How did Henry IV’s excommunication affect the loyalty of German nobles and bishops?

When Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV in 1076, he also absolved the king’s subjects of their oaths of allegiance, which had a profound impact on the loyalty of the German nobility and clergy.12

• Impact on Bishops: Many bishops who had initially supported Henry IV at the assembly in Worms and were subsequently excommunicated by the pope chose to surrender to Gregory VII, abandoning their support for the king.2
• Impact on Nobles: The excommunication emboldened the German princes, who were already in opposition to the king, to organize against him. In October 1076, these princes met to discuss electing a new ruler, forcing Henry IV to promise to seek absolution from the ban to prevent his immediate removal from power.12

While Henry’s subsequent penance at Canossa in 1077 temporarily deprived his opponents of their canonical arguments, the nobility remained largely disloyal, proceeding to elect Rudolf of Rheinfelden as an antiking. Later, when the pope issued a second excommunication in 1080, the reaction was more mixed; some nobles turned against the pope, viewing the accompanying prohibition of investiture as an infringement on their own rights as patrons of churches and monasteries.12