From the start of his reign in 1065, 15-year-old Henry IV suffered numerous setbacks enforcing his Imperial authority in Saxony after the regency of his mother Agnes of Poitou.

Attempts to restore the rights over the Harz forests were not received well by the Saxon freedmen, and efforts to extend the crownlands in general as well as the increased demands laid upon the fisc were opposed.

A policy of building castles and supplying them with loyal, mainly Swabian officials, continued from the time of his father, fostered resentment among multiple groups.

The king seized Otto's title and property and kept Magnus prisoner at Harzburg Castle, even after the latter succeeded his father to the Saxon duchy in 1072.

This heightened tensions between the Imperial court and the Saxons; Magnus' subsequent release in exchange for seventy Swabians captured in Lüneburg did little to encourage a thaw in relations.

In February 1074 he proceeded to Gerstungen, where the insurrection, numbering twice the size of his forces, met him; he agreed to several concessions, reasoning that the Saxons would break their end of the deal eventually.

The freedmen, who felt betrayed by the nobles due to the peace treaty, sacked the Harzburg in a frenzy, destroyed the castle, and committed such acts of sacrilege (tossing the bones of members of the royal family, along with those of an abbot and St. Anastasius) that they shocked the local population and the religious authorities.

While Henry was conducting a campaign against the Magyars on the one hand, papal legates were attempting to create support for the Saxon rebels on the other.

In 1075 Otto of Nordheim, together with the count palatine in Saxony and Bishop Burckhard II of Halberstadt openly declared their hostility, using Henry's violations of the Treaty of Gerstungen as an excuse.

The King made camp in Bredingen, and managed to gain the defections of some lower Saxon nobles with promises to listen to their grievances.