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Introduction
Frederick, Duke of Swabia and his brother Conrad, Duke of the Franks, grandsons of Henry IV, were the hereditary and dynastic successors to the throne of Germany, when with the death of Henry V in 1125 the male line of the Franconian dynasty ended. The brothers demanded the assertion of the elective right in the imperial office and Lothair, Duke of Saxony, was elected emperor of Germany.
Lothair died in 1138. His son-in-law, the Wolf or Welf nobleman, Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria, whom Lothair had nominated as his successor, was opposed by the Swabian faction — also known as the Waiblingen faction — from the Franconian village in which the Swabian duke Frederick was born.
The Waiblingen faction elected as emperor of Germany Conrad the Crusader, in whom began the Hohenstaufen dynasty, so named from the Swabian family seat on the lofty Staufen hill rising from the Rems River.
From this event dates the strife of the Welfs and Waiblingens, who in Italy became known as Guelfs and Ghibellines. The chief opponents in the long strife that ensued were the Guelf dukes, Henry the Proud and Henry the Lion and the Ghibelline emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
Frederick Barbarossa (Redbeard) succeeded his father Conrad in 1152 and began a reign which was disturbed by wars with his nobility and by expeditions into Italy to subdue the revolts of the city republics of Lombardy against imperial authority. During his first expedition to Italy, 1154-1155, Barbarossa soon crushed all opposition and was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, at Rome, by Pope Hadrian IV. During his second expedition, 1158-1162, he destroyed the city of Milan and dispersed the inhabitants, who sought refuge in cities with which they had formerly been at enmity. Barbarossa’s violence antagonized the Italians and they combined in the Lombard League to drive him out of Italy. He was excommunicated by Pope Alexander III, who succeeded Hadrian in 1159 and to inaugurate the league a town named Alessandria in honor of the Pope was founded on the Piedmont frontier. In the expedition of 1166-1168 Barbarossa, who had set up an antipope, captured Rome and enthroned Paschal III as pope. His triumph however, was shortened by a pestilence which decimated his troops and thence began a series of reverses which ended in the ascendency of the Lombard League.
This selection is by Ernest F. Henderson.
Time: 1183
Place: Constance, Germany
No sooner had Frederick passed through North Italy on the way to his triumph and ultimate humiliation in Rome than the formation was begun of that greater Lombard League which was to prove so terrible and invincible an enemy. Cremona was, according to the Emperor’s own account, the prime mover in the matter. Mantua, Bergamo and Brescia joined with that city and bound themselves to mutual protection. The league, which was to last for fifty years, was not openly hostile to the Emperor; fidelity to him, indeed, was one of the articles of its constitution. But only such duties and services were to be performed as had been customary in the time of Conrad III; so the cities practically renounced the Roncaglian decrees and declared themselves in revolt.
From the beginning, too, the league took sides with Alexander. But its most daring act of insubordination was the leading back in triumph of the Milanese to the scene of their former glory. The outer walls of Milan had not been entirely levelled to the ground and the city arose as if by magic from her ruins. Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona lent her efficient aid in the work of restoration.
A sculpture executed in 1171 by order of the consuls and showing the return, accompanied by their allies, of the exiles, is still to be seen in Milan, near the Porta Romana. How few of those who look on it to-day realize what that return meant to the long-suffering citizens and what premonitions of evil to come must have gone with them.
The Lombard League spread rapidly. Lodi, after much demur and after being surrounded by an army, was forced to join it. Piacenza needed no constraint and Parma yielded after some opposition. Including Milan there were soon eight cities in the confederation. The imperial officials were disavowed and the old consular rule reestablished, while everywhere Alexandrine bishops replaced those that had been invested by Victor and Paschal.
Returning almost in disgrace from Rome, Frederick took up the struggle against the revolted cities, sending an appeal for reinforcements to Germany. But an attack on Milan proved fruitless, as did also one on Piacenza and the Emperor was soon forced to intrench himself in Pavia. His position became more and more desperate, the more so as the new archbishop of Milan, Galdinus, unfolded a great activity in favor of Alexander. The Pope named him apostolic legate for the whole of Lombardy and it was doubtless due to his influence that at this time the Verona coalition formally joined the Lombard League.
Sixteen cities were now banded together against the Emperor, who remained helpless in their midst. Pavia soon ceased to be a safe refuge and he retired to Novara and then to Vercelli; but both cities were even then planning to join the confederation.
In the end Frederick prepared to leave Italy as a fugitive and with but a small train of followers. In Susa, where the road begins which leads over the Mount Cenis pass, he was told that he must give up the few remaining hostages he was leading with him. All exits were found to be closed against him and it came to his ear that an attempt was to be made upon his life.
The Emperor fled from Susa disguised as a servant, while his chamberlain, Hartmann of Siebeneichen, who bore him a striking likeness, continued to play the part of captive monarch. A band of assassins actually made their way into the royal chamber but seem to have spared the brave chamberlain on learning their mistake.
The real object of their attack was meanwhile hastening on toward Basel, which he finally reached in safety.
It was to be expected that a man of Frederick’s iron will would soon return to avenge the humiliations he had suffered and the League hastened to strengthen itself in all directions. Alexander was invited to take up his residence in their midst and he, although obliged to refuse, continued to work for the rebel cities. The latter showed their gratitude by founding a new town, which was to be a common fortress for the whole league and naming it Alessandria in honor of their ally. The citizens took an oath of fealty to the Pope and agreed to pay him a yearly tax. The new foundation, although laughed at at first by the imperialists and called “Alessandria della Paglia”, from its hastily constructed straw huts, soon held a population of fifteen thousand. It continues to-day to reflect credit on its sponsor.
Contrary to all expectations it was six years before Frederick returned to Italy and the Lombard League was meanwhile left master of the field. This delay is undoubtedly ascribable to the fact that the Emperor found it impossible at once to raise another army. The recent blows of fate had been too severe and no enthusiasm for a new Italian war could be called into being. When, later, Frederick did re-cross the Alps it was with the mere shadow of an army; the nobles had seized every possible excuse to remain at home.
No doubt but that the enforced rest was of benefit to Germany; there at least the Emperor’s power was undiminished. Indeed, the lands of many of those who had been carried away by the pestilence had fallen to him by inheritance or lapsed as fiefs of the crown. Frederick is the first of the emperors who really acquired great family possessions. These helped him to maintain his imperial power without having to rely too much on the often untrustworthy princes of the realm. The Salian estates, to which his father had fallen heir on the death of Henry V, formed a nucleus, while, by purchase and otherwise, he acquired castle after castle and one stretch of territory after another, especially in Suabia and the Rhine Palatinate.
By the Emperor’s influence feud after feud was settled and the princes were induced to acknowledge his second son — why not his eldest has never been explained — as successor to the throne. The internal prosperity and concord were not without their influence on the neighboring powers and Hungary, Bohemia and Poland were forced to acknowledge and fulfil their feudal duties.
Meanwhile Tuscany and a part of the Romagna had remained true to the empire. Frederick’s emissary, Christian of Mayence, who was sent to Italy in 1171, was able to play a leading rôle in the hostilities between Pisa and Genoa and, in 1173, to again besiege Ancona, which was still a center for Greek intrigues. Christian was able to assure the Emperor that some allies at least were left in Italy.
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