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Otto IV

Otto IV

Otto IV of Brunswick (died 1218) was King of Germany (1208-1215) and Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 - 1215. The son of Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, and Matilda Plantagenet, Otto was elected king when his rival for the throne, Philip of Swabia (Hohenstaufen), was murdered. Otto had been supported by the Pope Innocent III, but Innocent withdrew his support after Otto's military adventures in Italy. In 1211 the Diet of Nuremberg ordered Otto deposed and Frederick II Hohenstaufen elected in his place, but nothing came of this decree until Otto decisively lost the battle of Bouvines (July, 1214) to the forces of Philip II of France. He was deposed in 1215 and died in 1218. Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor Category:Holy Roman emperors Category:German Kings Category:Kings of Burgundy Category:Dukes of Swabia ja:オットー4世

1218

Events

- Damietta is besieged by the knights of the Fifth Crusade.
- Livonian Brothers of the Sword begin to conquer Estonia.
- Minamoto no Sanetomo becomes Udaijin of Japan.
- Alfonso IX of Castile founds a university in Salamanca.

Ongoing events

- Fifth Crusade (1217-1221)

Births

- February 12 - Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (died 1256)
- May 1 - John I, Count of Hainaut (died 1257)
- May 1 - Rudolph I of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1291)
- October 30 - Emperor Chūkyō of Japan (died 1234)
- Abel of Denmark (died 1252)

Deaths

- February 2 - Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (b. 1186)
- June 25 - Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, French crusader (born 1160)
- July 6 - Eudes III, Duke of Burgundy (born 1166)
- December 30 - Richard de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, English politician (born 1162)
- Al-Adil I, Egyptian general and ruler (born 1145)
- Hugh I of Cyprus
- Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor Category:1218 ko:1218년

1215

Events

- June 15 - King John of England forced to put his seal to the Magna Carta, outlining the rights of landowning men (nobles and knights) and restricting the king's power.
- August - King John rejects the Magna Carta, leading to English civil war ( the First Barons' War).
- November 11 - The Fourth Lateran Council meets, adopting the doctrine of transubstantiation, meaning that bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.
- Beijing captured and staked by Mongols, initiating the Yuan Dynasty in China.
- Fourth Council of the Lateran
- Otto IV deposed as King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, replaced by Frederick II (King 1212-1250).
- Mongol army led by Gengis Khan conquers Beijing.
- Dominican Order founded, according to some sources

Births

- April 25 - Louis IX of France (died 1270)
- September 23 - Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (died 1294)
- Pope Celestine V (died 1296)
- Pope John XXI (died 1277)
- David VII Ulu, King of Georgia (died 1270)

Deaths

- July 5 - Eisai, Japanese Buddhist priest (born 1141)
- Bertran de Born, French soldier and troubadour
- Eustace, Bishop of Ely, Lord Chancellor of England and bishop

Websites

Category:1215 ko:1215년

1209

Events

- Albigensian Crusade against Cathars (1209-1218)
- the Franciscans are founded.
- Cambridge University founded.
- In August, Simon De Monfort, leader of Albigensian Crusade, takes over Carcassonne
- Genghis Khan conquers Turkestan

Births

- January 5 - Richard, Earl of Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1272)
- Hajji Bektash Wali, Turkish mystic (died 1271)

Deaths

- Daoji, Chinese buddhist monk (born 1130)
- Walter Map, Welsh writer (born 1137)
- Phillipe de Plessis, Grand Master of the Knights Templar (born 1165)
- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Persian theologian and philosopher (born 1149) Category:1209 ko:1209년

1215

Events

Births

Deaths

- July 5 - Eisai, Japanese Buddhist priest (born 1141)
- Bertran de Born, French soldier and troubadour
- Eustace, Bishop of Ely, Lord Chancellor of England and bishop

Websites

Category:1215 ko:1215년

Henry the Lion

Henry the Lion (1129 – August 6 1195; in German, Heinrich der Löwe) was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony as Henry III since 1142, and Duke of Bavaria as Henry XII since 1156. He held both duchies until 1180 and was the most powerful of the German princes of his time, until the rival Hohenstaufen dynasty succeeded in isolating him and eventually deprived him of his duchies of Bavaria and Saxony during the reign of his cousin Frederick I and of Frederick's son and successor Henry VI. At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas to the Alps, and from Westphalia to Pomerania. Henry achieved this great power in part by his political and military acumen, in part through the legacies of his four grandparents. He was the son of Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria and Saxony, who was the son of Duke Welf IV and an heiress of the Billungs, former dukes of Saxony. Henry's mother was Gertrud, only daughter of Emperor Lothair II and his wife Richenza of Nordheim, heiress to the Saxon territories of Nordheim and the properties of the Brunones, counts of Brunswick. Henry's father died in 1139, aged 32, when Henry was still a child. King Conrad III had dispossessed Henry the Proud, who had been his rival for the crown in 1138, of his duchies in 1138 and 1139, handing Saxony to Albert the Bear and Bavaria to Leopold of Austria. Henry, however, did not relinquish his claims to his inheritance, and Conrad returned Saxony to him in 1142. In 1156 Henry also reacquired Bavaria by a decision of the new Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Henry is the founder of Munich (1157/58; München) and Lübeck (1159); he also founded and developed the cities of Stade, Lüneburg and Brunswick. In Brunswick, his capital, he had a bronze lion, his heraldic animal, erected in the yard of his castle Dankwarderode in 1166 — the first bronze statue north of the Alps. Later, he had Brunswick Cathedral built close to the statue. In 1147 Henry married Clementia of Zähringen, thereby gaining her hereditary territories in Swabia. He divorced her in 1162, apparently under pressure from Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who did not cherish Welfish possessions in his home area and offered Henry several fortresses in Saxony in exchange. In 1168 Henry married Matilda (1156 -1189), the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister of Richard Lionheart. Henry long and faithfully supported his older cousin, Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) in the latter's attempts to solidify his hold on the Imperial Crown and his repeated wars with the cities of Lombardy and the Popes, several times turning the tide of battle in Frederick's favor with his fierce Saxon knights. But in 1174, Henry refused to aid Frederick in a renewed invasion of Lombardy, because he was preoccupied with securing his own borders in the East and did not consider these Italian adventures worth the effort, even when Frederick offered him the rich Imperial City of Goslar in southern Saxony as a reward, a prize Henry had long coveted. Barbarossa's expedition into Lombardy ended in utter failure, and he bitterly resented Henry for failing to support him. Taking advantage of the hostility of other German princes to Henry, who had successfully established a powerful and contiguous state comprising Saxony, Bavaria and substantial territories in the north and east of Germany, Frederick had Henry tried in absentia for insubordination by a court of bishops and princes in 1180. Declaring that Imperial law overruled traditional German law, the court had Henry stripped of his lands and declared an outlaw. Frederick then invaded Saxony with an Imperial army to bring his cousin to his knees. Henry's allies deserted him, and he finally had to submit in November 1181 at a Reichstag in Erfurt. He was exiled from Germany in 1182 for three years, stayed with his father-in-law, Henry II of England, in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany in 1185. He was exiled again in 1188, and his wife Matilda died in 1189. When Frederick Barbarossa went on the Crusade of 1189, Henry returned to Saxony where he mobilized an army of his faithful and conquered and ravaged the rich city of Bardowick as punishment for her disloyalty. Only the churches were left standing. Barbarossa's son, Emperor Henry VI, again defeated the Duke, but in 1194, with his end approaching, he made his peace with the Emperor, and returned to his much diminished lands around Brunswick, where he finished his days as duke of Brunswick, peacefully sponsoring arts and architecture, and died on 6 August 1195. The picture at the top right, taken from his tomb in Brunswick Cathedral constructed between 1230 and 1240, shows an idealized image. When the Nazis exhumed his corpse, they were disappointed to find a comparatively small man with black hair. This, presumably, was an inheritance from the northern Italian ancestors of the Welfs, the counts of Este. Henry had, among others, the following children:
- by his first wife, Clementia
- Gertrude of Bavaria (1155-1197), married first Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia and then King Canute VI of Denmark
- by his second wife, Matilda
- Henry I, Count Palatine of the Rhine (1173-1227)
- Lothar of Bavaria (1174-1190)
- Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Duke of Swabia (1175-1218)
- William of Winchester (1184-1213)

