175-720: Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen was a state of the Holy Roman Empire seated in Gelnhausen in the south of modern Hesse , Germany. Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen was partitioned from Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler in 1654. It was a mediate state with few rights. In 1799 the Counts Palatine were granted the title " Duke in Bavaria " by their distant relations, the Duke of Bavaria , which, in 1806, became
350-732: A "Byzantine-like presidency over a family of nations, centred on pope and emperor in Rome". This has proved a lasting achievement. Otto's early death though made his reign "the tale of largely unrealized potential". Henry II died in 1024 and Conrad II , first of the Salian dynasty , was elected king only after some debate among dukes and nobles. This group eventually developed into the college of electors . The Holy Roman Empire eventually came to be composed of four kingdoms: Kings often employed bishops in administrative affairs and often determined who would be appointed to ecclesiastical offices. In
525-814: A Jew. On 29 March, Frederick and the rabbi rode through the streets together. Frederick successfully prevented a repeat of the massacres that had accompanied the First Crusade and Second Crusade in Germany. Because Frederick had signed a treaty of friendship with Saladin in 1175, he felt it necessary to give Saladin notice of the termination of their alliance. On 26 May 1188, he sent Count Henry II of Dietz to present an ultimatum to Saladin. A few days after Christmas 1188, Frederick received Hungarian, Byzantine, Serbian and Seljuk envoys in Nuremberg . The Hungarians and Seljuks promised provisions and safe-conduct to
700-485: A compromise candidate. Henry VII was crowned king at Aachen on 6 January 1309, and emperor by Pope Clement V on 29 June 1312 in Rome, ending the interregnum. During the 13th century, a general structural change in how land was administered prepared the shift of political power toward the rising bourgeoisie at the expense of the aristocratic feudalism that would characterize the Late Middle Ages . The rise of
875-532: A crusade. Perhaps in preparation for the crusade, Frederick married Adelaide of Vohburg sometime before March 1147. His father died on 4 or 6 April and Frederick succeeded him as the Duke of Swabia. The German crusader army departed from Regensburg seven weeks later. In August 1147, while crossing the Byzantine Empire , an ill crusader stopped in a monastery outside Adrianople to recuperate. There he
1050-485: A day's negotiation, Frederick agreed to perform the required ritual, reportedly muttering, " Pro Petro, non Adriano – For Peter, not for Adrian." Rome was still in an uproar over the fate of Arnold of Brescia, so rather than marching through the streets of Rome, Frederick and Adrian retired to the Vatican . The next day, 18 June 1155, Adrian IV crowned Frederick I Holy Roman Emperor at St Peter's Basilica , amidst
1225-552: A far-reaching constitutional act. Frederick's policies were primarily directed at Italy, where he clashed with the free-minded cities of the north, especially the Duchy of Milan . He also embroiled himself in another conflict with the Papacy by supporting a candidate elected by a minority against Pope Alexander III (1159–1181). Frederick supported a succession of antipopes before finally making peace with Alexander in 1177. In Germany,
1400-653: A form first used in a document in 1474. The adoption of this new name coincided with the loss of imperial territories in Italy and Burgundy to the south and west by the late 15th century, but also to emphasize the new importance of the German Imperial Estates in ruling the Empire due to the Imperial Reform . The Hungarian denomination "German Roman Empire" ( Hungarian : Német-római Birodalom )
1575-527: A framework to legitimize his claim to the right to rule both Germany and northern Italy. In the old days of Henry IV and Henry V, the claim of divine right of kings had been severely undermined by the Investiture controversy . The Church had won that argument in the common man's mind. There was no divine right for the German king to also control the church by naming both bishops and popes. The institution of
1750-636: A generalized social desire to "create greater Germany" by conquering the Slavs to the east. Although the Italian city states had achieved a measure of independence from Frederick as a result of his failed fifth expedition into Italy, the emperor had not given up on his Italian dominions. In 1184, he held a massive celebration, the Diet of Pentecost , when his two eldest sons were knighted, and thousands of knights were invited from all over Germany. While payments upon
1925-745: A guarantee that the crusaders would not sack local settlements until they depart the Byzantine territory. In March 1190, Frederick left Adrianople for Gallipoli at the Dardanelles , to embark to Asia Minor. The armies coming from western Europe pushed on through Anatolia, where they were victorious at the Battle of Philomelium and defeated the Turks in the Battle of Iconium , eventually reaching as far as Cilician Armenia . The approach of Barbarossa's victorious German army greatly concerned Saladin , who
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#17327978364862100-706: A hill a ways away from the main army. The remains of the army reached Constantinople the following day. Conrad III attempted to lead the army across Anatolia but finding this too difficult in the face of constant Turkish attacks near Dorylaeum, decided to turn back. The rearguard was subsequently annihilated. Conrad sent Frederick ahead to inform King Louis VII of France of the disaster and ask for help. The two armies, French and German, then advanced together. When Conrad fell ill around Christmas in Ephesus , he returned to Constantinople by ship with his personal retinue, which included Frederick. With Byzantine ships and money,
2275-575: A historian of the Crusades, outlined Frederick's endeavors and Saladin's dilemma, in which he reported: While these were the varied fortunes of the first in the field, Frederick, the Roman emperor, set out on his journey by land with great power and a countless host of warriors. Passing over the borders of Germany, he crossed Hungary, Macedonia, and Greece and marched through the land of the Saracens with
2450-526: A joint council with King Louis VII of France in 1162 to decide the issue of who should be pope. Louis neared the meeting site, but when he became aware that Frederick had stacked the votes for Victor, Louis decided not to attend the council. As a result, the issue was not resolved at that time. The political result of the struggle with Pope Alexander was an alliance formed between the Norman state of Sicily and Pope Alexander III against Frederick. In
2625-415: A legal system of jurisdiction and public prosecution of criminal acts – a predecessor of the modern concept of rule of law . Another new concept of the time was the systematic founding of new cities by the emperor and by the local dukes. These were partly a result of the explosion in population; they also concentrated economic power at strategic locations. Before this, cities had only existed in
2800-514: 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 at Alessandria in 1175, the European world was shocked. With the refusal of Henry the Lion to bring help to Italy, the campaign
2975-494: A mere five days and ended in failure. Gilbert of Mons , writing fifty years later, recorded that Frederick "prevailed in arms before all others in front of Damascus". On 8 September, the German army sailed out of Acre. On the route home, Conrad III and Frederick stopped in Thessaloniki where they swore oaths to uphold the treaty that Conrad had agreed with Emperor Manuel I Komnenos the previous winter. This treaty obligated
3150-519: A mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. He took Iconium, Philomena, and many other cities, and reached Armenia, where, during great heat, he went into the river, which the natives call the Iron River, to bathe, and therein for our sins was miserably drowned, and so died to the loss of all Christendom. Saladin so greatly feared his approach that he ordered the walls of Laodicia , Gibelet , Tortosa , Biblium and Beyrout , to be pulled down, sparing only
3325-527: A new Roman emperor. Roman law gave a rational purpose for the existence of Frederick and his imperial ambitions. It was a counterweight to the claims of the Church to have authority because of divine revelation. The Church was opposed to Frederick for ideological reasons, not the least of which was the humanist nature found in the revival of the old Roman legal system. When Pepin the Short sought to become king of
3500-600: A public ban and the confiscation of all Henry's territories. In 1190, Frederick participated in the Third Crusade , dying in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia . During the Hohenstaufen period, German princes facilitated a successful, peaceful eastward settlement of lands that were uninhabited or inhabited sparsely by West Slavs . German-speaking farmers, traders, and craftsmen from the western part of
3675-523: A remarkable change in terminology as well. the Statutum affirmed a division of labor between the emperor and the princes and laid much groundwork for the development of particularism in Germany. Even so, from 1232 the vassals of the emperor had a veto over imperial legislative decisions and any new law established by the emperor had to be approved by the princes. These provisions not withstanding, royal power in Germany remained strong under Frederick and by
