Otto IV

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Otto IV attacks Sicily and Frederick II chases him back to Germany

Otto IV, scion of one of the oldest and most aristocratic families in the world had achieved what so many of his ancestors have craved, ruling the empire. This week we will follow him to his coronation and the sequence of errors that will leave him back home in Brunswick, alone and forgotten. At the same time his nemesis, the child of Pulle, the impoverished 15-year-old king of Sicily and son of emperor Henry VI, young Frederick II rises to the imperial crown on a wing and some very potent  prayer.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 75 – Wet Pants and other Miracles

Otto IV, scion of one of the oldest and most aristocratic families in the world had achieved what so many of his ancestors have craved, ruling the empire. This week we will follow him to his coronation and the sequence of errors that will leave him back home in Brunswick, alone and forgotten. At the same time his nemesis, the Child of Pulle, the impoverished 15-year-old king of Sicily and son of emperor Henry VI, young Frederick II rises to the imperial crown on a wing and some very potent  prayer.

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Last week we saw Philipp of Swabia grinding towards ultimate victory against his rival for the imperial title, Otto IV. Otto IV had run out of money when his English sponsor, king John Lackland cut off the flow of subsidies. The endorsement by pope Innocent III also proves to be worth a lot less than he had hoped for and finally he had managed to alienate his two most important allies, his brother Henry, the Count Palatinate on the Rhine, and archbishop Adolf of Cologne. Otto IV had rejected a last generous offer from Philipp and in spring 1208 was readying himself for one last battle, presumably to go down in a blaze of glory. The attitude of Rome was the infallible index of the hopelessness of his cause; pope Innocent III withdrew his support from Otto IV, released Philipp from the ban, recognised him as king and offered to crown him emperor should he come down to Rome.

But that did not happen. Instead, a totally random event took place. King Philipp was murdered by Otto von Wittelsbach, a Bavarian count who he had upset by cancelling a marriage alliance. Just to avoid any confusion, this Otto von Wittelsbach is a different Otto to the man of the same name who was the greatest paladin and occasional skinny-dipping buddy of Frederick Barbarossa. That Otto, good Oto was by now dead and his son, Ludwig was the current duke of Bavaria. Murderous Otto was a cousin from another branch of the Wittelsbach family.

That is probably enough genealogy for this episode. Let’s go back to the history.

With Philipp’s death the Hohenstaufen party in Germany simply collapsed. In a terrible twist of fate, the whole of the family had died out without any male descendants. Barbarossa had a stepbrother and eight sons. All of them, were now dead. With the exception of Emperor Henry VI, they all had died without producing a male heir. That made 14-year-old Frederick, the son of the superannuated queen Constance of Sicily and currently residing in Castello a Mare in Palermo the last remaining male Hohenstaufen or as they would have called themselves, the last of the house of Waiblingen. 

Without a natural rallying point the complex alliances that Philip had woven for a decade disappeared overnight. The imperial princes immediately joined Otto IV’s camp and Otto IV just for safety staged a repeat election in Frankfurt in November 1208 where he was unanimously confirmed as king of the Romans and elected Roman emperor.

Philipp’s oldest daughter, Beatrice, appeared before the new sovereign and demanded her father’s murderers to be caught and brought to justice. Otto granted her that justice and Heinrich von Kalden, one of Philipp’s most accomplished warriors was despatched to hunt down Otto von Wittelsbach. That he did, cut off his head and threw it in a river. The duke of Meranien and his brother, the bishop of Bamberg, were also indicted, but were able to keep their heads and other limbs, probably because they were actually innocent.

This act of respect towards his rival was followed by an even more meaningful political move. Otto IV broke his engagement to Maria of Brabant and instead married his rival’s daughter Beatrice. Luckily for him Marie’s father, the duke of Brabant was a little less prickly than Otto von Wittelsbach and refrained from cutting the king’s throat.

Germany pacified the next natural step is for Otto to head down to Italy. Things have changed a lot since the days of Henry VI. The peace of Constance between the empire and the Lombard League is no more. The Lombard League has broken down during the struggle for the imperial crown. The old rivalries between Milan and Cremona and Milan and Pavia have returned. No tax had been sent to either king.

But the biggest change happened in what we now call the Papal States. The popes had returned to Rome in 1188 after years in virtual exile as guests of the commune of Verona. That had been achieved through a deal the popes had to strike with the senate of the Holy City that by now had taken over full temporal control.

The lands the papacy laid claim to on the back of the fake donation of Constantine, such as the Campania around Rome, the March of Ancona, the duchy of Spoleto, the area around Ravenna and the Emilia Romagna were in the hands of either local lords or the communes or imperial vassals. For instance, the duchy of Spoleto was held by Konrad von Urslingen, a Swabian nobleman who had come down to Italy with Henry VI and had received the duchy as his vassal. Spoleto was considered so safe that the empress Constance left her precious son Frederick with Konrad’s family in Folignano rather than take him down to Sicily.

When Otto IV comes down 10 years later, all of these territories have been seized by the papacy. Pope Innocent III had swept in right after Henry VI death and had pushed out the imperial administration. He called it the recuperation of the Patrimonium Petri. These lands now formed a wedge straight across the Italian peninsula. South of it was the kingdom of Sicily, a papal fief ruled by the papal ward Frederick. And north was Lombardy where anti-imperial sentiment was strong at least in parts. A papal Italy was a distinct possibility

Innocent was only 38 when he was elected pope in 1198 and in the years since had become the true ruler of Europe. It wasn’t just the empire that was riven with discord. In Sicily various factions fought over the kingdom as the child-king Frederick looked on. In England John Lackland had lost Normandy and Anjou to king Philippe Auguste of France and subsequently presided over a much more fragile Country than his brother and father. The only powerful monarch was Philippe Auguste but he had a major marital issue that forced him to seek papal favour. Innocent III used these weaknesses to tighten his reign on the bishops and abbots, expanded the judicial responsibilities of papal legates and channelled more and more of church income to Rome. Innocent III had called the fateful fourth crusade, the one that went so off the rails, that ended with crusaders breaking into Constantinople, sacking the greatest Christian city in the world, and installing a Latin emperor and patriarch.

Innocent III did see himself as the “verum imperator”, the true emperor. His favourite image was that of the sun and the moon. The papacy was the sun and the emperors and kings were the moon, who received all their light from the sun. Temporal power was a mere reflection of the might of the Vicar of Christ on earth.

