One of the Hohenstaufens gained the throne as Conrad III of Germany (1137–1152). Instead, they chose Lothair III (1125–1137), who found himself embroiled in a long-running dispute with the Hohenstaufens, and who married into the Welfs. The German princes refused to give the crown to his nephew, the duke of Swabia, for fear he would try to regain the imperial power held by Henry V. The Salian line had died out with the death of Henry V in 1125. The only real claim to wealth lay in the rich cities of northern Italy, which were still within the nominal control of the German king. When Frederick I of Hohenstaufen was chosen as king in 1152, royal power had been in effective abeyance for over twenty-five years, and to a considerable degree for more than eighty years. The royal title was furthermore passed from one family to another to preclude the development of any dynastic interest in the German crown. The king was chosen by the princes, was given no resources outside those of his own duchy, and he was prevented from exercising any real authority or leadership in the realm. For a quarter of a century following the death of Henry V in 1125, the German monarchy was largely a nominal title with no real power.
The reigns of Henry IV and Henry V left the status of the German empire in disarray, its power waning under the weight of the Investiture controversy. The Hohenstaufens were often called Ghibellines, which derives from the Italianized name for Waiblingen castle, the family seat in Swabia the Welfs, in a similar Italianization, were called Guelfs. Frederick's father was from the Hohenstaufen family, and his mother was from the Welf family, the two most powerful families in Germany. He was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen several days later, on 9 March 1152. Frederick energetically pursued the crown and at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 the kingdom's princely electors designated him as the next German king. Both asserted afterwards that Conrad had, in full possession of his mental powers, handed the royal insignia to Frederick and indicated that Frederick, rather than Conrad's own six-year-old son, the future Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia, succeed him as king. When Conrad died in February 1152, only Frederick and the prince-bishop of Bamberg were at his deathbed. The expedition proved to be a disaster, but Frederick distinguished himself and won the complete confidence of the king. In 1147 he became Duke of the southern German region of Swabia (Herzog von Schwaben), and shortly afterwards made his first trip to the East, accompanied by his uncle, the German king Conrad III, on the Second Crusade. Among his contributions to Central European society and culture include the reestablishment of the Corpus Juris Civilis, or the Roman rule of law, which counterbalanced the papal power that dominated the German states since the conclusion of the Investiture Controversy.įrederick was born in 1122. He combined qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: his longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organization, his battlefield acumen and his political perspicuity. Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empire's greatest medieval emperors. Frederick therefore descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's prince-electors. He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, from the rival House of Welf. He got the name Barbarossa from the northern Italian cities he attempted to rule: Barbarossa means "red beard" in Italian in German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, which has the same meaning.īefore his imperial election, Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III). He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on 30 June 1178. Two years later, the term sacrum ("holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire. He became King of Italy in 1155 and was crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 1152. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I - 1155-1190įrederick I (German: Friedrich 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick Barbarossa, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death.
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