Peak of the Investiture Controversy

Timeline

1. 1080–1084Rome · LazioThe reconciliation at Canossa did not last. After being excommunicated again in 1080, Henry IV marched into Italy, captured Rome in 1084, and installed the antipope Clement III, forcing Gregory VII into exile and creating a situation of two rival popes claiming papal authority.
2. 1085–1088Southern Italy · ItalyAfter Gregory VII's death, Victor III and Urban II were successively elected, continuing the anti-lay investiture stance through measures such as the Council of Benevento, and gradually regaining partial control of Rome with the military help of the Normans.
3. 1088–1089Europe · EuropeAfter Urban II consolidated papal leadership, the logic of papal mobilization in the Investiture Controversy began to converge with issues such as appeals for help from the Eastern Christian world and the recovery of the Holy Land, laying the political and religious mobilization framework for the prelude to the Crusades in the 1090s.