Canossa

Proper noun

 * 1) A comune and castle town in the Province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, famed as the site where the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV did penance in 1077, standing three days bare-headed in the snow, in order to reverse his excommunication by Pope Gregory VII.

Derived terms

 * Canossan
 * Canossian
 * go to Canossa

Noun

 * 1)  An act of humiliating repentance.