9. Henry IV (Holy Roman Emperor)
During the 11th Century, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was the most powerful ruler in whole of Europe and would impose respect to all. However, due to conflicts regarding the appointment of clerics, he had several clashes with Pope Gregory VII. Henry disregarded the Pope’s demands and warnings and ended up getting excommunicated. While this in itself may at most have hurt Henry’s pious feelings, getting excommunicated was a big deal for a politician in the Middle Ages and got his vassals on the verge of actually electing a new Emperor. Henry saw the risk and swiftly made a plea for forgiveness to Gregory. It was not that simple. During the winter of 1076/1077, one of the harshest of the last decades, Henry had to make a trek of penitence, by covering over 450 miles to Canossa, where the Pope was stationed. He had to do it barefoot and dressed in a sackcloth, like the poorest monks. After all this effort, one would think that Gregory would offer him penitence. Nothing more wrong! Once Henry reached Canossa, he wasn’t even allowed access in the castle, he rather had to wait for 3 days and 3 nights in the inner courtyard, out in the cold. And he had to fast all this time.
Finally, after all these hardships, the Pope took him in and along with the cancellation of his excommunication, he was allowed the most great honor of kissing the Pope’s toe. The ruler of the most powerful Empire of the time in the known world, commander of hundreds of thousand of soldiers, was literally brought to his knees by a church man and made to kiss his toes.
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