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not characterized by an entirely smooth course, although who were always in need of money. Conversely, the latter
it is true that no other power was able to challenge the endeavoured to establish a party which, within the circles
supremacy of their position. However, with the growth in of the Italian aristocracy was loyal to the emperor and op-
the power of the papacy after the reform of Gregory VII posed the political ambitions of the popes or viewed with
(1073- 1085), two different directions of development began suspicion the unstoppable rise of the urban middle-class.
to emerge which were reflected in a centuries' long struggle The Salian emperors had ended their "investiture con-
between the supreme temporal and spiritul authorities of troversy" with the papacy in 1122 by the compromise of
the Occident-imperium and sacerdotium. the Concordat ofWorms. However, under the Hohenstau-
Success favoured now one side, now the other, but it fens, points of contention again appeared and led to even
was inevitable that the pope should find allies among all more violent reactions than before. To begin with, events
those who felt threatened by Imperial ambitions-not only were dominated by Conrad II (1138- 1152) and Frederick 1
among the particularistic powers within Germany itself but Barbarossa. The latter devastated Milan, the centre of the
also among those citizens of the aspiring cities of Lombardy Lombard League in 1162 but was unable to exploit the ad-