References

- Benjamin Arnold, "Henry the Lion and His Time", Journal of Medieval History, vol. 22, pp. 379-393 (1996)
- Karl Jordan, Henry the Lion. A Biography, ISBN 0198219695

External links

- [http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/H/HenryL1io.asp Henry the Lion on Encyclopedia.com]
- [http://www.bartleby.com/65/he/HenryLio.html Henry the Lion. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition]
- [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-58109 The fall of Henry the Lion (from Germany) -- Encyclopædia Britannica]
- [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-2455 Deposition of Henry the Lion. (from Frederick I) -- Encyclopædia Britannica]
- [http://encarta.msn.com/media_461561791_761578474_1_1/Henry_the_Lion.html MSN Encarta - Multimedia - Henry the Lion] Category:1129 births Category:1195 deaths Henry 12 Henry III Category:House of Welf Category:House of Anjou

Duke of Bavaria

The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria:

Dukes of Bavaria, 548-1623

Agilolfing Dynasty

(see also Bavarii)
- ca. 548-595 Garibald I
- ca. 595-610 Tassilo I
- ca. 610-640 Garibald II
- ca. 640-680 Theodo I
- ca. 680-717 Tassilo II
- ca. 717-724 Theodbert
- ca. 725-737 Hugbert
- ca. 737-749 Odilo
- ca. 749-788 Tassilo III

Carolingian

(see also Franks)
- 788-814 Charlemagne, in Personal Union
- 814-817 Lothair I
- 817-829 Louis I, the Pious, in Personal Union
- 829-876 Louis II, the German
- 876-880 Carloman
- 880-882 Louis III, in Personal Union
- 882-887 Charles III, the Fat, in Personal Union
- 888-907 Arnulf of Carinthia, in Personal Union

Liutpolding Dynasty

- Liutpold 889-907
- Arnulf the Bad 907-937
- Eberhard 937
- Berthold 938-947

Liudolfing (Ottonian) Dynasty

- Henry I of Bavaria 947-955
- Henry II the Quarrelsome 955-976
- Otto I 976-982

Liutpolding Dynasty

- Henry III the Younger 983-985

Liudolfing Dynasty

- Henry II the Quarrelsome (restored) 985-995
- Henry IV the Saint (Holy Roman Emperor, as Henry II) 995-1005

House of Luxembourg

- Henry V of Luxembourg 1005-1026

Salian Dynasty

- Henry VI the Black (Holy Roman Emperor, as Henry III) 1026-1041

House of Luxembourg

- Henry VII 1042-1047
- Conrad II 1049-1053

Salian Dynasty

- Henry VIII 1053-1054
- Conrad III 1054-1055
- Henry VIII 1055-1061

Northeim Dynasty

- Otto II 1061-1070

Welf Dynasty

- Welf I 1070-1077

Salian Dynasty

- Henry VIII 1077-1096

Welf Dynasty

- Welf I 1096-1101
- Welf II 1101-1120
- Henry IX the Black 1120-1126
- Henry X the Proud 1126-1139 (also Duke of Saxony)

Babenberg Dynasty

- Leopold 1139-1141
- Henry XI Jasomirgott 1141-1156

Welf Dynasty

- Henry XII the Lion 1156-1180 (also Duke of Saxony)

Wittelsbach Dynasty

- Otto I 1180-1183
- Louis I 1183-1231
- Otto II 1231-1253 On Otto II's death, Bavaria was divided between his sons. Henry became Duke of Lower Bavaria, and Louis of Upper Bavaria. From this point until the beginning of the 16th century, the territories were frequently divided between brothers, making the Dukes difficult to list.

Dukes of Lower Bavaria

- Henry XIII 1253-1290
- Otto III 1290-1312 (King of Hungary, 1305-1307)
- Louis III 1290-1296
- Stephen I 1290-1309
- Otto IV 1309-1334
- Henry XIV the Elder 1309-1339
- Henry XV the Natterberger 1312-1333
- John I the Child 1339-1340

Dukes of Upper Bavaria

- Louis II 1253-1294
- Rudolf I 1294-1317
- Louis IV 1294-1347 Following the death of the last Duke of Lower Bavaria, Bavaria was reunited under Emperor Louis IV (Louis IV of Bavaria).

Dukes of Bavaria

- Louis IV 1340-1347
- jointly held by Louis V the Brandenburger, Stephen II, Louis VI the Roman, William I, Albert I, Otto V 1347-1349 In 1349, the six sons of Louis IV again partitioned Bavaria into Upper and Lower Bavaria.

Dukes of Upper Bavaria

- jointly held by Louis V, Louis VI, and Otto V 1349-1351
- Louis V the Brandenburger 1351-1361
- Meinhard 1361-1363 On the death of Meinhard, Upper Bavaria was divided between Bavaria-Straubing and Bavaria-Landshut.

Dukes of Lower Bavaria

- jointly held by Stephen II, William I, and Albert I 1349-1353 In 1353, Lower Bavaria was partitioned into Bavaria-Landshut and Bavaria-Straubing.

Dukes of Bavaria-Straubing

- jointly held by William I and Albert I 1347-1388
- Albert I 1388-1404
- Albert II 1389-1397 , jointly held with Albert I
- William II 1404-1417
- John 1418-1425 disputed with
- Jacqueline 1417-1432 After the succession struggle between Jacqueline and her uncle John, Bavaria-Straubing was divided between Bavaria-Ingolstadt, Bavaria-Landshut, and Bavaria-Munich.

Dukes of Bavaria-Landshut

- Stephen II 1353-1375
- jointly held by Otto V, Stephen III, Frederick, and John II 1375-1379
- jointly held by Stephen III, Frederick, and John II 1379-1392 In 1392, Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Munich were created from Bavaria-Landshut.
- Frederick 1392-1393
- Henry XVI the Rich 1393-1450
- Louis IX the Rich 1450-1479
- George the Rich 1479-1503 In 1503, Bavaria-Landshut was united with Bavaria-Munich.

Dukes of Bavaria-Ingolstadt

- Stephen III 1375-1413
- Louis VII the Bearded 1413-1443 (died 1447)
- Louis VIII the Younger 1443-1445 In 1447 Bavaria-Ingolstadt was united with Bavaria-Landshut

Dukes of Bavaria-Munich

- John II 1375-1397
- Ernest 1397-1438
- William III 1397-1435
- Albert III 1438-1460
- jointly held by John IV and Sigismund 1460-1463
- jointly held by Albert IV the Wise and Sigismund 1460-1467
- Albert IV 1467-1508 In 1467, Bavaria-Dachau was created from Bavaria-Munich for Duke Sigismund. After his death in 1501, it reverted to Bavaria-Munich. In 1503, all the Bavarian lands were reunited under Albert IV.

