He strove to effect the latter by means of letters and councils, and the former by force of arms. But the factions of his rivals were too strong to be put down, and the confusion only increased. Convinced that nothing could meet the challenges facing the Church except imperial intervention, a number of influential clergy and laity separated themselves from communion with Gregory VI or either of his two rivals and implored King Henry III of Germany to cross the Alps and restore order. Henry III responded to these pleas by descending into Italy in the autumn of 1046. Strong in the conviction of his innocence, Gregory VI went north to meet him. He was received by Henry III with all the honour due to a pope, and in accordance with the royal request, summoned a council to meet at Sutri. Synod of Sutri Only Sylvester III and Gregory VI presented themselves at the Synod of Sutri, which was opened on 20 December 1046. The claims of Sylvester III and Benedict IX were quickly rejected, and the former was condemned to be confined in a monastery for the rest of his life. Gregory VI was accused of purchasing the papacy and freely admitted it; he nevertheless denied that this act, given the circumstances, constituted the crime of simony. The bishops of the synod assured Gratian that this act was indeed simoniacal, regardless of his virtuous motivations for it, and called upon him to resign. Seeing that little choice was left to him, he complied of his own accord and laid down his office. Gregory VI was succeeded in the papacy by the German bishop of Bamberg, Suidger, who took the name Pope Clement II. In May 1047 Gregory was taken by Henry to Germany; he died in 1048, probably at Cologne. To the end he was accompanied by Hildebrand, who (after about a year in Cluny) returned to Rome in January 1049 with the newly elected Pope Leo IX. And when Hildebrand himself was elected pope in 1073, he called himself Pope Gregory VII in order to proclaim his firm and loyal belief in the legitimacy of Gratian as Pope Gregory VI. References Gregory 06 Gregory 06 Gregory VI Year of birth unknown Simony 11th-century popes Burials at St. Peter's Basilica