276 Frederick II
his will on most of the cities and towns of the region.
This acceptance of his rights was solidified by the Diet of
Roncaglia in 1158, in which he confirmed ancient privi-
leges of those cities that had submitted to his will. He
also granted the first university CHARTER, when he
acknowledged the existence of the University of
BOLOGNAin 1158.
From 1159 to 1168, in successive campaigns in Italy,
Frederick’s fortunes rose and fell as resistance to his will
increased among his Italian “subjects” and problems
arose between Frederick and the ambitions and legally
trained Pope ALEXANDERIII, who actively worked to pre-
vent the emperor from gaining more power. Rejecting
earlier agreements, Alexander excommunicated Frederick
in 1160. Although this did not initially affect the
emperor’s operations, it increasingly weakened his posi-
tion both in Italy and in Germany, where the PAPACY
urged the CLERGYto resist him. Since Frederick had cho-
sen and appointed many of the bishops, especially in
Germany and BURGUNDY, he retained an advantage for a
long time.
Frederick’s problems in northern Italy were primarily
with the LOMBARDLEAGUE, a collection of northern Ital-
ian cities that organized to resist his tax collectors and
imperial officials. They had probably acted with excessive
force and thus awakened distrust, suspicion, and anger
among the Italians. In 1162, he took the city of MILAN
and ordered its near total destruction. In 1176, the army
he was leading back into Italy from Germany was
defeated by forces of the Lombard League at the Battle of
LEGNANO. After this military defeat, he secured a partial
political victory by obtaining the lifting of his excommu-
nication and making peace with the pope at VENICE.
While Frederick was occupied in Italy, Henry the
Lion was usurping power in the north. Instead of having
him executed, Frederick managed according to feudal
custom to have Henry charged in a court of German
nobles and clergy and secured his conviction at two dif-
ferent trials in 1178 and 1179. Henry was exiled. All of
Henry’s lands were forfeited and the great majority of his
noble peers agreed in finding him guilty of a number of
charges. Frederick ruled peacefully through the 1180s.
CRUSADING AND BEYONDFrederick’s reign spanned the terms of several popes. The
last of these, Clement III (r. 1187–91), persuaded him to
go on the Third CRUSADE, in company with RICHARDI
LIONHEART of England and PHILLIP II AUGUSTUS of
France. The German contingent of 20,000 met at
Regensburg, on the Danube River in Bavaria, and
marched along its course through AUSTRIA,HUNGARY,
SERBIA, and BULGARIA, arriving near CONSTANTINOPLEin
late 1189.
The BYZANTINEemperor ISAACII ANGELOSoffended
Frederick, resulting in Frederick’s taking Philippopolis
and reducing nearby fortresses. Frederick’s army then
began to march against Constantinople, causing Isaac to
sue for peace and to promise immediate transportation to
Asia Minor. The crusaders crossed the Hellespont at Gal-
lipoli, and Frederick headed toward Seleucis or Seleucia,
one of his intermediate objectives. But on the way to
PALESTINEon June 10, 1190, he died of a stroke and
drowned while bathing in a stream, the Salef, in Cilicia.
So great was his prestige among his contemporaries that
the Kyffhäuser Legend soon grew up in Germany that he
had not actually died but was only sleeping, perhaps held
captive by demons, in a cave high in the Bavarian Alps.
There, he sat on a throne, with his great red beard filling
the cavern and ravens flying in and out. Someday, he
would awake and lead Germany or the Reich again to
glory.
Although Frederick won success in his later years,
his reign produced some longer-term problems. His
destruction of the territory of Henry the Lion benefited
only the autonomous power of the princes of Germany.
His effective loss of northern Italy set the stage for prob-
lems for his able grandson, Frederick II.
Further reading:Otto, Bishop of Freising, The Deeds
of Frederick Barbarossa,trans. and ed. Charles C. Mierow
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1953); Thomas
Carson, trans., Barbarossa in Italy (New York: Italica
Press, 1994); Peter Munz, Frederick Barbarossa: A Study
in Medieval Politics (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode,
1969).Frederick II (of Swabia, Stupor mundi)(1194–1250)
king of Sicily, Holy Roman Emperor, patron of the arts, cul-
ture and learning
Born in Iese near Ancona in ITA LY, on December 26,
1194, Frederick II was the only son of Emperor HENRYVI
and CONSTANCEof SICILY. His father died on September
28, 1197, and his mother, who served as regent for him, a
year later. As the orphan king of Sicily, he was the ward of
Pope INNOCENTIII, who ignored his education and train-
ing but helped keep his kingdom intact for him. Freder-
ick grew up in PALERMO, surrounded by factions who
attempted to use him for their own ends. At the same
time he absorbed the Islamic and Greek culture that per-
vaded the Sicilian court.
At first Frederick was ignored in the empire of his
father, where his uncle, Philip of Swabia (1178–1208),
and Otto IV (d. 1218), son of HENRY THELION, were
quarreling over the imperial title. By 1211, however,
Philip was dead and Otto IV had broken with Innocent
III, who had previously supported him. When a group
of German nobles asked the young Frederick to go to Ger-
many to assume the imperial Crown, Frederick made his
infant son Henry (1211–42), the king of Sicily and went
to Frankfurt, where in 1212 he was chosen ruler of Ger-
many. He had pacified the pope, who feared a real union
between the kingdom of Sicily and the HOLY ROMAN