Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254), a member 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 dynast ...
dynasty, was the only son of Emperor
Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen
Isabella II of Jerusalem
Isabella II (12124 May 1228), also known as Yolande of Brienne, was a princess of French origin, the daughter of Maria, the queen-regnant of Jerusalem, and her husband, John of Brienne. She was reigning Queen of Jerusalem from 1212 until her death ...
. He inherited the title of
King of Jerusalem
The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was conquered in 1099.
Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of t ...
(as Conrad II) upon the death of his mother in childbed. Appointed
Duke of Swabia in 1235, his father had him elected
King of Germany
This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Emp ...
(
King of the Romans) and 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 ...
(as Conrad IV) in 1237. After the emperor was deposed and died in 1250, he ruled as
King of Sicily (Conrad I) until his death.
Early years
He was the second child, but only surviving son of Emperor
Frederick II and
Isabella II (Yolanda), the
queen regnant
A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns '' suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigni ...
of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Born in
Andria, in the South Italian
Kingdom of Sicily, his mother died shortly after giving birth to him and he succeeded her as monarch of the
Crusader state
The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...
of Jerusalem. By his father, Conrad was the grandson of the Hohenstaufen emperor
Henry VI and great-grandson of Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa. He lived in Southern Italy until 1235, when he first visited the
Kingdom of Germany
The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( la, regnum Teutonicorum "kingdom of the Germans", "German kingdom", "kingdom of Germany") was the mostly Germanic-speaking East Frankish kingdom, which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, especi ...
. During this period his kingdom of Jerusalem, ruled by his father as regent through proxies, was
racked by civil war until Conrad declared his majority and his father's regency lost its validity.
In 1235, Conrad was betrothed to a daughter of Duke
Otto II of Bavaria
Otto II (7 April 1206 – 29 November 1253), called the Illustrious (german: der Erlauchte), was the Duke of Bavaria from 1231 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was the son of Louis I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Wit ...
. She died before the marriage could take place, but Conrad later married her sister.
Rise to power
When Emperor Frederick II deposed his eldest son, Conrad's rebellious half-brother King
Henry (VII), Conrad succeeded him as duke of
Swabia in 1235. However, the emperor was not able to have him elected
king of the Romans until the 1237
Imperial Diet in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. The electors were "the archbishops
of Mentz ainz of Treves rier and
of Cologne, the bishops of ''
Bamberg'', of ''
Ratisbon''
egensburg of ''
Frisingen''
reising and of ''
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
'',
the count palatine of the Rhine, ''the duke of Bavaria'',
the king of Bohemia, the ''
landgrave of Thuringia
This is a list of the rulers of Thuringia, a historical and political region of Central Germany.
Kings of Thuringia
*450–500 Bisinus
*500–530 Baderich
*500–530 Berthachar
*500–531 Herminafried
:''Conquered by the Franks. ...
'', and the ''
duke of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State ...
''". This title, though not acknowledged by
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...
, presumed his future as a
Holy Roman emperor. Prince-Archbishop
Siegfried III of Mainz, in his capacity as German
archchancellor
An archchancellor ( la, archicancellarius, german: Erzkanzler) or chief chancellor was a title given to the highest dignitary of the Holy Roman Empire, and also used occasionally during the Middle Ages to denote an official who supervised the wo ...
, acted as
regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
for the minor until 1242, when Frederick chose Landgrave
Henry Raspe
Henry Raspe (; – 16 February 1247) was the Landgrave of Thuringia from 1231 until 1239 and again from 1241 until his death. In 1246, with the support of the Papacy, he was elected King of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV, but his contest ...
of
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
, and King
Wenceslaus I of Bohemia
Wenceslaus I ( cs, Václav I.; c. 1205 – 23 September 1253), called One-Eyed, was King of Bohemia from 1230 to 1253.
Wenceslaus was a son of Ottokar I of Bohemia and his second wife Constance of Hungary.
