the Lion deserted him and returned to Germany. The emperor attacked the Lombards, but in spite of his heroic courage, at the 1176. Battle of Legnano, was completely defeated. Negotiations and armistice with Alexander III. and the Lombard cities. 1177. Reconciliation between the emperor and the Pope at Venice. 1183. The definitive peace with the Lombard cities was concluded at Constance. The emperor renounced all regal privileges which he had hitherto claimed in the towns; acknowledged the right of the confederated cities to levy armies, to fortify themselves, and to exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction. By the popular nomination the consuls acquired the rights of imperial vicars. The extension of the confederacy for the purpose of maintaining these rights was authorized. The cities agreed to maintain all just rights of the emperor, a recognition of the overlordship of the emperor, which, however, they were allowed to redeem by an annual payment. Henry the Lion humbled in Germany. After his neglect to appear at four diets, he was put under the ban of the empire and his fiefs declared forfeited (1180). He defended himself bravely and defeated the archbishop of Cologne. Upon the approach of the emperor Henry's vassals gradually deserted him. Henry threw himself at the emperor's feet in Erfurt (1181), but was allowed to retain his allodial estates only, Braunschweig (Brunswick) and Lüneburg. Division of the old duchy of Saxony. Part of Westphalia was given to the archbishopric of Cologne. Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen became in the course of time free cities, owing allegiance to the empire only. The archbishop of Magdeburg and Bremen, the bishops of Halberstadt, Hildesheim, Lübeck, etc., the counts of Holstein and Oldenburg, etc., became immediate vassals of the empire. Eastern Saxony and the ducal title were given to Bernard of Askania, son of Albert the Bear. Otto of Wittelsbach received Bavaria. Henry the Lion was obliged to leave the country for three years. He went to the court of Henry II. of England, his father-in-law. 1184. Brilliant court festival at Mainz. 1184-1186. Sixth expedition to Italy (peaceful). The emperor gave his son Henry, who was now twenty-one, but had long 1186. been king elect of Germany, in marriage to Constance, daughter of Roger II., aunt and heiress of William II., the last Norman king of Naples and Sicily. 1190. Frederic's crusade and death (p. 215). His son, King Henry, whom he left behind as vicegerent, was obliged to take the field against Henry the Lion, who, upon the emperor's departure, had been sent out of the empire for another three years, but had since returned from England. The death of William II. of Sicily in November, 1189, led Henry to come to an understanding with Henry the Lion. In the mean time came the news of the emperor's death. 1190-1197. Henry VI., a highly educated statesman, but stern and relentless. 1191. First expedition to Italy. Henry received the imperial crown at Rome, after he had abandoned Tusculum, which had ever been true to his father, to the Romans. The city was destroyed; Frascati grew up near its site. Henry went to Naples to rescue the inheritance of his wife, Constance, from Tancred of Lecce, whom the native party in Palermo had elected king. Unsuccessful siege of Naples for three months. Sickness in the army compelled the emperor to return to Germany. 1192-1194. New war with Henry the Lion, who had not kept the first treaty. The war ended in a compromise, the conclusion of which was assisted by the liberation of the brother-in-law of Henry the Lion, Richard Coeur-de-Lion of England (p. 216), and by a marriage between Agnes, daughter of the emperor's uncle, Conrad, count palatine of the Rhine, with Henry, son of Henry the Lion. 1194. Second expedition to Italy, where Tancred had died. War with his widow and his son William. The emperor subjugated the kingdom of the two Sicilies, and punished with severity the participants in a conspiracy against himself. 1194. Henry threatened with excommunication for withholding the estates of Matilda (p. 200) from the Pope. 1196. Diet at Würzburg. Henry's plan of making Germany (united with the Sicilies) an hereditary monarchy, on condition that all fiefs should become hereditary, even in the female line, failed in consequence of the resistance of the princes and the lesser nobility. 1197. Third expedition to Italy. Henry suppressed a second conspiracy with cruel severity. In the midst of his great plans (conquest of the Eastern Empire, Crusade), he died suddenly in Messina, thirty-two years old (28 Sept. 1197). election in Germany. Double 1198-1208. Philip of Swabia, youngest son of Frederic Barbarossa. 