Tags
Carolingian Empire, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, Emperor Friedrich II, Emperor Friedrich III, Emperor Maximilian I, House of Habsburg, King of Sicily, King Otto I the Great, Kingdom of East Francia, Pope Honorious III, Pope Innocent III., Pope John XII
There was a short Interregnum after the Imperial title became extinct within the Carolingian Dynasty before being resurrected by King Otto I the Great of East Francia. As mentioned in my last blog entry, the Holy Roman Empire is seen as having had its start with the Coronation of King Otto I the Great of East Francia by Pope John XII on February 2, 962.
During the period of the Holy Roman Empire (936 – 1806) there were three Emperors by the name of Friedrich as follows below.
Friedrich I Barbarossa (December 1122 – June 10, 1190), was a member of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty and was, by inheritance, Duke of Swabia as Duke Friedrich III 1147–1152. Friedrich Barbarossa was elected King of Germany-Romans in Frankfurt on March 4, 1152 and crowned in Aachen on March 9, 1152.
He was crowned King of Italy on April 24, 1155 in Pavia and crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on June 18, 1155 in Rome. He was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later in 1190.
Two years later, the term sacrum (“Holy”) first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire. He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on June 30, 1178.
Emperor Friedrich I also was given the secondary name Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule: Barbarossa means “red beard” in Italian; in German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, which in English means “Emperor Redbeard.” The prevalence of the Italian nickname, even in later German usage, reflects the centrality of the Italian campaigns to his career.
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Friedrich II (December 26, 1194 – December 13, 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Heinrich VI of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty and Queen Constance I of Sicily of the Hauteville dynasty.
He ruled a vast area, beginning with Sicily and stretching through Italy all the way north to Germany. As the Crusades progressed, he acquired control of Jerusalem and styled himself its king. However, the Papacy became his enemy, and it eventually prevailed.
Viewing himself as a direct successor to the Roman Emperors of antiquity, he was Emperor of the Romans from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death; he was also a claimant to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy.
After the death of Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV (of Brunswick) the German princes, supported by Pope Innocent III, again elected Friedrich, King of Germany in 1215, and he was crowned king in Aachen on July 23, 1215 by one of the three German archbishops.
It was not until another five years had passed, and only after further negotiations between Friedrich II, Pope Innocent III, and Pope Honorius III – who succeeded to the papacy after Innocent’s death in 1216 – that Friedrich was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Honorius III, on November 22, 1220. At the same time, Emperor Friedrich’s oldest son, Prince Heinrich, took the title of King of the Romans.
Unlike most Holy Roman emperors, Emperor Friedrich II spent only a few years in Germany.
After his death, his line did not survive, and the House of Hohenstaufen came to an end.
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Friedrich III (September 21, 1415 – August 19, 1493) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death in 1493.
Previously there had been two members of the House of Habsburg to rule over German lands: they were, Rudolph I (1273 –1291) and Albrecht I (1298 — 1308). However, they both ruled as Kings of Germany and none of them were crowned Emperors.
Friedrich III was the first member of the House of Habsburg to bear the Imperial Title. He was the penultimate Emperor to be crowned by Pope Paul II and the last to be crowned in Rome.
Friedrich III was the eldest son of the Inner Austrian Duke Ernst the Iron, a member of the Leopoldian line of the Habsburg Dynasty, and his second wife Cymburgis of Masovia. Prior to his imperial coronation and according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, the Leopoldinian branch ruled over the duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, or what was referred to as Inner Austria.
Friedrich III was elected and crowned King of Germany-Romans in 1440. His reign of 53 years is the longest in the history of the Holy Roman Empire or the German monarchy. Upon his death in 1493 he was succeeded by his son Archduke Maximilian, as Emperor Maximilian I.