Conflict between Gregory VII and Henry IV 279 Eternal King and without danger to our soul, we might moderate the decree as passed by the holy fathers, and we would yield to their counsels. Even without our friendly admonitions it would have been but right that, before thou didst violate apostolic decrees, thou shouldst reasonably have appealed to us in cases where we oppressed thee or infringed thy prerogatives. But how little thou didst esteem our commands or the dictates of justice is shown by those things which thou afterwards didst. But' since the long-suffering patience of God still invites thee to amend thy ways, we have hopes that thy under- standing may be awakened, and thy heart and mind be bent to obey the mandates of God : we exhort thee with paternal love to recognize the dominion of Christ over thee and to reflect how dangerous it is to prefer thine own honor to his. Henry, irritated not so much by the tone of the above letter as by the reproaches of Gregory's legates, sent the following violent reply, January 24, IO76. 1 Henry, King not by usurpation but by holy ordination of God, 112. Henry to Hildebrand, now no Pope but false monk : IV ' S violent reply to Such greeting as this hast thou merited through thy dis- Gregory. , turbances, for there is no rank in the Church but thou hast brought upon it, not honor but disgrace, not a blessing but a curse. To mention a few notable cases out of the many, thou hast not only dared to assail the rulers of the holy Church, the anointed of the Lord, archbishops, bishops, and priests, but thou hast trodden them under foot like slaves ignorant of what their master is doing. By so crush- ing them thou hast won the favor of the common herd; thou hast regarded them all as knowing nothing, thyself alone as knowing all things. Yet this knowledge thou hast 1 Henry appears to have prepared two replies to the pope's letter. This is the second draft, more violent than one which Henry had dispatched just before. See discussion in Richter's Annalen der deut- tchcn Geschichtc, Vol. II, pp. 202-203.
