gin (Marienkirche) in Dortmund, he concentrated on
the dramatic potential of his now monumental fi gures
and the emotional power of color. The altarpiece was
commissioned by his own confraternity. The panels
were cut in 1720 to fi t into a (lost) baroque framework.
They originally showed a central Death of the Virgin,
surmounted by a lunette, fl anked by the Nativity and
Adoration on the obverse, and the Annunciation and
Coronation on the reverse sides of the wings. Conrad’s
subtle and varied palette was now supported by a sen-
sitive awareness of the effect of light and shade in the
modeling of forms. His courtly fi gures, careful charac-
terization, costly pigments, and exquisite punchwork
would have gratifi ed the taste and chivalric ideals of his
cosmopolitan patrons.
The patrician members of the confraternity belonged
to an exclusive, well-educated, and prosperous group
who played a leading part in the infl uential international
trading association, the Hanseatic League. Their life-
style eased the diffusion of Conrad’s last perpetuated
style abroad. Conrad’s infl uence was most profoundly
felt in Cologne; his style was introduced there by the
immigrant Veronica Master and still refl ected in the
work of Stefan Lochner.
See also Lochner, Stefan
Further Reading
Corley, Brigitte. Conrad von Soest: Painter among Merchant
Princes. London: Harvey Miller, 1996.
—— “A Plausible Provenance for Stefan Lochner?” Zeitschrift
für Kunstgeschicte 59 (1996): 78–96.
——. “A Nineteenth Century Photograph and the Reconstruction
of the Dortmund Altarpiece.” Visual Resources: An Interna-
tional Journal of Documentation 13 (1997): 169–188.
——. “Historical Links and Artistic Refl ections: England and
Northern Germany in the Late Middle Ages,” in Harlaxton
Medieval Studies, ed. John Mitchell [forthcoming].
——. “Meister Konrad von Soest, ein geborener Dortmunder
Bürger, und andere Dortmunder Maler.” Beiträge zur Ge-
schichte Dortumnds und der Grafschaft Mark 32 (1925):
141–145.
Fritz, Rolf. “Conrad von Soest als Zeichner.” Westfalen 28
(1953): 10–19.
Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and
Character. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University press,
1953, pp. 71, 93–94, 129.
Steinbart, Kurt. Konrad von Soest. Vienna: Schroll, 1946.
Winterfeld, Luise von. Geschichte der freien Reichs- und Hans-
estadt Dortumnd, 7th ed. Dortmund: F. W. Ruhfus, 1981.
Brigitte Corley
CONSTANCE (1154–1198)
Constance of Sicily was the posthumous daughter of
Roger II Hauteville and his third wife, Beatrice of
Rethel. She was probably born in Palermo, where she
died.
Constance lived in obscurity until her betrothal to
Henry VI, the son of Frederick I Barbarossa, on 29
October 1184. Their marriage in Milan on 27 January
1186 signaled a diplomatic realignment in Italy. The
peace of Venice of 1177 had ended the confl ict between
the emperor and his Italian enemies: the papacy, Ven-
ice, the Lombard League, and the kingdom of Sicily.
Under the conditions of the marriage, Frederick was
required to relinquish the long-standing imperial claim
to southern Italy, but he wanted to detach Sicily from
the alliance that had led to his defeat in northern Italy.
For his part, William II of Sicily sought to neutralize
the Hohenstaufen threat so that he could freely attack
the Byzantine empire. Neither Frederick nor William
anticipated that Constance would succeed to the Sicil-
ian throne, although at the curia of Troia in 1185 the
Norman barons agreed to accept her as queen if William
died without an heir.
When he departed on a crusade in 1187, Frederick
Barbarossa named Henry imperial regent; but after
William II died on 18 November 1189, Henry directed
his attention to Sicily. A faction of Norman barons
elected Tancred of Lecce, the illegitimate grandson
of Roger II, as king and crowned him on 18 January- Meanwhile, Frederick had died on his crusade,
in 1189. Pope Celestine III crowned Henry VI emperor
on 15 April 1191. Henry attacked Naples in May 1191,
but disease drove the imperial forces out by August. At
that time Constance was captured and sent to Tancred.
Celestine negotiated her release, but pro-imperial forces
rescued her and sent her to Germany before she could
be delivered to the pope. Henry fi nanced his return to
southern Italy in 1194 with the ransom that he had ex-
tracted from the English king, Richard Lionheart, but
effective opposition to the emperor collapsed with the
death of Tancred on 20 February 1194. Henry quickly
disposed of Tancred’s nephew and successor, the child
king William III, and was himself crowned king of Sicily
in Palermo on 25 December 1194.
Constance, who was then forty years old, gave birth
to a son at Jesi on 26 December 1194. She named him
Constantine, but he was subsequently renamed Freder-
ick Roger. A rumor later circulated that Frederick was
not Constance’s son, and a legend arose—which was
unfounded—that she gave birth publicly to dispel such
doubts. Constance left the infant Frederick in Foligno,
where he lived until age three.
Henry ruled Sicily with a heavy hand. At the curia
of Bari in 1195, he clarifi ed the nature of the union
between the empire and the kingdom, thereby reducing
the tension between the Norman barons and his German
followers. Constance was crowned queen at Bari. Henry
returned to Germany in 1195. Constance ruled the Sicil-
ian kingdom day to day and issued diplomas in her own
name. In Germany, Henry pursued a scheme to make
CONSTANCE