Dukes of Bavaria

- Albert IV 1503-1508
- William IV 1508-1550
- Louis X 1516-1545
- Albert V 1550-1579
- William V 1579-1597
- Maximilian I 1597-1623

Electors of Bavaria, 1623-1805

In 1623, Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria was raised to Electoral Status, gaining the seat of the Elector Palatine, who had been put under the ban of the Empire.
- Maximilian I 1623-1651
- Ferdinand Maria 1651-1679
- Maximilian II Emanuel 1679-1726
- Charles Albert 1726-1745
- Maximilian III Joseph 1745-1777
- Charles Theodore 1777-1799 (Elector Palatine from 1745)
- Maximilian IV Joseph 1799-1805 (Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795)

Kings of Bavaria, 1805-1918

In 1805, Bavaria became a kingdom, and Elector Maximilian IV became King Maximilian I.
- Maximilian I Joseph 1805-1825
- Ludwig I Augustus 1825-1848
- Maximilian II 1848-1864
- Ludwig II 1864-1886
- Otto 1886-1913 (d.1916)
- Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, Regent 1886-1912
- Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, Regent 1912-1913
- Ludwig III 1913-1918

Minister presidents of Bavaria, 1918-present

In 1918, Bavaria became a republic. See: List of minister presidents of Bavaria

Heads of the House of Wittelsbach since 1918 (not ruling)

- King Ludwig III 1918-1921
- Crown Prince Rupprecht 1921-1955
- Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria 1955-1996
- Franz, Duke of Bavaria 1996-present

External link

- [http://www.haus-bayern.com/ Official site of the House of Wittelsbach] Category:History of Bavaria Bavaria
- List

Matilda, Duchess of Saxony

Matilda of England (1156 - July 13, 1189), also known as Maud, was the eldest daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Matilda was a younger maternal half-sister of Marie de Champagne and Alix of France. She was a younger sister of William, Count of Poitiers and Henry the Young King. She was also an older sister of Richard I of England, Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, Leonora of Aquitaine, Joan of England and John of England. Matilda seems to have spent much of her early life in the company of her mother, Queen Eleanor. In 1165 Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne, arrived at the court of King Henry II at Rouen, to negotiate a German match for Matilda. There was conflict during the negotiations, however, when Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester refused to greet the archbishop, alleging him to be a schismatic and a supporter of the anti-pope, Victor IV. The original plan to match a daughter of Henry II with a son of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor was abandoned, and instead Matilda left England in September 1167 to marry Henry the Lion. She married Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, on February 1, 1168 at Brunswick. They had four sons and one daughter: # Matilda (Richenza) (1172-1213), married Geoffrey III, Count of Perche. # Henry I, Palatine Count of the Rhein (1173-1227). # Lothar (1174-1190). # Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Duke of Swabia (1175-1218). # William, Duke of Lüneburg (1184-1213). At the time of their marriage, Henry the Lion was one of the most powerful allies of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Matilda governed her husband's vast estates during his absence in the Holy Land from 1172 to 1173. In 1174, Henry the Lion became involved in a conflict with the Emperor Frederick, and Henry and Matilda were forced to flee Germany and take refuge in Normandy at her father's court in 1182. During this time at the royal court at Argentan, Matilda became acquainted with the troubador Bertran de Born, who, calling her "Elena" or "Lana", made her the object of his desire in two of his poems of "courtly love". Matilda, her husband, and their family remained in Normandy under the protection and support of King Henry until 1185, when they were able to return to Saxony. When her father Henry II died in 1189, Matilda survived him by only one week. The picture shows an idealized portrait made between 1230 and 1240 on the tomb of Matilda and Henry the Lion in Brunswick cathedral.

Sources

- Ralph of Diceto
- Robert of Torigny
- Wheeler, Bonnie. Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady, 2002
- Diggelmann, Lindsay. [http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/parergon/v022/22.1diggelmann01.html Exile and the Poetic Standpoint of the Troubadour Bertran de Born], 2005 Category:1156 births Category:1189 deaths Category:Women in war Category:House of Anjou

Hohenstaufen

The Hohenstaufen were a dynasty of Kings of Germany, many of whom were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Dukes of Swabia. The proper name, taken from their castle in Swabia, is Staufen. When the last member of the Salian dynasty, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, died without an heir there was controversy about the succession. Frederick and Conrad, the two current male Staufens, were grandsons of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor and nephews of Henry V. After the death of the intervening king and emperor Lothar III of Supplinburg, in 1137, Conrad became Conrad III of Germany.

Members of the Hohenstaufen family

Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Germany

- Conrad III, king 1138-1152
- Frederick I Barbarossa, king 1152-1190, Emperor after 1155
- Henry VI, king 1190-1197, Emperor after 1191
- Philip of Swabia, king 1198-1208
- Frederick II, king 1208-1250, Emperor after 1220
- Henry (VII), king 1220 - 1235 (under his father)
- Conrad IV, king 1237-1254 (under his father) The last ruling Hohenstaufen, Conrad IV, was never crowned emperor. After a 20 year period the first Habsburg was elected king.

Dukes of Swabia

Note: Some of the following dukes are already listed above as German Kings
- Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (Friedrich) (r. 1079 - 1105)
- Frederick II, Duke of Swabia (r. 1105 - 1147)
- Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (Frederick III of Swabia)(r. 1147 - 1152) King in 1152 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1155
- Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia (r. 1152 - 1167)
- Frederick V, Duke of Swabia (r. 1167 - 1170)
- Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia (r. 1170 - 1191)
- Conrad II, Duke of Swabia (r. 1191 - 1196)
- Philip of Swabia (r. 1196 - 1208) King in 1198
- Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1212 - 1216) King in 1212 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1220
- Henry (VII) of Germany (r. 1216 - 1235), King 1220 - 1235
- Conrad IV (r. 1235 - 1254) King in 1237
- Conrad V (Conradin) (r. 1254 - 1268) See also: Dukes of Swabia family tree

Diet of Nuremberg

The Diet of Nuremberg is often called the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg. There were several of them because, by the Basic Law for the Empire of 1356, each Holy Roman Emperor had to hold his first diet in Nuremberg after his election. There were also a number of other diets held. 1211 elected Frederick II of Hohenstaufen emperor. 1356 Charles IV issued his Golden Bull - fixing how the German emperors were elected. Important to Protestantism (and the Turks) were the: :1522 - 1st Diet of Nuremberg :1524 - 2nd Diet of Nuremberg :1532 - 3rd Diet of Nuremberg Category:Nuremberg

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II (December 26, 1194 – December 13, 1250), Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212, unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 until his death in 1250. He was also King of Sicily, from 1198 to 1250, where he was raised and lived most of his life (his mother, Constance of Sicily, was the daughter of Roger II of Sicily). He is also referred to as Frederick I of Sicily. His empire was frequently at war with the Papal States, so it is not surprising that he was excommunicated twice. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him the anti-Christ. After his death the idea of his second coming where he would rule a 1000-year reich took hold, possibly in part because of this. Said to speak nine languages and be literate in seven [Armstrong 2001, p. 415] (at a time when many monarchs and nobles were not literate at all), Frederick was a very modern ruler for his times, being a patron of science and learning, and having fairly advanced views on economics. He abolished state monopolies, internal tolls, and import regulations within his empire. He was patron of the Sicilian School of poetry, where in his royal court in Palermo, from around 1220 to his death, we witness the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school predates the use of the Tuscan idiom as the preferred lingua franca of the Italian peninsula by at least a century. The school and its poetry was well known to Dante and his peers and had a significant influence on the literary form of what was eventually to become the modern Italian. He was known in his own time as the Stupor mundi ("wonder of the world"). Frederick wrote, or rewrote, a manual on the art of falconry, De arte venandi cum avibus ("On the art of hunting with birds"), of which many illustrated copies survive from the 13th and 14th centuries.