And for him, Otto IV was simply a tool. A physically powerful man with modest intellectual capacity seemed an ideal sword of the church. To gain church support in his struggle with Philipp of Swabia, Otto had given in to all of Innocent’s demands. That included a big step away from the concordat of Worms. There should be free episcopal elections without any interference from the emperor, the recognition of Sicily as a papal fief, assurance that he would never attack Sicily and incorporate it into the empire, the right of the pope to scrutinise any imperial election including the right to vet the elected king of the Romans, and finally, full recognition of papal right to that wedge of land across the Italian peninsula, the Patrimonium Petri.

Otto had promised all this before, and he promised it again to gain his all-important coronation. That Innocent III performed on October 4, 1209, in St. Peter as is good and proper. And, as usual there is a bit of brawling and in the morning some Romans lay dead. By now the city of Rome is not a place a Holy Roman Emperor can stay. Before the coronation Otto IV had made camp on the Monte Mario, outside the city walls and right after he retires to a defensive position in the countryside.

And then he does what every self-respecting emperor would do in his position, now that the octagonal crown is safely on his head and the sacred oil had dried. He writes to the pope and says: Maybe we should meet up and discuss some of the details of our agreement. Maybe talk about the lands of Matilda or poleto. I just have a few questions. And, I am sorry, but I will not be able to meet in person in Rome because the city is a bit too dangerous for me, so why don’t you come into my camp, and we have a nice chat.

Surprise, surprise, Innocent III shows no interest to sit down in a tent surrounded by 6,000 armoured men. He suggests conducting negotiations via envoys.

Negotiations begin whilst Otto IV starts wandering around Tuscany and Spoleto, issuing charters for local lords, monasteries and bishops as if it was his fief. In March 1210 he is in Ravenna and Ferrara, slap bang in the Patrimonium Petri still acting as if he owns the place.

Innocent III is getting nervous. When is this guy going back home? What is he up to? Sure, a bit of imperial play acting is ok as long as he does not take it seriously. But this is dragging on a bit. Otto brings about a peace agreement between Genova and Pisa, making another set of alarm bells ring.

Meanwhile in Southern Italy the barons on the mainland, in Apulia and Calabria are stirring. There is talk of getting rid of young Frederick and bringing in Otto IV. Some of these barons were Germans who had come down with Henry VI and they firmly believed that the kingdom of Sicily should be part of the empire. Whilst the now emperor Otto IV stays in Pisa, the rebellious Sicilian barons seek him out and invite him to take the kingdom. The Pisans promise to help and provide shipping to cross over to the island.

What goes on in Otto’s mind we will never know, but it may have gone along the following lines. Pope Innocent III may appear all powerful but quite frankly his excommunication of Philipp had little to no effect. So, if he goes to Sicily and the pope goes ballistic, this is not going to be such a big deal.

On the other hand, the last of the Hohenstaufen sits in this palace in Palermo. Yes, he is still a boy, his grasp of power in Sicily is weak, but he had once been the elected king of the Romans and he could still be a challenge. Better to stamp out this viper before it comes to bite you.

A man of modest intellect – well let us see.

Whilst Otto makes preparations for a trip down south Innocent III too makes his preparations to bring down his former champion. First, he writes a letter to the German bishops. Not yet excommunicating Otto IV he just lets the bishops know that they are all automatically released from any oath of fealty to the emperor once he formally excommunicates him. Though this is not yet a call for action, the bishops understood right away. Off they went talking to the Landgraves, Margraves, dukes and other imperial princes seeding sedition.

The next one on Innocent’s Christmas card list is king Philippe Auguste and there Innocent resorts to rather uncharacteristic grovelling. He regrets he had not seen through the duplicitous nature of the Welf, something the wise king had so easily done. And he skilfully wove into the letter a few remarks that Otto had made. For instance, that he could not sleep as long as the king of France still occupies lands that rightfully belong to his beloved uncle, king John of England. Again, no call to action, just the subtle encouragement to get in touch with the German princes.

In the autumn of 1210, the conflict breaks out into the open. Otto had by now recruited a sizeable army from German and Lombard allies and began his march down south. The southern Italian rebels joined him at the border of Apulia.

As soon as Otto’s army set out on its quest, the pope issued the formal excommunication and carefully set machinery of rebellion in Germany was put into forward gear. Otto at this point still does not care much.

In spring 1211 hostilities resume and Otto cuts through the resistance of the boy-king of Sicily like butter. By the summer he is near the straits of Messina that separate Sicily and the mainland, waiting for the Pisan fleet that is supposed to take him across.

Frederick’s position is utterly hopeless. His hold on the Sicilian kingdom had always been tenuous, but now it is completely slipping out of his hands. Almost all the feudal lords were siding with the emperor. The still sizeable Muslim population in central Sicily declared for Otto. His kingdom had shrunk to no more than the royal palaces of Palermo. A galley is standing ready to take Frederick across to Africa, should the inevitable take place.

And that is when the first or by some counting the second miracle of Frederick’s life occurs. The first miracle was of course his actual existence, born as he was from a superannuated and perennially barren mother.

Just as Otto was about to embark on the last leg of his conquest, messengers arrive from Germany telling of revolt and the intention of the princes to have him deposed and to elect a new king. And that is when the miracle happens. The messengers, some from Germany, others from his allied city of Milan tell him the imperial princes are meeting and revolt is in the air. They tell him to return as fast as he can.

That same night Otto dreams of bear cup joining him in the imperial bed. The bear. Up grew and grew until it had become the largest and mightiest bear ever seen, a bear that took up so much space it pushed him, Otto, off his couch. Otto IV was “shaken to the marrow” and, terrified of losing his hard-won imperial crown, abandons his prey. The long legged Welf strikes camp and runs, runs as if that bear, he had dreamt of was chasing him back across the Alps.

As so often in history one man’s miracle is just another one’s panic. If Otto had thought about his dream calmly and rationally, he should have pushed forward and killed the bear cup before it grows. Sicily and his potential rival for the imperial rival was right there in his grasp. Capturing him would have brought the whole rebellion come crushing down.

Frederick was saved. And more than that. Just as the imperial army vanished in a cloud of dust, an envoy from Germany, Anselm von Justingen, arrived in Palermo. He bore the news that the German princes had met in September in Nurnberg, deposed Otto IV and elected none other than him, young Frederick, last of the Hohenstaufen, to become King of the Romans. Within just days Frederick had turned from being a near deposed king of Sicily to be elected emperor of the Romans and leader of Christianity.

