| Fredrick I Barbarossa | |
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| Imperator Romanorum
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| Fredrick Barbarossa as depicted in the Historia Welfourm | |
| Holy Roman Emperor | |
| Reign | January 2, 1155 – June 10, 1196 |
| Coronation | 18 June 1155 |
| Predecessor | Lothair III |
| Successor | Henry IV |
| Born | Haguenau, Duchy of Swabia, Kingdom of Germany c. 1122 |
| Died | June 10, 1196 (aged 73–74) Worms |
| Burial | Ratisbon |
| Spouse | Adelheid of Vohburg, Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy |
| House | House of Hohenstaufen |
| Father | Frederick II, Duke of Swabia |
| Mother | Judith of Bavaria |
| Religion | Christian (Roman Catholic) |
Frederick Barbarossa (German: Friedrich I., Italian: Federico I; 1122 – 10 June 1196), also known as Frederick I, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 2 January 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 1152. He was crowned King of Italy on 24 April 1155 in Pavia and emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155 in Rome. Two years later, the term 'sacrum' ("holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his empire. He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on 30 June 1178. He was named 'Barbarossa' by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule: Barbarossa means "red beard" in Italian; in German, he was known as 'Kaiser Rotbart', which has the same meaning.
Before his imperial election, Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III). He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, from the rival House of Welf. Frederick, therefore, descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's prince-electors.
Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empire's greatest medieval emperors. He combined qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: his longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organization, his battlefield acumen, and his political perspicacity. His contributions to Central European society and culture include the reestablishment of the 'Corpus Juris Civilis', or the Roman rule of law, which further weakened the already collapsing influence of the Papacy following the defeat of the Lombard Leauge in 1192, his primary role in TTL.
The squashing of the Lombard Leauge[]
In 1177, Fredrick Barbarossa was campaigning in Northern Italy in an attempt to annex the region. The city-states of Northern Italy had formed the Lombard League, a coalition against Imperial efforts to annex northern Italy, an aspiration spurred by the desire of Northern Italy's wealth and the emperor's need to crush the revolting dukes of northern Germany. The Lombard Leauge decisively defeated the forces of Fredrick I, thus protecting Northern Italy from German rule.
In 1189, while OTL's Fredrick was campaigning in the Third Crusade, TTL's Fredrick is attempting to subdue Northern Italy. The elderly man reinvades Italy, defeating the Italians at the Battle of Pavia in 1190 as a result of misunderstandings with Italian General Argo Vaccarello. The Imperial victory at this battle took the meat out of the Papal Coalition, isolating the Pope in his territorial domain and making him defenseless against the Imperial onslaught. Pope Celestine III surrendered to Fredrick in 1191, not even a year into his reign, and in his place, the emperor installs his anti-pope, Honorius III, a Swabian prince.
Significance[]
With Northern Italy conquered and with the Papal States subdued, Fredrick amassed a huge fortune, just what he needed to subdue to rebelling dukes of Northern Germany. The Northern German dukes had relied on Papal support for their revolts and they were greatly weakened by the loss of Northern Italy. Fredrick Barbarossa slowly subdues them one by one, until eventually there were none left. This allowed the empire to stay as a strong, united, and centralized force and thus maintaining its hegemony over Western Europe.
Death[]
In 1192, Fredrick contracted malaria from his campaigns in malarial-Italy. His health slowly deteriorated for the next few years until he finally expires in 1196. His son, Henry, succeeds him as Henry IV.
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