By their exchange of articles in the Studi Gregoriani, M. Fliche and the Canon Arquillière have reopened the question of what actually happened when Pope Gregory VII received Henry IV at Canossa. Both scholars assume that Henry approached the Pope, excommunicate and stripped of the royal office; but they differ widely in interpreting Gregory's reception of the penitent King. Taking issue with views Arquillière had expressed in his work Saint-Grégoire VII, Fliche maintained that when Gregory released Henry from excommunication he also reinstated him in the royal office. In response, Arquillière reaffirmed his earlier position that only the ban, and not the sentence of deposition, was lifted.
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