Life

Early years

Born in Jesi, near Ancona, Frederick was the son of the emperor Henry VI. Some old chronicles account he was born in a public square of the city of Jesi, in northern Italy, while is father was entering triumphantly into Palermo. Frederick was baptised in Assisi. In 1196 at Frankfurt am Main the child Frederick had already been elected to become King of the Germans. At the death of his father in 1197, the three-year-old Frederick was in Italy in voyage towards Germany, and when the bad news reached his guardian Conrad of Spoleto, he was hastily brought back to Palermo to Constance. It was a good move, as Henry's empire dissolved, and its monarchy was disputed by Henry's brother Philip of Swabia and Otto IV. His mother, Constance, had been in her own right queen of Sicily; she had Frederick crowned King of Sicily and established herself as regent. In Frederick's name she dissolved Sicily's ties to the Empire sending home his German counsellors (notably Markward of Anweiler and Gualtiero da Pagliara), renouncing to his claims to the German kingship and empire. Upon Constance's death in 1198, Pope Innocent III succeeded as Frederick's guardian until he was of age: he was crowned King of Sicily on May 17, 1198, being only four years of age, and received some of his early formal education in Rome. He was to remember forever, however, the time spent in his early years in the court of Palermo, where Arab, German, Latin, Byzantine, Norman, Provencal and even Jewish influences mixed. Jewish See also Personality

Emperor

Otto of Brunswick had been crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Innocent III in 1209. In September 1211 at the Diet of Nuremberg Frederick was elected in absentia as German King by a rebellious faction backed by Innocent, who had fallen out with Otto and excommunicated him; he was again elected in 1212 and crowned December 9, 1212 in Mainz; yet another coronation ceremony took place in 1215. Being King of the Germans had been the traditional precursor step for emperorship. However, until the debacle at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, Frederick's authority was quite tenuous and he was recognized only in southern Germany: in northern Germany, the center of Guelph power, Otto continued to hold the reins of royal and imperial power despite excommunication. Otto's decisive military loss at Bouvines lost him the practical means to hold onto kingship and emperorship, and he withdrew to the Guelph hereditary lands to die, virtually without supporters, in 1218. (See also Guelphs and Ghibellines). The German princes, supported by Innocent III, again elected Frederick king of Germany in 1215, and the pope crowned him king in Aachen on July 23, 1215. It was not until another five years had passed, and only after further negotiations between Frederick, Innocent III, and Honorius III—who succeeded to the papacy after Innocent's death in 1216—that Frederick was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Honorius III on November 22, 1220. At the same time his oldest son Henry took the title of King of the Romans. See also Personality Unlike most Holy Roman emperors, Frederick spent little of his life in Germany. After his coronation in 1220, he remained either in the Kingdom of Sicily or on Crusade until 1236, when he made his last journey to Germany. (At this time, the Kingdom of Sicily, with its capital at Palermo, extended onto the Italian mainland to include most of southern Italy.) He returned to Italy in 1237 and stayed there for the remaining 13 years of his life, represented in Germany by his son Conrad. In the Kingdom of Sicily, he built on the reform of the laws begun at the Assizes of Ariano in 1146 by his grandfather Roger II. His initiative in this direction was visible as early as the Assizes of Capua (1220) but came to fruition in his promulgation of the Constitutions of Melfi (1231, also known as Liber Augustalis), a collection of laws for his realm that was remarkable for its time and was a source of inspiration for a long time after. It made the Kingdom of Sicily an absolutist monarchy, the first centralized state in Europe to emerge from feudalism; it also set a precedent for the primacy of written law. With relatively small modifications, the Liber Augustalis remained the basis of Sicilian law until 1819. During this period, he also built the Castel del Monte and in 1224 created the University of Naples: now called Università Federico II, it remained the sole atheneum of Southern Italy for centuries. In 1226, by means of the Golden Bull of Rimini he confirmed the legitimacy of rule by the Teutonic Knights under their headmaster Hermann von Salza over the Prussian lands east of the Vistula, the Chelmno Land.

The Crusade

At the time he was crowned Emperor, Frederick had promised to go on crusade. In preparation for his crusade, Frederick had, in 1225, married Yolande of Jerusalem, heiress to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and immediately taken steps to take control of the Kingdom from his new father-in-law, John of Brienne. However, he continued to take his time in setting off, and in 1227, Frederick was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for failing to honor his crusading pledge - perhaps unfairly, at this point, as his plans had been delayed by an epidemic. He eventually embarked on the crusade the following year (1228), which was seen on by the pope as a rude provocation, since the church could not take any part in the honor for the crusade, resulting in a second excommunication. Frederick did not attempt to take Jerusalem by force of arms. Instead, he negotiated restitution of Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem to the Kingdom with sultan Al-Kamil, the Ayyubid ruler of the region, who was nervous about possible war with his relatives who ruled Syria and Mesopotamia and wished to avoid further trouble from the Christians. The crusade ended in a truce and in Frederick's coronation as King of Jerusalem on March 18, 1229 — although this was technically improper, as Frederick's wife Yolande, the heiress, had died in the meantime, leaving their infant son Conrad as rightful heir to the kingdom. Frederick's further attempts to rule over the Kingdom of Jerusalem were met by resistance on the part of the barons, led by John of Ibelin, Lord of Beirut. By the mid-1230s, Frederick's viceroy had been forced to leave Acre, the capital, and by 1244, Jerusalem itself had been lost again to a new Muslim offensive. However, Frederick's seeming bloodless victory in recovering Jerusalem for the cross brought him great prestige in Europe, and in 1231 the pope rescinded Frederick's excommunication; this event is known as the Peace of San Germano.

