Never apologize and never explain

摘要

After trekking across the Alps, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV kneeled outside Pope Gregory Vll's castle at Canossa from January 25 to January 27, 1077 in a blizzard without food or drink to apologize for renouncing Gregory as pope (Robinson, 1999). Almost a hundred years later, another Henry, England's King Henry II apologized for his complicity in the murder of Thomas a Beckett, his erstwhile chancellor whom he had appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. On July 12,1174, the king did penance at Canterbury, allowing each bishop present to beat him five times with a rod, followed by a slashing with twigs by 80 monks (Hosler, 2007).