Road to Canossa
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Encyclopedic overview
Henry at Canossa, history painting by Eduard Schwoiser [de] (1862)
The Road to Canossa or Humiliation of Canossa (Italian: L'umiliazione di Canossa), or, sometimes, the Walk to Canossa (German: Gang nach Canossa/Kanossa) was the journey of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV to Canossa Castle in 1077, and his subsequent ritual submission there to Pope Gregory VII. It took place during the Investiture controversy and involved the Emperor seeking absolution and the revocation of his excommunication by the Pope who had been staying at the castle as the guest of Margravine Matilda of Tuscany.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Road to Canossa” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.