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It was never easy to give the correct answer. When the Emperor happened to be a man of energy and was sufficiently well provided with money to organise an army, he was very apt to cross the Alps and march on Rome, besiege the Pope in his own palace if need be, and force His Holiness to obey the imperial instructions or suffer the consequences.
給出正確的答案真是挺困難的。有時皇帝碰巧是位精力充沛的政治強(qiáng)人，又有充足的財源用來組織一支強(qiáng)大的軍隊，那他便大可以越過阿爾卑斯山向羅馬進(jìn)軍，把教皇的宮殿圍個密不透風(fēng)（這要視需要而定），最終迫使教皇陛下服從帝國的指示，否則就要自食其果。
But more frequently the Pope was the stronger. Then the Emperor or the King together with all his subjects was excommunicated. This meant that all churches were closed, that no one could be baptised, that no dying man could be given absolution-in short, that half of the functions of mediaeval government came to an end.
但更多的情形是教皇方面更強(qiáng)大。于是，這位敢于違抗教旨的皇帝或國王，連同他的全部無罪國民，將被一起開除教籍，逐出教會。這意味著要關(guān)閉境內(nèi)所有教堂，人們不能受洗，也沒有神父給垂死之人舉行臨終懺悔，下地獄將成為必然的事情。一句話，中世紀(jì)政府的一半職能都被取消了。
More than that, the people were absolved from their oath of loyalty to their sovereign and were urged to rebel against their master. But if they followed this advice of the distant Pope and were caught, they were hanged by their near-by Lege Lord and that too was very unpleasant.
更糟的是，教皇還免除了人們對其君主的效忠宣誓，鼓勵他們起來反抗"叛教"的主人。可人們?nèi)羰钦娴淖駨牧私袒时菹碌闹甘荆唤幍膰踝プ。却麄兊膶⑹墙g刑架。這也不是一件可以鬧著玩的事情。
Indeed, the poor fellows were in a difficult position and none fared worse than those who lived during the latter half of the eleventh century, when the Emperor Henry IV of Germany and Pope Gregory VII fought a two-round battle which decided nothing and upset the peace of Europe for almost fifty years.
事實(shí)上，教皇與皇帝的對抗一旦發(fā)生，普通人民的處境將會變得相當(dāng)艱難。而最倒霉的，莫過于那些生活在公元11世紀(jì)下半葉的人們。當(dāng)時的德國國王亨利四世和教皇格利高里七世打了兩場不分勝負(fù)的戰(zhàn)役，非但沒解決任何問題，倒使歐洲陷入混亂達(dá)50年之久。
In the middle of the eleventh century there had been a strong movement for reform in the church. The election of the Popes, thus far, had been a most irregular affair. It was to the advantage of the Holy Roman Emperors to have a well-disposed priest elected to the Holy See. They frequently came to Rome at the time of election and used their influence for the benefit of one of their friends.
在11世紀(jì)中期，教會內(nèi)部出現(xiàn)了激烈的改革運(yùn)動。當(dāng)時，教皇的產(chǎn)生方式還極不正規(guī)。對神圣羅馬帝國的皇帝來說，他當(dāng)然希望把一位易于相處、對帝國抱有好感的教士送上教廷的寶座。因此每逢選舉教皇的時候，皇帝們總是親臨羅馬，運(yùn)用他們的影響力，為自己的朋友撈取利益。