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#17327978364863850-426: A series of revolts from a younger brother and from several dukes. After that, the king managed to control the appointment of dukes and often also employed bishops in administrative affairs. He replaced leaders of most of the major East Frankish duchies with his own relatives. At the same time, he was careful to prevent members of his own family from making infringements on his royal prerogatives. In 951, Otto came to
4025-575: A thousand years until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars . On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned Frankish king Charlemagne as Roman emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe more than three centuries after the fall of the ancient Western Roman Empire in 476. The title lapsed in 924, but was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor by Pope John XII , fashioning himself as Charlemagne's and
4200-680: A truce with the raiding Magyars , and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade . Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing (or Ottonian) dynasty , would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom or the Kingdom of Germany for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowler's death, Otto , his son and designated successor, was elected king in Aachen in 936. He overcame
4375-509: A vigorous propaganda campaign designed to diminish Frederick and his ambition. To a large extent, this was successful. Frederick did little to encourage economic development in Germany prior to the autumn of 1165. In that year he visited the lower Rhineland, the most economically advanced region in Germany. He had already travelled to northern Italy, the most economically advanced region in the Empire, three times. From 1165 on, Frederick pursued economic policies to encourage growth and trade. There
4550-420: Is in places heavily dependent on classical precedent. For example, Rahewin's physical description of Frederick reproduces word-for-word (except for details of hair and beard) a description of another monarch, Theodoric II written nearly eight hundred years earlier by Sidonius Apollinaris: His character is such that not even those envious of his power can belittle its praise. His person is well-proportioned. He
4725-598: Is no question that his reign was a period of major economic growth in Germany, but it is impossible now to determine how much of that growth was owed to Frederick's policies. The number of mints in Germany increased ninefold in the reign of Frederick and his son Henry, from about two dozen mints at the start of his reign to 215 mints in 1197 and from a mere two royal mints to 28. Frederick himself established at least twelve royal mints, including those of Aachen, Donauwörth, Ulm, Haguenau, Duisburg, Kaiserswerth, Frankfurt, Gelnhausen and Dortmund. He also granted privileges exempting
4900-581: Is not dead, but asleep with his knights in a cave in the Kyffhäuser mountains in Thuringia or Mount Untersberg at the border between Bavaria, Germany, and Salzburg , Austria , and that when the ravens cease to fly around the mountain he will awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness. According to the story, his red beard has grown through the table at which he sits. His eyes are half closed in sleep, but now and then he raises his hand and sends
5075-433: Is shorter than very tall men, but taller and more noble than men of medium height. His hair is golden, curling a little above his forehead ... His eyes are sharp and piercing, his beard reddish [ barba subrufa ], his lips delicate ... His whole face is bright and cheerful. His teeth are even and snow-white in color ... Modesty rather than anger causes him to blush frequently. His shoulders are rather broad, and he
5250-512: Is strongly built ... In the opinion of Norman Cantor, Frederick's charisma led to a fantastic juggling act that, over a quarter of a century, restored the imperial authority in the German states. His formidable enemies defeated him on almost every side, yet in the end he emerged triumphant. When Frederick came to the throne, the prospects for the revival of German imperial power were extremely thin. The great German princes had increased their power and land holdings. The king had been left with only
5425-516: Is the shortening of this. By the end of the 18th century, the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" fell out of official use. Contradicting the traditional view concerning that designation, Hermann Weisert has argued in a study on imperial titulature that, despite the claims of many textbooks, the name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" never had an official status and points out that documents were thirty times as likely to omit
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5600-465: Is the subject of debates: on one hand, it helped to restore peace in the lands of the Empire, that had been engulfed in civil conflicts after the end of the Hohenstaufen era; on the other hand, the "blow to central authority was unmistakable". Thomas Brady Jr. opines that Charles IV's intention was to end contested royal elections (from the Luxembourghs' perspective, they also had the advantage that
5775-517: Is unlikely that a particularly "strong ruler" such as Frederick II would have even pragmatically agreed to legislation that was truly concessionary rather than cooperative, neither would the princes have insisted on such. The Mainz Landfriede or Constitutio Pacis , decreed at the Imperial Diet of 1235, became one of the basic laws of the empire and provided that the princes should share the burden of local government in Germany. The authority of
5950-576: The Angevin Empire . He returned home after he signed the Treaty of Ramla agreeing that Jerusalem would remain under Muslim control while allowing unarmed Christian pilgrims and traders to visit the city. The treaty also reduced the Latin Kingdom to a geopolitical coastal strip extending from Tyre to Jaffa. The increase in wealth of the trading cities of northern Italy led to a revival in
6125-670: The Baltic Sea , the North Sea and along the connected navigable rivers. Each of the affiliated cities retained the legal system of its sovereign and, with the exception of the Free imperial cities , had only a limited degree of political autonomy. By the late 14th century, the powerful league enforced its interests with military means, if necessary. This culminated in a war with the sovereign Kingdom of Denmark from 1361 to 1370. The league declined after 1450. The difficulties in electing
6300-559: The Carolingian Empire 's successor, and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries. From 962 until the 12th century, the empire was one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe. The functioning of government depended on the harmonious cooperation between emperor and vassals; this harmony was disturbed during the Salian period. The empire reached the apex of territorial expansion and power under
6475-471: The House of Hohenstaufen in the mid-13th century, but overextension of its power led to a partial collapse. Scholars generally describe an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, and a gradual development of the imperial role. While the office of emperor had been reestablished, the exact term for his realm as the "Holy Roman Empire" was not used until the 13th century, although
6650-569: The Jews of Germany to fund the crusade. He also put the Jews under his protection and forbade anyone to preach against the Jews. When mobs threatened the Jews of Mainz on the eve of the assembly in March, Frederick sent the imperial marshal Henry of Kalden to disperse them. Rabbi Moses then met with the emperor, which resulted in an imperial edict threatening maiming or death for anyone who maimed or killed
6825-611: The Kingdom of Sicily , over the objections of Pope Urban III . Pope Urban III died shortly after, and was succeeded by Pope Gregory VIII , who even as Papal Chancellor had pursued a more conciliatory line with the Emperor than previous popes and was more concerned with troubling reports from the Holy Land than with a power struggle with Barbarossa. Around 23 November 1187, Frederick received letters that had been sent to him from
7000-787: The Latin language until later in life. He took part in several Hoftage during the reign of his uncle, King Conrad III , which were a form of informal and irregular assembly popular among the nobles of the Holy Roman Empire. One took place in 1141 in Strasbourg , another in 1142 in Konstanz , 1143 in Ulm , 1144 in Würzburg and 1145 in Worms . In early 1147, Frederick decided to join
7175-566: The Nazi movement ( Operation Barbarossa , Barbarossa decree ) resulting in mixed legacies. Modern researchers, while exploring the legacy of Frederick , attempt to untangle legend from historical reality—these efforts result in new perspectives on both the emperor as a person and the social developments associated with him. Frederick was born in mid-December 1122 in Haguenau , to Frederick II, Duke of Swabia and Judith of Bavaria . His father
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7350-593: The Peace of Venice in 1177, Frederick and Alexander III were formally reconciled. With decisions of Paschal III nullfied, Beatrice ceased to be referred as empress. The scene was similar to that which had occurred between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor at Canossa a century earlier. The conflict was the same as that resolved in the Concordat of Worms : Did the Holy Roman Emperor have
