Parmen, was sent to Rome, wyth the sentence: who in the name of the Councell, should commaunde Gregory, to yeld vp hys seat, and also charge the Cardinals, to resorte to the Emperour for a new election of another Pope. The tenor of the sentence sent vp by Rolandus was this.

MarginaliaThe councell of Wormes against the Pope.FOr so much as thy first ingresse and commyng in, hath bene so spotted with so many periuries: and also the church of God brought in no little daunger through thine abuse & new fanglenes. Moreouer, bicause thou has diffamed thine owne life and conuersation, with so muche and great dishonesty, that we see no little perill of slaunder to rise therof: therfore the obediēce which yet we neuer promised thee, hereafter we vtterly renounce, and neuer entend to geue thee. And as thou hast neither taken vs yet for bishops (as thou hast opēly reported of vs) so neither wyll we hereafter take thee to bee Apostolike. Vale.

MarginaliaThe councell of Rome agaynst the counsell of Wormes.Gregory the Pope tickled with this sentence, first condemneth it in hys councell of Laterane with excommunication. Secondarily, depriueth Sigifridus Archbishop of Mentz of hys dignities and ecclesiastical liuinges, with all other bishops, Abbats and priestes, as many as tooke the Emperours part. MarginaliaHenricus the Emperour excommunicate of Hildebrand.Thirdly,accuseth Henricus the Emperour himselfe: depriueth hym of hyis kyngdome and regall possession, and releaseth all hys subiectes of their othe of allegiaunce geuen vnto hym: after this forme and maner.

MarginaliaEx Platina.O Blessed S. Peter, prince of the Apostles: bowe down thine eares I beseeche thee, and heare me thy seruaunt, whom thou hast brought vp euen from mine infancie: and hast deliuered me vnto this day frō the handes of the wicked, which hate and persecute me, because of my fayth in MarginaliaMarke this, ye papistes that say the Pope can not erre.thee. Thou art my witnes, and also the blessed mother of Iesu Christ, and thy brother Saynt Paule, fellow partener of thy martyrdome: how that I entred this function (not willingly) but inforced against my will: not that I take it so as a robbery, lawfully to ascend into this seat: but because that I had rather passe ouer my life like a pilgrime or priuate person, then for any fame or glory to clyme vp to it. I do acknowledge (and that worthely) all this to come of thy grace, & not of my merites: MarginaliaThe pope thretneth kindnes of S. Peter.that this charge ouer christen people, and this power of bindyng and losing is committed to me. Wherfore trusting vpon this assurance, for the dignitie and tuition of holy church: In the name of god omnipotent, the father, the sone, & the holy ghost: I do here depose Hēry the sonne of Hēry once the Emperour frō his Imperiall seate, and princely gouernment: who hathe so boldly and presumptuously laid handes vpon thy Church. And furthermore, all such as tofore haue sworne to be his subiectes, I release thē of their oth, wherby all subiectes are bound to the allegeaunce of their princes. For it is mete & conuenient that he should be voyde of dignitie, which seeketh to diminish the maiestie of thy church. Moreouer, for that he hath contemned my monitions, tendring his helth and wealth of his people: and hath separate himself from the fellowship 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 whome, as in the true foundation Christ) our king hath built his church.

The Emperour thus assaulted with the Popes censure, sendeth abroad his letters through all nations, to purge himselfe: declaring how wrongfully, and agaynst all right, he was condemned. The princes of Almany partly fearing the crake of the Popes thunderclap, partly agayne reioysing that occasion was renued to rebell agaynst the Emperour: MarginaliaThe Saxons take the Popes part against the emperor.assembled a commencement, where they did consult, and so conclude, to elect an other Emperour, and to fall from Henry, vnles the Pope would come to Germany, and he there content to submit hymselfe, and obtaine hys pardon.

Wherin is to be considered, the lamentable affections of

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.