Hello and welcome to the history of not necessarily England, episode 56, the history of medieval

Europe, part 2.

So today we're going to bring the story of the Holy Roman Empire and the Pater Sea to

the end of the 12th century.

And then have a look at some other bits of the world we've been missing, Scandinavia,

Spain.

Then I'm going to end up with Byzantium and the horrors of the fourth crusade.

And Mark, my apologies, this episode is rather likely to be something of a fact explosion.

So let's go.

We ended last time talking about the first Reich, or the Holy Roman Empire, with the election

to the Pater Sea of one Hilda brand, elected as Gregory VII in 1073.

So about a hundred years after the death of Otto the Great.

If you're interested, the second Reich was the unified Germany established by Bismar

from 1871, and we all know about the Third Reich.

Anyway, Gregory is the man who starts what is known as the Investiture Crisis, which

has a fundamental impact on the history of Germany and the medieval world.

The word Investiture refers to the process of investing new bishops and abbots, or even

priests, with the symbols of their office.

And lay Investiture was where it was a secular lord or a king who gave those symbols,

i.e. basically choosing who would have the office.

And therefore, exercising control over what the church did.

Around 1100 Henry I of England had relatively easily agreed a deal whereby the Pope gave

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