Argomenti di natura giuridica e strumenti della comunicazione pubblica durante la lotta per le investiture

During the Investiture Controversy, arguments of a juridical nature were used in preaching\r\ndue to both their performative potencial, as described by Bourdieu, and the very nature of the\r\ncomplex mass of conflicts and problems that we are used to ascribing to that phase in European\r\nhistory. Indeed categories such as simony, nicolaitism, lay investiture required a predominantly\r\ncanonistic reflection. Traces of this huge «war of words» are actually more closely tied to the\r\npractices of writing than to the verbal sphere, but significant episodes of contamination are\r\nnot lacking. In fact, the complexity of these debates hindered their easy translation into terms\r\nuseful to the immediate controversy, which often involved not only lay persons of high rank\r\nwith access to the necessary clerical assistance but also large groups of citizens. For this reason\r\nthe Investiture Controversy also involved some forms of “non verbal” communication, such as\r\nthe trials by ordeal and the so-called “liturgical strike”, which were able to frame complex juridical\r\nproblems.