The war against the Pope and the Italian Guelphs

While he may have temporarily made his peace with the pope, the lesser German princes were another matter. In 1231, Frederick's son Henry claimed the crown for himself and allied with the Lombard League. The rebellion failed, though not utterly; Henry was imprisoned in 1235, and replaced in his royal title by his brother Conrad, already the King of Jerusalem; Frederick won a decisive battle in Cortenuova over the Lombard League in 1237. Frederick celebrated it with a triumph in Cremona, in the manner of an ancient Roman emperor, with the captured carroccio (later sent to the commune of Rome) and an elephant. He rejected any suit for peace, even from Milan which had sent a great sum of money. This demand of total surrender spurred further resistance from Milan, Brescia, Bologna and Piacenza, and in October 1238 he was forced to raise the siege of Brescia, in the course of which his enemies had tried unsuccessfully to capture him. Frederick received the news of his excommunication by Gregory IX in the first months of 1239, while his court was in Padova. The emperor replied expelling the Minorites and the preachers from Lombardy, and electing his son Enzio as Imperial vicar for Northern Italy. Enzio soon annexed the Romagna, Marche and the Duchy of Spoleto, nominally part of the Papal States. The father announced he was to destroy the Republic of Venice, which had sent some ships against Sicily. In December of that year Frederick marched over Toscana, entered triumphantly into Foligno and then in Viterbo, whence he aimed to finally conquer Rome, in order to restore the ancient splendours of the Empire. The siege, however, was vain, and Frederick returned to Southern Italy, sacking Benevento (a papal possession). Peace negotiations came to nothing. In the meantime the Ghibelline city of Ferrara had fallen, and Frederick swept his way northwards capturing Ravenna and, after another long siege, Faenza. The people of Forlì (which kept its Ghibelline stance even after the collapse of Hohenstaufen power) offered their loyal support during the capture of the rival city: as a sign of gratitude, they were granted an augmentation of the communal coat-of-arms with the Hohenstaufen eagle, together with other privileges. This episode shows how the independent cities used the rivalry between Empire and Pope as a mean to obtain the maximum advantage for themselves. The Pope had called a council, but Ghibelline Pisa thwarted it, capturing cardinals and prelates on a ship sailing from Genoa to Rome. Frederick thought that this time the way into Rome was opened, and again directed his forces against the Pope, trailing behind him a ruined and burning Umbria. Frederick destroyed Grottaferrata preparing to invade Rome. But on August 22, 1240, Gregory died. Frederick, showing that his war was not directed against the Church of Rome but against the Pope, drew back his troops and freed two cardinals from the jail of Capua. Nothing changed, however, in the relationship between Papacy and Empire, as Roman troops assaulted the Imperial garrison in Tivoli and the Emperor soon reached Rome. This back-and-forth situation repeated again in 1242 and 1243. Though unfruitful, these expeditions around Rome permitted Frederick to capture treasures from the church of the cities he passed through, and gave him the opportunity to enjoy the pleasant nature of hills, lakes and woods of the Latium.

His last and fiercest opponent, Innocent IV

A new pope, Innocent, was elected on June 25, 1243. He was a member of a noble Imperial family and had some relatives in Frederick's camp, so the Emperor was initially happy with his election. Innocent instead was to become his fiercest enemy. Negotiations began in the summer of 1243, but the situation changed as Viterbo rebelled, instigated by the intriguing Cardinal Ranieri of Viterbo. Frederick could not lose his main stronghold near Rome, and besieged the city. Many authorities state that the Emperor's star began its descent with this move. Innocent convinced him to withdraw his troops, but Ranieri nonetheless had the Imperial garrison slaughtered on November 13. Frederick was full of powerless rage. The new Pope was a master diplomat, and Frederick signed a peace treaty, which was soon broken. Innocent showed his true Guelph face, and, together with most of the Cardinals, fled via Genoese galleys to the Ligurian republic, arriving on July 7. His aim was to reach Lyon, where a new coucil was held beginning June 24, 1245. One month later, Innocent IV declared Frederick to be deposed as emperor: he was characterized as a "friend of Babylon's sultan", "of Saracen customs", "provided with a harem guarded by eunuchs" like the schismatic emperor of Byzantium and, in sum, a "heretic". The Pope backed Heinrich Raspe, landgrave of Thuringia as his rival for the imperial crown, and set in motion a plot to kill Frederick and Enzio, with the support of his (the pope's) brother-in-law Orlando de Rossi, who was a friend of Frederick's as well. The conjurers, however, were unmasked by the count of Caserta. The vengeance was terrible: the city of Altavilla, where they had found shelter, was razed, and the guilty were blinded, mutilated and burnt alive or hung. An attempt to invade the Kingdom of Sicily, under the command of Ranieri, was halted at Spello by Marino of Eboli, Imperial vicar of Spoleto. Spello] Innocent also sent a flow of money to Germany to cut off Frederick's power at its source. The archbishops of Köln and Mainz also declared Frederick deposed, and in May 1246 a new king was chosen in the person of Heinrich Raspe. On August 5 Heinrich, thanks to the Pope's money, managed to defeat an army of Conrad son of Frederick near Frankfurt. But Frederick strenghtened his position in Southern Germany acquiring the Duchy of Austria, whose titular had died without heirs, and one year later Heinrich died as well. The new anti-king was William II, Count of Holland. Between February and March 1247 Frederick settled the situation in Italy with the diet of Terni, naming his relatives of friends as vicars of the various lands. Marrying his son Manfred to the daughter of Amedeo di Savoia and, gaining the submission of the marquis of Monferrato, he also gained of control of the passages of the Eastern Alps, clearing the route to Lyon, where he hoped finally to settle the long-standing dispute with the Pope. Innocent asked protection from the King of France, Louis IX, but his position was not so secure, as the king was a friend of the Emperor and knew the peaceful aims of the latter. A papal army under the command of Ottaviano degli Ubaldini never reached Lombardy, and the Emperor, accompanied by a massive army, held the next diet in Turin. Turin

The Battle of Parma and the end

An unexpected event was to change the situation dramatically. In June 1247 the important Lombard city of Parma expelled the Imperial functionaries and sided with the Guelphs. Enzio was not in the city and could do nothing more than ask for help from his father, who came back to lay siege to the rebels, together with his friend Ezzelino da Romano, tyrant of Verona. The besieged languished, as the Emperor waited the besieged surrendered of starvation. He had a true wooden city built around the walls, pompously called Vittoria ("Victory"). Here Frederick kept the treasure with the harem and the menagerie, and from its pavillions he could attend his favourite hunting expeditions. On February 18, 1248, during one of these absences the camp was suddenly assaulted and conquered, and in the ensuing Battle of Parma the Imperial side was routed. Frederick lost the Imperial treasure and, with it, any hope to keep up his struggle against the rebellious communes, as well as the triumphant Pope, who began plans for a crusade against Sicily. Though he soon recovered and rebuilt an army, this defeat spurred the rebellious feeling of many cities that could no longer bear his fiscal and monarchic regime: Romagna, Marche and Spoleto were lost. On February 1249 Frederick, who had just lost his other faithful minister Taddeo of Suessa, fired his advisor and prime minister, the famous jurist and poet Pier delle Vigne. The charge was speculation and embezzlement. Some historians, however, maintain instead that Pier was planning to betray the Emperor: according to Matthew of Paris, he cried when he discovered the betrayal. Pier, blinded and in chains, died in Pisa, presumably by suicide (a presumption that placed him in the Seventh Circle of Dante's Hell in Canto XII of the Inferno). Even more shocking for Frederick was the capture of his son Enzio by the Bolognese at the Battle of Fossalta, in the May of the same year. Only 23 at the time, he was thrown into a jail cell in which he was to spend the rest of his life, dying in 1272. The place of the king of Sardinia was taken over by the marquis Palavicino, a skilled but cruel man, not different from his ill-famed contemporary Ezzelino. In this period Frederick lost another son, Richard of Chieti. But the struggle continued: the Empire lost Como and Modena, but regained Ravenna and another army sent to invade the Kingdom of Sicily, under the command of Cardinal Pietro Capocci, was crushed in the Marche, at the Battle of Cingoli in 1250. In the first month of that year the indomitable Ranieri of Viterbo died and the Imperial condottieri again reconquered Romagna, Marche and Spoleto, and Conrad, King of the Romans scored several victories in Germany against William of Holland. Frederick did not take part of any of these campaigns. He had been ill and probably felt himself tired. Despite the betrayals and the ill happenings he had faced in his last years, Frederick died peacefully on December 13, 1250 in Castel Fiorentino near Lucera, in Puglia, after an attack of dysentery: in his last moment he wore the habit of a Cistercian monk. At the time of his death, his preeminent position in Europe was challenged but not lost: his testament left his legitimate son Conrad IV the Imperial and Sicilian crowns. Manfred received the principate of Taranto and the government of the Kingdom, Henry the Kingdom of Arles or that of Jerusalem, while the son of Henry VII was entrusted the Duchy of Austria and the Marquisate of Styria. His will was that all the lands he had taken from the Church were to be returned to it, all the prisoners freed, and the taxes reduced, provided this not damaged the Empire's pride. However, upon Conrad's death a mere four years later, the Hohenstaufen dynasty fell from power and an interregnum began, lasting until 1273, one year after the last Hohenstaufen, Enzio, had died in his prison. During this time, a legend developed that Frederick was not truly dead, but merely slept in the Kyffhaeuser Mountains and would one day awaken to reestablish his empire. Over time, this legend largely transferred itself to his grandfather, Frederick I, also known as Barbarossa ("Redbeard"). His sarcophagus (made of red porphyry) lies in the cathedral of Palermo, beside those of his parents (Henry VI and Constance) as well as his grandfather, the Norman king Roger II of Sicily. A bust of Frederick sits in the Walhalla temple built by Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Heirs