The title, grand as it was, was still theoretically. To make it real he needed to be crowned, crowned by as we know, the right archbishop in the right church with the true imperial regalia. To get there he has to travel 2300 km, he will need to find allies along the way as Otto’s friends will try to stop him. The notoriously treacherous German princes must still be on side when he gets there for the plan to work out. And he is a 17-year-old who had never been to Germany, does not speak the language and does not know the ins and outs of the fiendishly complicated political landscape of the empire.

No wonder his council strongly discourage him to go. His wife Constance of Aragon – who had just borne him a son – objects even more vehemently. How is she supposed to keep Sicily together on the baby’s behalf when Frederick himself could barely keep it going? What happens if the pope changes his mind about making a king of Sicily emperor, thereby bringing back that dreaded encirclement of the papacy?  As they debated news arrive from Germany that some of the princes who in September had elected Frederick were now coming back to Otto, no doubt lured by some juicy bribe. Another reason to stay back.

In reality, Frederick did not have a choice. The events of the last year had shown that if a powerful emperor, be it Otto or someone else comes down to Sicily, his kingdom would fall. He needed to become emperor as a forward defence position to protect Sicily, probably the most extended forward defence in European history.

He would later claim that he went because his elevation was the sign of God that he, the last descendant of the great emperors of old had survived. He writes to Germany as follows: “since no other could be found, who could have accepted the proffered dignity in opposition to us and to our right…since the princes summoned us and since from their own choice the crown is ours” he accepts the elevation.

Frederick sets off on his great adventure in the middle of March 1212. Upon request of the pope, he had his son, Heinrich, crowned king before his departure.

Progress stalled already in Gaeta south of Rome where a Pisan fleet is lying in wait for him. After a month he finally manages to proceed to Rome where he meets for the first and the only time his guardian, pope Innocent III. He swears fealty to him for the Sicilian kingdom and – as Otto IV before – makes all the assurances the papacy could possibly demand.

Innocent covers the cost of the impecunious monarch’s stay in the Holy city and gives him the funds to continue his journey. The Genoese, perennial rivals of the Pisans are happy to take the boy further north to Lombardy. With just a few friends and a Genoese escort he follows a circuitous route to Pavia, avoiding cities and castles held by Otto’s allies.

The eternally loyal city of Pavia is prepared to take the last of the Ghibellines further on his journey. The next stage post is Cremona and that meant crossing the hostile territory of Piacenza and Milan. As Frederick moved east, news of his movements reaches his Lombard enemies. The Milanese ready their mighty Caroccio and send it down to the river Lambro, where spies have told them the Pavese were planning to hand the boy king over to the men of Cremona. Piacenza meanwhile searched all ships going up the Po expecting to find Frederick hiding amongst the sacks of wheat or bales of cloth.

The Pavese set out in the middle of the night taking their host as quietly and safely as possible the 25 km to the river crossing. Meanwhile the Cremonese head out for the same spot. And as dawn breaks the two contingents rendezvous as planned. They sit down for a well-earned farewell breakfast when the banners of Milan appear on the horizon. In a split-second decision, Frederick wearing no more than his pants and a shirt jumps on a horse and rides bareback across the river into the waiting arms of the Cremonese whilst behind him the faithful Pavese are being slaughtered.

That Frederick saw as miracle #3 whilst the Milanese will recount for decades about how they got the emperors pants wet.

From here there is no stopping him. From Cremona he goes to Mantua, then Verona. He tries to get across the Brenner pass but that is barred by Otto’s allies, so he goes on small mountain paths across bleak landscapes into the Engadin. In early September he is in Chur. The bishop of Chur, itself part of Frederick’s ancestral duchy of Swabia accompanies him to St. Gallen where the abbot of this great monastery joins him.

Along this route Frederick may have witnessed one of the most heart-breaking scenes of the entire Middle Ages, the so-called Children’s Crusade. At Easter 1212 in Cologne a young man, Nicolaus, declared an angel had appeared to him and foretold him that if he led an army of innocents south, he would be able to free Jerusalem. The lord would part the sea and they could get to Palestine on foot. Thousands of mostly adolescents and young adults joined this effort. They set off from Cologne and got to the Brenner pass via Trier and Speyer. By the time they had reached Lombardy most had already died or given up. They reached Genoa via Cremona in August 1212. – there, surprise, surprise, the sea did not part. At that point most were too exhausted, hungry and poor to continue. Very few returned home, some settling in Italy and some even sold into slavery. Later Frederick will condemn to death two merchants involved in that enslavement.

Gustave Dore: children’s crusade

For Frederick travelling the opposite direction, the next destination is Constance, a bishopric in Swabia and crucial to his claim on Philipp’s old powerbase. Otto IV meanwhile had consolidated his position and had come down to Lake Constance to intercept his rival.

Otto camped in Überlingen, a mere 12 km from the episcopal seat. The emperor had negotiated his entry into Constance with the bishop and great festivities were being prepared. His servants were in the town laying the tables and his cooks were putting the huge roasts into even bigger ovens when Frederick and his merry band appeared before the gates of the city.

The bishop was made to come to the battlement and parley with the young contender. Frederick demanded entry as duke of Swabia and as elected king of the Romans. The archbishop Berard of Bari, one of Frederick’s closest advisors and also the papal legate pushed hard on Otto IV being excommunicated and deposed by order of both the princes and the pope.

Entry of frederick II in Konstanz – not how it happened

After some back and forth the bishop relented. Frederick entered the city. Otto was kept out and lacking a full army retreated. Frederick and his men ate all the delicious food and celebrated that the Hohenstaufen were back. Had he been three hours later, Otto IV would have been inside Konstanz and the journey of the young king of Sicily would have ended right there.

This was miracle #4

Frederick’s support quickly grew as he progressed to Basel and then further to Alsace. Like his uncle, the support did not come cheap. Ottokar of Bohemia came and swore allegiance on condition that he would be confirmed, now for the third time, in his royal title.

This time he got even more than a personal royal title. In a splendid golden bull, Ottokar was granted an inheritable Bohemian kingdom as well as free investiture of bishops, relief from serving in imperial campaigns and some generous fiefs from the Hohenstaufen lands. This document was produced by a Sicilian notary and the seal attached was the royal seal of Sicily. Best guess, neither the elected emperor of the Romans nor his notary had the faintest idea where Bohemia was and what he had just handed over.

so-called “Golden Bull of Sicily”

Word of Frederick’s generosity spread rapidly, and the usual turncoats swelled the ranks of the Hohenstaufen loyalists. Our old friend and most unreliable ally Hermann Landgrave of Thuringia popped up again in the Ghibelline tent. The dukes of Lothringia, Zaehringen and Bavaria joined as did the archbishop of Mainz who had been put on his episcopal seat by Otto IV but now saw more value in the young Staufer Prinz.

