Investiture dispute (1164)

Investiture is the formal installation into an office by a superior authority. The symbols of lay investiture are the sword and the sceptre and of ecclesiastical investiture the ring and the crosier.

Investiture was important for the relations between lay and ecclesiastical authorities, due to the fact that bishops and abbots were often not only ecclesiastical lords but also lords of fiefs and thus possessed both civil and ecclesiastical power. A small dispute came up under Henry I, but this was soon settled.