Lay investiture refers to
a. the process by which secular lords took a decisive role in choosing prelates for church offices.
b. clerics guilty of high crimes were imprisoned in the castles of the nobility.
c. lords were selected by clerics to become chivalric defenders of the church.
d. england's henry ii established the common law over the church.
e. worthy lay people were educated for high office by the church.

Option A.

Explanation:

The method by which secular aristocrats took a crucial role in deciding bishops for church services, is the right answer.

Lay investiture is represented by the performance of a religious leader (bishops particularly in medieval Europe) being designated by a secular leader to work in the Catholic Church. This produced a tremendous falling out between the Church and many officers, as it appeared in a leadership contest for Europe. The Catholic Church observed it as a method for sovereigns to possibly eliminate the grip the Church had throughout Europe. The controversy had significant results in the history of Germany and the Catholic Church.