All of them would benefit but none more than the duke of Bavaria who would gain the Palatinate when Otto’s brother Henry died without heir. The Palatinate and Bavaria would remain in the Wittelsbach family until 1918.

The Wittelsbach territories around 1500 across multiple lines

King Philippe Auguste who had pulled the strings in the background sent the penniless king a generous donation of 20,000 mark of silver. When the French envoys asked where to deposit this huge sum, Frederick said, “what do you mean?” All this money goes straight out to my supporters.

No surprise he was popular. People started calling him the Puer Apuliae, the child of Puglia, the young and innocent man, a true knight, descendant of emperors who was set against the gruff, battle-hardened, tight fisted, not very clever Otto IV.

In November 1212 the princes elected him King of the Romans, now for the third time. Four days later he was crowned king in the cathedral of Mainz by the archbishop of Mainz and with fake imperial regalia.

We know what that means – it means the war isn’t over yet.

We are quickly reverting back to the political situation of 1198-1208. Frederick holds southern Germany with his centres of power in the Hohenstaufen lands. Otto IV holds his family estates in Saxony and has allies in the lower Rhine. But his most important ally is the king of England, John lackland.

King John had lost the heart of the Angevin empire, Normandy and Anjou. The following 10 years John has spent gathering money and weapons with the single aim to get it back. And part of his plan was now the support of Otto IV. When he rekindled that alliance Otto IV was the undisputed ruler of the empire and hence a hugely important ally. Had Frederick never been born, been routed in Sicily in 1211, drowned in the river Lambro or missed the entrance into Konstanz by 3 hours, English history would have taken a different turn. Because now Otto IV could not provide anywhere near the kind of help John Lackland had hoped for.

At the beginning of 1214 John Lackland could not wait any longer for his ally to succeed. The great campaign against Philippe Auguste had to begin.

At its heart was a two-pronged approach. King John was to attack from the Southwest luring Philippe Auguste away from the Capetian heartlands around Paris. Otto should lead a combined force of Saxon, Brabant, Flanders and English forces in from the North East, taking the Ile de France and cutting the French king off from supplies.

On paper a very sound plan. John landed in La Rochelle, but his campaign ended quickly and rather embarrassingly. Philippe Auguste send him back into his boats and turned round to face the other invading army in the north. That was certainly a setback for the Anglo-Welf alliance, but it was partially offset by Frederick’s failure to distract Otto IV on the lower Rhine.

All now depended on the outcome in the Northeast. The two armies met at the bridge of Bouvines, between Lille and Tournai.  

Georges Duby estimated that Philipps army consisted of 1,300 knights, about the same number of mounted fighters and 6,000 foot soldiers. Otto’s army was larger not by a wide margin, but somewhat larger. Philippe’s army comprised predominantly of men from his personal domains in the Ile de France, the Artois and the Picardy. Otto’s forces were in part English but in the majority from Saxony, Flanders, Brabant, and Holland.

Philippe lined his army up in the traditional French manner. In the middle were the armed infantrymen with the cavalry on either side. Behind the infantry stood the king himself with his household knights and the reserve cavalry. Above the king flew the Oriflamme, the blood-red sacred war banner shot through with golden stars, confirming the presence of St. Denis, patron saint of the French monarchy.

The oriflamme on the top right hand corner – image depicts another battle at Roosebeke

Otto’s army was mirroring the French side. On the left flank knights from Flanders and Germany, on the right flank the English knights under William of Salisbury, called Longsword, the half-brother of king John. Otto IV took the centre with his Saxon knights and the foot soldiers lined up before him.

Otto IV had brought a highly symbolic battle standard too. Not the Holy Lance as it had been wielded by the Ottonians, but a golden imperial eagle. Raised on a staff that symbolized the Honor Imperii, the honour of the empire. And below flew the Anglo-Norman silk dragon symbolising the unity of Normandy, the dark dragon, and the white and red dragons of Britain.

Anglo-Saxon dragon flag

With two monarchs on the battlefield the key objective of either side was to capture the leader of the other side and/or his battle standard.

Otto made the first move and sent his experienced and numerically superior foot soldiers into the French centre. This move nearly decided the battle. The lightly armoured men got all the way to king Philippe Auguste and pulled him off his horse. They started hacking at his armour looking for the weakness that their daggers could penetrate. Only by a hair’s breadth did his bodyguard get him out.

That gave the French side new momentum. They pushed back the imperial infantry and started moving towards the golden eagle. Otto IV and his Saxon knights pushed back and finally fighting began between the knights whilst the simple soldiers were trampled under the horses’ hoofs.

A French knight, Gerard de Trui got close enough to drive his dagger into Otto’s chest armour. The armour deflected the blow but on the second attempt, Gerard hit the emperor’s horse in the eye. The horse rose up in pain and Otto fell on the ground. Otto was pulled out the melee and mounted a fresh horse. Another French knight, Walther de Barres grabbed him by the neck twice but failed to take the emperor down. At that point Otto IV lost his nerve and fled, leaving behind the golden eagle whose wings were broken when it fell.

Their leader gone the bulk of the army surrendered. Only the count of Boulogne and his 700 mercenaries from Brabant, the much feared Brabanzones held out until almost all of them lay dead.

This was not a miracle, just a medieval battle. But this battle decided so much of European history.

The Angevin empire shrunk to just Aquitaine. The Capetian kings began calling themselves kings of France, no longer king of the Francs as they had gained permanent possession of Northern and central France.  

King John Lackland returned to England empty handed after having squeezed the last dime out of his land in the hope of regaining the riches of France. His barons could not take it any longer and forced him to sign a list of concessions, the document we now know as Magna Carta.

And as for Otto IV, his imperial dream had collapsed. He would hold out in Brunswick until 1218, friendless and largely forgotten. After his truly gruesome death, his nephew, Otto the child, would be raised to duke of Brunswick and the House of Welf would depart from the global stage until on August I, 1714 a certain George, duke of Brunswick-Luneburg and elector of Hannover ascended the English throne where his descendants still reign.