7525-740: The Prussians in 1226. The monastic state of the Teutonic Order ( Deutschordensstaat ) and its later German successor state of the Duchy of Prussia was never part of the Holy Roman Empire. Under the son and successor of Frederick Barbarossa, Henry VI , the Hohenstaufen dynasty reached its apex, with the addition of the Norman kingdom of Sicily through the marriage of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily . Bohemia and Poland were under feudal dependence, while Cyprus and Lesser Armenia also paid homage. The Iberian-Moroccan caliph accepted his claims over
7700-570: The Saleph River, leading to most of his army abandoning the Crusade before reaching Acre. Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empire's greatest medieval emperors. 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 perspicacity. His contributions to Central European society and culture include
7875-493: The Second Crusade after his uncle, King Conrad III, had taken the crusader vow in public on 28 December 1146. Frederick's father, Duke Frederick II , strongly objected to this and according to Otto of Freising , the duke berated his brother for permitting his son to go. The elder Frederick, who was dying, expected his son to look after his widow and younger half-brother once he had passed on, not risk his life by going on
8050-645: The Shrine of the Three Kings in the Cologne cathedral . After the death of the antipope Victor IV, Frederick supported antipope Paschal III , but he was soon driven from Rome, leading to the return of Pope Alexander III in 1165. In the meantime Frederick was focused on restoring peace in the Rhineland, where he organized a magnificent celebration of the canonization of Charlemagne at Aachen, under
8225-576: The Sixth Crusade in 1228, which ended in negotiations and a temporary restoration of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . For his many-sided activities, prestige, and dynamic personality Frederick II has been called the greatest of all the medieval German emperors. In the Kingdom of Sicily and much of Italy, Frederick built upon the work of his Norman predecessors and forged an early absolutist state bound together by an efficient secular bureaucracy. Despite his imperial prestige and power, Frederick II's rule
8400-475: The cities and the emergence of the new burgher class eroded the societal, legal and economic order of feudalism. Peasants were increasingly required to pay tribute to their landlords. The concept of property began to replace more ancient forms of jurisdiction, although they were still very much tied together. In the territories (not at the level of the Empire), power became increasingly bundled: whoever owned
8575-520: The patriarch of Constantinople . Charlemagne's good service to the Church in his defense of Papal possessions against the Lombards made him the ideal candidate. On Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the West for the first time in over three centuries. This can be seen as symbolic of the papacy turning away from the declining Byzantine Empire toward
8750-415: The 1240s the crown was still rich in fiscal resources, land holdings, retinues, and all other rights, revenues, and jurisdictions. Frederick II used the political loyalty and practical jurisdictions granted to the higher German aristocracy to impose peace, order, and justice upon Germany. The jurisdictional autarky of the German princes was favoured by the crown itself in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in
8925-678: The Bald ) and then the eastern ( Charles the Fat ), who briefly reunited the Empire, attaining the prize. In the 9th century, Charlemagne and his successors promoted the intellectual revival, known as the Carolingian Renaissance . Some, like Mortimer Chambers, opine that the Carolingian Renaissance made possible the subsequent renaissances (even though by the early 10th century, the revival already diminished). After
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#17327978364869100-436: The Burgundian territories lost to France . Although the Italian territories were formally part of the empire, the territories were ignored in the Imperial Reform and splintered into numerous de facto independent territorial entities. The status of Italy in particular varied throughout the 16th to 18th centuries. Some territories like Piedmont-Savoy became increasingly independent, while others became more dependent due to
9275-436: The Carolingian king Louis the Child died without issue in 911, East Francia did not turn to the Carolingian ruler of West Francia to take over the realm but instead elected one of the dukes, Conrad of Franconia , as Rex Francorum Orientalium . On his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony ( r. 919–936 ), who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached
9450-447: The Crusader army under the command of the rivals Philip II and Richard , who had traveled to Palestine separately by sea, and ultimately led to its dissolution. Richard continued to the East where he fought Saladin, winning territories along the shores of Palestine, but ultimately failed to win the war by conquering Jerusalem itself before he was forced to return to his own territories in north-western Europe, known to modern historians as
9625-401: The Eastern Roman Emperor, Manuel I Comnenus . It was probably about this time that the king obtained papal assent for the annulment of his childless marriage with Adelheid of Vohburg , on the grounds of consanguinity (his great-great-grandfather was a brother of Adela's great-great-great-grandmother, making them fourth cousins, once removed). He then made a vain attempt to obtain a bride from
9800-426: The Empire were gradually reduced. Charles IV set Prague to be the seat of the Holy Roman emperor. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, Conrad IV , Frederick's son (died 1254), enjoyed a strong position having defeated his papal-backed rival anti-king , William of Holland (died 1256). However, Conrad's death was followed by the Interregnum , during which no king could achieve universal recognition, allowing
9975-491: The Empire, both Christians and Jews, moved into these areas. The gradual Germanization of these lands was a complex phenomenon that should not be interpreted in the biased terms of 19th-century nationalism . The eastward settlement expanded the influence of the empire to include Pomerania and Silesia , as did the intermarriage of the local, still mostly Slavic, rulers with German spouses. The Teutonic Knights were invited to Prussia by Duke Konrad of Masovia to Christianize
10150-424: The English feudalistic system. While in England the pledge of fealty went in a direct line from overlords to those under them, the Germans pledged oaths only to the direct overlord, so that in Henry's case, those below him in the feudal chain owed nothing to Frederick. Thus, despite the diminished stature of Henry the Lion, Frederick did not gain his allegiances. Frederick was faced with the reality of disorder among
10325-422: The Franks and began an extensive expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, the Low Countries and beyond, linking the Frankish kingdom with Papal lands. Although antagonism about the expense of Byzantine domination had long persisted within Italy, a political rupture was set in motion in earnest in 726 by the iconoclasm of Emperor Leo III
10500-415: The Franks in the 8th century, the church needed military protection, so Pepin found it convenient to make an ally of the pope. Frederick, however, desired to put the pope aside and claim the crown of old Rome simply because he was in the likeness of the great emperors of old, who tended to have a domineering role over the church, Caesaropapism . Pope Adrian IV was naturally opposed to this view and undertook
10675-407: The German army once again left Constantinople on 7 March 1148 and arrived in Acre on 11 April. After Easter, Conrad and Frederick visited Jerusalem , where Frederick was impressed by the charitable works of the Knights Hospitaller . He took part in the council of Acre on 24 June, where a decision was reached that the crusaders would attack Damascus . The Siege of Damascus (24–28 July) lasted
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#173279783648610850-421: The German king. The Salian line had died out with the death of Henry V in 1125 and 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. 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. One of the Hohenstaufens gained
11025-575: The German princes and ending the civil wars within the kingdom, Frederick further appeased Henry by issuing him with the Privilegium Minus , granting him unprecedented entitlements as Duke of Austria. This was a large concession on the part of Frederick, who realized that Henry the Lion had to be accommodated, even to the point of sharing some power with him. Frederick could not afford to make an outright enemy of Henry. On 9 June 1156 at Würzburg , Frederick married Beatrice of Burgundy , daughter and heiress of Renaud III , thus adding to his possessions
11200-562: The German states, where continuous civil wars were waged between pretenders and the ambitious who wanted the crown for themselves. Italian unity under German rule was more myth than truth. Despite proclamations of German hegemony, the pope was the most powerful force in Italy. When Frederick returned to Germany after his defeat in northern Italy, he was a bitter and exhausted man. The German princes, far from being subordinated to royal control, were intensifying their hold on wealth and power in Germany and entrenching their positions. There began to be
