Frederick I Barbarossa (1122 – 10 June 1190) was a German
Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected
King of Germany at
Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in
Aachen on 9 March, crowned
King of Italy in
Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned
Roman Emperor by
Pope Adrian IV,
on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term "sacrum" (i.e.
"holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire.
He was then also formally crowned
King of Burgundy at
Arles on 30 June 1178. The name
Barbarossa came from the northern Italian cities he attempted to rule, and means "red beard" in
Italian – a mark of both their fear and respect.
Before his royal election, he was by inheritance
Duke of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III). He was the son of
Duke Frederick II of the
Hohenstaufen dynasty. His mother was
Judith, daughter of
Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, from the rival
House of Welf, and Frederick therefore descended from Germany's two leading families, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's
prince-electors.
First Italian Campaign: 1154-55
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 began encountering resistance to his authority. Obtaining the submission of
Milan, he successfully besieged
Tortona in early 1155, razing it to the ground
before moving to
Pavia where he received the
Iron Crown, and with it, the title of
King of Italy.
Moving through
Bologna and
Tuscany, he was soon approaching the city of Rome. There,
Pope Adrian IV was struggling with 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 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.
But Frederick had forgotten to hold the Pope’s stirrup while leading
him to the tent, and so Adrian refused to give the kiss until this
protocol had been complied with.
Frederick hesitated, and Adrian IV withdrew, and after a day’s negotiation, Frederick agreed to perform the required ritual.
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, June 18, 1155, Adrian IV crowned Frederick I
Holy Roman Emperor at
St Peters Basilica, amidst 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 was forced to put
off his planned campaign against the
Normans of
Sicily.
On their way northwards, they attacked
Spoleto, encountered the ambassadors of
Manuel I Comnenus, who showered Frederick with costly gifts, and 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 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 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. He 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 the sizeable realm of the
County of Burgundy. In an attempt to create comity, Emperor Frederick proclaimed the
Peace of the Land,
written between 1152–1157, 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.
Frederick Barbarossa in a 13th century chronicle
Second, Third and Fourth Italian Campaigns: 1158-1174
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 aggravated Frederick, and he 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 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 in the cities of northern Italy,
and the beginning of the long struggle with
Pope Alexander III.
Pope Adrian IV’s death in 1159 saw the election of two rival popes; Alexander III and the
antipope Victor IV. 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 a joint council with King
Louis VII of France in 1162 to decide the issue of who should be pope.
Louis came near the meeting site but, when he became aware that
Frederick had stacked the votes for Alexander, 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 that the
Norman state of Sicily and Pope Alexander III formed an alliance
against Frederick.
In the meantime, Frederick had to deal with another rebellion at Milan,
which saw the city surrender on March 6, 1162, and much of it destroyed
three weeks later on the emperor’s orders.
The fate of Milan saw the submission of
Brescia and
Placentia and many other northern Italian cities.
Returning to Germany towards 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. The third 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 1164 Frederick took what are believed to be the
relics of the "Biblical Magi" (the Wise Men or
Three Kings) from
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 the
Shrine of the Three Kings in the
Cologne cathedral. The death of the antipope Victor IV saw Frederick give his support to a new antipope,
Paschal III, but he was soon driven from Rome which once again saw the return of Pope Alexander III in 1165.
Frederick in the meantime was focused on restoring peace in the Rhineland, where he organized a magnificent celebration of the
canonization
of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) at Aachen, done under 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 II,
in October 1166, he 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. He began besieging
Ancona in 1167, which had acknowledged the authority of Manuel II;
at the same time, Frederick's forces achieved a great victory over the Romans at the
Battle of Monte Porzio.
Heartened by this victory, he lifted the siege of Ancona and hurried to
Rome where he not only had his wife crowned empress, but he also
received a second coronation at the hands of Paschal III.
Unfortunately, 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. During this period,
Frederick decided conflicting claims to various bishoprics, asserted
imperial authority over Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, initiated friendly
relations with the
Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus, and tried to come to a better understanding with
Henry II of England and
Louis VII of France.
Many Swabian counts, including his cousin 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.
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