Rudolf of Rheinfelden was killed in battle and his successor, Hermann of Salm, could only exert royal authority in Saxony. Most German and northern Italian bishops remained loyal to Henry and they elected the antipope Clement III. Henry continued to appoint high-ranking clerics, for which the Pope again excommunicated him on 7 March 1080. The Pope was initially neutral in the two kings' conflict, enabling Henry to consolidate his position. Henry's German opponents ignored his absolution and elected an antiking, Rudolf of Rheinfelden, on 14 March 1077. His penitential " Walk to Canossa" was a success and Gregory VII had no choice but to absolve him in January 1077. To prevent the Pope from sitting in judgement on him, Henry went to Italy as far as Canossa to meet with the Pope. German aristocrats who were hostile to Henry called for the Pope to hold an assembly in Germany to hear Henry's case. In response, the Pope excommunicated Henry and released his subjects from their allegiance. Henry persuaded most of the German bishops to declare the Pope's election invalid on 24 January 1076. Henry adopted an active policy in Italy, alarming Pope Alexander II's successor, Gregory VII, who threatened him with excommunication for simony. Taking advantage of a quarrel between the Saxon aristocrats and peasantry, he forced the rebels into submission in October 1075. Henry's conflicts with the Holy See and the German dukes weakened his position and the Saxons rose up in open rebellion in the summer of 1074. Pope Alexander II blamed Henry's advisors for his acts and excommunicated them in early 1073. He insisted on his royal prerogative to appoint bishops and abbots, although the reformist clerics condemned this practice as simony (a forbidden sale of church offices). The appointment of commoners to high office offended German aristocrats, and many of them withdrew from Henry's court. Henry crushed a riot in Saxony in 1069 and overcame the rebellion of the Saxon aristocrat Otto of Nordheim in 1071. He employed low-ranking officials to carry out his new policies, causing discontent in Saxony and Thuringia. ![]() ![]() Henry endeavoured to recover the royal estates that had been lost during his minority. ![]() He administered Germany until Henry came of age in 1065. Taking advantage of her weakness, Archbishop Anno II of Cologne kidnapped Henry in April 1062. Unlike her late husband, she could not control the election of the popes, thus the idea of the "liberty of the Church" strengthened during her rule. She made grants to German aristocrats to secure their support. After his father's death on 5 October 1056, Henry was placed under his mother's guardianship. He was the son of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor-the second monarch of the Salian dynasty-and Agnes of Poitou. Henry IV ( German: Heinrich IV 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054.
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