Otto “the child” being elevated to duke of Brunswick by Frederick II

Frederick II was the other winner of the battle without having shot a single arrow. He was crowned properly in Aachen by the right archbishop and the real imperial regalia in 1215. And as we know, once that has happened the civil war is usually over.

Next week we will go back in time and talk about Frederick II’s early years, his mindset and outlook and the role of his guardian, pope Innocent III. I hope you will join us again.

Before I go, let me thank all of you who are supporting the show, in particular the Patrons who have kindly signed up on patreon.com/historyofthegermans. It is thanks to you this show does not have to do advertising for matrasses or as I recently heard energy supplements and pension plans. If Patreon isn’t for you, another way to help the show is sharing the podcast directly or boosting its recognition on social media. If you share, comment or retweet a post from the History of the Germans it is more likely to be seen by others, hence bringing in more listeners. My most active places are Twitter @germanshistory and my Facebook page History of the Germans Podcast. As always, all the links are in the show notes.   

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The Civil War between Philipp of Swabia and Otto IV

The kingdom is in turmoil. Two pretenders fight for supremacy. On the one side, Philipp of Swabia, son of the emperor Barbarossa, brother of Emperor Henry VI. and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. In the opposite corner stands Otto IV., son of Henry the Lion, protégé of king Richard the Lionheart and preferred candidate of pope Innocent III. But the main protagonists are the imperial princes who play the two kings against each other for their personal gain, swearing fealty one day and breaking it the next. It only ends with murder most foul.

History of the Germans
History of the Germans

A narrative history of the German people from the Middle Ages to Reunification in 1991. Episodes are 25-35 min long and drop on Thursday mornings.
“A great many things keep happening, some good, some bad”. Gregory of Tours (539-594)

HotGPod is now entering its 9th season. So far we have covered:

Ottonian Emperors (# 1- 21)
– Henry the Fowler (#1)
– Otto I (#2-8)
– Otto II (#9-11)
– Otto II (#11-14)
– Henry II (#15-17)
– Germany in 1000 (#18-21)

Salian Emperors(#22-42)
– Konrad II (#22- 25)
– Henry III (#26-29)
– Henry IV/Canossa (#30-39)
– Henry V (#40-42)
– Concordat of Worms (#42)

Early Hohenstaufen (#43-69)
– Lothar III (#43-46)
– Konrad III (#47-49)
– Frederick Barbarossa (#50-69)

Late Hohenstaufen (#70-94)
– Henry VI (#70-72)
– Philipp of Swabia (#73-74)
– Otto IV (#74-75)
– Frederick II (#75-90)
– Epilogue (#91-94)

Eastern Expansion (#95-108)

The Hanseatic League (#109-127)

The Teutonic Knights (#128-137)

The Interregnum and the early Habsburgs (#138 ff
– Rudolf von Habsburg (#139-141)
– Adolf von Nassau (#142)
– Albrecht von Habsburg (#143)
– Heinrich VII (#144-148)
– Ludwig the Bavarian (#149-153)
– Karl IV (#154-163)
The Reformation before the Reformation
– Wenceslaus the Lazy (#165)
– The Western Schism (#166/167)
– The Ottomans (#168)
– Sigismund (#169-#184
The Empire in the 15th Century
– Mainz & Hessen #186
– Printing #187-#188
– Universities #190
– Wittelsbachs #189, #196-#199
– Baden, Wuerrtemberg, Augsburg, Fugger (#191-195)
– Maps & Arms (#201-#202)
The Fall and Rise of the House of Habsburg
– Early habsburgs (#203-#207)
– Albrecht II (#208)
-Freidrich III (#209-

Ep. 74: Otto IV (1198-1215) – The War that Broke the Empire
byDirk Hoffmann-Becking
Ep. 74: Otto IV (1198-1215) – The War that Broke the Empire

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 74 – A Breaking of Oaths

The kingdom is in turmoil. Two pretenders fight for supremacy. On the one side, Philipp of Swabia, son of the emperor Barbarossa, brother of Emperor Henry VI. and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. In the opposite corner stands Otto IV., son of Henry the Lion, protégé of king Richard the Lionheart and preferred candidate of pope Innocent III. But the main protagonists are the imperial princes who play the two kings against each other for their personal gain, swearing fealty one day and breaking it the next. It only ends with murder most foul.

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Here we are, in the midst of a civil war. Well, as we will see it isn’t the kind of civil war where two determined sides relentlessly go at each other. It is much more a very prolonged negotiation amongst the princes, interspersed with great festivities, papal bulls and the occasional military campaign that usually stalls before the walls of a mighty city,.

Let us recap the starting position of our two contenders.

There is Otto IV., whose main sponsor is his uncle, king Richard the Lionheart. Richard is enormously rich thanks to the tax income from England and his extensive domains in France.

Richard’s main objective was to get back at the Hohenstaufen who had imprisoned and ransomed him on his return from the crusades. He was also very fond of his nephew and there may be a long-term option that Otto would support him in his struggle with the king of France, Philippe Auguste.

Otto’s second supporter is archbishop Adolf of Cologne. Adolf was less of a supporter of Otto than an opponent of the Hohenstaufen. Why he took so strongly against them is a bit lost in the mist of time. He stood as a candidate for the archbishopric of Cologne against a Hohenstaufen candidate, but he did get through and was invested by Henry VI. He had also opposed Henry VI.’th proposal to turn the empire into an inheritable monarchy, but so had many others. He did not want to elect little Frederick II. but relented in the end and had promised to crown the child. So, all in he wasn’t a friend but not a sworn enemy. In fact, there would have been a good reason for Adolf to oppose a candidature of a Welf prince who would want the old Saxon duchy back, which included Westphalia, the bit that Cologne had received after the fall of Henry the Lion. It looks a bit as if Adolf had accidentally become the focal point of anti-Hohenstaufen sentiment thanks to his lukewarm, but consistent opposition.

The third set of supporters of Otto were the merchants of Cologne, who probably pushed their archbishop over to his side. The merchants were most interested in trading privileges in England. These were extremely valuable as English wool was the raw material that Florentine weavers turned into the most desirable cloth in Europe. And Cologne sat on the Rhine the great traffic artery that sat between these two economic centres. This the time when the great cities of Flanders, Ghent, Bruges and Ypres were vying for that same trade.

These are his core supporters, The English, the archbishop of Cologne and the citizens of Cologne.

