I’m doing a board game on the Middle Ages for history class, and I want to include the Investiture Controversy. One problem… I have no idea what it was, and the explanations online are all really inaccessible. Help!
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It was a conflict between political leaders (i.e. kings and emperors) and religious leaders (i.e. the Pope) during the Middle Ages.
Investiture is basically the power to appoint new bishops and other high church officials, and both sides wanted that power. The kings thought they should be able to install bishops in their lands, and the Pope thought only he should be able to do that. This was a recurring point of conflict between kings and popes throughout the Middle Ages as part of a general theme of religious versus political authority.
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