John XXII. usurps the imperial authority.

The quarrel for the throne in Germany, where Lewis the Bavarian was crowned at Aachen on November 25, 1314, and Frederick of Austria at Bonn the same day, produced conditions resembling those which had prevailed in the days of Innocent III. John XXII. bestowed the title “King-elect of the Romans” on both pretenders and recognised neither. This was required by Robert, the protector of the Church in Italy. In order to crush the Ghibellines, John announced in a bull on March 31, 1317, that the Pope, to whom, in the person of the Apostle Peter, God had entrusted power both in heaven and on earth, was the lawful vicar of the empire while it remained vacant. Under penalty of excommunication, he therefore commanded that all such persons as Henry VII. had appointed imperial vicars in the provinces and cities of Italy should immediately renounce their titles. If this act of papal usurpation should become law, it would necessarily follow that all princes of the empire and vassals of the crown must take the oath of vassalage and pay tribute to the pope, that the distribution of dignities and fiefs in the empire fell to him, and more especially, that all secular affairs must be brought before his tribunal.