Conrad III (german: Konrad; it, Corrado; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynas ...
dynasty was from 1116 to 1120
Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135
anti-king of his predecessor
Lothair III
Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg (1075 – 4 December 1137), was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before b ...
and from 1138 until his death in 1152 king in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
. He was the son of Duke
Frederick I of Swabia and
Agnes, a daughter of the
Salian
The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125).
After the death of the la ...
Emperor Henry IV.
His reign saw the start of the conflicts between the
Guelphs and Gibbelins. He was involved in the failed
Second Crusade with
Louis VII, where he would fight and lose at
Doryleum and would later fall ill and return to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. After recuperating, he went to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
but would experience a string of failed sieges. Later returning from the Crusade, he was entangled in some conflicts with
Welf VI's claim to the Duchy of Bavaria. On his deathbed, he designated his nephew
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...
as his successor instead of his son,
Frederick.
Descent
The origin of the House of Hohenstaufen in the
Duchy of Swabia has not been conclusively established. As the name came from the
Hohenstaufen Castle
Hohenstaufen Castle (german: Burg Hohenstaufen) is a ruined castle in Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The hill castle was built in the 11th century, on a conical hill between the Rems and Fils rivers (both tributaries of the Necka ...
(built in 1105) Conrad's great-grandfather Frederick of Staufen was a count in the
Riesgau and in 1053 became Swabian
Count palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
. His son Frederick of Buren probably resided near present-day
Wäschenbeuren and about 1050 married Countess Hildegard of
Egisheim-
Dagsburg from
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
.
Conrad's father took advantage of the conflict between King Henry IV of Germany and the Swabian duke
Rudolf of Rheinfelden during the
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...
. When Rudolf had himself elected German
anti-king at
Forchheim in 1077, Frederick of Hohenstaufen remained loyal to the royal crown and in 1079 was vested with the Duchy of Swabia by Henry IV, including an engagement with the king's minor daughter
Agnes. He died in 1105, leaving two sons, Conrad and his elder brother
Frederick II, who inherited the Swabian ducal title. Their mother entered into a second marriage with
Babenberg margrave
Leopold III of Austria.
Biography
In 1105, Henry IV,
Holy Roman Emperor since 1084, was overthrown by his son
Henry V Henry V may refer to:
People
* Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026)
* Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125)
* Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161)
* Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227)
* Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...
, Conrad's uncle. Emperor since 1111, Henry V prepared for his second campaign to
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
upon the death of Margravine
Matilda of Tuscany, and in 1116 he appointed Conrad as
Duke of Franconia. Conrad was marked out to act as regent for Germany, together with his elder brother, Duke Frederick II of Swabia. At the death of Henry V in 1125, Conrad unsuccessfully supported Frederick II for the kingship of Germany. Frederick was placed under a ban and Conrad was deprived of Franconia and the
Kingdom of Burgundy, of which he was
rector. With the support of the
imperial cities
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
, Swabia, and the
Duchy of Austria, Conrad was elected
anti-king at
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
in December 1127.
Conrad quickly crossed the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
to be crowned
King of Italy
King of Italy ( it, links=no, Re d'Italia; la, links=no, Rex Italiae) was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a barbarian military leader ...
by
Anselmo della Pusterla, Archbishop of Milan, in the village of Monza. Over the next two years, he failed to achieve anything in Italy, however, and returned to Germany in 1130, after
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
and
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lie ...
, two strong cities that supported him, fell to
Lothair in 1129. Conrad continued in Lothair's opposition, but he and Frederick were forced to acknowledge Lothair as emperor in 1135, during which time Conrad relinquished his title as King of Italy. After this they were pardoned and could take again possession of their lands.
After Lothair's death (December 1137), Conrad was elected king at
Coblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its nam ...
on 7 March 1138, in the presence of the papal legate
Theodwin. Conrad was crowned at
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...
six days later (13 March) and was acknowledged in
Bamberg
Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castl ...
by several princes of southern Germany.
As
Henry the Proud, son-in-law and heir of Lothair and the most powerful prince in Germany, who had been passed over in the election, refused to do the same, Conrad deprived him of all his territories, giving the
Duchy of Saxony
The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...
to
Albert the Bear
Albert the Bear (german: Albrecht der Bär; 1100 – 18 November 1170) was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142.