11375-433: The Germans to attack King Roger II of Sicily in cooperation with the Byzantines. After confirming the treaty, Frederick was sent ahead to Germany. He passed through Bulgaria and Hungary and arrived in Germany in April 1149. When Conrad died in February 1152, only Frederick and the prince-bishop of Bamberg were at his deathbed. Both asserted afterwards that Conrad had, in full possession of his mental faculties, handed
11550-444: The Holy Roman emperor seized the city. Otto died young in 1002, and was succeeded by his cousin Henry II , who focused on Germany. Otto III's (and his mentor Pope Sylvester's) diplomatic activities coincided with and facilitated the Christianization and the spread of Latin culture in different parts of Europe. They coopted a new group of nations (Slavic) into the framework of Europe, with their empire functioning, as some remark, as
11725-454: The Hungarian Prince Géza , brother of King Béla III of Hungary , to join the Crusade. The king agreed, and a Hungarian army of 2,000 men led by Géza escorted the German emperor's forces. Later on, Frederick camped in Philippopolis , then in Adrianople in the autumn of 1189 to avoid the winter climate in Anatolia , in the meantime, he received imprisoned German emissaries who were held in Constantinople, and exchanged hostages with Isaac II, as
11900-454: The Imperial army and drove the emperor as a fugitive to Germany, where he remained for the ensuing six years. During this period, Frederick decided conflicting claims to various bishoprics, asserted imperial authority over Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, initiated friendly relations with Manuel I, and tried to come to a better understanding with Henry II of England and Louis VII of France . Many Swabian counts, including his cousin
12075-403: The Isaurian , in what Pope Gregory II saw as the latest in a series of imperial heresies. In 797, the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VI was removed from the throne by his mother, Empress Irene , who declared herself sole ruler. As the Latin Church only regarded a male Roman emperor as the head of Christendom , Pope Leo III sought a new candidate for the dignity, excluding consultation with
12250-440: The Justinian code was used, perhaps unscrupulously, by Frederick to lay claim to divine powers. In Germany, Frederick was a political realist, taking what he could and leaving the rest. In Italy, he tended to be a romantic reactionary, reveling in the antiquarian spirit of the age, exemplified by a revival of classical studies and Roman law. It was through the use of the restored Justinian code that Frederick came to view himself as
12425-503: The King of Bohemia had a permanent and preeminent status as one of the Electors himself). At the same time, he built up Bohemia as the Luxembourghs' core land of the Empire and their dynastic base. His reign in Bohemia is often considered the land's Golden Age. According to Brady Jr. though, under all the glitter, one problem arose: the government showed an inability to deal with the German immigrant waves into Bohemia, thus leading to religious tensions and persecutions. The imperial project of
12600-422: The Lion and his Saxon troops. This expedition resulted in the revolt and capture of Milan , the Diet of Roncaglia that saw the establishment of imperial officers and ecclesiastical reforms in the cities of northern Italy, and the beginning of the long struggle with Pope Alexander III . Milan soon rebelled again and humiliated Empress Beatrice (see Legend below). The death of Pope Adrian IV in 1159 led to
12775-819: The Lion for refusing to come to his aid in 1176. By 1180, Henry had successfully established a powerful state comprising Saxony, Bavaria, and substantial territories in the north and east of Germany. Taking advantage of the hostility of other German princes to Henry, Frederick had Henry tried in absentia by a court of bishops and princes in 1180, declared that imperial law overruled traditional German law, and had Henry stripped of his lands and declared an outlaw. He then invaded Saxony with an imperial army to force his cousin to surrender. Henry's allies deserted him, and he finally had to submit to Frederick at an Imperial Diet in Erfurt in November 1181. Henry spent three years in exile at
12950-615: The Luxembourgh halted under Charles's son Wenceslaus (reigned 1378–1419 as King of Bohemia, 1376–1400 as King of the Romans), who also faced opposition from 150 local baronial families. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (German: Friedrich I ; Italian: Federico I ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He
13125-604: The Ottonian kings actually built their empire on the back of military and bureaucratic apparatuses as well as the cultural legacy they inherited from the Carolingians, who ultimately inherited these from the Late Roman Empire. He argues that the Ottonian empire was hardly an archaic kingdom of primitive Germans, maintained by personal relationships only and driven by the desire of the magnates to plunder and divide
13300-573: The Reich", which tied the great imperial churches and their representatives to imperial service, thus providing "a stable and long-lasting framework for Germany". During the Ottonian era, imperial women played a prominent role in political and ecclesiastic affairs, often combining their functions as religious leader and advisor, regent or co-ruler, notably Matilda of Ringelheim , Eadgyth , Adelaide of Italy , Theophanu , and Matilda of Quedlinburg . In 963, Otto deposed John XII and chose Leo VIII as
13475-538: The Two Cities ) had been an exposition of the Civitas Dei ( The City of God ) of Augustine of Hippo , full of Augustinian negativity concerning the nature of the world and history. His work on Frederick is of opposite tone, being an optimistic portrayal of the glorious potentials of imperial authority. Otto died after finishing the first two books, leaving the last two to Rahewin , his provost. Rahewin's text
13650-556: The Welfs from their possessions, but after his death in 1152, his nephew Frederick Barbarossa succeeded him and made peace with the Welfs, restoring his cousin Henry the Lion to his – albeit diminished – possessions. The Hohenstaufen rulers increasingly lent land to " ministeriales ", formerly non-free servicemen, who Frederick hoped would be more reliable than dukes. Initially used mainly for war services, this new class of people would form
13825-402: The acclamations of the German army. The Romans began to riot, and Frederick spent his coronation day putting down the revolt, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Romans and many more thousands injured. The next day, Frederick, Adrian, and the German army travelled to Tivoli . From there, a combination of the unhealthy Italian summer and the effects of his year-long absence from Germany meant he
14000-457: The aid of Queen Adelaide of Italy , defeating her enemies, marrying her, and taking control over Italy. In 955, Otto won a decisive victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld . In 962, Otto was crowned emperor by Pope John XII , thus intertwining the affairs of the German kingdom with those of Italy and the Papacy. Otto's coronation as emperor marked the German kings as successors to
14175-493: The authority of Manuel I; at the same time, his forces achieved a great victory over the Romans at the Battle of Monte Porzio . Heartened by this victory, Frederick lifted the siege of Ancona and hurried to Rome, where he had his wife crowned empress and also received a second coronation from Paschal III. His campaign was halted by the sudden outbreak of an epidemic ( malaria or the plague ), which threatened to destroy
14350-822: The authority of the antipope Paschal III. Concerned over rumours that Alexander III was about to enter into an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Manuel ;I , in October 1166 Frederick embarked on his fourth Italian campaign, hoping as well to secure the claim of 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. In 1167 Frederick began besieging Ancona , which had acknowledged
14525-613: The backing of the French Pope, Clement V (established at Avignon in 1309), and that his prospects of bringing the empire into the orbit of the French royal house were good. He lavishly spread French money in the hope of bribing the German electors. Although Charles of Valois had the backing of pro-French Henry, Archbishop of Cologne , many were not keen to see an expansion of French power, least of all Clement V. The principal rival to Charles appeared to be Count Palatine Rudolf II . But
14700-474: The basis for the later knights , another basis of imperial power. A further important constitutional move at Roncaglia was the establishment of a new peace mechanism for the entire empire, the Landfrieden , with the first imperial one being issued in 1103 under Henry IV at Mainz . This was an attempt to abolish private feuds, between the many dukes and other people, and to tie the emperor's subordinates to
14875-409: The close of 1162, Frederick prevented the escalation of conflicts between Henry the Lion from Saxony and a number of neighbouring princes who were growing weary of Henry's power, influence, and territorial gains. He also severely punished the citizens of Mainz for their rebellion against Archbishop Arnold. In Frederick's third visit to Italy in 1163, his plans for the conquest of Sicily were ruined by
