2 - ELECTORAL THEORY

Summary

THE CANON LAW OF EPISCOPAL ELECTIONS UP TO 1140

Canon law prescribed that a bishop had to be elected. Recently Andreas Thier has scrutinised the development of episcopal elections in canon law up to 1140. According to him, in late antiquity election by clerus and populus meant their examination of an already nominated candidate rather than their free choice. In the fifth century, the legislation of Pope Celestine I and Pope Leo I changed the meaning of election: the electors were given free choice. However, in the period between the seventh and the eleventh centuries, when the selection of the bishop was dominated by the ruler, the election was little more than a formality conveying consent to the ruler's will.

The orientation of canon law changed in the course of the eleventh century when the papacy started to spearhead the Gregorian reform movement. Intent on realising the claim of papal supremacy and releasing the church from local dependencies, the reformers battled against simony, clerical marriage, and, towards the end of the eleventh century, increasingly also against lay investiture. They used the conservative and innovative nature of canon law both as their base and as a weapon to achieve their aims. Canon law provided a considerable number of the texts that inspired and justified their ideas. Reformers organised these texts in collections which became powerful promoters of their cause. In addition, the popes used their capacity to convoke councils to make canon law that suited the interests of the reformers.