Marriage and children
In 1224, Wencesl ...
to assume this function. Conrad intervened directly in German politics from around 1240. He led the short-lived
anti-Mongol crusade of 1241.
However, when
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...
excommunicated Frederick in 1245 and declared Conrad deposed, Henry Raspe supported the pope and was in turn elected as anti-king of Germany on 22 May 1246. Henry Raspe defeated Conrad in the battle of
Nidda in August 1246, but died several months later. He was succeeded as anti-king by
William of Holland.
This exertion of power by the pope has since been regarded as a transition of power in the Holy Roman Empire. Notably, many princes took this opportunity to gain more influence with their vast wealth and relative stability as opposed to the fractured monarchy which had proven to be somewhat unreliable. Similarly, many nobles were given greater autonomy without the guidance of a king.
Also in 1246, Conrad married
Elisabeth, a daughter of Otto II of Bavaria. They had a son
Conradin
Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duk ...
, in 1252. In 1250 Conrad temporarily settled the situation in Germany by defeating
William of Holland and his Rhenish allies.
Italian Campaign
When Frederick II died in the same year, he passed Sicily and Germany, as well as the title of Jerusalem, to Conrad, but the struggle with the pope continued. Having been defeated by William in 1251, Conrad decided to invade
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 ...
, hoping to regain the rich dominions of his father, and where
his half-brother Manfred acted as regent.
In January 1252 he invaded
Apulia with a
Venetian fleet and successfully managed to restrain Manfred and to exercise control of the country. This year Conrad issued constitutions during the
hoftag
A ''Hoftag'' (pl. ''Hoftage'') was the name given to an informal and irregular assembly convened by the King of the Romans, the Holy Roman Emperor or one of the Princes of the Empire, with selected chief princes within the empire. Early scholarsh ...
in
Foggia, which were based on the well-known examples from Norman and early Staufer times. In addition, as the new sources show, Conrad tried to reconcile with the Pope, but no agreement was reached. After the death of Frederick II, riots prevailed in parts of the kingdom of Sicily, and several cities attempted to escape the royal control. Conrad was therefore forced to take military action against the revolts. In October 1253 his troops conquered
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
.
Conrad was however not able to subdue the pope's supporters, and the pope in turn offered Sicily to
Edmund Crouchback
Edmund, Earl of Lancaster and Earl of Leicester (16 January 12455 June 1296) nicknamed Edmund Crouchback was a member of the House of Plantagenet. He was the second surviving son of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence. In his chi ...
, son of
Henry III of England
Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...
(1253). Conrad was
excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
in 1254 and died of
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
in the same year at
Lavello in
Basilicata. Manfred first, and later Conrad's son Conradin, continued the struggle with the Papacy, although unsuccessfully.
Conrad's widow Elisabeth remarried to
Meinhard II, Count of Tirol, who in 1286 became
Duke of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State ...
.
Conrad's death in 1254 began the
Interregnum, during which no ruler managed to gain undisputed control of Germany. The Interregnum ended in 1273, with the election of
Rudolph of Habsburg
Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death.
Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum which h ...
as King of the Romans.
[Judith Bennet and Clive Hollister, ''Medieval Europe, a Short History''. p. 260.]
Ancestors
See also
*
Kings of Germany family tree The following image is a family tree of every prince, king, queen, monarch, confederation president and emperor of Germany, from Charlemagne in 800 over Louis the German in 843 through to Wilhelm II in 1918. It shows how almost every single ruler of ...
. He was related to every other king of Germany.
References
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, -
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad 04 of Germany
1228 births
1254 deaths
13th-century Kings of the Romans
13th-century Kings of Sicily
13th-century kings of Jerusalem
Hohenstaufen
Medieval child rulers
Kings of Jerusalem
Dukes of Swabia
People from Andria
People excommunicated by the Catholic Church
Deaths from malaria
13th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire
Children of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Sons of emperors