15050-509: The consent of Eugene, and to help Eugene regain control of the city of Rome. Frederick undertook six expeditions into Italy. In the first, beginning in October 1154, his plan was to launch a campaign against the Normans under King William I of Sicily . He marched down and almost immediately encountered resistance to his authority. Obtaining the submission of Milan , he successfully besieged Tortona on 13 February 1155, razing it to
15225-458: The court of Constantinople . On his accession, Frederick had communicated the news of his election to Pope Eugene III , but had neglected to ask for papal confirmation. In March 1153, Frederick concluded the Treaty of Constance with the Pope, wherein he promised, in return for his coronation, to defend the papacy, to make no peace with king Roger II of Sicily or other enemies of the Church without
15400-467: The court of his father-in-law Henry II of England in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany. He finished his days in Germany, as the much-diminished Duke of Brunswick. Frederick's desire for revenge was sated. Henry the Lion lived a relatively quiet life, sponsoring arts and architecture. Frederick's victory over Henry did not gain him as much in the German feudalistic system as it would have in
15575-402: The cross through messengers and then in a personal meeting on 25 December on the border between Ivois and Mouzon . On 27 March 1188, at the Diet of Mainz , the archbishop of Cologne submitted to Frederick. Bishop of Würzburg, Godfrey of Spitzenberg , preached a crusade sermon and Frederick asked the assembly whether he should take the cross. At the universal acclaim of the assembly, he took
15750-534: The crown was not in question, rather its practical allocation in such a wide region which lacked a general administrative apparatus. Far from a broad diminution of royal power, the Mainz Landfriede was a constitutional recalibration based on the culmination of multi-decade political realities and a testament to Frederick II's considerable political strength, his increased prestige during the early 1230s, and sheer overpowering might that he succeeded in securing
15925-400: The crusader's vow. His second son, the duke of Swabia, followed suit. The eldest, Henry VI, was to remain behind in Germany as regent. At Mainz Frederick proclaimed a "general expedition against the pagans". He set the period of preparation as 17 April 1188 to 8 April 1189 and scheduled the army to assemble at Regensburg on 23 April 1189. At Strasbourg, Frederick had imposed a small tax on
16100-537: The crusaders. The envoys of Stefan Nemanja , grand prince of Serbia, announced that their prince would receive Frederick in Niš . Only with difficulty was an agreement reached with the Byzantine envoy, John Kamateros . Frederick sent a large embassy ahead to make preparations in Byzantium. On 15 April 1189 in Haguenau , Frederick formally and symbolically accepted the staff and scrip of a pilgrim and set out. His crusade
16275-502: The death of Charles the Fat in 888, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, and was never restored. According to Regino of Prüm , the parts of the realm "spewed forth kinglets", and each part elected a kinglet "from its own bowels". The last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy , who died in 924. Around 900, East Francia's autonomous stem duchies ( Franconia , Bavaria , Swabia , Saxony , and Lotharingia ) reemerged. After
16450-753: The dissolution of the Empire. At the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, most of the Holy Roman Empire was included in the German Confederation , with the main exceptions being the Italian states. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control. In the late 5th and early 6th centuries, the Merovingians , under Clovis I and his successors, consolidated Frankish tribes and extended hegemony over others to gain control of northern Gaul and
16625-503: The dual election of Frederick Barbarossa's youngest son Philip of Swabia and Henry the Lion's son Otto of Brunswick , who competed for the crown. After Philip was murdered in a private squabble in 1208, Otto prevailed for a while, until he began to also claim Sicily. Pope Innocent III , who feared the threat posed by a union of the empire and Sicily, was now supported by Frederick II, who marched to Germany and defeated Otto. After his victory, Frederick did not act upon his promise to keep
16800-545: The election of two rival popes, Alexander III and the antipope Victor IV , and both sought Frederick's support. Frederick, busy with the siege of Crema , appeared unsupportive of Alexander III, and after the sacking of Crema demanded that Alexander appear before the emperor at Pavia and to accept the imperial decree. Alexander refused, and Frederick recognised Victor IV as the legitimate pope in 1160. In response, Alexander III excommunicated both Frederick I and Victor IV. Frederick attempted to convoke
16975-402: The electors, the great territorial magnates who had lived without a crowned emperor for decades, were unhappy with both Charles and Rudolf. Instead Count Henry of Luxembourg , with the aid of his brother, Archbishop Baldwin of Trier , was elected as Henry VII with six votes at Frankfurt on 27 November 1308. Though a vassal of King Philip, Henry was bound by few national ties, and thus suitable as
17150-420: The emperor had repeatedly protected Henry the Lion against complaints by rival princes or cities (especially in the cases of Munich and Lübeck ). Henry gave only lackluster support to Frederick's policies, and, in a critical situation during the Italian wars, Henry refused the emperor's plea for military support. After returning to Germany, an embittered Frederick opened proceedings against the duke, resulting in
17325-678: The emperor's overlordship of the Imperial Church. Also in the Peace of Venice, a truce was made with the Lombard cities, which took effect in August 1178. The grounds for a permanent peace were not established until 1183, however, in the Peace of Constance , when Frederick conceded their right to freely elect town magistrates. By this move, Frederick recovered his nominal domination over Italy, which became his chief means of applying pressure on
17500-457: The emperor's theoretical legitimacy from the beginning rested on the concept of translatio imperii , that he held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Rome . Nevertheless, in the Holy Roman Empire, the imperial office was traditionally elective by the mostly German prince-electors . In theory and diplomacy, the emperors were considered the first among equals of all Europe's Catholic monarchs. A process of Imperial Reform in
17675-665: The emperor, negotiated with him. On 6 August 1806, Emperor Francis II abdicated and formally dissolved the empire following the creation – the month before, by French emperor Napoleon – of the Confederation of the Rhine , a confederation of German client states loyal not to the Holy Roman emperor but to France. Since Charlemagne , the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire . The term sacrum ("holy", in
17850-586: The empire of Charlemagne, which through the concept of translatio imperii , also made them consider themselves as successors to Ancient Rome. The flowering of arts beginning with Otto the Great's reign is known as the Ottonian Renaissance , centered in Germany but also happening in Northern Italy and France. Otto created the imperial church system, often called "Ottonian church system of
18025-494: The end of the German Empire , it was often called "the old Empire" ( das alte Reich ). Beginning in 1923, early twentieth-century German nationalists and Nazi Party propaganda would identify the Holy Roman Empire as the "First" Reich ( Erstes Reich , Reich meaning empire), with the German Empire as the "Second" Reich and what would eventually become Nazi Germany as the "Third" Reich. David S. Bachrach opines that
18200-466: The expected invasion. Henry also had plans for turning the Empire into a hereditary monarchy, although this met with opposition from some of the princes and the pope. The emperor suddenly died in 1197, leading to the partial collapse of his empire. As his son, Frederick II , though already elected king, was still a small child and living in Sicily, German princes chose to elect an adult king, resulting in
18375-540: The extinction of their ruling noble houses causing these territories to often fall under the dominions of the Habsburgs and their cadet branches . Barring the loss of Franche-Comté in 1678 , the external borders of the Empire did not change noticeably from the Peace of Westphalia – which acknowledged the exclusion of Switzerland and the Northern Netherlands, and the French protectorate over Alsace – to
18550-575: The fields of Roncaglia in 1158 reclaimed imperial rights in reference to Justinian I 's Corpus Juris Civilis . Imperial rights had been referred to as regalia since the Investiture Controversy but were enumerated for the first time at Roncaglia. This comprehensive list included public roads, tariffs, coining , collecting punitive fees, and the seating and unseating of office-holders. These rights were now explicitly rooted in Roman law ,
18725-561: The first King of Bavaria . These two lines are the only branches of the House of Wittelsbach which did not eventually become extinct. Name Reign Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire , also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe , usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor . It developed in the Early Middle Ages and lasted for almost
