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Adelaide of Italy, Duke of Swabia, Eadgyth of England, Emperor Otto I the Great, Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick II of Swabia, Holy Roman Emperor, House of Hohenstaufen, King of Burgundy, King of the Romans-Germany
Friedrich was born in mid-December 1122 in Haguenau, to Duke Friedrich II of Swabia and Princess Judith of Bavaria, the eldest daughter of Duke Heinrich IX of Bavaria and Princess Wulfhilde of Saxony, daughter of Duke Magnus of Saxony and Princess Sophia of Hungary, and thereby a member of the powerful German House of Welf.
By inheritance Friedrich was Duke Friedrich III of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III) before his Imperial Election in 1152.
His father was from the Hohenstaufen family, and his mother was from the Welf family, the two most powerful families in Germany. The Hohenstaufens were often called Ghibellines, which derives from the Italianized name for Waiblingen castle, the family seat in Swabia; the Welfs, in a similar Italianization, were called Guelphs.
Friedrich was also a descendant of the Salian dynasty through his paternal grandmother Agnes of Waiblingen as she was the daughter of Emperor Heinrich IV and Bertha of Savoy.
He also had ties to the Salians through his mother Judith of Bavaria as she descended from Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Therefore, Friedrich carried on the bloodline of Emperor Otto I the Great and his wives, Eadgyth of England and Adelaide of Italy. He learned to ride, hunt and use weapons at an early age, but could neither read nor write, and was also unable to speak the Latin language until later in life.
Because of his descent from the two leading families in the Empire, that him an acceptable choice for the Empire’s prince-electors.
Friedrich was elected King of the Romans-Germany in Frankfurt on March 4, 1152 and crowned in Aachen on March 9, 1152.
Friedrich was crowned King of Italy on April 24, 1155 in Pavia, and on June 18, 1155 he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV in Rome. Emperor Friedrich was Emperor 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.
He was named 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.