Otto’s second layer of supporters were first up his brother, Henry, The Count Palatinate. Henry was the older brother and had inherited the majority of his fathers’ possessions in line with the principles of primogeniture. Otto had only received a brace of castles from Henry the Lion’s vast lands and had to make his own way in life, which was already a bit of a sore point in their relationship. We had met this Henry before. He was the son of Henry the Lion who had deserted his emperor’s army before Naples in 1192, had spread rumours Henry VI. had died and had suggested the princes that they elect him instead.

For political reasons the emperor had forgiven him and for completely incomprehensible reasons, the aristocratic society of the 12th century completely overlooked this truly un-chivalric behaviour.

Two more things about Henry. He had become Count Palatinate by seducing and secretly marrying Agnes, sole child of Conrad, half -brother of Barbarossa. Henry VI. had to accept the valid marriage and even enfeoffed the Welf with the Palatinate. And final point, Henry was the initial choice of Richard the Lionheart to be candidate for kingship. The only reason this did not happen was that Henry had been on crusade in the Holy Land when the decision was made. Another sore point in the brotherly relationship.

Another member of this second layer of support was Henry, duke of Brabant. The duchy of Brabant encompassed most of eastern Belgium including Brussels and Antwerp and was in immediate neighbour of the archbishop of Cologne. The duke’s interest lay mainly in the large amount of English money he was offered for his help and a marital alliance whereby Otto was to marry his daughter Maria.

There are some others in this category like Bishop Konrad of Strasbourg who had a long-lasting feud with Philipp’s irascible brother and hence hated all Hohenstaufens and the duke of Limburg and his son, who initially fought for Philipp but were brought into the Otto camp early on in the process.

So, if you look on a map, Otto’s zone of control was in the lower Rhine around Cologne and Brabant, and upriver in the Palatinate as well as the family lands of the House of Welf around Brunswick.

On the other side was Philipp of Swabia.

He too has an inner and an outer circle. But that is where the similarity ends.

Philipps inner circle are the royal Hohenstaufen institutions such as they exist. At its heart sits the duchy of Swabia and the extensive Hohenstaufen possessions that stretch from the border with Bohemia in the east through sways of Franconia, including Nurnberg and Rothenburg to the outskirts of Frankfurt and then southwards through Swabia and Alsace. Part 2 is the royal domain, which comprises a large number of castles dotted across mostly the southern part of Germany, but at this point also include Goslar in Saxony with its great silver mines.

These territories come the imperial and the family Ministeriales. These had already risen to prominence in the last decades of Barbarossa, but now took up key position under Henry VI. and  Philipp. Men like Markward of Annweiler and Heinrich von Kalden who had served in Italy and Sicily. But also Kuno von Munzenberg, a mega ministeriale who owned dozens of castles and even minted his own coins, Eberhard von Tanne, seneschal of the emperors was another one. Ministeriales were at least theoretically, unfree men who had been trained in the use of knightly weapons. By the end of the 12th century, they have become a permanent feature of the medieval German society. Some of them were extremely rich and would even ascend to princely rank, but the vast majority were not much better off than their neighbours in the village. They were much more loyal than the aristocratic vassals, but not absolutely loyal. Even ministeriales are known to betray their lords.

Beyond this fairly compact powerbase, Philipp could count on a few natural allies. There are Bernhard of Anhalt, duke of Saxony, Ludwig, duke of Bavaria and the margrave of Meissen. These men had been the direct beneficiaries of the fall of Henry the Lion and hence could not expect anything good from Henry the Lion’s son. Other southern dukes like the Babenberger in Austria as well as the Zaehringer in Burgundy were linked either by family ties or financial gain.

Beyond that was the wide world of the undecided. Two of those became crucial, Ottokar duke of Bohemia and the landgrave Hermann of Thuringia.

Ottokar’s main interest was the title of king, which Philipp granted him generously at the very start of his reign. Landgrave Hermann was most interested in expanding his territory at the expense of what had remained of the royal domain in Saxony. Basically, these two were available to the highest bidder.

And then we have the foreigners. We already talked about the role the king of England played. But then we have the King of France, Philippe Auguste who was a natural ally of Philipp, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And the King of Denmark also gets involved. He wanted the lands of Adolf of Holstein, in the very north of the country. Because Adolf sided with Philip, Denmark sided with Otto.

So that is our chessboard. Otto has English money, Cologne, Brabant and his brother and the Danes. Philipp has French support, his own lands, the royal domain and support from most of Southern Germany.

Next question, what are the weapons.

Sounds like a stupid question but isn’t. Sure, there is military might. Armies are raised and sent against the opponents. But there were no decisive battles or even many battles at all. The two kings will face each other only once and that is very much at the end of the conflict. Mostly what these armies do is go down into their opponents’ territories, burn the fields and make some attempt at besieging the cities but never succeeding. I could take you through the back and forth of the military fortunes, but the detail is excessively dull.

Broadly speaking the fighting breaks down into four main theatres of war.

The surroundings of Strasbourg get devastated by Philipp in an attempt to move bishop Konrad into his camp. That is successful at least temporarily.

The other is Holstein, which is invaded by the Danes. They chuck out count Adolf who had to retire and Holstein remained Danish for 25 years. This one went to Otto.

The third theatre of war was the lower Rhine and specifically the surroundings of Cologne. Philipp would bring up an army, devastate the surrounding lands, but the walls of Cologne usually held firm and Philipp had to go back, either because winter was coming or because he was called into that other key battleground, Saxony, specifically Brunswick, capital of Otto IV. and Goslar, the loyal imperial city. Neither Brunswick nor Goslar could be taken by their respective besiegers.

With Saxony the big undecided piece, the Landgrave of Thuringia whose lands were just south and east of there, became the lynchpin. Both Philipp and Otto courted him, and he exploited the situation to the max. In total Hermann changed sides 5 times throughout the 5 years of the main conflict. He would declare for Otto when Philipp was otherwise engaged, capture a few royal castles and cities and when Philipp shows up, he would swap sides and revert to being a loyal imperial vassal in exchange for keeping these castles and cities. Three rounds of that and the Landgraves were properly rich.

But the military was only one side of the battle. The other was public relations. Philipp went on a massive spending spree, inviting all his followers and the undecideds to splendid royal assemblies. We can name 630 individuals who have come to his court, though in reality it would have been a lot more. He staged 28 of those, often outside his direct zone of influence.  