18900-409: The forces of the republican city commune led by Arnold of Brescia , a student of Abelard . As a sign of good faith, Frederick dismissed the ambassadors from the revived Roman Senate, and Imperial forces suppressed the republicans. Arnold was captured and hanged for treason and rebellion. Despite his unorthodox teaching concerning theology, Arnold was not charged with heresy. As Frederick approached
19075-408: The form of old Roman foundations or older bishoprics . Cities that were founded in the 12th century include Freiburg , possibly the economic model for many later cities, and Munich . Frederick Barbarossa was crowned emperor in 1155. He emphasized the "Romanness" of the empire, partly in an attempt to justify the power of the emperor independent of the (now strengthened) pope. An imperial assembly at
19250-720: The formation of a powerful league against him, brought together mainly by opposition to imperial taxes. In 1164, Frederick took what are believed to be the relics of the "Biblical Magi" (the Wise Men or Three Kings ) from the Basilica di Sant'Eustorgio in Milan and gave them as a gift (or as loot) to the Archbishop of Cologne , Rainald of Dassel . The relics had great religious significance and could be counted upon to draw pilgrims from all over Christendom . Today they are kept in
19425-520: The fortresses, that is the citadels and towers. Frederick's death caused several thousand German soldiers to leave the force and return home through the Cilician and Syrian ports. The German-Hungarian army was struck with an onset of disease near Antioch , weakening it further. Only 5,000 soldiers, a third of the original force, arrived in Acre . Barbarossa's son, Frederick VI of Swabia, carried on with
19600-413: The gates of Rome, the Pope advanced to meet him. At the royal tent the king received him, and after kissing the pope's feet, Frederick expected to receive the traditional kiss of peace. Frederick had declined to hold the Pope's stirrup while leading him to the tent, however, so Adrian refused to give the kiss until this protocol had been complied with. Frederick hesitated, and Adrian IV withdrew; after
19775-526: The ground on 18 April. He moved on to Pavia , where he according to some historians received the Iron Crown and the title of King of Italy on 24 April in the Basilica of San Michele Maggiore . Other historians instead suggest his coronation took place in Monza on 15 April. Moving through Bologna and Tuscany , he was soon approaching the city of Rome. There, Pope Adrian IV was struggling with
19950-457: The interests of order and local peace. The inevitable result was the territorial particularism of churchmen, lay princes, and interstitial cities. However, Frederick was a ruler of vast territories and "could not be everywhere at once". The transference of jurisdiction was a practical solution to secure the further support of the German princes and, moreover, was a process which had already been underway even under Henry VI and Frederick Barbarossa. It
20125-526: The king eventually led to the emergence of a fixed college of prince-electors ( Kurfürsten ), whose composition and procedures were set forth in the Golden Bull of 1356 , issued by Charles IV (reigned 1355–1378, King of the Romans since 1346), which remained valid until 1806. This development probably best symbolizes the emerging duality between emperor and realm ( Kaiser und Reich ), which were no longer considered identical. The Golden Bull also set forth
20300-414: The king of the sacral status he had previously enjoyed. The pope and the German princes had surfaced as major players in the political system of the Holy Roman Empire. As the result of Ostsiedlung, less populated regions of Central Europe (i.e. sparsely populated border areas in present-day Poland and Czechia) received a significant number of German speakers. Silesia became part of the Holy Roman Empire as
20475-399: The king, declared him deposed, and dissolved the oaths of loyalty made to Henry. The king found himself with almost no political support and was forced to make the famous Walk to Canossa in 1077, by which he achieved a lifting of the excommunication at the price of humiliation. Meanwhile, the German princes had elected another king, Rudolf of Swabia . Henry managed to defeat Rudolf, but
20650-570: The knighting of a son were part of the expectations of an overlord in England and France, only a "gift" was given in Germany for such an occasion. Frederick's monetary gain from this celebration is said to have been modest. Later in 1184, Frederick again moved into Italy, this time joining forces with the local rural nobility to reduce the power of the Tuscan cities. In 1186, he engineered the marriage of his son Henry to Constance of Sicily , heiress to
20825-411: The land had jurisdiction, from which other powers derived. Jurisdiction at the time did not include legislation, which was virtually nonexistent until well into the 15th century. Court practice heavily relied on traditional customs or rules described as customary. During this time, territories began to transform into the predecessors of modern states. The process varied greatly among the various lands and
21000-579: The late 15th and early 16th centuries transformed the empire, creating a set of institutions which endured until its final demise in the 19th century. According to historian Thomas Brady Jr., the empire after the Imperial Reform was a political body of remarkable longevity and stability, and "resembled in some respects the monarchical polities of Europe's western tier, and in others the loosely integrated, elective polities of East Central Europe." The new corporate German Nation, instead of simply obeying
21175-478: The law of the state as a reflection of natural moral law, the principle of rationality in the universe. By the time Frederick assumed the throne, this legal system was well established on both sides of the Alps. He was the first to use the availability of the new professional class of lawyers. The Civil Law allowed Frederick to use these lawyers to administer his kingdom in a logical and consistent manner. It also provided
21350-522: The majority of his army had already departed toward Hungary on land, Frederick sailed from Regensburg down the River Danube. When he came to the village of Mauthausen, Frederick ordered the village to be burned for levying a toll on the crusader army. The Crusaders then passed through Hungary , Serbia , and Bulgaria before entering Byzantine territory. While in Hungary, Barbarossa personally asked
21525-431: The meantime, Frederick had to deal with another rebellion at Milan, in which the city surrendered on 6 March 1162; much of it was destroyed three weeks later on the emperor's orders. The fate of Milan led to the submission of Brescia , Placentia , and many other northern Italian cities. In August 1162 he triumphantly entered Turin and was crowned with his consort in the cathedral on August 15. Returning to Germany towards
21700-541: The merchants of Aachen, Gelnhausen, Haguenau, Monza, Rome, Pisa and Venice from all tolls within the Empire. Otto of Freising , Frederick's uncle, wrote an account of his reign entitled Gesta Friderici I imperatoris (Deeds of the Emperor Frederick), which is considered to be an accurate history of the king. Otto's other major work, the Chronica sive Historia de duabus civitatibus ( Chronicle or History of
21875-592: The middle Rhine river valley region. By the middle of the 8th century, the Merovingians were reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians , led by Charles Martel , became the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel's son Pepin became King of the Franks, and later gained the sanction of the Pope. The Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768, Pepin's son Charlemagne became King of
22050-583: The moderately powerful but already old duke of Saxony. When he died in 1137, the princes again aimed to check royal power; accordingly they did not elect Lothair's favoured heir, his son-in-law, Henry the Proud of the Welf family, but Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen family, the grandson of Emperor Henry IV and nephew of Emperor Henry V. This led to over a century of strife between the two houses. Conrad ousted
22225-454: The national suffix as include it. In a famous assessment of the name, the political philosopher Voltaire remarked sardonically: "This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." In the modern period, the Empire was often informally called the German Empire ( Deutsches Reich ) or Roman-German Empire ( Römisch-Deutsches Reich ). After its dissolution through
22400-401: The new pope (although John XII and Leo VIII both claimed the papacy until 964, when John XII died). This also renewed the conflict with the Byzantine emperor, especially after Otto's son Otto II ( r. 967–983 ) adopted the designation imperator Romanorum . Still, Otto II formed marital ties with the east when he married the Byzantine princess Theophanu . Their son, Otto III , came to
22575-544: The new power of Carolingian Francia . Charlemagne adopted the formula Renovatio imperii Romanorum ("renewal of the Roman Empire"). In 802, Irene was overthrown and exiled by Nikephoros I and henceforth there were two Roman emperors. After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown passed to his son, Louis the Pious . Upon Louis' death in 840, it passed to his son Lothair , who had been his co-ruler. By this point
22750-509: The papacy. In a move to consolidate his reign after the disastrous expedition into Italy, Frederick was formally crowned King of Burgundy at Arles on 30 June 1178. Although traditionally the German kings had automatically inherited the royal crown of Arles since the time of Conrad II , Frederick felt the need to be crowned by the Archbishop of Arles, regardless of his laying claim to the title from 1152. Frederick did not forgive Henry
