From Investiture to Worms: European Development and the Rise of Political Authority

The endogenous consequences of competition between the Roman Catholic Church and lay political rulers set into motion by the Investiture Controversy contribute new insights into European economic, political, and religious devel-opment. The resolution of the Investiture Controversy in the concordats of London (1107), Paris (1107), and Worms (1122) resulted in an increase in the bargaining power of lay rulers over the selection of bishops in wealthier dioceses relative to poorer dioceses. Empirical evidence exploiting the timing of the adoption of the concordats interacted with a variety of time-invariant measures of diocesan wealth yields results consistent with this account—adoption of the concordats led bishops to become more aligned with lay political authorities in wealthier dioceses relative to poorer dioceses. These findings suggest the incentives created by the concordats played a role, hundreds of years before the Protestant Reformation, in the rise of lay political authority and its association with economic prosperity.