And for those he put on a great show. He would appear wearing the true imperial crown, by now believed to be the crown of Charlemagne, as well as the Holy Lance and all the imperial regalia. His wife the gorgeous and exotic Irene would parade next to her husband in her byzantine finery. And after the official ceremonies it was party time.

The court of Philipp of Schwaben was one of the first in Germany to sponsor the Minnesaenger, the German version of the Troubadours. Minnesaenger would write mostly songs about courtly love, but also romances like the Parzival of Hartmann von Aue or Tristan and Isolde by Godfrey of Strasburg. Minnesaenger would not only write of love and chivalric quests, they can do politics too. The most famous of them was Walter von der Vogelweide, and that is the one Philipp attracts to his court.

And Walter delivers. He writes several poems to praise Philipp and to diss his enemies. One of those is about the most splendid royal assembly in Magdeburg over Christmas 1199. I will read it to you, though be warned, my skills in Middle high German are non-existant:

Ez gienc eines tages, als unser hêrre wart geborn

von einer maget, die er im ze muoter hât erkorn,

ze Megdeburc der künic Philippes schône.


da gienc eins keisers bruoder und eins keisers kint

in einer wât, swie doch die namen drîge sint,

er truoc des rîches zepter und die krône.

Er trât vil lîse, im was niht gâch,

im sleich ein hôhgeborne küniginne nâch,

rôse âne dorn, ein tûbe sunder gallen.

diu zuht was niener anderswâ,

die Düringe und die Sahsen dienten alsô dâ,

daz ez den wîsen müeste wol gevallen.

Roughly translated it says something like that:

On that day, when our Lord was born of a virgin whom he chose to be his mother, there walked in Magdeburg King Philip, glorious to behold. There walked an emperor’s brother and an emperor’s son in one robe, although they are three persons; he carried the real sceptre and the real crown. He walked along very slowly in complete tranquillity. After him walked a high-born queen, rose without thorn, dove without gall. The decency of the whole world was united there. The Thuringians and the Saxons performed their court duties there in such a manner that even the most discerning could be highly satisfied.

These events and the sponsorship of poets in the midst of war had previously been seen as wasteful spending, but it was probably worth a lot more than a battalion of knights. If you were one of the undecided princes in the civil war that could not be won militarily, where would you tend to go, to the one who keeps his purse closed tight and seems to have no friends, or the one where everybody goes and who wines and dines you?

Apart from great festivities, the other element of soft power were marriage alliances. Otto had the advantage of being himself available, a trump card he used to tie the duke of Barbant to his cause. Philipp was already married but four daughters to offer. These were put in play at various points to different German magnates, and at some point even to a papal nephew.

As for money Philipp can match the English funds thanks to the treasures his brother had sent up from Sicily, the 150 mules worn down by the weight of gold and precious stones. But Otto is no slouch either. We know a little less about the splendour of his court since he did not pay the right poets, but when English money was still flowing, he sure must have put on great performances.

And that gets us to the other theatre of this conflict, the one that did not involve any Germans. And that is the first hundred years war between England and France. That is ongoing and will be ongoing for most of the Middle Ages. And it is also where some military events do have a decisive impact on German affairs.

The first happened in March 1199 below the walls of the small and barely defended castle of Chalus-Chabrol near Limoges, central France. Richard had attacked the castle as part of a pointless feud with the viscount of Limoges. In the fighting a bolt from a cross bow hit the king’s shoulder. The wound turned gangrene and a month later, Richard, Coeur de Lion was dead, not before forgiving the crossbowman who had shot him – chivalric knight to the last.

Richard’s brother and successor, John lackland had much less interest in German affairs or fondness for his nephew. The great supply of cash from England dwindled and when John made peace with Philippe Auguste in 1204 it ceased altogether.

In the absence of English money, Otto became more and more dependent upon support from pope Innocent III. As I mentioned last week, Innocent took his sweet time with taking a decision. When he did, in 1201, he came down very much on Otto’s side. He had negotiated with Philipp as well and as guardian of young Frederick had at some point contemplated pushing his wards claim.

Innocent’s main interest in the conflict was to protect and expand the papal territories. In the aftermath of the death of Henry VI. almost all of Italy had risen up against the imperial administrators.

I did say last week that Philipp had stood at the empty crib in the castle of Folignano where little Frederick was supposed to have been. That I admit was a bit of artistic license. Philipp never made it to Folignano. His journey ended in Montefiascone, north of Rome as local lords encouraged by the news of Henry VI.’s death besieged him. Philipp had to hack his way home through Northern Italy, barely making it. In this context I just want to say that I indeed used a bit of I feel not very foul language and some of you found it unnecessary. I personally saw it as a good way to express the distress I think Philipp may have felt at that moment. But I understand that some of you prefer it if I refrain from such terms and I will do my best to stick to it. Though note that German is a language of prolific and inventive swearwords and where the use of them is evidenced or used in literature, I will use it.

Going back to Italy. In the chaos after the death of the emperor, pope Innocent managed to get hold of key positions, including the duchy of Spoleto, the mark of Ancona, the pentapolis around Ravenna, parts of Emilia Romagna and again, the lands of Matilda. Protecting those from imperial power became one of his key political objectives. Hence Innocent support for Otto was made conditional upon recognition of the papal gains and a solemn promise never to seek the Sicilian crown. Philipp had not been prepared to make such concessions.

On the face of it papal support did not produce much. In particular the German bishops remained loyal to Philipp. They write to the pope stating that it is their prerogative to elect the emperor and that his holiness should stay out of the discussion.

Only one bishop was affected by papal support for Otto IV. and the subsequent excommunication of Philipp, and that was his own chancellor, Konrad von Querfurth. Konrad had been a Hohenstaufen loyalist, former chancellor of Henry VI. and had played a major role in the conquest of Sicily and the crusade. His change of allegiance from Philipp to Otto was less for reasons of the afterlife but was bought with the bishopric of Wuerzburg, something the chancellor very much desired.

The defection of Konrad was a major blow both militarily and politically. It potentially opened a new theatre of war, now much closer to the Hohenstaufen homelands. But Philipp got lucky. Konrad had got himself in trouble in his new post. He had levied a tax on his Ministeriales and they weren’t happy about it. One of them, Bodo of Ravensburg killed the episcopal administrator who was collecting the tax. Konrad then pursued Bodo for murder to which Bodo responded by killing the bishop himself. That solved this problem.

But the papal support had one great advantage. Ever since Gregory VII. the papacy had declared its right to release people from their solemn oaths. The concept that oaths are inviolate are at the heart of the political system of the Middle Ages. Vassalage is the exchange of vows, one to support the lord and the other to protect the vassal.

