DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0166
150
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
and never to take vengeance for his present humilia-
tion.
After all these conditions had been imposed and
accepted, Gregory VII., holding in his hancl the con-
secrated wafer, exclaimed, addressing Henry :—“ Behold
the body of our Lord ! Be it this day the witness of my
innocence. May the Almighty God now free me from the
suspicion of the guilt, of which I have been accused by
thee and thine, if I be really innocent; may He this
instant strike me with a sudden death, if I be guilty.”
Here the Pontiff partook of the Sacrament; after which,
turning solemnly to the conscience-stricken Monarch, he
said : “If thou art conscious of thine innocence, and
assured that the charges brought against thee by thine
own opponents are false and calumnious, free the Church
of God from scandal and thyself, and take as an appeal
to Heaven the Body of our Lord.”
With the spirit of true penitence for once in his heart,
Henry had the virtue to decline the test, and after this
last impressive scene, the Papal benediction was accorded
him, and a banquet offered to him.
The guilt of perjury to conditions like the foregoing,
will be the least of the crimes which stain the memory of
Henry. He left the presence chamber of the Pope and
the castle of Canossa with rage in his heart and a burn-
ing desire for revenge, with which every one must
ardently sympathise. His own age certainly did so, and
as soon as the scene of Canossa was made public, his
cause was stronger than ever. Of course he disregarded
all the promises extorted from him, and henceforth
devoted all his energies to relentless, unmitigated hostility
to the Pope. We are rather lost in speculation how,
under such circumstances, Gregory mailitained compara-
tive moderation towards him. By his own unteachable
folly and headstrong violence, Henry subsequently lost his
crown, which was given to Budolf of Swabia; but another
turn of the popular favour replaced the sceptre in
Henry’s hand, and he recovered in battle no inconsider-
able part of his former dominions. With all the prestige
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
and never to take vengeance for his present humilia-
tion.
After all these conditions had been imposed and
accepted, Gregory VII., holding in his hancl the con-
secrated wafer, exclaimed, addressing Henry :—“ Behold
the body of our Lord ! Be it this day the witness of my
innocence. May the Almighty God now free me from the
suspicion of the guilt, of which I have been accused by
thee and thine, if I be really innocent; may He this
instant strike me with a sudden death, if I be guilty.”
Here the Pontiff partook of the Sacrament; after which,
turning solemnly to the conscience-stricken Monarch, he
said : “If thou art conscious of thine innocence, and
assured that the charges brought against thee by thine
own opponents are false and calumnious, free the Church
of God from scandal and thyself, and take as an appeal
to Heaven the Body of our Lord.”
With the spirit of true penitence for once in his heart,
Henry had the virtue to decline the test, and after this
last impressive scene, the Papal benediction was accorded
him, and a banquet offered to him.
The guilt of perjury to conditions like the foregoing,
will be the least of the crimes which stain the memory of
Henry. He left the presence chamber of the Pope and
the castle of Canossa with rage in his heart and a burn-
ing desire for revenge, with which every one must
ardently sympathise. His own age certainly did so, and
as soon as the scene of Canossa was made public, his
cause was stronger than ever. Of course he disregarded
all the promises extorted from him, and henceforth
devoted all his energies to relentless, unmitigated hostility
to the Pope. We are rather lost in speculation how,
under such circumstances, Gregory mailitained compara-
tive moderation towards him. By his own unteachable
folly and headstrong violence, Henry subsequently lost his
crown, which was given to Budolf of Swabia; but another
turn of the popular favour replaced the sceptre in
Henry’s hand, and he recovered in battle no inconsider-
able part of his former dominions. With all the prestige