The Castle of Canossa is a castle in Canossa, province of Reggio Emilia, northern Italy, especially known for being the location of the Road to Canossa, the meeting of Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy (1077).
The Castle of Canossa is a castle in Canossa, province of Reggio Emilia, northern Italy, especially known for being the location of the Road to Canossa, the meeting of Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy (1077).
The castle was built around 940 AD by Adalbert Atto, the Count of Beggia and Mantura, and the son of Sigifredo of Lucca, a Lombard nobleman, on the summit of a rocky hill. In addition to Adalberto's residence, it also housed a convent with 12 Benedictine monks and the church of Sant'Apollonio. It was protected by a triple line of walls; located between the outer two layers of defense were the barracks and the residences of the servants.
During the Middle Ages, it was one of the most formidable castles in Italy. In 950 Adelaide of Italy, the widow of King Lothair II, took refuge there; Berengar II of Ivrea unsuccessfully besieged the castle for three years. During the Investiture Controversy in 1077, the castle formed the venue for the reconciliation between Henry IV and Gregory VII. The latter had friendly relations with the then-owner, Matilda of Tuscany, who established that her lands should be assigned to the Church after her death (1115). Her heirs, however, would have none of it.
In 1255, troops of Reggio destroyed the castle and the church. It was returned to the Canossa family. After the death of Giberto da Correggio in 1321, it was again a possession of Reggio until 1402, when Simone, Guido and Alberto Canossa gained it back; in 1409, however, they ceded it to the House of Este, who (apart a short period under Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma in 1557) held it until 1796.
In 1502 Ercole I d'Este named the poet Ludovico Ariosto as castellan. He resided here for six months. In 1593 Canossa was assigned as fief to the Counts Rondinelli. In 1642 Duke Francesco I entrusted it to the Valentini. The latter were ousted in 1796 by the rebellious local population, who joined the Republic of Reggio.
After being returned to the Valentini, in 1878 the Castle was acquired by the Italian State, and was declared a national monument.
Media related to Castello di Canossa at Wikimedia Commons
Matilda of Tuscany, also referred to as la Gran Contessa, was a member of the House of Canossa in the second half of the eleventh century. Matilda was one of the most important governing figures of the Italian Middle Ages. She reigned in a period of constant battles, political intrigues and Roman Catholic excommunications, and was able to demonstrate an innate and skilled strategic leadership capacity in both military and diplomatic matters.
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The Road to Canossa or Humiliation of Canossa, or, sometimes, the Walk to Canossa was the journey of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV to Canossa Castle in 1077, 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.
Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna was an Italian prelate, archbishop of Ravenna, who was elected pope in 1080 in opposition to Pope Gregory VII and took the name Clement III. Gregory was the leader of the movement in the church which opposed the traditional claim of European monarchs to control ecclesiastical appointments, and this was opposed by supporters of monarchical rights led by the Holy Roman Emperor. This led to the conflict known as the Investiture Controversy. Gregory was felt by many to have gone too far when he excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and supported a rival claimant as emperor, and in 1080 the pro-imperial Synod of Brixen pronounced that Gregory was deposed and replaced as pope by Guibert.
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Boniface III, son of Tedald of Canossa and the father of Matilda of Tuscany, was the most powerful north Italian prince of his age. By inheritance he was count of Brescia, Canossa, Ferrara, Florence, Lucca, Mantua, Modena, Pisa, Pistoia, Parma, Reggio, and Verona from 1007 and, by appointment, margrave of Tuscany from 1027 until his assassination in 1052.
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Canossa is a comune and castle town in the Province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is where Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV did penance in 1077 and stood three days bare-headed in the snow to reverse his excommunication by Pope Gregory VII. The Walk to Canossa is sometimes used as a symbol of the changing relationship between the medieval Church and State.
Herman(n) of Salm, also known as Herman(n) of Luxembourg, the progenitor of the House of Salm, was Count of Salm and elected German anti-king from 1081 until his death.
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Benno II was Bishop of Osnabrück from 1068 until his death. He served as a close advisor and architect of Emperor Henry IV. In 1080 he founded the Benedictine abbey of Iburg Castle.
Gotofredo da Castiglione was an Italian anti-bishop from 1070 to 1075, appointed by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor to the office of Bishop of Milan. This began the Investiture Controversy, whereby Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Gotofredo over the issue of lay investiture.
Liutold of Eppenstein was Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona from 1077 until his death.
The history of the papacy from 1046 to 1216 was marked by conflict between popes and the Holy Roman Emperor, most prominently the Investiture Controversy, a dispute over who— pope or emperor— could appoint bishops within the Empire. Henry IV's Walk to Canossa in 1077 to meet Pope Gregory VII (1073–85), although not dispositive within the context of the larger dispute, has become legendary. Although the emperor renounced any right to lay investiture in the Concordat of Worms (1122), the issue would flare up again.
