Friedrich was the son of Friedrich II von Schwaben and Judith Welf.[1] He was born about 1122 or shortly after, based on a letter of Wibald von Corvey from 1152 stating that he was 30 years old.[2] According to John B. Freed he was born in Hagenau, today Haguenau in the Lower Alsace region of France.[3] As no primary documentation for his birth exists this guess may be based on it having originally been built by Barbarossa's father and later enlarged to a "Kaiserpfalz" by Barbarossa. It was the "Pfalz" most often visited by the imperial court during the Staufer period. He succeeded as Friedrich III, Herzog von Schwaben on his father's death in 1147.[4] In the same year he participated in the Second Crusade.[5] Shortly before his uncle Emperor Konrad III died in 1152 he designated Friedrich as his successor[6] and Friedrich was elected German king only 3 weeks later.[7] On 18 Jun 1155 he was crowned emperor by Pope Hadrian in Rome.[8]
Marriages and Children
Friedrich's first marriage to Adela von Vohburg is commonly dated to 1147 just before the crusade, with some authors suggesting 1149 after the return.[9] Other sources name her only in conjunction with their divorce[10][11][12] before Friedrich married Beatrix von Burgund in 1156. Ostensibly this divorce was due to forbidden consanguinity, mentioned in most sources as reason and based in the secondary literature on Wibald von Stablo's Tabula consanguinitatis[13] but this long held assumption can no longer be maintained: this relationship was in the 11th degree by Roman counting and only 7th degree and closer was considered an impediment to marriage.[14][15] Furthermore, he was related to his second wife by the same degree. Perhaps Otto von St. Blasien got it right after all citing infidelity (causa fornicationis sepius) as the reason.[16] This first marriage remained childless.
Friedrich married second to Beatrix von Burgund, daughter and heiress of Renaud III on 9 June 1156 at Würzburg.[10] They had the following children:[17]
Friedrich V, Herzog von Schwaben, born 16 July 1164, died late 1169/1170
Heinrich VI, Holy Roman Emperor, born November 1165, died 28 September 1197
Konrad, born February 1167, died 20 January 1191, was later renamed Friedrich VI, Herzog von Schwaben, after the death of his older brother
an unnamed daughter, born October/November 1168, died end 1184, was betrothed, but died unmarried
Otto I, Count of Burgundy, born June/July 1170, died 13 January 1200
Konrad II, Herzog von Schwaben and Rothenburg, born February/March 1172, died 15 August 1196
Rainald, born October/November 1173, died before April 1174 or soon after October 1178
Wilhelm, born June/July 1175, died soon after October 1178
Philipp, born February/March 1177, died 21 June 1208. He was King of Germany in 1198.
Agnes, born early 1179, died 8 October 1184, she was betrothed, but died unmarried
Death
After Saladin's defeat of the king of Jerusalem and subsequent occupation of the city Pope Gregor VIII called for another crusade. Friedrich Barbarossa left with a strong army of crusaders on 11 May 1189. However, he never reached Jerusalem. On 10 June 1190 he drowned near Seleucia, (Սելևկիա in Armenian) in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, now Silifke in Turkey, in the Saleph river, (Կալիկադնոս գետ in Armenian) now called Göksu.[18]
↑Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum, vol. 1. Monumenta Corbeiensia, (Berlin: Weidmann, 1864), p. 547, digital images, (Archove.org: accessed 24 January 2020).
↑ Following Erwin Assmann, Friedrich Barbarossas Kinder. In: Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters, Bd. 33 (1977), p. 459; for explanation of estimates for dates see the full article, pp. 435–472
De Swabia y de Bavaria-1 and Hohenstaufen-35 appear to represent the same person because: new member created profiles incorrectly, intended to be the same person
Genealogical info (BMD dates/places and parents, spouses, children) was added to this profile 9 July 2021, HOWEVER the info is all sourced to Wikipedia and needs to be verified against Wikipedia's sources. Wikipedia's sources/other reliable sources should be added inline to the biography. His children need sorting as well. Wikipedia has him having 2 sons named Conrad and there is one (conflated?) profile for son Conrad. Any help expanding this bio and adding reliable sourcing would be appreciated!
The source for his birth is John B. Freed: Frederick Barbarossa. The Prince and the Myth. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2016. I don't have access to this book but guess that Freed settled on Hagenau because it was originally built by Barbarossa's father and later enlarged to a "Kaiserpfalz" by Barbarossa. It was the "Pfalz" most often visited by the imperial court during the Staufer period. However, the birth date commonly given in the literature - about 1122, sometimes 1124 - reflects the absence of any primary documentation and hence the impossibility to assign a place short of guesswork.
He drowned in the river Saleph, now called Göksu, near Seleucia, now Silifke, today in Turkey but then in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Կիլիկիոյ Հայոց Թագաւորութիւն in Middle Armenian.
He was half-brother (not father) of Frances (Hohenstaufen) d'Aquino that was daughter of Friedrich II (one eyed) duke of Schwabia and his second wife Agnes of Saarbrücken, while he was son of his first wife Judith Bayern.
Children and siblings shall be arranged accordingly , but the system does not accept editing.
Baracchi-1 2020/2/17
What source are you using? I'm only aware of Barbarossa and Bertha from Friedrich II's first marriage, and Jutta, Konrad, and Luitgard from his second.
Helmut, Should I detach unsourced Frances (Hohenstaufen) d'Aquino as Friedrich II's daughter? He is marked uncertain as her father, but there is no source on either profile that connects Frances to Friedrich II.
Yes I would definitely remove her from her father. There is a link on her profile to a discussion on the soc genealogy medieval discussion group that proposes she actually never existed and is not mentioned in any primary sources of the period. They also make the point that the name Franziska/Francesca/Francoise didn't exist in any royal/noble family in this time period.
Agree with John. Don't know of any primary source for Thomas of Aquino's grandmother. The Aquino family is considered of Langobard stock and not originally Southern Italian. They were a Germanic tribe with close ties and frequent marriages of their rulers to the Bavarians.
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He drowned in the river Saleph, now called Göksu, near Seleucia, now Silifke, today in Turkey but then in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Կիլիկիոյ Հայոց Թագաւորութիւն in Middle Armenian.
Children and siblings shall be arranged accordingly , but the system does not accept editing. Baracchi-1 2020/2/17
edited by Helmut Jungschaffer