What 1122 agreement helped resolve the Investiture Controversy?

The story behind the answer

In 1122, Pope Callixtus II and Emperor Henry V struck a compromise at Worms that ended the decades-long Investiture Controversy. It drew a clear line between spiritual and secular authority: cathedral chapters would hold free, canonical elections; the pope (or his legates) bestowed ring and staff as spiritual symbols; the emperor could invest new bishops with the scepter—the regalia—recognizing their temporal rights, and could be present at elections in the Empire.

Born from the earlier showdown of Gregory VII and Henry IV (think the Walk to Canossa, 1077), this settlement defused a power struggle over who controlled bishoprics. It was soon confirmed at the First Lateran Council (1123) and became a template for church-state relations across medieval Europe, curbing simony and strengthening ecclesiastical autonomy.