How did Gregory VII try to enforce clerical celibacy?

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Gregory VII excommunicating Henry IV — St. Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII, after his expulsion from Rome, laying a ban of excommunication on the clergy “together with the raging king” (Henry IV of Germany), drawing from the 12th-century chronicle of Otto of Freising; in the library of the University of Jena, Germany.

Pope Gregory VII was a central figure in the 11th-century Gregorian Reform, a movement that prioritized the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. A primary goal of this reform was the enforcement of clerical celibacy, as marriage and concubinage were widespread among the lower ranks of the Western church at the time.1

To enforce these standards, Gregory VII demanded strict obedience to papal legislation. He viewed the defiance of these decrees as a challenge to the authority of the church. For example, when the bishop of Constance allowed married clergy to retain their positions in 1075, Gregory VII responded with outrage. He annulled all oaths of fealty to that bishop and insisted that he be expelled by the local clergy and laity.1

These efforts built upon earlier decrees issued since 1049, which required priests to abandon their wives, restricted the sons of priests from entering the priesthood, and declared women involved with priests to be unfree. Under Gregory VII, adherence to these mandates became a fundamental test of orthodoxy.1