Ludwig I of Bavaria All the heirs of Frederick met unlucky fates.
- Frederick's son Henry, sometimes styled Henry VII, especially during his period of rebellion in alliance with the Lombard League — not to be confused with Henry VII of the House of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor 1275-1313 — was born 1211 in Sicily, son of Frederick's first wife Constance of Aragon, whom he had married in the August of 1209. King of the Germans (or, equivalently, "King of the Romans"), King of Sicily, claimant to the imperial title. After quarrelling with his father and forming an alliance with the Lombard League, he was captured by Frederick's forces and imprisoned from 1236; he died in Martirano in 1242, probably of the consequences of an attempted suicide.
- Frederick's son Conrad IV, son of his second wife Yolande de Brienne, Queen of Jerusalem, was born April 25, 1228 in Andria, Apulia. He became King of Jerusalem at birth (his mother having died in childbirth), and was elected German king and future emperor 1237 in Vienna, although no coronation took place. In 1250, he succeeded his father as King of Sicily, as well. Conrad died May 21, 1254 of malaria in an army camp in Lavello.
- Frederick's illegitimate son Manfred, King of Sicily, was born in 1231 of Bianca, the daughter of Count Bonifacio Lancia. According to some accounts, Frederick married Bianca on his deathbed, in order to make Manfred's birth legitimate, but there is no consensus on this. Manfred, initially as regent for Conrad's young son Conradin, and, after 1258 as King of Sicily, continued—after initial attempts at reconciliation—Frederick's conflict with the Pope and was also placed under papal interdict. Manfred died February 26, 1266 in battle near Benevento against Charles of Anjou, brother to the French King, who had been entrusted with the Kingdom of Sicily by the Pope. Still under excommunication, he was buried in unhallowed ground in the rocky valley of Verde. His wife Helena, and also their sons Frederick, Henry, and Enzio died in prison, the sons having been held in lifelong solitary confinement, like animals, never even learning human speech.
- Enzio (or Enzo) in particular seemed to be the father's favourite, as he received the titles of King of Sardinia and that of Imperial vicar in Northern Italy. These nominations have been seen as a Frederick's attempt to create a centralized state also in Northern and Central Italy: but this failed after the Battle of Parma and the subsequent imprisonment of Enzio in Bologna in 1249. Enzio became a popular character for his pitiful fate, as he spent all the rest of his life in prison, dying in 1272.
- The last legitimate male heir of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was Frederick's grandson Conradin, son of Conrad IV. The grandson, born March 25, 1252 at Burg Wolfstein near Landshut, held the titles of Duke of Swabia, King of Jerusalem and Sicily. He invaded Italy in 1268 to reclaim his Kingdom from Charles of Anjou, but was defeated and captured by Charles at the Battle of Tagliacozzo and publicly executed at age 16 on October 29, 1268 in Naples. In 1284 Frederick's ghost resurfaced in the form of a very convincing false Frederick, the impostor Tile Kolup, who impersonated the emperor with such expert knowledge and an amazing similarity that many of those who had known the true Frederick fell for him. Kolup was captured and executed, but rumors persist to this day that Kolup had been another illegitimate son of Frederick II.

