 During the first decade of his rule , Selvo 's policies were largely a continuation of those of Domenico Contarini . There were few armed conflicts at home or abroad , and the Doge enjoyed a period of popularity due to the prosperous economic conditions . The relations with the Holy Roman Empire were gradually strengthened to a level unknown since the reign of the last Orseolo through relatively free trade and the good relationship that Selvo maintained with Emperor Henry IV . The importance of the economic alliance between the two nations became increasingly crucial when the historically shared power of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope was challenged by the Investiture Controversy between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII . Selvo had to walk an extremely tight line of competing priorities . On the one hand , he wanted to maintain the trade agreement Venice had with the lands occupied by Henry IV , but on the other hand , Venetians were religiously loyal to Roman Catholicism as opposed to the Eastern Orthodoxy . At the height of the controversy , Pope Gregory VII privately threatened to excommunicate Selvo and put an interdict on the Venetian Republic , but Selvo was able to narrowly escape this by diplomatically asserting Venice 's religious power as the reputed holders of the remains of St Mark . 
