Doctrine of the two swords

In Catholicism, the doctrine (or theory) of the two swords is an exegesis of Luke 22:38 elaborated in the Middle Ages. It can be understood as a particular justification for the Gelasian doctrine of "the sacred authority of the priesthood and the royal power".^[1]

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding articles in Spanish, German and French. (May 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,017 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Doctrina de las dos espadas]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|es|Doctrina de las dos espadas}} to the talk page.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

This particular exegesis of "here are two swords ... it is enough" was first put forward by Peter Damian in the 1060s. It was later taken up by Gottschalk of Aachen on behalf of the Emperor Henry IV (1056–1105) against the claims of Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) during the Investiture Contest. In the 12th century, Bernard of Clairvaux, in his De consideratione, argued that both the "material sword" (gladius materialis) and the "spiritual sword" (gladius spiritualis) belonged ultimately to the Papacy.^[1]

By the early 13th century, the two swords were the subject of serious study and debate among canon lawyers and decretalists. The main question was whether Bernard was right. Had God given each sword to its rightful bearer, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, or had he given both to the Pope, who then bestowed the material sword on the emperor? When Pope Gregory IX started the War of the Keys against Emperor Frederick II in 1228, it was on the basis of a claim to control both swords. In any case, however, churchmen could not bear actual swords; the material swords was to be wielded by laymen, even if under papal authority.^[2]

[1]
Patrick Stephen Healy, "Two Swords, Doctrine of the", in Robert E. Bjork (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (Oxford University Press, 2010).
[2]
Brett Edward Whalen, The Two Powers: The Papacy, the Empire, and the Struggle for Sovereignty in the Thirteenth Century (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), p. 37.

Media related to Doctrine of the Two Swords at Wikimedia Commons

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding articles in Spanish, German and French. (May 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,017 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Doctrina de las dos espadas]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|es|Doctrina de las dos espadas}} to the talk page.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

[1]
Patrick Stephen Healy, "Two Swords, Doctrine of the", in Robert E. Bjork (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (Oxford University Press, 2010).
[2]
Brett Edward Whalen, The Two Powers: The Papacy, the Empire, and the Struggle for Sovereignty in the Thirteenth Century (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), p. 37.

Media related to Doctrine of the Two Swords at Wikimedia Commons

Wikiwand in your browser!

Doctrine of the two swords

Wikiwand in your browser!

References

External links