The basis for papal claims to authority in the late 5th and early 6th centuries arose from the mighty conflict between emperor and pope, which is known as the Investiture Struggle. This struggle originated between the bishops of two world powers at this time: the Bishop of Rome in the West and the Bishop of Constantinople in the East. In this paper, I will describe how this conflict was settled and the issues that arose between the two powers. I will also make reference to the account of Pope Gregory I, who is the main source on solving the struggle.

Being bishop of a prestigious city naturally brought about increases stature, and until 476 Rome had been the most powerful city in the Western world. This automatically gave the Roman bishop an extreme sense of power in the Western Mediterranean, where there were no rival cities with which Rome had to compete against. However, the East had a city to contest this prestige-Constantinople. The bishop of this city never did conform to Roman claims, and he had a power of another kind, not as prestigious, and stemming from a different source.

The Bishop of Rome had been making claims to power over all other bishops an

The East, on the other hand, was a "... hotbed of heresy..."(Knox). Cities such as Constantinople and Alexandria were permanently tainted by the fact , considering that some of their own bishops had been leading figures in those heresies. No heresy, however, had ever flourished at Rome.

In 578, against Gregory's will, Pope Benedict I made him one of the seven deacons of Rome. Later on, when word was received that the Lombards were again advancing on the city, he was sent by Pope Pelagius II to be the permanent ambassador to Rome at Consantinople. He remained there for six years. It is said that, "...nothing could be less to his liking than the brilliant, protocol heavy, worldly court of the Emperor Tiberius...," (Sister Catherine).

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Approximate Word count = 1655
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)