22925-480: The position it had occupied under Charlemagne and Otto I the Great , the new king saw clearly that the restoration of order in Germany was a necessary preliminary to the enforcement of the imperial rights in Italy. Issuing a general order for peace, he made lavish concessions to the nobles. Abroad, Frederick intervened in the Danish civil war between Svend III and Valdemar I of Denmark and began negotiations with
23100-672: The power to name the pope and bishops? The Investiture controversy from previous centuries had been brought to a tendentious peace with the Concordat of Worms and affirmed in the First Council of the Lateran . Now it had recurred, in a slightly different form. Frederick had to humble himself before Alexander III at Venice. The emperor acknowledged the pope's sovereignty over the Papal States, and in return Alexander acknowledged
23275-455: The princes to consolidate their holdings and become even more independent as rulers. After 1257, the crown was contested between Richard of Cornwall , who was supported by the Guelph party , and Alfonso X of Castile , who was recognized by the Hohenstaufen party but never set foot on German soil. After Richard's death in 1273, Rudolf I of Germany , a minor pro-Hohenstaufen count, was elected. He
23450-510: The princes' support and rebound them to Hohenstaufen power. The Kingdom of Bohemia was a significant regional power during the Middle Ages . In 1212, King Ottokar I (bearing the title "king" since 1198) extracted a Golden Bull of Sicily (a formal edict) from Emperor Frederick II, confirming the royal title for Ottokar and his descendants, and the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a kingdom. Bohemia's political and financial obligations to
23625-639: The re-establishment 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 . Due to his popularity and notoriety, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, he was used as a political symbol by many movements and regimes: the Risorgimento , the Wilhelmine government in Germany (especially under Emperor Wilhelm I ), and
23800-509: The regional kingdoms), imperium christianum ("Christian empire"), or Romanum imperium ("Roman empire"), but the Emperor's legitimacy always rested on the concept of translatio imperii , that he held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Rome . In a decree following the Diet of Cologne in 1512, the name was changed to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ( German : Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation , Latin : Sacrum Imperium Romanum Nationis Germanicae ),
23975-763: The remnants of the German army, along with the Hungarian army under the command of Prince Géza, with the aim of burying the emperor in Jerusalem , but efforts to preserve his body in vinegar failed. Hence, his flesh was interred in the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Antioch, his bones in the Cathedral of Tyre, and his heart and inner organs in Saint Paul's Church , Tarsus . The unexpected demise of Frederick left
24150-451: The restoration of Milan in 1169. In 1174 Frederick made his fifth expedition to Italy. (It was probably during this time that the famous Tafelgüterverzeichnis , a record of the royal estates, was made. ) He was opposed by the pro-papal Lombard League (now joined by Venice , Sicily and Constantinople ), which had previously formed to stand against him. The cities of northern Italy had become exceedingly wealthy through trade, representing
24325-576: The result of the local Piast dukes' push for autonomy from the Polish Crown. From the late 12th century, the Duchy of Pomerania was under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire and the conquests of the Teutonic Order made that region German-speaking. When the Salian dynasty ended with Henry V's death in 1125, the princes chose not to elect the next of kin, but rather Lothair III ,
24500-411: The rewards among themselves but instead, notable for their abilities to amass sophisticated economic, administrative, educational and cultural resources that they used to serve their enormous war machine. Until the end of the 15th century, the empire was in theory composed of three major blocs – Italy , Germany and Burgundy . Later territorially only the Kingdom of Germany and Bohemia remained, with
24675-465: The right to build fortification. The 1232 Statutum in favorem principum mostly extended these privileges to secular territories. Although many of these privileges had existed earlier, they were now granted globally, and once and for all, to allow the German princes to maintain order north of the Alps while Frederick concentrated on Italy. The 1232 document marked the first time that the German dukes were called domini terrae , owners of their lands,
24850-446: The royal insignia to Frederick and indicated that he, rather than Conrad's own six-year-old son, the future Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia , succeed him as king. Frederick energetically pursued the crown and at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 the kingdom's princely electors designated him as the next German king. He was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen several days later, on 9 March 1152. The reigns of Henry IV and Henry V left
25025-532: The rulers of the Crusader states in the Near East urging him to come to their aid. Around 1 December, Cardinal Henry of Marcy preached a crusade sermon before Frederick and a public assembly in Strasbourg . Frederick expressed support for the crusade but declined to take the cross on the grounds of his ongoing conflict with Archbishop Philip of Cologne . He did, however, urge King Philip II of France to take
25200-529: The sense of "consecrated") in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was used beginning in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa ("Holy Empire"): the term was added to reflect Frederick's ambition to dominate Italy and the Papacy . The form "Holy Roman Empire" is attested from 1254 onward. The exact term "Holy Roman Empire" was not used until the 13th century, before which the empire was referred to variously as universum regnum ("the whole kingdom", as opposed to
25375-715: The sizeable realm of the County of Burgundy . In an attempt to create comity, Emperor Frederick proclaimed the Peace of the Land , written between 1152 and 1157, which enacted punishments for a variety of crimes, as well as systems for adjudicating many disputes. He also declared himself the sole Augustus of the Roman world, ceasing to recognise Manuel I at Constantinople. The retreat of Frederick in 1155 forced Pope Adrian IV to come to terms with King William I of Sicily, granting to William I territories that Frederick viewed as his dominion. This aggrieved Frederick, and he
25550-457: The status of the German empire in disarray, its power waning under the weight of the investiture controversy . 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 behind it. The king, chosen by the prince-electors, was given no resources outside those of his own duchy and he was at the same time prevented from exercising any real authority or leadership. The royal title
25725-399: The study of the Justinian Code , a Latin legal system that had become extinct centuries earlier. Legal scholars renewed its application. It is speculated that Pope Gregory VII personally encouraged the Justinian rule of law and had a copy of it. The historian Norman Cantor described Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian Body of Civil Law) as "the greatest legal code ever devised". It envisaged
25900-419: The suzerainty over Tunis and Tripolitania and paid tribute. Fearing the power of Henry, the most powerful monarch in Europe since Charlemagne, the other European kings formed an alliance. But Henry broke this coalition by blackmailing English king Richard the Lionheart . The Byzantine emperor worried that Henry would turn his Crusade plan against his empire, and began to collect the alamanikon to prepare against
26075-403: The system for election of the Holy Roman Emperor. The emperor now was to be elected by a majority rather than by consent of all seven electors. For electors the title became hereditary, and they were given the right to mint coins and to exercise jurisdiction. Also it was recommended that their sons learn the imperial languages – German , Latin , Italian , and Czech . The decision by Charles IV
26250-403: The territory of Charlemagne was divided into several territories ( cf . Treaty of Verdun , Treaty of Prüm , Treaty of Meerssen and Treaty of Ribemont ), and over the course of the later 9th century the title of emperor was disputed by the Carolingian rulers of the Western Frankish Kingdom or West Francia and the Eastern Frankish Kingdom or East Francia , with first the western king ( Charles
26425-519: The throne as Conrad III of Germany (1137–1152). When Frederick Barbarossa succeeded his uncle in 1152, there seemed to be excellent prospects for ending the feud, since he was a Welf on his mother's side. The Welf duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion , would not be appeased, however, remaining an implacable enemy of the Hohenstaufen monarchy. Barbarossa had the duchies of Swabia and Franconia, the force of his own personality, and very little else to construct an empire. The Germany that Frederick tried to unite