Personality

In Frederick II we encounter one of the most remarkable personalities in world history. His contemporaries called him stupor mundi, the "wonder" — or, more precisely, the "astonishment" — "of the world"; the majority of his contemporaries, subscribing to medieval religious orthodoxy, under which the doctrines promulgated by the Church were supposed to be uniform and universal, were, indeed astonished — not seldom repelled — by the highly developed individual consciousness of the Hohenstaufen emperor, his temperamental stubbornness and his unorthodox, nearly unstoppable thirst for knowledge. Frederick II was a religious sceptic. He is said to have denounced Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad as all being frauds and deceivers of mankind. He delighted in uttering blasphemies and making mocking remarks directed toward Christian sacraments and beliefs. Frederick's religious scepticism was most unusual for the era in which he lived, and to his contemporaries, highly shocking and scandalous. In his period in Jerusalem, this behaviour was much to the dislike of the Muslims too, who grew mistrustful of a Christian which was not a Christian. Muslims Even his birth was remarkable. According to chronicles from the era, in order to stanch any doubt about his origin, the already 40-year old Constance gave birth to the child publicly in a marketplace. After Henry VI, his father, died at 31, Frederick came under the guardianship of the pope, which the latter, however, neglected him on the basis of power-politics. In Palermo, where the three-year-old boy was brought after his mother's death, he grew up like a street youth. On his own, he roamed a city which swarmed with adventurers and pirates, beggars and jugglers, Arab and Jewish merchants. The only benefit from Innocent III was that at 14 years of age he married a 25-year-old widow named Constance, the daughter of the king of Aragon in what is now Spain. As it happened, both seemed reasonably happy with the arrangement, and Constance soon bore a son, Henry. Later, it appeared opportune to Innocent III to support Frederick as a legitimate king, in order to counter the Emperor Otto — whom up to that time the pope had supported. In 1212 he brought him to Rome, gave him a round of instruction in things political, and sent him, provided with a bull of excommunication against the Guelph Otto, in the direction of Germany. The voyage seemed difficult, as the sea was roamed by the ships of Pisa, as usual faithful to the official emperor, and the road north to Rome were commanded by imperial garrisons. But in that period of his life a kind of mystic and prophetical luck seemed to illuminate every step made by the young king. Frederick managed to reach Liguria with ships sent by the fiercest rival of Pisa, Genova, where he stayed for three months. He crossed the Alps using the most difficult passes, as the Brenner Pass was occupied by the enemy troops of the duchies of Merano and Bavaria, and then he came to Konstanz in territory of the archbishop of Chur. The city was in fact preparing to receive the emperor, and would not allow the new aspirant to the imperial title to remain in the city. However, after a solemn reading of the pope's Bull of Excommunication, the gates of the city were opened for him. Otto, who meanwhile had waited in Überlingen for the ferry, came three weeks later before the city gates and was turned away. Frederick conquered the realm by means of generous promises and donations, without spilling a drop of blood. Otto, crushed in the Battle of Bouvines by the French, died some years later, a lonely man in the Harzburg, while Frederick would be crowned Emperor in Rome by the pope. In his coronation, too, he showed how unusual he was. At his coronation he carried a brand-new, red coronation robe with a strange ornamentation at the edge. In reality it was an Arabic inscription, which indicated that this robe dated from the year 528, not by the Christian but by Muslim calendar! About this was an Arab benediction: "May the Emperor be received well, may he enjoy vast prosperity, great generosity and high splendor, fame and magnificent endowments, and the fulfillment of his wishes and hopes. May his days and nights go in pleasure without end or change". This coronation robe can be found today in the Schatzkammer of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. This was typical of him: while he was being crowned by the Pope to be the highest defender of the Christian faith, his coat referred to the history of Islam. And not only that. He did not exterminate the Saracens of Sicily with fire and sword; on the contrary, he allowed them to settle on the mainland and even to build mosques. Not least, he enlisted them in his - Christian - army and even into his personal bodyguards. As these were Muslim soldiers, they were immune from papal excommunication. A further example of how much he differed from his contemporaries was his Crusade in the Holy Land. Outside Jerusalem, with the power to take it, he parlayed five months with the Egyptian Sultan al-Kamil about the surrender of the city. The Sultan summoned him into Jerusalem and entertained him in the most lavish fashion. When the muezzin, out of consideration for Frederick, failed to make the morning call to prayer, the emperor declared: "I stayed overnight in Jerusalem, in order to overhear the prayer call of the Muslims and their worthy God". The Saracens had a good opinion of him, so it was no surprise that after five months Jerusalem was handed over to him, taking advantage of the war difficulties of al-Kamil. The fact that this was regarded in the Arab as in the Christian world as high treason did not matter to him one whit. As the Patriarch of Jerusalem refused to crown him king, he set the crown on his own head. Besides his great tolerance (which, however, did not apply to Christian heretics), he had an unlimited thirst for knowledge and learning. To the horror of his contemporaries, he simply did not believe things that could not be explained by reason. So he forbade trials by ordeal on the firm conviction that in a duel the stronger would always win, whether he was guilty or not. Also, it can be forgotten amidst the general enthusiasm over his book on falconry releases frequently that he also wrote a scientific book about birds or that many of his laws continue to affect life down to the present day, such as the prohibition on physicians acting as their own pharmacists. This was a blow at the charlatanism under which physicians diagnosed dubious maladies and also at the same time in order to sell a useless, even dangerous "cure". Frederick's greatest passion were animals, and falcons in particular. He inherited his love for falconry from his Norman ancestors. According to a source, Frederick replied to a letter in which the Mongol khan invited him to sumbit that he was keen to do it, provided he was permitted to become the khan's hawker. He mantained up to 50 hawkers a time for his court, and in his letters he requested the acquiring of Arctic gerfalcons from Lübeck and even from Greenland. He commissioned the translation of the treaty De arte venandi cum avibus, by the Arab Moamyn, to his Syrian astrologer Theodor, but he corrected or rewrote it during the endless siege of Faenza. This implies that the Emperor knew the Arab language very well. Frederick picked up information from many of the philosphers then known, and mainly from the De Animalibus by Aristotle, creating a really noteworthy scientific work for the time it was written. One of the two existing versions was modified by his son Manfred, also a keen adherent of falconry. Frederick loved exotic animals in general: his mobile zoo, with which he used to impress the cold cities of Northern Italy and Europe, included hounds, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, lynxs, leopards and exotic birds. In 1232 he sent the Egyptian sultan a rare white bear, in exchange for a planetary worth 20,000 marks: Frederick was in fact attracted by stars, and his court was full of astrologers and astronomers. He often issued letters to the main scholars of the time (not only in Europe) asking for solutions to questions of science, mathematics and physics. A Damascene chronicler, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, leaves a physical description of Frederick based on the testimony of those who had seen the emperor in person in Jerusalem. "The Emperor was covered with red hair, was bald and myopic. Had he been a slave, he would not have fetched 200 dirhams at market." His eyes were described variously as blue, or "green like those of a serpent".

Law Reforms

His 1241 Edict of Salerno (sometimes called "Constitution of Salerno") made the first legally fixed separation of the occupations of physician and apothecary. Physicians were forbidden to double as pharmacists and the prices of various medicinal remedies were fixed. This became a model for regulation of the practice of pharmacy throughout Europe. He was not able to extend his legal reforms beyond Sicily to the Empire. In 1232, he was forced by the German princes to promulgate the Statutum in favorem principum ("statute in favor of princes"). It was a charter of aristocratic liberties for German princes at the expense of the lesser nobility and commoners. The princes gained whole power of jurisdiction, and the power to strike their own coins. The emperor lost his right to establish new cities, castles and mints over their territories. The Statutum extremely weakened central authority in Germany for ages. From 1232 the vassals of the emperor had a veto over imperial legislative decisions. Every new law established by the emperor had to be approved by the princes.

Summary

Frederick II was considered singular among the European Christian monarchs of the Middle Ages. This was observed even in his own time, although many of his contemporaries, because of his lifelong interest in Islam saw in him "the Hammer of Christianity", or at the very least a dissenter from Christendom. Many modern medievalists view this as false, and hold that Frederick understood himself as a Christian monarch in the sense of a Byzantine emperor, thus as God's Viceroy on earth. Other scholars view him as holding all religion in contempt, citing his rationalism and penchant for blasphemy. Whatever his personal feelings toward religion were, certainly submission to the pope did not enter into the matter. This was in line with the Hohenstaufen Kaiseridee: the ideology, claiming the Holy Roman Emperor to be the legitimate successor to the Roman emperors. Modern treatments of Frederick vary from sober evaluation (Stürner) to hero worship (Ernst Kantorowicz). However, all in all, agreement prevails over the special significance of Frederick II as Holy Roman Emperor, even if some of his actions (such as his politics with respect to Germany) remain quite dubious.

Parentage and children

- Parents
- Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (son of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor and Beatrix of Burgundy)
- Constance of Sicily (daughter of Roger II of Sicily and Beatrice of Rethel)
- Children
- With Constance of Aragon:
- Henry (VII) of Germany
- With Yolande of Jerusalem:
- unnamed daughter, died young
- Conrad IV of Germany:
- With Isabella of England
- Margaret of Sicily, margravine of Meissen
- Henry Charlote of Sicily
- Frederick of Sicily
- Carl Otto of Sicily
- With Bianca Lancia:
- Manfred of Sicily
- Constance (Anna) of Sicily, married John III Ducas Vatatzes
- Violante of Sicily, married Riccardo di Caserta
- With Adelheid Enzio:
- Enzio of Sardinia
- With Richina of Wolfs'oden:
- Margaret of Swabia
- With Matilda of Antioch:
- Frederich of Antioch
- With unknown:
- Selvaggia
- Conrad of Antioch
- Richard of Theate
- Catarina of Marano
- Blanchefleur
- Gerhard
- Frederick of Pettorana

