The Walk to Nowhere

 

      "It's D-Day!" Everyone knows what that expression means, though some may no longer connect it with the invasion of Normandy in 1945. How about: "A walk to Canossa," meaning humiliating yourself to get something important. 

   Every now and then I come across the "Walk to Canossa" in my reading. I look it up, then promptly forget what it was about. When I saw that the anniversary of the end of the walk took place on this day in 1077 I decided to refresh my memory. The walk had begun the previous December in Germany and ended outside a castle in Canossa in northern Italy.  I almost hate to delve into the Middle Ages. It's all kings and popes, wars and sieges. You pull one pope out over here and three emperors fall down over there. You carefully put the emperors away and a statue of Charlemagne rolls down.

   Speaking of Charlemagne, it was he who turned on the lights to end the Dark Ages. He did that by hobbling the warlords roaming Europe and then by opening schools: security first then education equals progress. All progress has it ups and downs. When Charlemagne died the warlords rose up again. Charlemagne's sons Louis the Pious and Lothair held the Holy Roman Empire together for a while. After they died, the crown passed to Charles the Bald then to Charles the Fat.

   After the Charleses died, the Empire broke up into numerous kinglets, eventually reuniting under Conrad of Franconia. Conrad passed the empire on to his rival Henry the Fowler. Things fell apart again, eventually coming together under Otto. Otto married Adelaide the Queen of Italy. The pope lived in Italy,  in Rome, and Otto and the pope became friends which made the Empire Holy. Otto viewed his empire as the successor to the Roman Empire and so the Holy Roman Empire was off and running for another seven centuries until Napoleon put the kibosh on it in 1806.

   There were another two Ottos, then a series of Henrys. It was Henry IV who made the walk to Canossa, in the winter, through the Swiss Alps, with his wife and young son in order to stand barefoot in front of the pope's castle for three days. In a blizzard. 

   The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was elected by all the kings and nobles who ruled the hundreds of mini-states that made up the empire. Sometimes there was a fair election and sometimes the current emperor fixed things so his son would get the job. The church at the time owned lots of land in the Empire and the emperor liked having the power to appoint the bishops in the various cities so he could give the job to one of his friends. Some emperors even chose the pope. The nobles in Italy didn't like this and so the Italians occasionally set up an anti-pope. 

   The existence of more than one pope reflected badly on the Church and Pope Gregory VII decided to reform things. Gregory drew up a list of principles which allowed him to appoint bishops and depose emperors among many other powers. Since Gregory himself had been made pope by the acclamation of the people of Rome, this was a bold move on his part.

   Henry immediately appointed his own bishop in one of his cities and declared many of Gregory's principles null and void. The pope responded by excommunicating Henry which didn't trouble Henry at first. Luckily for Gregory, many of Henry's nobles were fed up with him for various reasons and sided with the pope.

   Henry had a rebellion on his hands and decided to make peace with the pope so he'd have time to deal with his nobles. The pope's excommunication of Henry was provisional for one year after which time it became irrevocable, so Henry had to get over to Italy as soon as possible. The easy passes through the Alps were blocked by Henry's enemies, so he was forced to find a more dangerous route.

   He hired a bunch of Swiss mountaineers and there was lots of hiking through deep snow and lowering of horses down steep pitches. Several of the party lost their lives. Henry arrived at Canossa where the pope was staying for the winter. The pope had been on his way to Germany to meet with Henry's enemies. When Henry arrived in Canossa, the pope wouldn't see him. To show his sincerity, Henry waited outside the pope's castle barefoot and wearing a hair shirt. Henry refused to eat until the pope agreed to see him. Meanwhile a blizzard was raging all around.

   After three days of this, the pope let Henry in. Henry kissed the pope's feet and begged forgiveness. Against his better judgement, the pope rescinded the excommunication. Everyone went to mass together and received communion. Henry hurried back to Germany and put down the rebellion. Gregory excommunicated Henry again, but now Henry was powerful enough to invade Rome and set up his own anti-pope. Gregory had to go into exile where he died a few years later. The Church canonized Gregory a saint a few centuries later.

   Henry spent his remaining twenty years fighting with, then placating his nobles. His son Conrad rebelled against him but Henry survived that. His younger son, Henry V, also rebelled and Henry was forced to abdicate. He spent the last year of his life trying to make a comeback, finally dying at the age of 55. Because he had been excommunicated, he could not be buried in consecrated ground.  Five years later a sympathetic pope allowed Henry's body to be moved next to his father's in Speyer Cathedral.

Cooling his heels