1198-1215 (1218). the Lion. Otto IV. of Brunswick, son of Henry 1198-1215. War for the crown between the house of Hohenstaufen and of Welf. Otto IV., recognized by Pope Innocent III., was defeated by Philip and his power reduced almost to the limits of Brunswick. In the midst of preparations for a last and decisive combat Philip was assassinated at Bamberg by the count palatine Otto of Wittelsbach. Otto IV. was universally recognized and crowned at Rome by Innocent III. (1209), after having abandoned the estates of Matilda to the papal chair and made other concessions. He was soon involved in a quarrel with the Pope, however, and the latter put forward his ward Frederic, son of Henry VI., as anti-emperor (1212). Otto IV., in alliance with England, was defeated at Bouvines (near Lille) by Philip II. Augustus (1214), and returned to his own domains. Died at the Harzburg (May 10, 1218). 1212-1250. Frederic II. also king of the two Sicilies, a prince of remarkable gifts, but passionate, more Italian than German, having been born in Sicily and educated by his Italian mother. He was an energetic opponent of the spiritual supremacy, having indeed but little liking for the church; in his hereditary estates he favored the Saracens. 1215. Frederie went to Germany, was crowned German king in Aachen, where he promised to undertake a crusade, and 1217. gave Swabia to his young son Henry, and 1220. had him elected king of Rome (the title given to the German king elect). Frederic left Germany for fifteen years. Expedition to Rome. After renewing the promises which he had formerly made to Pope Innocent III. (feudal supremacy of the papal chair over his hereditary domain, which should never be united with Germany, crusade), he was crowned by Honorius III. at Rome. 1222. The emperor's son Henry, solemnly crowned king at Aachen. His chief adviser and chancellor was Engelbert, archbishop of Cologne (murdered 1225). 1225. Frederic took as his second wife, Iolanthe, daughter of John of Brienne, titulary king of Jerusalem. Promise of a crusade renewed. 1226. Diet at Cremona ; quarrels with the Lombard cities. 1227. The Crusade which had been commenced was broken up by a contagious disease. The successor of Pope Honorius III., the octogenarian Gregory IX., placed the emperor under the ban. 1227. Battle of Bornhövede. The Danes, who under Waldemar II. had extended their power over the coasts of the Baltic, were decisively defeated. 1228-1229. Crusade of Frederic II. (p. 216). 1229. Frederic drove from his dominions the papal (key) troops, who had invaded them. 1230. Peace with the Pope at S. Germano. Removal of the ban. 1230-1240. Legislation of Frederic in his Sicilian kingdom. Regulation of feudal relations. Representation of the cities. 1234. Revolt of the young king Henry, in alliance with the lower German nobility and the Lombard cities, against his father, suppressed by Frederic with the aid of the princes of the empire and the imperial cities. Henry submitted, was kept in strict confinement, then sent to Italy, where he died, 1242. Reconciliation with the Welfs. Erection of a new duchy, Brunswick-Lüneburg, for Otto the Child. Third marriage of the emperor at Worms with Isabella, sister of Henry III. of England. Diet at Mainz. Enactment of a public peace (first publication of a law in German as well as in Latin). 1236. Victorious campaign against the Lombards. In Germany Frederic the Warlike of Austria, a follower of the rebel Henry, deposed and put under the ban. 1237. Frederic II. in Vienna, which was proclaimed an imperial city. Afterwards Frederic the Warlike received Austria and Styria again. 1237. Diet at Speier. Election and coronation of Conrad, the second son of the emperor as German king. 1237. Brilliant victory of Frederic over the Lombards at CorteΝον. nuova. Frederic's obstinacy in pressing his demands too far, prevented the complete subjugation of Lombardy. Interference of the Pope, who had claims on Sardinia, and was offended at the assumption by Frederic's natural son Enzio (an Italian corruption of Heinz), the husband of Adelisa, heiress of a part of the island, of the title of king of Sardinia. 1239-1250. War of Frederic II. with the Popes Gregory IX. and Innocent IV. 1239. Frederic accused of heresy by Gregory and excommunicated anew. Ancona conquered by Enzio. 1241. Naval victory of Enzio at Elba over the Genovese fleet which Germany threatened with a Mongol invasion (p. 240). 