Frederick I.

Frederick I., surnamed BARBAROSSA (Red-beard), Holy Roman emperor, of the Swabian family of Hohenstaufen, was born about 1123. He succeeded his father, Duke Frederick II. of Swabia, in 1147, and his uncle, Conrad III., as emperor in 1152. His reign was one long struggle against refractory but powerful vassals at home, and against the turbulent civic republics of Lombardy and the pope (Alexander III.) in Italy. By the capture in 1162 of Milan, the most hostile of the Italian cities, Frederick brought to his feet all the recalcitrant states of Italy; and even the pope, the last of his enemies, he seemed on the point of subduing five years later when he took Rome by storm. But at this juncture his army was suddenly smitten with a terrible plague, and his forces melted away from him. This was the signal for revolt in Lombardy; and when at length in 1174 Frederick was able to leave Germany with the intention of once more reducing his Italian subjects beneath his iron heel, he incurred a severe defeat at Legnano (1176). Nevertheless it was a defeat that proved to be more valuable to him than his previous successes. For it led him to change his policy of stern repression to one of clemency and concession, whereby he converted the Lombard cities from restless, determined enemies into contented subjects. At the same time, in 1177, he acknowledged Alexander III. as pope, and thus paved the way for the final pacification of 1183. In Germany Frederick endeavoured to curb the power of his greatest vassals by a policy of mingled conciliation and counterpoise: the hostility of the strongest he disarmed by investing them with new fiefs, or by raising their titular dignities, whilst the weaker he sought to keep in check by conferring additional rights upon their rivals, the municipal communities. Thus, he elevated the countship of Austria to the rank of a duchy, created Duke Ladislaus of Bohemia king, and granted Westphalia to the Bishop of Cologne, East Saxony to Bernhard of Anhalt, and Brunswick and Lüneburg to the Guelph princes. Besides this, he quelled the rebellious spirit of Henry the Lion of Bavaria, and asserted his feudal superiority over Poland, Hungary, Denmark, and Burgundy. When at the height of his power, however, he took the cross to go and war against Saladin. Marching by way of Hungary, Servia, Byzantium, and Asia Minor, he defeated the Moslems in two battles, at Philomelium and Iconium, but died suddenly, or was drowned crossing the Kalykadnus river (Gök-su) in Cilicia, June 10, 1190. Frederick, who was of great personal beauty and had winning manners, exhibited a resolute will, degenerating at times into gross cruelty, considerable administrative skill, martial ardour, and a magnanimous ambition. No ruler of Germany ever won a more lasting place in the affections of his subjects than Frederick Barbarossa, about whose memory the patriotic aspirations of the German people have continued to cling in legend and song down to the present day. One persistent tradition makes him still asleep in the Untersberg near Salzburg or the Kyffhäuser in Thuringia, whence he will return to succour Germany in her hour of greatest need. His red beard has already grown through the stone table before which he sits, and from time to time he raises his head to see if the ravens are still wheeling round the mountain, or the hour of awakening has come—the dawn of a new golden age for Germany. See works by Prutz (3 vols. Danzig, 1871-73), Ribbeck (Leip. 1881), and Kallsen (Halle, 1882).