The papal censure now got a very different reception from the one four years before. It was widely felt to be unjustly pronounced on frivolous grounds, and its authority came in question. The emperor, now more experienced, vigorously denounced the ban as illegal. He summoned a council at Brixen, and on 25 June 1080 thirty bishops present pronounced Gregory deposed, electing archbishop Guibert (Wibert) of Ravenna as his successor.Philippus Jaffe, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I, editio altera (Leipzig 1885), p. 649. Guibert continued to maintain his pretensions as pope until his death in September 1100. Otto Köhncke, Wibert von Ravenna (Papst Clemens III) (Leipzig 1888). Gregory countered on 15 October, ordering the clergy and laity to elect a new archbishop in place of the "mad" and "tyrannical" schismatic Wibert.Philippus Jaffé (editor) Bibliotheca rerum Germanicarum Tomus II: Monumenta Gregoriana (Berolini 1865), pp. 443–444 (Regestum, Book VIII, 13). In 1081, Henry opened the conflict against Gregory in Italy. The emperor was now in the stronger position,He complained in a letter to King Alfonso of Leon and Castile in 1081 that he had a large number of detractors, whose complaints were widely spread, and whom he names as "liars": Jaffe Bibliotheca, pp. 470–473. as thirteen cardinals had deserted the pope, and the rival emperor Rudolf of Swabia died on 16 October. A new imperial claimant, Hermann of Luxembourg, was put forward in August 1081, but he was unable to rally the papal party in Germany, and the power of Henry IV was at its peak.
The papal censure now got a very different reception from the one four years before. It was widely felt to be unjustly pronounced on frivolous grounds, and its authority came in question. The emperor, now more experienced, vigorously denounced the ban as illegal. He summoned a council at Brixen, and on 25 June 1080 thirty bishops present pronounced Gregory deposed, electing archbishop Guibert (Wibert) of Ravenna as his successor.Philippus Jaffe, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I, editio altera (Leipzig 1885), p. 649. Guibert continued to maintain his pretensions as pope until his death in September 1100. Otto Köhncke, Wibert von Ravenna (Papst Clemens III) (Leipzig 1888). Gregory countered on 15 October, ordering the clergy and laity to elect a new archbishop in place of the "mad" and "tyrannical" schismatic Wibert.Philippus Jaffé (editor) Bibliotheca rerum Germanicarum Tomus II: Monumenta Gregoriana (Berolini 1865), pp. 443–444 (Regestum Book VIII, 13). In 1081, Henry opened the conflict against Gregory in Italy. The emperor was now in the stronger position,He complained in a letter to King Alfonso of Leon and Castile in 1081 that he had a large number of detractors, whose complaints were widely spread, and whom he names as "liars": Jaffe Bibliotheca, pp. 470–473. as thirteen cardinals had deserted the pope, and the rival emperor Rudolf of Swabia died, on 16 October. A new imperial claimant, Hermann of Luxembourg, was put forward in August 1081, but he was unable to rally the papal party in Germany, and the power of Henry IV was at its peak.