References

- Claudio Rendina, Federico II di Svevia - Lo specchio del mondo, Newton Compton, Rome, 1995, ISBN 8879839578.
- David Abulafia, Frederick II. A Medieval Emperor, Allen Lane the Penguin Press, 1988, ISBN 8806131974 (Italian edition)
- Georgina Masson, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Martin Secker & Warburg, 1957, ISBN 8845291073 (Italian edition)
- Karen Armstrong, Holy War - The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World, Anchor Books, second edition, December 2001, ISBN 0385721404.
- R.H.C. Davis, A History of Medieval Europe, Longman Group UK Limited, Second edition, 1988, ISBN 0582014042
- Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, Shocken, 1989, ISBN 0805208984 In addition, this article uses material from the corresponding article in the German-language Wikipedia, which, in turn, gives the following references; the notes are theirs.
- Klaus van Eickels: Friedrich II., in: Bernd Schneidmüller/Stefan Weinfurter (editors): Die deutschen Herrscher des Mittelalters, Historische Porträts von Heinrich I. bis Maximilian I., Munich 2003, p. 293-314 and p. 585 (Bibliography). An outstanding short biography. Van Eickels also edited a volume of source materials on Frederick II.
- Ernst Kantorowicz: Kaiser Friedrich II., 2. volumes, Stuttgart 1985-86 (Nachdruck der Ausgabe aus den 20er Jahren), Beautifully written, but very romanticized, so to be read with caution. The author, a late-emigrated Jew, was close to the circle of Stefan George.
- Wolfgang Stürner: Friedrich II. (Gestalten des Mittelalters und der Renaissance), 2 volumes, Darmstadt 1992-2000. The best and most recent biography of Frederick II. Sober and objective, with an extensive guide to other literature on its subject.
- Gunther Wolf (editor).: Stupor mundi. Zur Geschichte Friedrichs II. von Hohenstaufen (Wege der Forschung 101), 2. veränderte Aufl., Darmstadt 1982. An important collection of essays on Frederick II.

External links

- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06255a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Frederick II]
- [http://www.bartleby.com/65/fr/Fred2HRE.html Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor and German king. The Columbia Encyclopedia]
- [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9035231 Frederick II -- Encyclopædia Britannica] Category:1194 births Category:1250 deaths Category:Holy Roman emperors Category:German Kings Category:Kings of Sicily Category:Kings of Burgundy Category:Kings of Jerusalem Category:Dukes of Swabia Category:Hohenstaufen Dynasty Category:Polyglots Category:House of Anjou Category:History of Sicily Category:People of Sicilian heritage ja:フリードリヒ2世 (神聖ローマ皇帝)

Battle of Bouvines

The Battle of Bouvines, July 27, 1214, was the first great international conflict of alliances among national forces in Europe. In the alliances, which were orchestrated by Pope Innocent III, Philip Augustus of France defeated Otto IV of Germany and count Ferrand of Flanders so decisively that Otto was deposed and replaced by Frederick II Hohenstaufen. Ferrand was captured and imprisoned. Philip was himself able to take undisputed control of the territories of Anjou, Brittany, Maine, Normandy, and the Touraine, which he had recently seized from Otto's kinsman and ally John of England. The city of Bouvines is between Lille and Tournai, and in the 13th century was in the County of Flanders and is part of modern France.

Prelude

The campaign plan seems to have been designed by John, who was the fulcrum of the alliances; his general idea was to draw the French king away from Paris southward against himself and keep him occupied, while the main army, under emperor Otto IV, with the counts of the low countries, should march on Paris from the north. John's part in the general strategy was carried out at first, but the allies in the north moved slowly. John, after two encounters with his mortal enemy of France, turned back to his Guienne possessions on July 3, however, perhaps in one of his fits of despondency. When, three weeks later, the emperor finally concentrated his forces at Valenciennes, John was out of the picture, and in the interval Philip Augustus had countermarched northward and regrouped. Philip now took the offensive himself, and in maneuvering to get a good cavalry ground upon which to fight he offered battle (July 27), on the plain east of Bouvines and the river Marque. The imperial army drew up facing south-westward towards Bouvines, the heavy cavalry in the new-fangled plate armour on the wings, the infantry in one great mass in the center, supported by the cavalry corps under the emperor himself. The total force is estimated at 6500 heavy cavalry and 40,000 foot solidiers. The French army (about 7000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry) took ground exactly opposite in a similar formation, cavalry on the wings, infantry, including the townsmen (milice des communes) in the center, Philip with the cavalry reserve and the royal standard, the Oriflamme, in rear of the men on foot.

Battle

The battle opened with a confused cavalry fight on the French right, in which individual feats of knightly gallantry were more noticeable (and better recorded in the chronicles) than any attempt at combined action. The serious fighting was between the two centers; the infantry of the Low Countries, who were at this time almost the best in existence, drove back the French. Philip led the cavalry reserve of nobles and knights to retrieve the day, and after a long and doubtful fight, in which he himself was unhorsed and narrowly escaped death, began to drive back the Flemings. In the meanwhile the French feudatories on the left wing had thoroughly defeated the imperial forces opposed to them, and William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the leader of this corps, was unhorsed and taken prisoner by the fighting bishop of Beauvais. On the other wing the French at last routed the Flemish cavalry and captured Ferdinand Count of Flanders, one of the leaders of the coalition. In the center the battle was now a melée between the two mounted reserves led by the king and the emperor in person. Here too the imperial forces suffered defeat, Otto himself being saved only by the devotion of a handful of Saxon knights. The day was already decided in favor of the French when their wings began to close inwards to cut off the retreat of the imperial center. The battle closed with the celebrated stand of Reginald of Boulogne, a former vassal of King Philip, who formed a ring of seven hundred Brabancon pikemen, and not only defied every attack of the French cavalry, but himself made repeated charges or sorties with his small force of knights. Eventually, and long after the imperial army had begun its retreat, the gallant schiltron was ridden down and annihilated by a charge of three thousand men-at-arms. Reginald was taken prisoner in the mele; and the prisoners also included two other counts, Ferdinand and William Longsword, twenty-five barons and over a hundred knights. The killed amounted to about 170 knights of the defeated party, and many thousands of foot on either side. John returned to England to face the barons whose possessions in Normandy he had lost. After Bouvines there were no important wars in Western Europe until the 1290s.

References

- Georges Duby, The Legend of Bouvines (1990). A careful study of the historiography of a single event, Duby examines how the Battle of Bouvines has been used and abused in French history.

External links

- [http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/SOURCES/bouvines.htm Historical accounts]
- [http://10.1911encyclopedia.org/B/BO/BOUVINES.htm Encyclopaedia Britannica]: Bouvines
- [http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/bouvines.htm Bouvines]: the battle in the context of the campaign in the war of 1202 - 1214 Category:1214 Bouvines 1214 Bouvines 1214 Bouvines 1214 Category:Nord

Philip II of France

Philip II (French: Philippe II), called Philip Augustus (French: Philippe Auguste) (August 21,1165 – July 14,1223), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. A member of the Capetian dynasty, Philip Augustus was born August 21, 1165 at Gonesse, Val-d'Oise, France, the son of Louis VII of France and his third wife, Adèle of Champagne. Philip was a younger half-brother of Marie de Champagne, Alix of France, Marguerite of France and Alys, Countess of the Vexin. He was an older brother of Agnes of France. In declining health, his father had him crowned at Reims in 1179. He was married on April 28, 1180 to Isabelle of Hainaut. His father and co-ruler died on September 18, 1180. His eldest son Louis (later King Louis VIII), was born on September 5, 1187. As king, he would become one of the most successful in consolidating F