Renaissance Questions??

Question

Why was Henry IV excommunicated? What was his penance and how effective was it?

How much knowledge did the peasantry have of the Great Schism?

To what extent did the peasantry have "a sense of time"?

Answer 1

There was more than one Henry IV.  The questioner was asking about the King of Germany and the Holy Roman Emperor, I think, and not the King of England.  This did not happen during the Renaissance though.  It happened in 1077.

There was a power struggle between the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV, and the Pope, Gregory VII.  It used to be that Holy Roman Emperors appointed people to church offices in his realm.  This was a very important power because people seeking these offices often paid significant bribes to the Emperor AND became powerful allies.  Gregory, understandably, wanted the power to appoint church officials, and Henry did not want to give up the power.  Henry renounced Gregory as Pope and Gregory excommunicated Henry.  The fight over who had the power to appoint church officers was known as the Investiture Controversy.

Henry had to back down because he had another, more urgent problem -- rebellion by some of the nobles in his realm.  So, he traveled to meet the Pope in Canossa, apologized, and did penance (wearing a hairshirt and standing barefoot in the snow, in the middle of winter).  This was known as the Walk (or Way) to Canossa.  It was effective in that Gregory lifted the excommunication.  However, the conflict between the two was long from over.  Things got worse, in fact.  So, in the long run, the penance was ineffective.

Answer 2

Maybe you're thinking of Henry II, who was (in a way) responsible for the execution of Becket and was scourged publicly for it?  But, that happened in late medieval times.

Answer 3

Henry IV was never excommunicated, his descendant Henry VIII was after he formed the Church of England and broke off ties to the Pope and Catholic Church in order to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn in her place.

Which "Grand Schism" are you referring to?

And most peasants had a limited sense of time. The vast majority weren't educated, so they couldn't read or write, Time was measured by seasons, any important dates (births, deaths, marriages) were kept by the village priest, if then. There are enough gapes to make it clear that even then some occasions weren't recorded. For instance, Anne Boleyn's birth date is unknown as are several other important people.