26600-542: The throne only three years old, and was subjected to a power struggle and series of regencies until his age of majority in 994. Up to that time, he remained in Germany, while a deposed duke, Crescentius II , ruled over Rome and part of Italy, ostensibly in his stead. In 996 Otto III appointed his cousin Gregory V the first German pope. A foreign pope and foreign papal officers were seen with suspicion by Roman nobles, who were led by Crescentius II to revolt. Otto III's former mentor Antipope John XVI briefly held Rome, until
26775-418: The traditional family domains and a vestige of power over the bishops and abbeys. The backwash of the Investiture controversy had left the German states in continuous turmoil. Rival states were in perpetual war. These conditions allowed Frederick to be both warrior and occasional peace-maker, both to his advantage. Frederick is the subject of many legends, including that of a Kyffhäuser legend . Legend says he
26950-437: The two realms separate. Though he had made his son Henry king of Sicily before marching on Germany, he still reserved real political power for himself. This continued after Frederick was crowned emperor in 1220. Fearing Frederick's concentration of power, the pope finally excommunicated him. Another point of contention was the Crusade, which Frederick had promised but repeatedly postponed. Now, although excommunicated, Frederick led
27125-530: The wake of the Cluniac Reforms , this involvement was increasingly seen as inappropriate by the Papacy. The reform-minded Pope Gregory VII was determined to oppose such practices, which led to the Investiture Controversy with King Henry IV ( r. 1056–1106 , crowned emperor in 1084). Henry IV repudiated the pope's interference and persuaded his bishops to excommunicate the pope, whom he famously addressed by his birth name "Hildebrand" rather than his papal name "Gregory". The pope, in turn, excommunicated
27300-444: The young Duke of Swabia, Frederick IV, died in 1167, so he was able to organize a new mighty territory in the Duchy of Swabia under his reign in this time. Consequently, his younger son Frederick V became the new Duke of Swabia in 1167, while his eldest son Henry was crowned King of the Romans in 1169, alongside his father who also retained the title. Increasing anti-German sentiment swept through Lombardy, culminating in
27475-451: Was "the most meticulously planned and organized" up to that time. According to one source written in the 1220s, Frederick organized a grand army of 100,000 men (including 20,000 knights) and set out on the overland route to the Holy Land; This number is believed to be inaccurate by modern scholars using incomplete contemporary sources that place the size of his army at 12,000–15,000 men, including 3,000–4,000 knights. On 11 May 1189, after
27650-433: 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 Anagni in 1176, Frederick recognized Alexander III as pope, and in
27825-441: Was a major turning point toward the partitioning of central rule in the Empire. Since his political focus was south of the Alps, he was mostly absent from Germany and issued far-reaching privileges to Germany's secular and ecclesiastical princes to ensure their cooperation. In the 1220 Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis , Frederick gave up a number of regalia in favour of the bishops, among them tariffs, coining , and
28000-399: Was a patchwork of more than 1,600 individual states, each with its own prince. A few of these, such as Bavaria and Saxony, were large. Many were too small to pinpoint on a map. The titles afforded to the German king were "Caesar", "Augustus", and "Emperor of the Romans". By the time Frederick would assume these, they were little more than propaganda slogans with little other meaning. Frederick
28175-406: Was a pragmatist who dealt with the princes by finding a mutual self-interest. Unlike Henry II of England , Frederick did not attempt to end medieval feudalism, but rather tried to restore it, though this was beyond his ability. The great players in the German civil war had been the Pope, Emperor, Ghibellines and the Guelfs, but none of these had emerged as the winner. Eager to restore the Empire to
28350-415: Was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 1152. He was crowned King of Italy on 24 April 1155 in Pavia and emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155 in Rome . Two years later, the term sacrum ("holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his empire. He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy , at Arles on 30 June 1178. He
28525-416: Was forced to put off his planned campaign against the Normans of Sicily . On their way northwards, they attacked Spoleto and encountered the ambassadors of Manuel I Comnenus, who showered Frederick with costly gifts. At Verona , Frederick declared his fury with the rebellious Milanese before finally returning to Germany. Disorder was again rampant in Germany, especially in Bavaria, but general peace
28700-424: Was forced to weaken his force at the Siege of Acre and send troops to the north to block the arrival of the Germans. Barbarossa opted on the local Armenians' advice to follow a shortcut along the Saleph River. Meanwhile, the army started to traverse the mountain path. On 10 June 1190, he drowned near Silifke Castle in the Saleph River. There are several conflicting accounts of the event: Jacques de Vitry ,
28875-431: Was from the Hohenstaufen family, and his mother was from the Welf family, the two most powerful families in Germany. 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 was also a descendant of the Salian dynasty through his paternal grandmother Agnes as she
29050-423: Was further displeased when Papal legates chose to interpret a letter from Adrian to Frederick in a manner that seemed to imply that the imperial crown was a gift from the Papacy and that in fact the Empire itself was a fief of the Papacy. Disgusted with the pope, and still wishing to crush the Normans in the south of Italy, in June 1158, Frederick set out upon his second Italian expedition, accompanied by Henry
29225-413: Was furthermore passed from one family to another to preclude the development of any dynastic interest in the German crown. When Frederick 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 only real claim to wealth lay in the rich cities of northern Italy, which were still within the nominal control of
29400-448: Was most advanced in those territories that were almost identical to the lands of the old Germanic tribes, e.g. , Bavaria. It was slower in those scattered territories that were founded through imperial privileges. In the 12th century the Hanseatic League established itself as a commercial and defensive alliance of the merchant guilds of towns and cities in the empire and all over northern and central Europe. It dominated marine trade in
29575-474: Was named Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule: Barbarossa means "red beard" in Italian; in German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart , which in English means "Emperor Redbeard." The prevalence of the Italian nickname, even in later German usage, reflects the centrality of the Italian campaigns under his reign. Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III) before his imperial election in 1152 . He
29750-468: Was restored by Frederick's vigorous, but conciliatory, measures. The duchy of Bavaria was transferred from Henry II Jasomirgott , margrave of Austria, to Frederick's formidable younger cousin Henry the Lion , Duke of Saxony , of the House of Guelph , whose father had previously held both duchies. Henry II Jasomirgott was named Duke of Austria in compensation for his loss of Bavaria. As part of his general policy of concessions of formal power to
29925-442: Was robbed and killed. Conrad ordered Frederick to avenge him. The duke of Swabia razed the monastery, captured and executed the robbers and demanded they return the stolen money. The intervention of the Byzantine general Prosuch prevented further escalation. A few weeks later, on 8 September, Frederick and Welf VI were among the few German crusaders who survived when a flash flood destroyed the main camp. They had decided to encamp on
30100-406: Was subsequently confronted with more uprisings, renewed excommunication, and even the rebellion of his sons. After his death, his second son, Henry V , reached an agreement with the Pope and the bishops in the 1122 Concordat of Worms . The political power of the Empire was maintained, but the conflict had demonstrated the limits of the ruler's power, especially in regard to the Church, and it robbed
30275-420: Was the daughter of Emperor Henry IV and Bertha of Savoy . He also had ties to the Salians through his mother Judith as she hailed from Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu . Therefore, Frederick carried on the bloodline of Emperor Otto the Great and his wives, Eadgyth and Adelaide . He learned to ride, hunt and use weapons at an early age, but could neither read nor write, and was also unable to speak
30450-420: Was the first of the Habsburgs to hold a royal title, but he was never crowned emperor. After Rudolf's death in 1291, Adolf and Albert were two further weak kings who were never crowned emperor. Albert was assassinated in 1308. Almost immediately, King Philip IV of France began aggressively seeking support for his brother, Charles of Valois , to be elected the next king of the Romans. Philip thought he had
30625-431: 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 . Frederick, therefore, descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's prince-electors . Frederick joined the Third Crusade and opted to travel overland to the Holy Land . In 1190, Frederick drowned attempting to cross
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