I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." And what though at this very time the forerunner of anti-Christ hath risen up in the Church, yet we, under the instructions of the Lord and of the holy fathers, have long since learned how duly to combine both these virtues.[462:1]
The council now amidst the greatest indignation urged the Pope to depose the insolent king and to put him and his accomplices under the ban. The king was formally excommunicated and his subjects absolved from all allegiance to him.[462:2] The churchmen who acted as the king's tools were likewise outlawed and a letter to "all defenders of the Christian faith" announced the curse laid on Germany.[462:3] This was the first instance of the deposition of a king by a Pope and was based on the false decretals and the assumption that this power was an undoubted prerogative of the Chair of St. Peter.[462:4] As a result of this action both Germany and Italy were divided into two great parties, the papal and the imperial. Hoping to save himself by a counter blow,[462:5] Henry had one of his bishops pronounce an excommunication and anathema upon Gregory and induced a servile synod at Pavia to reiterate the curse. Civil and ecclesiastical discord broke out throughout the Empire. Disaffected nobles took this occasion to conspire against the king, and to plot with the papal party. Prelates fell over each other in their eagerness
to desert the outlawed ruler and to seek reconciliation with the Pope. The German papal party held a great convention (Oct. 14, 1076) at Tribur on the Rhine. The king was in camp just across the river at Oppenheim with his army. The Pope sent his representatives to purify the convention and to guide the proceedings. All the sins of the age were charged against the king and all allegiance to him was renounced, while it was declared that the crown would be forfeited within a year unless the king obtained absolution. He was ordered to retire to Speyer as a private gentleman until the question was settled and the Pope was urged to hasten to Germany to pass sentence on the royal head.
Henry saw that the tide was against him and resolved to follow the one course open to him, namely, to throw himself at the feet of the Pope and beg forgiveness. He dismissed his court and his ministers, publicly repudiated every act against the Holy See, promised satisfaction to the Pope and reformation,[463:1] begged a permit to visit Rome to sue for pardon, and started for Italy in 1077 to meet the Pope. His accomplices, probably at his suggestion, took the same course but by another route. Meanwhile the Pope was hastening northward to Germany. With excellent tact and courage Henry made his way over the Alps in the midst of a very severe winter into northern Italy, where he was given a hearty welcome, and then hastened on to Canossa, a strong castle belonging to the Countess Matilda where the Pope had broken his journey. Meanwhile the companions and ministers of Henry who had fallen under the papal displeasure outstripped the king and, with naked feet and clothed in sackcloth, presented themselves to the
Pope, humbly imploring pardon and absolution from the terrible anathema. With some hesitation, the Pope granted their petition. After a brief penance, the penitents were dismissed with an injunction not to hold any communication with the king, until he should in like manner have been released from the bonds of the Church.
With his natural impetuosity Henry resolved to have the humiliating scene over with as soon as possible. To plead his case he had secured the good offices of his mother-in-law, several powerful noblemen, the Abbot of Clugny, and a few other influential orthodox members of the papal party. He had even persuaded the Countess Matilda to induce the Pope to give his case a merciful consideration. The Pope's severity was softened by the entreaties coming from so many persons, and it was finally agreed that the king should appear before the Pope on a certain day; that he should fully admit his guilt; that he should express sincere repentance for the insults he had heaped upon this successor of St. Peter; that he should profess full contrition for all his sins and crimes; and that he should promise to atone for all former vices by obeying papal commands in the future and by submitting to such conditions as the Pope should impose. Henry accepted these terms and prepared for the act of shame and humiliation.
On the stated day he appeared before the outer gate of the castle of Canossa, was admitted into the outer court and told to divest himself of every vestige of royalty. He was then dressed in a garment of sackcloth and stood in the outer court barefooted and fasting from morn till night.
And thus [says the biographer of Hildebrand] for three
entire days, he ceased not, with much weeping and many supplications, to implore the apostolic commiseration, until the bowels of all the spectators yearned with compassion, so that with tears in their eyes they earnestly besought the pontiff to have mercy—nay, even so that they exclaimed against the stern severity of the man of God as smacking of cruelty: then at length, overborne by the solicitations of all around him, he resolved to admit the penitent into the bosom of the Church; but only upon terms which should either crush him effectually, or for the remainder of his days convert him into the passive instrument of the papal policy.[465:1]
The stipulations of absolution accepted by Henry were: (1) That he should appear for trial before an imperial synod to answer all charges, and that if proven innocent should retain his crown; but if by the laws of the Church he should be proved guilty he would surrender all claims to the throne. (2) That until the trial, he should lay aside royalty and perform no active government. (3) That until acquitted he should collect no more taxes than was absolutely necessary for the sustenance of his family. (4) That all contracts with his subjects should be invalid until after the trial. (5) That he should dismiss from his service all councillors designated by the Pope. (6) That if freed of guilt, he should promise obedience and aid in reforming the Church. (7) That the violation of any of these terms would ipso facto invalidate the absolution.[465:2] Then followed the solemn act of absolution and the sacerdotal purgation which was taken by the Pope but declined by the king. The