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Why did Henry IV claim that the Saxons had broken the peace agreement?
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Henry IV
Henry IV, illumination from the manuscript Ekkehardi historia, c. 1113; in possession of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Henry IV declared that the Saxons had broken the peace agreement of February 1074 after they destroyed the royal Harz Castle and, in the process, desecrated the church and the tomb of one of his sons.1
This act of desecration provided the king with a justification that garnered support from across the empire, ultimately allowing him to secure an overwhelming victory against the Saxon rebels in June 1075.1