"Going To Canossa"
Today, "Canossa" refers to an act of penance or submission. To "go to Canossa" is an expression – used often in German: "nach Canossa gehen", in Dutch: "naar Canossa gaan", in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish: "Canossavandring" or "Kanossagang", in French: "aller à Canossa", in Hungarian: kanosszajárás, in Italian: "andare a Canossa", and in Slovenian: "pot v Canosso" – to describe doing penance, often with the connotation that it is unwilling or coerced. Adolf Hitler, for instance, used the expression to describe his meetings with Bavarian Minister President Heinrich Held after being released from Landsberg Prison, in his bid to have the ban on the Nazi Party lifted. The expression was prominently used again in 2007 by Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon when announcing that company's position regarding Microsoft's software patent deals with other GNU/Linux distribution companies such as Novell, Linspire and Xandros.
Read more about this topic: Walk To Canossa