Henry III. continued the policy of Otto I. by seeking to increase the power of the crown at the expense of the petty rulers. Hence duchies were given to his relatives or to loyal vassals. The lesser nobility and the commons were used to counteract the influence of the lords and princes. His reign, in consequence, was disturbed by no serious insurrections. The border states were subdued--Bohemia in 1041 and Hungary in 1044.[409:2] To keep the peace and put down feuds the Truce of God was proclaimed in 1041 throughout Germany. All feuds were to cease from Wednesday eve till Monday morning and absolution from sin was the reward for keeping the Truce.[409:3] Those who purposely broke it were penalised. Burgundy extended it to the periods between Advent and Epiphany, and from Septuagesima to the first Sunday after Easter. Henry III. soon made himself master of Italy and like many a predecessor assumed the iron crown of Lombardy and then established his supremacy over the Normans in the south. Out of a rule of seventeen years he spent but sixty-four weeks in Italy. In 1046 he was coronated Emperor at Rome and made Patrician. Like Charles the Great and Otto the Great Henry III. assumed the headship of the Church. The Papacy, at that time, was a three-headed monster which needed a Hercules to slay it. Benedict IX., another member of the Tusculum family, elected Pope when a boy of eighteen (1033), had led a life of indescribable crime and, in consequence, had been driven from the city (1044) but returned and in 1046 held the Vatican.[410:1] Sylvester III. was elected anti-Pope when Benedict IX. was driven out and lived in St. Peter's. Gregory VI. literally bought the papal throne of Benedict IX. (1045) for 1000 pounds of silver and bribed the people into approval. He took up his residence at St. Maria Maggiore.[410:2] Learning of these disorders, Henry III. went to Italy and in 1046 held the Council of Sutri in which Gregory VI. acknowledged his guilt, divested himself of his papal insignia and begged forgiveness. Benedict IX. and Sylvester III. were declared usurpers, simoniacs, and intruders, hence they were deposed. Benedict IX. hid himself for future trouble, Sylvester III. returned to his bishopric and Gregory VI. was sent into exile in Germany. The Bishop of Bamberg, a German, was chosen Pope in a council held in Rome and assumed the title of Clement II. (1046) and immediately coronated Henry III. and his wife with the imperial honours.[410:3] This is the beginning of a series of German Popes who were to do much to purify and strengthen the Church. Before Henry died three such Popes were elected. Clement II. soon assembled a council in Rome to extirpate simony and to that end had several canons enacted. But his reign of less than a year, was too short to accomplish much. Henry III. died in 1056 with his great Empire full of trouble from border wars and rebellious nobles. The Empire was on the wane and his son took up a crown of difficulties.