Conrad IV of Germany
Konrad ( born April 25, 1228 Andria, Apulia, † May 21 1254 in the army camp at Lavello ) comes from the family of the Hohenstaufen. He was Duke of Swabia (1235-1254), King of the Holy Roman Empire (1237-1254), King of Sicily (1250-1254) and king of Jerusalem ( 1228-1254 ).
Life
Konrad was the only son of Emperor Frederick II with his second wife Isabella of Brienne, Queen of Jerusalem. His mother died in childbirth; of their inherited Konrad 's claim to the throne of Jerusalem, which his father used to crown himself in 1229 at the Fifth Crusade in Jerusalem himself king of Jerusalem. Until 1235 Konrad lived in Italy; This year, he traveled for the first time to Germany.
After uprising and deposition of his son Henry ( VII ), Conrad 17 years older half-brother, Frederick tried now build Konrad as the new king 's successor. However, this failed initially because the 1235 gathering in Mainz court day Prince Konrad did not want to choose the king.
The choice of the eight- year-old was finally in February 1237 during a Hoftages in Vienna: The act of voting, the Pope is not recognized, included not only the title of the Roman-German king, but also the future successor as Holy Roman German emperor. As Konrad was indeed elected king, but not crowned, except he had the title " in a lively electus Romanorum " ( " the king of the Romans Selected ").
While Frederick II after the election of Conrad turned back to his disputes with the Pope and the Italian cities, Konrad remained in Germany to formally represent there his father. He was joined as an imperial procurators first archbishop of Mainz, Siegfried III. , Then the Landgrave Henry Raspe and the King Wenceslas I of Bohemia. From about 1240 Konrad began to actively intervene in the imperial politics and advertise with the prince to show support for his father.
Conrad IV married on September 1, 1246 in Vohburg on the Danube Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria (* 1227 in Landshut well, † October 9, 1273 ), daughter of Duke Otto II the Illustrious. By this marriage the Wittelsbach became the most powerful allies of the German Hohenstaufen during the decline phase of their dynasty. Konrad and Elizabeth were the parents of the last ( legitimate ) Hohenstaufen, Conrad, better known as Conradin, who was beheaded in Naples in 1268.
After Pope Innocent IV in 1245, Frederick II and Conrad had declared deposed and excommunicated in 1246 elected in Germany Heinrich Raspe and after his death in 1248 William of Holland as anti-king. With two competitors Konrad resulted in the following years, military confrontations that went out first rather unfavorable for the Staufer. However, in 1250 he held the conquest of William and allied with him Lower Rhine nobles in the Middle Rhine. The allied with William Rhenish archbishops were obliged, in the autumn to ceasefires, the Pope went in the fight against the Hohenstaufen gradually running out of money. Only weeks later, at the end of the year, however, Frederick II died in his will he had used as his sole heir Conrad IV, and it expressly intended to be successor in the kingdom, in Sicily and Jerusalem. Innocent did not recognize this scheme. In southern Italy came Conrad governor, his half-brother Manfred in military difficulties, cries for help went to the German king Conrad, the funds for an expedition to Italy procured by pledging and could no longer devote sufficient forces to the fight against anti-king, William, who mainly therefore, in August 1251 could conquer Boppard. Again it was found that the Hohenstaufen power was overstretched and had to be defended at too many focal points.
Despite the difficult situation in Germany Konrad moved in October 1251 to Italy. In October 1253 his troops conquered Naples, his rule was not recognized by the Pope. Conrad died in 1254 in an army camp in Lavello malaria. His heart and entrails were buried in Melfi. His body was transferred to the Cathedral of Messina. Lightning struck in the Cathedral, and the bier king burned before the funeral. His son Conradin, the Konrad had never seen was still a minor, so that Konrad's half-brother Manfred initially acted as locum tenens.
Elisabeth married in 1259 Meinhard II, Count of Gorizia and Tyrol, who was long after her death, Duke of Carinthia 1286.
Konrad had except his legitimate son Conrad ( in ) another son out of wedlock, which was also called Conradin. This was probably born as his half-brother ( 1252) in the same year and, like the latter executed, but not until a year later, in 1269, in Lucera - as well as his otherwise unknown mother.
In the summer of 2005 in the University of Innsbruck library a collection of letters with 130 previously unknown letters, mandates and diplomas Frederick II and especially Conrad IV in a manuscript from the South Tyrol Charterhouse Allerengelberg (Second half of the 13th century, today Innsbruck, UB, 400) found.
Swell
- Rosaria Pilone, Bartolommeo Capasso ( a cura di ): Historia Regni diplomatica Siciliae from anno 1250 ad annum 1266 Ristampa Riveduta, correta ed ampliata dell'edizione del 1874 Laveglia & Carlone, Battipalglia 2009, ISBN 978-88-88773-43 -. 8 (professional conference )