Walk to Canossa no relation Investiture controversy
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 journeying to Canossa Castle in 1077 of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, 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.
According to contemporary sources, he was forced to supplicate himself on his knees waiting for three days and three nights before the entrance gate of the castle, while a blizzard raged. Indeed, the episode has been described as "one of the most dramatic moments of the Middle Ages". It has also spurred much debate among medieval chroniclers as well as modern historians, who argue about whether the walk was a "brilliant masterstroke" or a humiliation.Journey
Gregory had also declared the oaths of allegiance sworn by the Princes null and void,  which turned out to be more dangerous to Henry's rule, as the development met the interests of several territorial rulers in the Empire. When in October the Patriarch of Aquileia and the papal legate met with German princes at Trebur, they swore an oath not to recognize Henry unless the ban was lifted within a year. Fearing further rebellion among the German aristocracy, Henry felt he had to get rid of his excommunication. He was still popular among the common people, but the princes were threatening to elect a new king. He had to secure his position in the church before the rapidly approaching deadline given by the pope.
On the suggestion of his advisers, he arranged to meet with the Pope, who had set out along the path across the Alps towards Augsburg. Henry commenced his trip in Speyer and, travelling southward up the Rhine, he found his position precarious. As the Swabian nobles refused to open the way to the Alpine passes, the king had to move through Burgundy and cross the Alps at steep Mont Cenis. According to the chronicles by Lambert of Hersfeld, Henry, his wife Bertha of Savoy, and their young son Conrad risked their lives by crossing the Alpine crest in harsh mid-winter conditions. After a long journey, they reached Gregory's accommodation in Canossa on 25 January 1077.Later in history, the event took on a more secular meaning: the rejection of its example came to stand for Germany's refusal to be subjected to any outside power (although still especially, but not exclusively, the Catholic Church). The incident first was perpetuated by the Austrian politician and poet Anton Alexander von Auersperg (Anastasius Grün) in an 1868 speech before the House of Lords on the implementation of civil marriage. After German unification, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, when his Pulpit Paragraph and the Jesuits Law sparked the so-called "Kulturkampf" with Pope Pius IX, assured his countrymen in a Reichstag speech that "We will not go to Canossa–neither in body nor in spirit!" This meant that Germany would stand for itself and not abide any outside interference in its politics, religion or culture.On the other side, Canossa is remembered in Italy by Benedetto Croce as the first concrete victory since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, as (in the view of the 19th-century historian) the Pope represented the Italian people against the domination of the Germans. Croce considered Canossa as the initial retreat from Italy of the Holy Roman Empire, starting the Italian Renaissance in which the Germans lost control of Northern Italy by the 15th century.
no relation