• General Notes

  [SUSANNA KEENE.FTW]
  
  Drowned in River Calycandus, Cilicia.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  buried somewhere in the Holy Land.
  
  Friedrich I, 'Barbarossa' Emperor Of The Holy Roman Empire
  called Barbarossa or Red Beard, succeeded his uncle Conrad III
  as king of Germany in 1152. He became Holy Roman Emperor in
  1155. The German people admired and respected him as a great
  national hero. In 1180, he defeated his great rival for power
  in Germany, Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria. With
  the help of loyal princes and an able administration, he
  enforced his authority in Germany and the Slavic borderlands to
  the east.
  
  He was less successful in a bitter struggle against Pope
  Alexander III and the Lombard League of North Italian cities.
  The League defeated Frederick at the Battle of Legnano in 1176.
  It was in this battle that foot soldiers recorded their first
  great victory over feudal cavalry. The Lombard cities forced
  Frederick to grant them self-government in the Peace of
  Constance in 1183. The Emperor
  started on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land in 1189, but
  drowned the next year while crossing a river. A German legend,
  however, says that Barbarossa never really died but is sleeping
  beside a huge table in the Kyffhauser Mountains. When his beard
  grows completely around the table, the legend says, he will
  arise and conquer Germany's enemies.
  
  Frederick I (Holy Roman Empire), called Frederick Barbarossa
  (1123?-90), Holy Roman emperor and king of Germany (1152-90),
  king of Italy (1155-90), and as Frederick III, duke of Swabia
  (1147-52, 1167-68). He was born in Waiblingen, the son of
  Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, duke of Swabia (1090-1147), and
  the nephew of Conrad III, king of Germany. Conrad III, favoring
  Frederick over his own son, on his deathbed recommended to the
  German princes that Frederick be chosen for the German kingship
  and the imperial throne. Accordingly, after the death of his
  uncle in 1152, Frederick Barbarossa was made German king and
  elected Holy Roman emperor. He conceived of his imperial title
  as a grant from God, through the German princes, and wished to
  restore the glory of the Roman Empire. He consequently decided
  to consolidate the imperial position
  in Germany and Italy and began by issuing a general order for
  peace among the princes of Germany, at the same time granting
  them extensive concessions. In 1154 he proceeded to Italy,
  where he received the Lombard crown at Pavia. The following
  year he was crowned Holy Roman emperor by
  Pope Adrian IV, whose authority Frederick had reinstated before
  his coronation.
  
  In 1156 Pope Adrian aroused Frederick against the papacy by
  implying in a letter to him that the emperor held lands only as
  a fief from the pope. Two years later Frederick incurred the
  hostility of the Lombards by demanding recognition of all his
  royal rights, including his power to appoint the imperial
  podesta, or governor, in every town. Such cities as Milan,
  Piacenza, Brescia, and Crema considered that demand a denial of
  their communal liberties and in 1158 began a struggle that
  lasted until 1183 and required Frederick to lead five
  expeditions to Italy. Between 1158 and 1162 Frederick warred
  with Milan and its allies, subduing that city and confirming
  claims to other Italian cities. Meanwhile Frederick had set up
  a series of antipopes in opposition to the reigning pope,
  Alexander III, who espoused the cause of the Milanese and their
  allies and who, in 1165, excommunicated Frederick. By attacking
  the Leonine City in Rome in 1167-68, Frederick was able to
  install one of the antipopes, Paschal III (died 1168), on the
  papal throne. The Lombard League, consisting of the cities of
  Milan, Parma, Padua, Verona, Piacenza, Bologna, Cremona,
  Mantua, Bergamo, and Brescia, was formed in 1167 and eventually
  acknowledged Pope Alexander as leader. During the next seven
  years the league acquired military strength, rebuilt Milan,
  constructed the fortress city of Alessandria, and organized a
  federal system of administration. The fifth expedition
  (1174-76) of Frederick to Italy terminated in defeat by the
  Lombard League at Legnano. The defeat was significant in
  military history, because it was the first major triumph of
  infantry over a mounted army of feudal knights. Frederick was
  forced in 1177 to acknowledge Alexander III as pope and in
  1183 to sign the Peace of Constance, acceding to the demands of
  the Lombards for autonomy but retaining imperial suzerainty
  over the towns.
  
  Although imperial control in Italy was virtually ended by his
  defeat at Legnano, Frederick managed to enhance his prestige in
  central Europe. He made Poland tributary to the empire, raised
  Bohemia to the rank of a kingdom, and erected the margravate of
  Austria into an independent hereditary duchy. His own power as
  emperor in Germany was firmly established in 1180, when he
  ended his
  long struggle with the Welfs by putting down a revolt led by
  the Welf Henry the Lion and depriving him of most of his lands.
  
  Frederick initiated the Third Crusade in 1189, and in the next
  year, having resigned the government of the empire to his son
  Henry, later Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, set out for Asia
  Minor. After gaining two great victories over the Muslims at
  Philomelion (now Ak3ehir) and Iconium (now Konya), he was
  drowned in the Calycadnus (now Goksu) River in Cilicia (now in
  Turkey) on June 10, 1190.
  
  Source: 'The World Book Encyclopedia', 1968, p F422. 'Frederick
  I (Holy Roman Empire),'
  Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft
  Corporation. Copyright (c) 1993 Funk
  & Wagnall's Corporation

Details of Frederick I Barbarossa's family with Beatrix de Burgundy