Frederick II (1090 – 6 April 1147), called the One-Eyed, was
Duke of Swabia from 1105 until his death, the second from 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. His younger brother
Conrad was elected
King of the Romans in 1138.
Life
Early career
Frederick II was the eldest son of Duke
Frederick I of Swabia and his wife
Agnes of Waiblingen
Agnes of Waiblingen (1072/73 – 24 September 1143), also known as Agnes of Germany, Agnes of Poitou and Agnes of Saarbrücken, was a member of the Salian imperial family. Through her first marriage, she was Duchess of Swabia; through her secon ...
, 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 l ...
emperor
Henry IV. He succeeded his father in 1105 and together with his brother Conrad continued the extension and consolidation of the Hohenstaufen estates. Frederick had numerous castles erected along the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
river and in the
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 ...
region.
Frederick accompanied King
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 (1 ...
on his campaign against
King Coloman of Hungary in 1108. In 1110, he and Henry V embarked on an expedition 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 ...
, where in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
Henry enforced his
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
by
Pope Paschal II
Pope Paschal II ( la, Paschalis II; 1050 1055 – 21 January 1118), born Ranierius, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was cre ...
. In turn, the emperor appointed Conrad
Duke of Franconia
The Duchy of Franconia (german: Herzogtum Franken) was one of the five stem duchies of East Francia and the medieval Kingdom of Germany emerging in the early 10th century. The word Franconia, first used in a Latin charter of 1053, was applied ...
and both brothers German
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 ...
s when he left for his second Italian campaign in 1116, who put down a revolt by Archbishop
Adalbert of Mainz.
About 1120 Frederick married
Judith, a daughter of Duke
Henry IX of Bavaria
Henry IX (107513 December 1126), called the Black, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Bavaria from 1120 to 1126.
Life and reign
Henry was the second son of Duke Welf I of Bavaria (died 1101) from his marriage with Judith, daughter of Co ...
and member of the powerful
House of Welf. Their first son
Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederick ...
was born in 1122.
Salian war of succession
Upon the death of Emperor Henry V in 1125, the Salian dynasty became extinct. Frederick II, Henry's nephew, stood for
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
as King of the Romans with the support of his younger brother Conrad and several princely houses. However, he lost in the tumultuous round of elections, led by Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz, to the
Saxon duke
Lothair II. Frederick at first rendered homage to the new king, however, he refused the feudal oath and insisted on the inheritance of the Salian family estates along the
Middle Rhine
Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...
.
At the 1125 ''
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 ...
'' diet in
Regensburg, the king officially requested the surrender of the Salian possessions. After he imposed an
Imperial ban
The imperial ban (german: Reichsacht) was a form of outlawry in the Holy Roman Empire. At different times, it could be declared by the Holy Roman Emperor, by the Imperial Diet, or by courts like the League of the Holy Court (''Vehmgericht'') or t ...
on the Hohenstaufens, a conflict erupted between Frederick and his supporters, and Lothair: encouraged by Archbishop Adalbert and several princes, the king occupied Hohenstaufen lands in
Upper Lorraine
The Duchy of Lorraine (french: Lorraine ; german: Lothringen ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy.
It was founded in 959 following th ...
and Alsace. However, an attack by Welf forces on the Swabian core territory failed, like the siege of
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 ...
by Lothair in 1127. Frederick relieved the siege and moreover gained the support from his brother Conrad, who had just returned from a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. During the fighting, Frederick lost an eye, whereafter he was no longer eligible as German king.
In December 1127 Conrad declared himself King of the Romans, while the next year Duke Frederick II occupied the Salian city of
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 li ...
. The attempt of Duke
Henry X of Bavaria to capture his brother-in-law Frederick during the negotiations failed. However, afterwards the supporters of Lothair won a number of victories both in Germany and in Italy. Speyer (1129), Nuremberg (1130) and
Ulm
Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...
(1134) were captured; moreover Frederick's consort Judith of Bavaria died in 1130. His second wife, Agnes of Saarbrücken, was a niece of his old enemy Adalbert of Mainz; Frederick married her about 1132.
After Lothair was crowned emperor in 1133, Frederick saw himself stuck between the Saxon and Bavarian forces. He eventually submitted to him in the spring of 1135 at
Bamberg. Both were finally reconciled and Emperor Lothair renounced further attacks against the Hohenstaufens.
Last years
After Lothair's death in 1137 and the following election of Conrad as King of the Romans, Frederick supported his brother in the struggle with the Welfs. According to
Otto of Freising
Otto of Freising ( la, Otto Frisingensis; c. 1114 – 22 September 1158) was a German churchman of the Cistercian order and chronicled at least two texts which carries valuable information on the political history of his own time. He was Otto I ...
, Frederick was "so faithful a knight to his sovereign and so helpful a friend to his uncle that by valor he supported the tottering honor of the realm, fighting manfully against its foes..."
Duke Frederick II died in 1147 at
Alzey. He was buried at the Benedictine abbey of
Walburg in Alsace. His son Frederick succeeded him as Swabian duke and was elected German king (as Frederick Barbarossa) in 1152.
Marriage and children
With
Judith of Bavaria (1103- 22 February 1131), daughter of
Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria
Henry IX (107513 December 1126), called the Black, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Bavaria from 1120 to 1126.
Life and reign
Henry was the second son of Duke Welf I of Bavaria (died 1101) from his marriage with Judith, daughter of C ...
:
*
Frederick III Barbarossa (1122–1190), duke of Swabia and
Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick I
*
Bertha of Lorraine (1123–1195), married
Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine
With Agnes of Saarbrücken (d. ), daughter of
Frederick, Count of Saarbrücken:
*
Conrad of Hohenstaufen
Conrad of Hohenstaufen ( – 8 November 1195) was the first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine.
His parents were Frederick II of Swabia (1090–1147), Duke of Swabia, and his second wife Agnes of Saarbrücken, daughter of Frederick, Cou ...
(also spelled ''Konrad'') (1134/1136-1195),
Count Palatine of the Rhine
The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...
*
Jutta (1135–1191), married
Louis II, Landgrave of Thuringia
See also
*
Dukes of Swabia family tree
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick 02, Duke of Swabia
Dukes of Swabia
Hohenstaufen
Swabia, Frederick II, Duke of
Swabia, Frederick II, Duke of
People from Alzey