omnipotent, the father, the sonne, and the holye ghost: I do here depose Henry the sonne of Henry once the emperour, from hys emperiall seate, and princelye gouernment: who hath so boldly & presumptuously laid handes vpon thy church. And furthermore, all suche as tofore haue sworne to be his subiectes, I release them of theyr oth, wherby al subiectes are boūd to þ^e allegeance of their princes. For it is meete and conuenient that he shoulde be voyde of dignitie, which seeketh to diminish the maiesty of thy church. Moreouer, for that he hath contemned my monitions, tendring his health, and wealth of hys people: and hath separate hymselfe from the felowship of the church (which he, through his seditions, studieth to destroy) therfore I binde him by vertue of excommunication: MarginaliaQuis tulerit gracebot desædutione querentes. Iuuen.trusting and knowing most certainly, that thou art Peter (in the rocke of whom, as in the true foundation Christ) our king hath built his church.

Themperour thus assaulted with the popes censure, sendeth abroad his letters through all nations, to purge him selfe: declaryng how wrongfully, and agaynst all ryght, he was condēned. The princes of Almany partly fearyng the crake of þ^e popes thunderclap, partly againe reioysing that occasion was renued to rebell against the Emperour: MarginaliaThe Saxons take the Popes part against the emperor.assembled a commencement, where they did consult, and so cōclude, to elect an other Emperour, andto fall from Henry, vnles the pope would come to Germany, and he there content to submit hym selfe, and obtayne hys pardon.

Wherin is to be considered, the lamentable affectiōs of the Germaines in those dayes: so to forsake such a valiant Emperour, & so much to repute a vile bishop. But this was the rudenes of the world then, for lacke of better knowledge. The Emperour seyng the chief princes ready to forsake hym, promiseth them with an oth, that if the pope would repayre to Germany, he would aske forgeuenesse.

Vpon this thie byshop of Triers, was sent vp in commission to Rome, to entreat the pope to come into Germany. The bishop (at the instāce of the legate, and of the princes) was contēt. He entred into Germany, thinking to come to Augusta. Marginaliapeace disturbed through wicked counsel.After he was come to Vercellos (the bishop of that city, beyng the chauncelor of Italy, & desirous to disturbe peace, for the olde grudge he had to the Emperour) falsly perswadeth with þ^e pope, that he was certayne, the Emperour was commyng with a mighty great army agaynst hym: councelyng hym therfore to prouide betimes for his owne sauegard, in some strōger place. Whereby the popes minde beyng altered, he retired backe to Canusium or Canossus, a citie beyng subiect to Matilda, a countes of Italy: where he should not

Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

This large woodcut depicts the humiliation of the Emperor Henry IV at Canossa and appears twice from 1570 onwards (since it also forms part of the Primacy of Popes series). The woodcut expresses the wintry scene and the emperor's barefoot pain in the 'sharp winter, and all frozen with cold', as well as taking the opportunity to cast aspersions on Pope Gregory, sporting his tiara as he toys with his mistress in his apartment, while mitred bishops and fat tonsured monks stare down from the walls. The compositor left a space at the bottom of the second column of text for this woodcut to be inserted but the space was too small; it had to be pasted in on one side and then folded in half. This made the illustration liable to damage. Pasting it in made it much more possible for it to be detached from the text and lost. CUL copy: ground and foliage coloured in two shades of green and yellow also. Similar, but not identical, shades are in the WREN copy also. Note the somewhat garish use of colour in these coloured copies. In this cut, in the CUL copy, the Emperor is dressed in a pinkish-purple outfit with blue lining, which has orange-yellow undergarments. His wife is in purple and the same orange-yellow colours for her overskirts. The child is in a vivid orange, with blue underclothes. Note that the monk in the window is flushed (freehand detail), as are the canoodling Pope and woman. Also there is an additional freehand detail of the reflection of the clouds in the glass of the window. The bishops' mitres are in purple with yellow crosses. Also to be noted is the visual emphasis placed on the flames in the fireplace behind te pope (yellow, tapering into orange and then red). No doubt this is to emphasise their comfortable surroundings, while the emperor and his family suffer in the cold, but nonetheless the emphasis on the heat of the flames is also a portent of images soon to come.

nede to feare Themperour.

Henricus vnderstaynding the false feare of the pope and of his retire to Canusium: incontinent (cōmyng out of Spires with his wife, and his yong sonne, in the depe & sharpe of winter) resorteth to Canossus. All his peares and nobles had left him, for feare of the popes curse, neither did any cōpany him. MarginaliaA wonderous submissiō of a valiant emperour to a vile Pope.Wherfore Themperour being not a litle troubled (laying apart his regall ornamentes) came barefoote, with hys wife and child, to the gate of Canossus: where he, from mornyng to nyght (al the day fastyng) most humbly desireth absolution, crauing to be let into the speache of the bishop. But no ingresse myght be geuen hym once within the gates. Thus he continuyng iij. dayes together in hys peticion and sute: at length aūswere came, that the popes maiesty had yet no lesure to talke with hym. Themperour nothyng moued there-with, that he was not let into the citie, patiētly and with an humble mind abideth without the wals, with no litle greuaunce and paynefull labor: for it was a sharpe winter, & all frosen with cold. MarginaliaNotable pacience in a noble Emperour.Notwithstādyng yet, through hys importunate sute, at length, it was graunted: through the intreating of Matilda, the popes paramour and of Adelaus, earle of Sebaudia, & the abbot of Cluniake, that he should be admitted to þ^e popes speach. On the iiij. day beyng let in, for a tokē of his true repentāce, he yeldeth to the popes handes his crowne, with all other ornamentes imperiall: and confesseth him selfe vnworthy of the Empire, if euer he do against the pope here after as he hath done to fore: desiring for þ^t time to be absolued and forgeuen. The pope aunswereth he will neither forgeue him, nor relese the band of his excommunicatiō,