Frederick+Barbarossa,+Holy+Roman+Emperor

**
 * Frederick Barbarossatoc

Frederick Barbarossa (1122-1190) was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany and Italy. He is most well known for bringing peace to Germany after a period of turmoil in the previous hundred years as well as his campaigns in northern Italy and his death during the Third Crusade.


 * **Frederick Barbarossa** ||
 * [[image:Barbarossa.PNG]] ||
 * **Holy Roman Emperor** ||

=Early Life=
 * Reign || 1155-1190 ||
 * Coronation || June 1155 ||
 * Predecessor || Conrad III ||
 * Successor || Henry VI ||
 * Spouse || Beatrice of Burgundy ||
 * House || Hohenstaufen ||
 * Father || Frederick the One-eyed ||
 * Mother || Judith of Bavaria ||
 * Birth || 1122 ||
 * Death || June 1190 ||
 * Religion || Catholicism ||

Frederick was born during 1122 in the duchy of Swabia to Frederick the One-eyed and Judith of Bavaria. Not much is known about his upbringing. He succeeded to the Dukedom of Swabia and fought in the Second Crusade with his uncle Conrad III, who was Emperor at the time, in 1147.

=**Reign**=

Barbarossa was elected Emperor on the fourth of March in 1152 and was coronated in June of 1155. Upon ascending to the throne Frederick had several goals. He wanted to bring peace to Germany, restore the honour and prestige of Germany and force the communes of northern Italy to recognise him as king of Italy in fact and name. He set about the task of bringing peace to Germany by taking a diplomatic route. Frederick decided to acknowledge many of the nobles who had come into power during the period of strife in the century previous. This meant that rather than fighting wars in an attempt to take the lands and centralise power, he would decentralise authority and strengthen the power of minor lords but they would swear fealty to Frederick.

A large period of Frederick's reign was spent fighting in northern Italy attempting to subjugate the minor states. Frederick made several demands of the Italians. He demanded that he be allowed to appoint their rulers as his subjects and that they pay tribute to him as king. This did not go over well with the Italians who then fought a series of wars against Frederick which culminated in the Battle of Legnano in 1177 where Frederick was defeated. As a result Frederick agreed to the [|Peace of Venice] which stipulated that the states would maintain their general independence in return for a small amount of tribute.

Upon return to Germany, Frederick sought to punish his cousin, Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, who had refused to assist Frederick in his campaigns in Italy. Frederick reclaimed Henry's lands but rather then keeping them for the himself, he redistributed them among his nobles. =**Death**=

In 1188, Barbarossa joined the Third Crusade after [|Saladin] had conquered Jerusalem. Due to a lack of a German fleet and poor relations with the Italian states, who had the fleets to transport his armies, Barbarossa had to march to the Holy Land on foot. The trip was largely uneventful until Frederick drowned in a river in Armenia in June 1190. The circumstances surrounding his death aren't certain. One source says that he fell off his horse while crossing the river in full armour while another says that he went for a swim after lunch to cool down and drowned. Afterward his body was recovered and taken to Antioch where he was buried. =**Legacy**=

Frederick's longest lasting legacy was the result of his actions to bring peace to Germany. By increasing the amount of feudalism in Germany his effectively reduced the Holy Roman Empire's power in the long run. It also had two lasting consequences. Germany remained largely at peace as a whole until the Reformation but it also meant that the the Holy Roman Emperor's power was diminished and slowly the Holy Roman Empire became a loosely affiliated group of states rather than a unified Germany.

Barbarossa had another lasting legacy, that of his legend. Shortly after his death, the legend that Barbarossa was the ultimate emperor began to emerge. By the 14th Century a myth had arisen that an universal emperor of German heritage would come down from the mountains and led the Empire to a golden age. The idea that Barbarossa would come back as the saviour of the German people survived till modernity, when in 1940, the German High Command named their planned invasion of the Soviet Union, [|Operation Barbarossa]. The invasion would save Germany from the threat of the communists, give them the room they needed to expand and, as a result, lead the German people into a golden age. = = =**References**=

Austin, W. F. (2004). The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume VI., Project Gutenberg. Loud, G. A. (2010). __The Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa__. London, Ashgate. Otto I, B. o. F. and Rahewin (1966). __The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa__, W.W. Norton. Pacaut, M. (1970). __Frederick Barbarossa__. London, Collins. Pirenne, H. (1939). __A History of Europe: From the Invasions to the XVI Century__, Routledge. (1183). Peace of Constance, Medieval Sourcebook. __Historia de Expeditione Frederici Imperatoris__, Medieval Sourcebook.