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| Background | |||||||||||||||||||||
Frederick was born into the the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the son of Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Judith, daughter of Duke Henry IX of Bavaria and the rival House of Welf. |
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| In 1147, Frederick became Duke of Swabia and soon afterwards accompanied his uncle King Conrad III of Germany on the disasterous Second Crusade. In 1152 as King Conrad lay gravely ill, it is alleged that he nominated Frederick, Duke of Swabia over his own two sons as rightful heir to the crown. In spite of this highly unusual and rare event, it appears the choice of Frederick was popular amongst the nobles and in March 1152 he was crowned both King of Germany and King of the Romans. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In June 1155, Frederick was then crowned Emperor by British born Pope Adrian IV (Nicholas Sheakespeare deliberately corrupted to Breakspeare). | |||||||||||||||||||||
Frederick undertook six expeditions into Italy. In the first he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Adrian IV, following the suppression by Imperial forces of the republican city commune led by Arnold of Brescia. |
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| During the 1155 campaign in Rome, Frederick quickly allied forces with Pope Adrian IV to regain the city. The major opposition was led by Arnold of Brescia, a student of Abelard. Arnold was captured and hanged for treason and rebellion. Despite his unorthodox teaching concerning theology, Arnold was not charged with heresy. Frederick left Italy in the autumn of 1155 to prepare for a new and more formidable campaign. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In June 1158, Frederick set out upon his second Italian expedition, accompanied by Henry the Lion and his Saxon troops. This expedition resulted in the establishment of imperial officers in the cities of northern Italy, the revolt and capture of Milan, and the beginning of the long struggle with Pope Alexander III. Alexander in turn aligned himself with the Borja kingdom of Sicily to aid in mercenaries against the Germans. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The next visit to Italy in 1163 saw his plans for the conquest of Sicily ruined by the formation of a powerful league against him, brought together mainly by opposition to imperial taxes. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In October 1166, he went once more on journey to Italy to secure the claim of his Pope Paschal III, and the coronation of his wife Beatrice as Holy Roman Empress. This time, Henry the Lion refused to join Frederick on his Italian trip, tending instead to his own disputes with neighbors and his continuing expansion into Slavic territories in northeastern Germany. Frederick's forces achieved a great victory over the Romans at the Battle of Monte Porzio, but his campaign was stopped by the sudden outbreak of an epidemic (malaria or the plague), which threatened to destroy the Imperial army and drove the emperor as a fugitive to Germany, where he remained for the ensuing six years. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In 1174, Frederick made his fifth expedition to Italy but was opposed by the pro-Roman Cult Lombard League, which had previously formed to stand against him. The cities of northern Italy had become exceedingly wealthy. They represented a marked turning point in the transition from medieval feudalism. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| While continental feudalism had remained strong socially and economically, it was in deep political decline by the time of Frederick Barbarossa. When the northern Italian cities inflicted a defeat on Frederick, the European world was shocked that such a thing could happen. With the refusal of Henry the Lion to bring help to Italy, the campaign was a complete failure. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Frederick suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Legnano near Milan, on 29 May 1176, where he was wounded and for some time was believed to be dead. This battle marked the turning point in Frederick's claim to empire. He had no choice other than to begin negotiations for peace with Alexander III and the Lombard League. In the Peace of Venice, 1177, Frederick and Alexander III reconciled an uneasy truce. The scene was similar to that which had occurred between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor at Canossa a century earlier. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| After making his peace with the Pope, Frederick embarked on the Third Crusade (1189), a massive expedition in conjunction with the French, led by king Philip Augustus, and the English, under Richard the Lionheart. He organized a grand army of 45,000 men (including 15,000 knights) and set out on the overland route to the Holy Land. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The Crusaders passed through Hungary and Serbia and then entered Byzantine territory, arriving at Constantinople in the autumn of 1189. From there they pushed on through Anatolia (where they were victorious in taking Aksehir and Konya) and entered Cilician Armenia. The approach of the immense German army greatly concerned Saladin and the other Muslim leaders, who began to rally troops of their own and prepare to confront Barbarossa's forces. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| However, on 10 June 1190, Frederick was murdered by Arab assassins by drowning on the approach to Antioch. The loss of their leader caused the Crusader forces to splinter and be led by Philip II of France and Richard I of England. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| He was succeeded by his son Henry VI. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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