Background
He was the son of Conrad III of Germany and his second wife Gertrude von Sulzbach and thus the direct heir of the crown, had there been true heredity.
He was the son of Conrad III of Germany and his second wife Gertrude von Sulzbach and thus the direct heir of the crown, had there been true heredity.
Barbarossa wasted no time in getting the Bavarian clerics to endorse him, and had the archbishop of Cologne convene a hurried Reichstag. The younger man became Duke of Swabia instead. Frederick participated in Barbarossa"s campaigns in Italy, becoming one of the many casualties of the Imperial army.
He succumbed to disease after occupying Rome in 1167.
Barbarossa then gave Swabia to his three-year-old son, Frederick V.