Life
Albert was the only son of Otto, Count of Bal ...
and that of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
to
Leopold IV, Margrave of Austria. Henry, however, retained the loyalty of his subjects. The civil war that broke out is considered the first act of the struggle between
Guelphs and Ghibellines, which later extended southwards to Italy. After Henry's death (October 1139), the war was continued by his son
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180.
Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...
, supported by the Saxons, and by his brother
Welf VI. Conrad, after a
long siege, defeated the latter at
Weinsberg in December 1140, and in May 1142 a peace agreement was reached in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
.
In the same year, Conrad entered
Bohemia to reinstate his brother-in-law
Vladislav II as Duke. The attempt to do the same with another brother-in-law, the Polish prince
Ladislaus the Exile, failed. Bavaria, Saxony, and the other regions of Germany were in revolt.
In 1146, Conrad heard
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through t ...
preach the
Second Crusade at
Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lie ...
, and he agreed to join
Louis VII in a great expedition to the
Holy Land. At the imperial diet in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
in March 1147 Conrad and the assembled princes entrusted
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through t ...
with the recruitment for the
Wendish crusade.
Before leaving, he had the nobles elect and crown his son
Henry Berengar king. The succession secured in the event of his death, Conrad set out. His army of 20,000 men went overland, via
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
, causing disruptions in the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
territories through which they passed. They arrived at
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
by September 1147, ahead of the French army.
Rather than taking the coastal road around
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
through Christian-held territory, by which he sent most of his noncombatants, Conrad took his army across Anatolia. On 25 October 1147, they were defeated by the
Seljuk Turks at the
Battle of Dorylaeum. Conrad and most of the knights escaped, but most of the foot soldiers were killed or captured. The remaining 2,000 men of the German army limped on to
Nicaea
Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...
, where many of the survivors deserted and tried to return home. Conrad and his adherents had to be escorted to
Lopadium by the French, where they joined the main French army under Louis. Conrad fell seriously ill at
Ephesus and was sent to recuperate in Constantinople, where his host the
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
Manuel I acted as his personal physician. After recovering, Conrad sailed to
Acre, and from there reached
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. He participated in the ill-fated
Siege of Damascus and after that failure, grew disaffected with his allies. Another attempt to attack
Ascalon failed when Conrad's allies did not appear as promised, then Conrad returned to Germany,
through Constantinople, where he met Emperor Manuel I to discuss the
problem of two emperors, and to renew their alliance against
Roger II of Sicily.
[P. Magdalino, ''The Byzantine Empire'', 621]
In 1150, Conrad and Henry Berengar defeated Welf VI and his son
Welf VII at the
Battle of Flochberg. Henry Berengar died later that year and the succession was thrown open. The Welfs and Hohenstaufen made peace in 1152 and the peaceful succession of one of Conrad's family was secured.
Conrad was never crowned emperor and continued to style himself "
King of the Romans" until his death. On his deathbed, in the presence of only two witnesses, his nephew
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...
and the
Bishop of Bamberg, he allegedly designated Frederick his successor, rather than his own surviving six-year-old son
Frederick. Frederick Barbarossa, who had accompanied his uncle on the unfortunate crusade, forcefully pursued his advantage and was duly elected king in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
a few weeks later. The young son of the late king was given the Duchy of Swabia.
Conrad left no male heirs by his first wife,
Gertrude von Komburg. In 1136, he married
Gertrude of Sulzbach, who was a daughter of
Berengar II of Sulzbach, and whose sister
Bertha was married to Emperor Manuel. Gertrude was the mother of Conrad's children and the link which cemented his alliance with Byzantium.
See also
*
Kings of Germany family tree
References
Sources
* Baldwin, M. W. ''A History of the Crusades: the first hundred years'', 1969.
*
* Bernhardi, Wilhelm (1883)
''Konrad III'' Jahrbücher der Deutschen Geschichte. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.
*
*
*
*
* Ziegler, W. ''König Konrad III. (1138–1152). Hof, Urkunden und Politik (= Forschungen zur Kaiser- und Papstgeschichte des Mittelalters. Band 26)'' Böhlau, Wien u. a. 2008
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad 03 of Germany
1090s births
1152 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
12th-century Kings of the Romans
People from Bamberg
Hohenstaufen
Christians of the Second Crusade
Burials at Bamberg Cathedral
Dukes of Franconia
Anti-kings
12th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire