Walk to Canossa
During the fierce Investiture Controversy between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV, Benno for a long time sided with the emperor. He were among the clerics who, led by Archbishop Siegfried of Mainz, declared Gregory deposed at the 1076 Synod of Worms. Benno, like numerous other German and Italian bishops, signed the formula of deposition and incurred ecclesiastical excommunication a few weeks later. With some other excommunicated bishops, Benno hastened to Italy, where the pope freed them from the ban at Canossa Castle. He successfully arbitrated between the adversaries, before Henry himself arrived here to do penance on his Walk to Canossa.