Pope Gregory VIII

From the 10th to the 12th centuries a new set of collective identities was
established in Europe: the medieval nationes, the Western church with the pope at its head, religious orders, monastic associations; communities centred on cities, villages, valleys and parishes; fraternities, merchant guilds, craft guilds and communes. All these organisations were aware of their identity as communitas, created their own symbols in seals, coats of arms, and flags, and adopted a patron saint. At the same time through a process of institutionalisation which took place at all levels of European society these “We” organisations acquired a permanent structure. Legal criteria defined the membership of the “I”, and clearly separated the “We” from the “Others”. This institutionalisation legitimised a representative who could speak in the name of all members, i.e. the “We” group as universitas, and who was also authorised to put pressure on the members. In a differentiated society an individual always belongs to several organisations, broader or narrower in scope, each of which are assigned specific functions at an overall level, and for the individual’s personal existence.
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In Western Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries a phase of fundamental long-acting changes in social structures took place, changes to which the above enumerated developments were central. These changes were accompanied by intense conflicts. The so-called investiture controversy called into question the validity of the precepts and values observed up until that time. In the religious and spiritual turmoil of the central Middle Ages, controversies were analysed with extraordinary intensity; positions and counter-positions were propagated in a flood of polemic papers. The appeal to personal opinion, and plea for an inner and outer decision were ubiquitous. Who is right? On whose side does the “truth” lie with regard to the fundamental questions? The demands of faith and conscience have to be followed in order to protect  one’s own personal identity. To whom does the individual assign the “I”, and in whom can he/she recognise the “We” group?
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The newly formed collectives, i.e. the parties in contest with each other, endeavoured by every means possible to compel the individual to decide for their group: do you belong to us or to our adversaries? Under such pressure to make a decision individuals who had belonged to the relevant “We”, could suddenly switch to the “Others”. Three examples from within the German region of the Holy Roman Empire illustrate how bishops in the midst of the investiture controversy grappled with and sought to protect their own identities and integrity. Benno of Osnabrück attempted to maintain a mutually recognized position between the two fronts. With reference to differently interpreted values, Walram of Naumburg for the Imperial party, and Herrand of Halberstadt for the Papist adversary, called on their respective opponents to revise their convictions and change their positions. Ruthard of Mainz believed that in transferring his adherence from previous loyalties to the opposition “We-Group”, he could regain his personal identity, i.e. through an internal reversal of position with all its external, political consequences.
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A scholarly description of the personal dilemma which people were caught up, in due to the deep divide in their communities, would necessitate reflection on the definition of individuality as perceived at that time, as has long been called for in the academic discourse. Aaron J. Gurjewitsch recalls his own experience in the Soviet Union, evoking the situation of the dissident in the present. The question of the relationship between the “I”, “We”, and, “You” in the middle ages, i.e. the tension between personal and collective identity in a concrete, historical environment, confronts us with questions about our own existence: about the individual conscience of our “I”, about interactions in the communities which form our multilayered “We” and about behaviour towards the “Others”, with whom we, in one and the same land, as well as in the entire world, search for, or agonise over, the fundamentals required for a peaceful and just coexistence.
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English Translation: Julie Zein
(p. 21-22)
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The Polish text was later developed and published in German:
Hagen Keller, "Identitäten und Individualität in den Krisenerfahrungen des europäischen Hochmittelalters (11./12. Jahrhundert)," [FMSt 46, 2012, S. 221-240]