The Hohenstaufen Dynasty, Part I
The Portrait of an Emperor
Completed around the middle of 1160, this ormolu reliquary was a faithful copy of the figure of the young Frederick I, commonly called Barbarossa. The Emperor offered it as a gift to his godfather, Count Otto von Cappenberg.
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The Holy Roman Empire hit its peak under the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, its territory stretching from Sicily to the Baltic Sea and comprising the entirety of both Italy and Germany.
In October 1154, representing the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, Frederick the First traversed the Brenner Pass, heading towards Italy, to be coronated in Pavia as the King of Italy. He was a model of medieval chivalry: strong, handsome, and originating from a noble family whose home was situated in Swabia, in the south-west of the modern-day German Federation. The Chronicler Rahewin, an author, alongside Otto of Freising, in the literary work named Stories of Emperor Barbarossa, thus described him: "He has a beautiful face. His eyes are clear and striking, being accompanied by what can only be characterised as a noble nose. His beard has a reddish colour, whilst his delicate lips fit a not-so-large mouth - actually, his entire appearance is optimistic and cheerful." The Italians gave him the nickname Barbarossa - "Red Beard".
Frederick had already been Duke of Swabia, when, in 1152, he was chosen as the sovereign of Germany, at approximately thirty years since birth. His journey to the south, occurring two years later, would not have been possible if he wouldn't have managed to reach a half-hearted compromise with his ambitious cousin, also a pretender to the crown, namely Henry the Lion, the representative of the rival House of Welf, who agreed to escort him on his way to Italy. Immediately after the death of Henry the Fifth and with him, the formerly-ruling Salian dynasty, in the year of 1125, a bloody conflict was triggered between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufens, the two most dominant families in all the German-speaking lands, a conflict undoubtably targeting the Holy Roman Emperorship. Partly, Frederick had been chosen King due to his undeniable position as a "compromise candidate", to put an end to the crippling dispute. Even though he was technically a Hohenstaufen, he also was, through his maternal line, also a Welf, and could act as a "cornerstone which unites two walls, preventing them from collapsing," as Otto of Freising put it.
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The Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I
Emperor Frederick, after his imperial coronation at Rome in 1155, had maintained tenuous relations, at best, with the Pope and his Holy Dominions. His reign would be marked by contemporary historians as the earliest period in history in which a pan-German independent union was a considered prospect.
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Through subtle diplomacy, the new sovereign succeeded in offering a necessary breath of fresh air to the empire plagued by crisis. The Welfs had been the most powerful of the two competing families, controlling the important duchies of Saxony and Bavaria. They had lost, however, the latter, under the leadership of Conrad the Third, Frederick's uncle and predecessor to the throne. Before the start of the journey to Rome, Frederick promised to give back the sought duchy to Henry the Lion. Henry Jasomirgott, from the House of Babenberg, who was ruling the duchy as an Interim Duke, was rewarded with a newly-created duchy created right on the border of the Holy Roman Empire - Austria. Frederick put his plan in motion in 1156, but hadn't fully halted the conflict between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufens, merely briefly pausing it. Both factions needed allies. In 1168, Henry the Lion married a daughter of Henry II, the King of England, establishing a strong connection with the latter. Frederick Barbarossa turned his attention towards France, uniting with Princess Beatrix, which besides needed connections, brought him an extra gift as well: the englobing of Burgundy into the Holy Roman Empire...
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The Imperial Right
This map, finalised in 2243, shows the entirety of the Hohenstaufen Empire and the Hohenstaufen external territories (Sicily, Venice), in approximately 1200.
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The armistice between the warring houses didn't last for long. In 1178, Henry - who lived in, in a regal fast, in the Palace of Dankwarterode, in modern-day Brunesguik - managed to alienate the majority of his Bavarian subjects as a result of his cruel autocratic regime. He had confiscated proprieties, had revoked fiefdoms formerly given away, and had obligated the pagan Slavonic princes from Mecklenburg and Pomerania to convert to Christianity. On the other hand, though, he did substantially enrich the duchy, encouraging commerce and the development of cities, creating the port of Lübeck on the German coast of the Baltic Sea, and the great city of München, who was beforehand a small Bavarian village which collected tax at a crossing over the Iser River. However, in the eyes of Henry's fierce adversaries, the noble crossed the line, blaming Germany's overly-federalised state as a chaotic mode of governing. Utilising the allegations made by the local nobility as a pretext, Frederick and his cohorts actioned, establishing legal procedures against Henry the Lion, declaring him a national criminal, and confiscating his imperial fiefdoms, aside from un-claimable elderly lands, rightly inherited in some regions around Brunesguik and Lüneburg, in the German North. Henry was forced to leave [1], but the Lion refused to listen to the "treacherous" Frederick and violently fled the scene, heading towards the hideouts of his vassal princes, being unknowingly followed by the Imperial Guards. Once arrived, they immediately apprehended both Henry and his loyalists. By the decree of Frederick I, the loyalists were given a chance to exit the country, most of them fleeing to friendly England, with Henry being the only one to be executed, in front of a mass crowd. The fall of the Lion was a personal triumph to Frederick Barbarossa, bringing him quite a few benefits; the allodial territories of Henry became personal domains of the Holy Roman Emperor, whilst his other lands those of his captured loyalists were turned over to and divided between sworn supporters of Barbarossa. The death of the Lion marked the start of an era of thorough de-federalisation, one which would have major consequences...
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The Regal Image
Frederick the Second, Holy Roman Emperor, is featured on this seal bearing the symbols of his authority. He's staying on the physical throne, with the imperial crown on his head, and with the globe and sceptre in his hands.
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To solidify his authority and to fill his coffers, Frederick set his eyes upon Italy. But Italian politics proved to be just as tumultuous as the turbulent House of Welf, internally at least. The first meeting between the Emperor and the Pope, in 1155, had ended tensionally. Barbarossa refused to treat the Papacy with the courtesy his predecessors had shown towards the pontiff sovereign, as he greatly considered their venerable manifestations demeaning. Profoundly offended, the Pope was hardly convinced to accept the investiture of Frederick as the Holy Roman Emperor. This event took place on the 18th of June, 1155, with the people of Rome expressing their disapproval, storming into the hall where the banquet was taking place; in the slaughter that followed, five hundred people were killed.
Frederick would have crossed the Alps five more times since that day. The cities of Lombardy didn't wish to contribute to the imperial treasury. Gathering under the leadership of Milano in the Lombard League, they provoked the one who wished to rule them and largely enjoyed the support of the Papacy and the Papal Domains, who feared an increase in Barbarossa's power. A fierce conflict followed, which saw the multiple excommunication of the Emperor, leading to Barbarossa funding anti-papal groups throughout the Italian Peninsula. In 1185, a compromise between the two parties was finally reached. The Emperor nominally retained the privilege to rule over North Italy, but was forced to recognise the autonomy of the Lombard cities, who would win their right to have independence in all internal affairs, in exchange for a consistent, monthly sum of money.
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[1] - In Our Timeline, Henry the Lion fled to England.
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