Hi to all the members!!!
I'm a new member of this awesome discussion board and, as a fanatic of history, I'm excited to colaborate with a new thread.
Particulary, I'm was a huge fan of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, who ruled Germany from 1138 until 1254: they fight against the growing power of the Papacy, but at the end they were defeated.
The last legitimate male member of the family was Conradin, who at the age of sixteen was beheaded by orders of Charles I of Anjou, after his defeat in the Battle of Tagliacozzo in 1268.
Now, imagine that Conradin in fact resulted victorious in this fight, how could change the history of Europe asa result?......
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By effects to understood the alternative timelife of Conradin, I write the true events of his life until the Battle of Tagliacozzo.
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I'm a new member of this awesome discussion board and, as a fanatic of history, I'm excited to colaborate with a new thread.
Particulary, I'm was a huge fan of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, who ruled Germany from 1138 until 1254: they fight against the growing power of the Papacy, but at the end they were defeated.
The last legitimate male member of the family was Conradin, who at the age of sixteen was beheaded by orders of Charles I of Anjou, after his defeat in the Battle of Tagliacozzo in 1268.
Now, imagine that Conradin in fact resulted victorious in this fight, how could change the history of Europe asa result?......
______________________________________________________________
By effects to understood the alternative timelife of Conradin, I write the true events of his life until the Battle of Tagliacozzo.
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CONRADIN, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR, KING OF SICILY, GERMANY AND JERUSALEM
1252 -- 25 March: Conradin born in Wolfsburg Castle near Landshut, Bavaria, as the only son of King Conrad IV of Germany and his wife Elisabeth, daughter of Otto II, Duke of Bavaria.
1254 -- 21 May: Conrad IV died of malaria in Lavello, Basilicata, Italy, after being excommunicated by the Pope. Conradin succeeded him as King of Sicily and Jerusalem; however, his German rights were dismissed and only could mantain his rule over the Duchy of Swabia. After his father's death, Conradin was kept under the guardianship of his maternal uncles, Dukes Louis II of Upper Bavaria and Henry XIII of Lower Bavaria.
1258 -- 10 August: After hearing the false rumour of Conradin's death, Prince Manfred of Taranto, his half-uncle (illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II and Bianca Lancia) and regent on his behalf, was crowned King of Sicily. Despite the protests of the Pope and Conradin's envoys, Manfred, with the support of the population, mantain his rule.
1259 -- 6 October: Elisabeth of Bavaria remarried with Meinhard II, Count of Gorizia and Tyrol.
1262 -- Conradin was formally invested as Duke of Swabia.
1266 -- 26 February: Manfred is defeated and killed in the Battle of Benevento by Charles I, Count of Anjou (brother of King Louis IX of France), who was recognized by the Pope as King of Sicily.
September: Conradin is married by proxy with Sophie, daughter of Dietrich the Wise, Margrave of Landsberg and member of the Wettin dynasty. They never met each other.
1267 -- Summer: With the help of his uncle Louis II of Upper Bavaria, his stepfather Meinhard II, his childhood friend Frederick I of Baden and other, Conradin arrived to Italy and made his formal claim over his inheritance.
September: a Spanish fleet under Infante Fadrique of Castile, his relative (his mother Beatrice was a Hohenstaufen), and a number of knights from Pisa, and Spanish knights soldiering from Tunis, disembarked in the Sicilian city of Sciacca, and most of the island rebelled against the Angevin rule. Only Palermo and Messina remained loyal to Charles I of Anjou.
18 November: Feared with a resurface of the Hohenstaufen Empire, Pope Clement IV excommunicated Conradin. The financial situation of the campaign discouraged Louis II and Meinhard II, who retired his support to Conradin.
1268 -- 24 July: with an army of 3,000 men, Conradin entered in Rome, where was received with immense enthusiasm. Infante Enrique of Castile, Roman Senator and brother of Fadrique, offered his support, reforced his army and even accompanied him in person to the fight.
23 August: Conradin's multi-national army of Italian, Spanish, Roman, Arab and German troops encountered that of Charles I at Tagliacozzo, in a hilly area of central Italy.
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In History, Conradin was defeated, and after escape from the battlefield was captured, imprisoned and beheaded on 29 August 1268.
But, if Conradin actually wins the battle?, what could be happen next?....
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When all seems to be lost, the sixteen-years-old Conradin took his sword and encouraged his soldiers to continue the battle and offered them his blood and life for the victory. At the head of the German and Castilian army, he entered in the most dangerous part of the Battle. The Italian and Arab army under the command of Frederick I of Baden and Mastino I della Scala, follow the retreat of the French troops and finally defeated them. Charles I of Anjou was among the casualties.
In the battlefield, Conradin is proclamed King of Italy by his troops. Against the advice of Mastino I della Scala, who wanted to plunder and destroy all the villages who supported the French, Conradin decided to return Rome and established there a firm government.
1268 -- 27 August: Conradin entered in Rome as a heroe. The Ghibelline party, who had the complete control over the Eternal City, wanted a bloody vendetta against the Guelphs and Angevines, but wisely Conradin refused, because this could divide the city and weakened his still unstable position. After organizated the defense of the city, who was left under the charge of Infante Enrique of Castile, Conradin advanced against Viterbo, where Pope Clement IV established his residence.
29 August: Conradin and his army reached Viterbo, where the dying Pope refused to see him. After the city doors were opened to him, the young King forced his way to the Papal palace. Clement IV, after the news of the Battle of Tagliacozzo and the death of Charles I of Anjou, decided to support Conradin and annuled the excommunication against him.
30 August: Conradin is crowned King of Italy and Sicily by the Pope at Viterbo. Clement IV also intended to crown him as King of Germany, but Conradin refused: he was determined to win his throne without any more divisions in the German states.
1 November: With the protection of the new King, Clement IV entered to Rome, where received a cold welcome.
2 November: Disturbed news from Sicily: the French began his reorganization in Palermo under the command of the fourteen-years-old Charles II, eldest surviviving son and heir of Charles I. Confusion reigned in the Sicilian Kingdom over who was the real authority; if Conradin wanted to reestablished the Hohenstaufen Empire, he had to parted inmediately to Sicily.
17 November: Conradin reached Messina, the frontier between Peninsular Sicily and the Island. The moment of the Battle for the supremacy began....
TO BE CONTINUED....
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