Frederick V of

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 ...

(Pavia, 16 July 1164 – c. 1170) was

Duke of Swabia The Dukes of Swabia were the rulers of the Duchy of Swabia during the Middle Ages. Swabia was one of the five stem duchy, stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. The most no ...

from 1167 to his death.Decker-Hauff 1977, p. 355. He was the eldest son of

Frederick I Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aa ...

and

Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy Beatrice I (1143 – 15 November 1184) was countess of Burgundy from 1148 until her death, and was also Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Frederick Barbarossa. She was crowned empress by Antipope Paschal III in Rome on 1 August 1167, an ...

Life

In April 1165 Frederick was betrothed to

Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages">Provençal dialect ...

, daughter of King

Henry II of England Henry II () was King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with the ...

and his wife

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine ( or ; ; , or ; – 1 April 1204) was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As ...

. The marriage, however, never took place due to Frederick´s early death. In August 1167, Duke Frederick IV of Swabia died on an Italian campaign. As the only living son of King

Conrad III of Germany Conrad III (; ; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III, and from 1138 until his death in 1152 King of the Romans in t ...

(uncle and predecessor of Barbarossa) and without any offspring from his short-lived marriage with Gertrude of Bavaria, with him his line died out and his domains were devolved to Barbarossa. The Emperor appointed three-years-old Frederick as the new Duke of Swabia, becoming in Frederick V. In June 1169 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 schola ...

'' in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

, Frederick V's younger brother

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

was elected

King of the Romans King of the Romans (; ) was the title used by the king of East Francia following his election by the princes from the reign of Henry II (1002–1024) onward. The title originally referred to any German king between his election and coronatio ...

and crowned on 15 August at

Aachen Cathedral Aachen Cathedral () is a Catholic Church, Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the cathedral of the Diocese of Aachen. One of the oldest cathedral buildings in Europe, it was constructed as the royal chapel of the Palace of Aachen of Holy Rom ...

. It can be assumed that Frederick V was bypassed from the royal succession because he had a weak constitution since birth and wasn't expected to survive infancy. Two medieval sources confirms that Frederick V was still alive when his brother was elected King of the Romans.Weller 2004, p. 100. Since his fiancée Eleanor was married to King

Alfonso VIII of Castile Alfonso VIII (11 November 11555 October 1214), called the Noble (El Noble) or the one of Las Navas (el de las Navas), was King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at Alarc ...

in 1170, is assumed that he died in mid-1169 or early 1170. Frederick V was buried in Lorch Abbey, the royal necropolis of the Staufen dynasty, donated by his great-grandfather

Frederick I, Duke of Swabia Frederick I (c. 1050 – 1105 before 21 July) was Duke of Swabia from 1079 to his death, the first ruler from the House of Hohenstaufen (''Staufer''). Life Frederick was the son of Frederick of Büren (c. 1020–1053), Count in the Riesgau and S ...

. In 1475 Abbot Nikolaus Schenk von Arberg had the remains of all the members of the Staufen dynasty buried in Lorch transferred to a late Gothic tombstone, which is now in the central nave of Lorch Abbey. After his death, Frederick V's name passed to Barbarossa's third son, who was originally called Conrad, who succeeded his late brother as

Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia Frederick VI of Hohenstaufen (February 1167 – 20 January 1191) was Duke of Swabia from 1170 until his death at the siege of Acre. Life Frederick VI of Hohenstaufen was born in Modigliana in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. He was the thir ...

; in this way, the familiar and leading Staufen name Frederick must be preserved. Since

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants '' Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

, the next son of Barbarossa born after Conrad/Frederick VI, was probably born during June–July 1170,Assmann 1977, p. 459. Frederick V must have died some time before, otherwise the rather unusual renaming of Conrad would have been without purpose, because the Emperor could simply have called the next son Frederick (instead of Otto).

References

Bibliography

* Gerhard Baaken
''Die Altersfolge der Söhne Friedrich Barbarossas und die Königserhebung Heinrichs VI.''
in: ''Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters'', vol. 24 (1968), pp. 46–78. * Hansmartin Decker-Hauff: ''Das Staufische Haus.'' in: Württembergisches Landesmuseum (Hrsg.): ''Die Zeit der Staufer. Geschichte – Kunst – Kultur.'' Stuttgart 1977, vol. III, pp. 339–374, p. 355. * Erwin Assmann
''Friedrich Barbarossas Kinder''.
in: ''Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters'', vol. 33 (1977), pp. 435–472. * Tobias Weller: ''Die Heiratspolitik des deutschen Hochadels im 12. Jahrhundert.'' Köln 2004, pp. 99–108.

Life

References

Bibliography

Ancestry

See also