its close in 1122 the Church and the Empire were counterposed as
mutually exclusive autocracies, the one claiming illimitable spiritual
sway, the other recognized as no less illimitably paramount in civil
society. From the principles raised by Hildebrand and contested in the
struggles of this duel, we may date those new conceptions of the two
chief powers of Christendom which found final expression in the
theocratic philosophy of the _Summa_ and the imperial absolutism of the
_De Monarchiâ_. Meanwhile the Empire and the Papacy, while trying their
force against each other, had proved to Italy their essential weakness.
What they gained as ideas, controlling the speculations of the next two
centuries, they lost as potentates in the peninsula. It was impossible
for either Pope or Emperor to carry on the war without bidding for the
support of the cities; and therefore, at the end of the struggle, the
free burghs found themselves strengthened at the expense of both powers.
Still it must not be forgotten that the wars of Investitures, while they
developed the independent spirit and the military energies of the
Republics, penetrated Italy with the vice of party conflict. The
ineradicable divisions of Guelf and Ghibelline were a heavy price to pay
for a step forward on the path of emancipation; nor was the
ecclesiastical revolution, which tended to Italianize the Papacy, while
it magnified its cosmopolitan ascendency, other than a source of evil to
the nation.

The forces liberated in the cities by these wars brought the Consuls to
the front. The Bishops had undermined the feudal fabric of the kingdom,
depressed the Counts, and restored the Roman towns to prosperity. During
the war both Popolo and Commune grew in vigor, and their Consuls began
to use the authority that had been conquered by the prelates. At first
the Consuls occupied a subordinate position as men of affairs and
notaries, needed to transact the business of the mercantile inhabitants.