter was proclaimed by Leo IX during the Council of Reims in 1049. Archbishop Gervais, predecessor of Manasses, gave a vigorous impetus to the reform movement. Manassès, for his part, seems, without being hostile to the reform movement, not to have the makings of a champion of the freedoms of the Gallican Church. He was accused of simony and then deposed by Gregory VII in 1080. He was replaced in 1083 by a moderate, Renaud du Bellay, a high dignitary of the Church of Tours, while in 1089 the pope of Champagne, Urban II, granted the pontiffs of Reims the primacy on their province of Belgium Second. The principle of royal control over the devolution of the archiepiscopal seat was then definitively called into question and a compromise settled the problem of lay investiture in the first years of the 12th century. In 1106, Archbishop Raoul le Vert agrees to take the oath to the new King Louis VI.