1245. Lyons, renewed the ban against the emperor, formally deposed him, summoned the German princes to a new election, and urged all subjects of the emperor to revolt. In Germany the spiritual princes elected 1246-1247. Heinrich Raspe, landgrave of Thuringia, who, though at first victorious, was defeated by Conrad, Frederic's son, at Ulm, and died (1247) at the Wartburg. The house of the landgraves of Thuringia ending with Heinrich Raspe, the eastern part of that state was joined to the margravate of Meissen, while the western part became the landgravate Hessen. 1247-1256. William of Holland, second anti-king, attained no authority in Germany. 1248. Frederic, at first successful in Italy, was repulsed before Padua. His son Enzio was captured by the Bolognese in the 1249. Battle of Fossalta (died after an imprisonment of twenty-two years in a dungeon). Treason (?) of Peter of Vinea (Vineis), Frederic's chancellor. 1250. Frederic died in Fiorentino in the arms of his son Manfred (Dec. 19). He was succeeded by his son 1250-1254. Conrad IV. (anti-king: William of Holland) fought since 1252 for his hereditary realm only, in Italy. William of Holland fell in battle with the Frisians (twentyseven years old). 1256. 1256-1273. Interregnum in Germany. Club-law, Faustrecht. Count Richard of Cornwall, younger son of King John (Lackland) of England, elected by a part of the princes, and crowned at Aachen, was recognized along the Rhine only (died 1272). Alphonso X. of Castile, grandson of Philip of Hohenstaufen, son of Frederic Barbarossa, elected by the other princes, never came to Germany. In the kingdom of the two Sicilies the brave Manfred, son of Frederic II., was at first chancellor for the minor king Conradin, con of Conrad IV., afterwards (1258) king. Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. of France, to whom the Pope gave the crown, defeated Manfred, who was betrayed by his barons, at Beneventum (1266), and made himself king of Naples and Sicily. Manfred fell on the field. Conradin went to Italy with Frederic of Baden, also called Frederic of Austria (being the son of the Babenberg heiress of Austria). He was defeated between Scurcola and Tagliacozzo on Lago di Celano (1268), and executed at Naples. 1282. Sicilian vespers, so called because the conspiracy broke out on Easter Monday at vesper time. Slaughter of all the French in Sicily. John of Procida. Peter of Aragon, king of Sicily, Charles of Anjou limited to the kingdom of Naples. § 3. FRANCE.1 The royal domain of the Capetians was at first limited to the duchy of France (Isle de France and Orléanais). The great vassals, who were, in the beginning, almost independent, were gradually reduced to submission in this and the following period. 1060-1108. Philip I. Quarrel with Gregory VII. First Crusade. A long reign, in which the king accomplished nothing. 1108-1137. Louis VI., the Fat, an able and good king, who had, moreover, the good sense to avail himself of the talents of Suger, abbot of St. Denis, whom he made minister. Perceptible growth of the royal power. Marriage of the king's son, Louis (VII.), with Eleanor, daughter of William of Aquitaine, heiress of Poitou, Guyenne, and Gascoyne. 1137-1180. Louis VII. Second Crusade (p. 215). Louis was a weak king, a favorite with the clergy, whose reign was less disastrous than might have been expected, because of the influence of Suger, who administered the kingdom during Louis' absence in the East. After his return Louis obtained a divorce from Eleanor, who married Henry of Anjou, conveying to this prince, who soon became king of England, Poitou, Guyenne and Gascoyne, for which Henry did homage to Louis. In this transfer lay one germ of the hundred years' war. 1180-1223. Philip II., Augustus, one of the ablest of the kings of France; unscrupulous, cold, but of great political sagacity. (Third) Crusade with Richard Cœurde-Lion. After Philip's return in 1190 he attacked Normandy, but made little headway during the lifetime of Richard. (Erection of the Château Gaillard by Richard, on the Seine, above Rouen.) After Richard's death (1199) Philip took up the claims of Arthur, son of Richard's brother Geoffrey, who had been passed over in Normandy in favor of Richard's younger brother John, but he was hindered from prosecuting them by his quarrel with Innocent III. in relation to the divorce which Philip had secured from his wife, Ingeborg of Denmark, in order that he might marry Agnes of Meran. Submission of Philip (1200). After the death of Arthur (1203) Philip moved upon Normandy 1 Kitchin, History of France. |