DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0238
222
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
1152. To avert the evils of a protracted minority, he
had recommended the choice of Frederick of Swabia, his
nephew, in preference to his own son, an infant of but a
few months old, to be his successor. The new Emperor
was the son of Frederick II., Duke of Swabia, sur-
named the Blind,1 and his mother was Judith, daughter
of the Duke of Bavaria. He therefore united in his
person the antagonistic pretensions of the “ Guelph and
Ghibelline ” parties. He was thirty-one years of age
when the Diet of Frankfurt confirmed the magnanimous
and patriotic wish of Conrad, by electing him, 5th March,
1152, and he was soon after crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle.
In Germany, the memory of this bold, accomplished,
able, and popular sovereign is still cherished in legend
and in lay. He almost corresponds to the romantic ideal
of Bichard Coeur-de-Lion in England, but we shall have
occasion to dwell on a different and a darker side of his
nature in his dealings with Italy.
At the commencement of his reign the Pope sent his
legates to him to entreat his aid, to enable him to return
to Borne, from whence he had been driven, a refugee, on
the chance aid and hospitality of anyone pious enough
or powerful enough to afford him shelter ; he offered him,
at the same time, as a recompense, the crown of the
Empire, to be received from his hands in the Eternal
City.
After the usual preliminaries, yve find the following
amongst the principal clauses of the treaty:—“ The Lord
King of the Bomans, &c. &c., swears neither to make
peace nor truce, either with the Bomans or with Boger,
King of Sicily, without the will or consent of the Lord
Pope or his successors. He will make every effort for
the repristination of the Papal authority in Borne, as it
existed during the late century. He will maintain and
support the power and prerogatives of the sovereign
Pontiff, and aid him in obtaining the homage of ‘Regalia,’
1 This family is first mentioned in the eleventh century, when
Frederick de Buren, a follower of Henry IV., possessed of lands in
Franconia and Swabia, caused the castle of Hohenstaufien to be built on
the heights of Goppingen, and from this the family took its name.
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
1152. To avert the evils of a protracted minority, he
had recommended the choice of Frederick of Swabia, his
nephew, in preference to his own son, an infant of but a
few months old, to be his successor. The new Emperor
was the son of Frederick II., Duke of Swabia, sur-
named the Blind,1 and his mother was Judith, daughter
of the Duke of Bavaria. He therefore united in his
person the antagonistic pretensions of the “ Guelph and
Ghibelline ” parties. He was thirty-one years of age
when the Diet of Frankfurt confirmed the magnanimous
and patriotic wish of Conrad, by electing him, 5th March,
1152, and he was soon after crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle.
In Germany, the memory of this bold, accomplished,
able, and popular sovereign is still cherished in legend
and in lay. He almost corresponds to the romantic ideal
of Bichard Coeur-de-Lion in England, but we shall have
occasion to dwell on a different and a darker side of his
nature in his dealings with Italy.
At the commencement of his reign the Pope sent his
legates to him to entreat his aid, to enable him to return
to Borne, from whence he had been driven, a refugee, on
the chance aid and hospitality of anyone pious enough
or powerful enough to afford him shelter ; he offered him,
at the same time, as a recompense, the crown of the
Empire, to be received from his hands in the Eternal
City.
After the usual preliminaries, yve find the following
amongst the principal clauses of the treaty:—“ The Lord
King of the Bomans, &c. &c., swears neither to make
peace nor truce, either with the Bomans or with Boger,
King of Sicily, without the will or consent of the Lord
Pope or his successors. He will make every effort for
the repristination of the Papal authority in Borne, as it
existed during the late century. He will maintain and
support the power and prerogatives of the sovereign
Pontiff, and aid him in obtaining the homage of ‘Regalia,’
1 This family is first mentioned in the eleventh century, when
Frederick de Buren, a follower of Henry IV., possessed of lands in
Franconia and Swabia, caused the castle of Hohenstaufien to be built on
the heights of Goppingen, and from this the family took its name.