Investiture Controversy Game

For the first part of the term, students will explore the experience of learning about History through a pedagogically designed Role-Playing-Game in the Reacting to the Past model. The game aims to explore the issues under debate during the Investiture Controversy by putting the students in the roles of medieval bishops and secular political figures and having them debate and vote on the major issues in a series of Church Councils. Each student will be assigned the role of a real historical figure or (in a few cases) a fictional character who could have been present at these debates. Some characters will be Reformers, others will be Traditionalists, and some will be in the middle with their own concerns they wish to advance. Players win the game by achieving some or all of their goals. Some characters have hidden agendas or other secrets that should not be revealed because the revelation of those secrets may render them unable to win. But in general, players win by persuading other players to adopt their position on key issues and voting with them during debates.

The game endeavors to get students to understand the issues involved by asking them to debate the various topics from the standpoint of their historical characters. It also attempts to explode myths about the Middle Ages as “an age of faith” in which people simply obeyed the clergy and myths about the Middle Ages as a time when kings, emperors, and popes were all-powerful and could not be resisted. Instead, it offers a model of a society in which secular and religious authorities competed for power.

The Players Manual has already been sent to you (it can also be read on Perusall). The Perusall library also has a repository of key primary and secondary sources for understanding (and winning) the events we are about to explore.