Friedrich II. (Swabia)

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Friedrich's picture in the Chronica S. Pantaleonis

. Frederick II , the one-eyed (* 1090 , † April 4 (maybe 6 April), 1147 in Alzey ), from the sex of the Staufer was from 1105 until his death in 1147 Duke of Swabia .

His younger brother Konrad became the first Staufer to become Roman-German King Konrad III in 1138 . elected.

Friedrich's sons were Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa (1122–1190) and Konrad (1136–1195), Count Palatine of the Rhine.

Life

Friedrich was the son of Duke Friedrich I of Swabia and Agnes von Waiblingen , the daughter of Emperor Heinrich IV.

After his father's death in 1105, Friedrich succeeded him as Duke of Swabia. Together with Konrad, Friedrich II further expanded the territory of the Hohenstaufen. In doing so, they continued their father's policy. While Konrad mainly acquired areas in the former Duchy of Franconia , Friedrich concentrated on the Middle Rhine and Alsace , where he had numerous castles built.

In 1108 Friedrich took part in the campaign against Koloman of Hungary . In 1110/1111 he accompanied Emperor Heinrich V to Rome for an audience with Pope Paschal II. Since Friedrich had remained loyal to the Emperor during the opposition movement in Germany, the latter declared him and Conrad to be his deputies for the duration of his trip to Italy in 1116 ( Imperial administrators ). The brothers used this position of power to further expand their Hohenstaufen possessions, especially in Rhine Franconia .

In 1120 Friedrich married Judith Welf , the daughter of the Guelph Heinrich the Black . Their son Friedrich was born in 1122 .

After the death of Henry V and the associated extinction of the male line of the Salians , the greats of the empire met in Mainz on August 24, 1125 to elect a successor , with Frederick II being one of the candidates. The earlier assumption that Heinrich had chosen Friedrich to be the heir to the royal crown before his death is mostly disputed in today's research. Rather, it is assumed that Friedrich was only supposed to maintain order in the empire until a successor was found. On the other hand, Friedrich and his brother Konrad were the heirs of the Salian territories through their mother Agnes. The process of the royal election in Mainz can no longer be precisely reconstructed today. In any case, there were riots, in the course of which Duke Lothar von Sachsen became Lothar III. was elected the new king. Frederick II initially accepted this choice and paid homage to Lothar, but refused to take the feudal oath. Soon there were disputes about the distinction between royal property and Salian household property . Friedrich and Konrad had inherited the property from Heinrich V and divided it up along the Rhine: on the left bank of the Rhine to Friedrich, on the right bank of the Rhine to Konrad. The demarcation to the royal estate, which they should have returned to Lothar, was controversial.

On a farm day in Regensburg in November 1125, Lothar asked the Hohenstaufen to separate the royal estate from the Salian household and to hand it over to him. When Frederick and Conrad did not respond, Lothar imposed in December, the imperial ban on them. In January 1126 several princes in Goslar decided to militarily enforce the eight against the Hohenstaufen. The king and his allies occupied territories in Upper Lorraine , Alsace and Rhine Franconia largely without fighting ; but he did not dare to attack Swabia, where the Hohenstaufen had withdrawn. An attack by the Guelphs on the Hohenstaufen heartland failed. In 1127 Lothar had to break off the siege of the Staufer Nuremberg . These defeats of Lothar and his allies led to several rulers in Lower Lorraine and Franconia withdrawing their support. During a fight as part of these campaigns, Friedrich lost an eye and was no longer an option as a candidate for the king, as he now lacked physical integrity as a basic requirement. However, it is not clear when exactly this happened.

Sankt Walburga church in Walbourg, Alsace

In 1127 his brother Konrad returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and thus became a driving force on the Hohenstaufen side. In December he was proclaimed king and thus took the lead from Friedrich. Friedrich continued to work as a military leader and took Speyer in 1128 , while Konrad tried to gain influence in Italy, largely unsuccessfully. In 1130 the fortunes of war turned: Lothar retook Speyer, shortly afterwards Friedrich's wife Judith died. In the same year Nuremberg and its surrounding area also fell to Lothar. In 1131 the Hohenstaufen lost all of Alsace and were thus pushed back to Swabia and Eastern Franconia. Lothar refrained from attacking the Hohenstaufen and concentrated on the expansion of the internal structure of the empire and on Italian policy.

Around 1132 Friedrich II married Agnes von Saarbrücken for the second time and thus established a connection to another house in opposition to Lothar. After his return from Italy, Lothar resumed the offensive against the Hohenstaufen in 1134. Friedrich could not hold out against the simultaneous attack by Lothar from the north and Henry the Proud from the south. In the spring of 1135 he submitted to Lothar in Bamberg in a penitential garb, and Konrad repeated this gesture in the autumn. In return for a promise of loyalty and the promise of support for a trip to Italy, the Hohenstaufen were once again accepted into the royal favor . Konrad married Gertrud, a sister-in-law of Heinrich the Black.

Duke Friedrich II died in Alzey in 1147 . He found his final resting place in the monastery church of Sankt Walburga in Alsace , where his wife Agnes was also buried after him . The two graves no longer exist today.

His son Friedrich succeeded him as Duke of Swabia and ascended the German throne in 1152 as King Friedrich I Barbarossa .

progeny

In 1120 Friedrich II married Judith Welf († February 22, probably 1130/31), daughter of Heinrich the Black , who was also buried in Walburg Monastery and with whom he had two children:

Around 1132/33 he entered into a new marriage; his second wife was Agnes von Saarbrücken , a daughter of Count Friedrich in Saargau ; with her he had three children:

  • Jutta (1133–1191) ∞ Ludwig II , Landgrave of Thuringia
  • Konrad (around 1134 / 36–1195), Count Palatine near the Rhine
  • Luitgard († probably after 1155)

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich II.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Friedrich I. Duke of Swabia
1105–1147 		Friedrich III.
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Friedrich the one-eyed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Swabia
DATE OF BIRTH 1090
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 1147
Place of death Alzey