You may remember the speech that Otto von Northeim made in 1073 gathering support for an uprising against emperor Henry IV. There he had to go to extreme lengths to justify why he was no longer bound by his oath. Here is what he said after having first listed Henry’s innumerable crimes against the freedom of the Saxons:

Quote: “Perhaps you, as Christians, are afraid to violate the oath with which you have paid homage to the king. Indeed, to the king you have sworn. As long as he was a king to me and acted royally, I also kept the oath I swore to him freely and faithfully; but after he ceased to be a king, the one to whom I had to keep loyalty was no longer there. So not against the king, but against the unjust robber of my freedom; not against the fatherland, but for the fatherland, and for freedom, which no good man surrenders other than with his life at the same time, I take up arms, and I demand of you that you also take them up. “ end quote

130 years later the Landgrave of Thuringia and King Ottokar of Bohemia will swear individual detailed oaths to Philipp to support him. The oaths are made over important relics and the princes pre-agree to the most severe temporal and spiritual punishments in case of a breach of this oath. Hostages are exchanged to ensure compliance and in the case of Ottokar, he marries a daughter of Philipp. But the ink is barely dry on the document and both of these change side, not for the greater good of the realm or to escape unbearable servitude, but for short term territorial gains. And they are not afraid of any punishment since the pope immediately releases them from their oath.

This devaluation of solemn oaths is another element in the shift in political and social culture, away from the ideals of the Middle Ages. Just as the troubadours and Minnesaenger celebrate the ideals of chivalry, the reality becomes more and more Machiavellian.

This change of sides by Thuringia and Bohemia in 1203 coincides with Danish conquest of Holstein and puts Philipp under enormous pressure. His campaign against Thuringia fails and he finds himself besieged inside the city of Erfurt. At the end of 1203, Philipp flees from Erfurt and Otto IV. writes triumphantly to pope Innocent III that he expects to have Philipp defeated by the end of next year.

In 1204 Philipp makes a last desperate attempt and goes straight for Otto’s headquarters, the city of Brunswick. And that is where Otto makes his fatal mistake. Brunswick was initially owned by Otto’s older brother, Henry, the Count Palatinate. Otto had taken it over since in it lay the great palace of Dankwarderode, the magnificent construction of their father, Henry the Lion that rivalled any imperial palace. The loss of Brunswick was the last straw for Henry. He had already seen his own principality, the Palatinate, being occupied by Philipp’s troops. And now after all the pain he had experienced in the service of his younger brother, he, the eldest son, was now to give up his family inheritance. Henry snapped and switched sides, joining Philipp.

And then archbishop Adolf of Cologne, the one guy who had kicked off the conflict also switched to Philipp. He may have worried about the overbearing nature of the young Welf who might still hanker after Westphalia or it was a more prosaic donation of 5000 mark of silver that changed his mind.

This is also the time English money stops coming.

Only the city of Cologne is still with Otto.

In 1205 Philipp can eventually heal the defects in his initial coronation. He is crowned again, this time in the right place, the palatine chapel in Aachen, by the correct Archbishop, Adolf of Cologne.

From there it should have only been a question of time before Otto finally gives up. There are two more battles between Otto and the citizens of Cologne on one side and Philipp and his superior troops on the other. Otto loses both of them and is even gets injured in one of them.

Heinrich von Kalden, the great leader of Philipp’s armies finally arranges for the two kings to meet to resolve their differences. Philipp offers Otto great terms. Otto was to marry Philipp’s daughter, become duke of Swabia and King of Burgundy if he gives up the claim on the imperial crown. But Otto refuses. Even when pope Innocent III urges him to accept, he still refuses.

All the parties can agree to is a truce. But the route ahead is now clear. Otto’s claim is defunct. His support is gone. Cologne had opened its doors to Philipp. Philipp is gathering a large army to dislodge him from his last remaining positions around Brunswick. His future is bleak, he will either have to go into exile or end his days on one of his father’s castles, alone and friendless.

On June 21st, 1208, Philipp is celebrating the marriage of his niece, the daughter of his brother Otto of Burgundy to the duke of Andechs-Meran in Bamberg. It is again, a splendid occasion. Many of the imperial princes have come, and the groom’s brother, the bishop of Bamberg had celebrated a great wedding in the marvellous cathedral the current bishop was constructing over the ruins of Henry II’s House of God.

At the end of the church service Philipp retires to the cooler rooms inside the episcopal palace. There he had asked his physician to bleed him. He was alone with just his chancellor and his Lord High Stewart, Henry of Waldburg. At the ninth hour, Otto von Wittelsbach, the count palatinate of Bavaria enters the royal chambre alone. Philipp welcomes him and even as Otto unsheathes his sword, the king still believes that all Otto wants to do is display his skills with the blade as he had often done before.

But not today. “This will not be a game for you today” the count screams and cuts straight through the royal jugular. The High Stewart tries to intervene but is struck down. Otto and his men can flee. 

Philipp of Swabia is dead. The first royal assassination since Merovingian times and one of only two in the Holy Roman empire.

And in this power vacuum steps, his opponent, Otto IV. as the anointed king. Almost immediately all imperial princes recognise Otto IV. as the rightful king and heir.

Philipp’s wife, the majestic and tragic Queen Irene flees to Swabia, to a monastery close to the family seat of the Hohenstaufen.  There she dies 2 months later in childbirth.

The civil war is over. One question remains, why did Otto von Wittelsbach kill his king?

The contemporaries ascribed the murder to injured honour. Otto von Wittelsbach had been promised a daughter of King Philipp in marriage. This offer was made shortly after the king had to flee from Erfurt when his chips were down, and he needed Otto’s support. But when things had improved, Philipp cancels the marriage agreement and offers the girl to someone else.

Is that indeed what happened? A recent essay claimed that the act was part of a wider conspiracy that included the groom, the duke of Andechs, his brother, the bishop of Bamberg and the duke of Bavaria. All these men were loosely related as members of the wider house of Wittelsbach and had their power base in what we now see as Bavaria. It was suspicious that both the duke of Andechs and his brother, the bishop fled immediately after the murder.

But this theory is widely dismissed, in part because the evidence it was based on was badly put together. And further it is very unclear what benefit these protagonists would have drawn from killing Philipp. As things stood the conflict between Welf and Waiblingen was a honeypot for the magnates. As long as it continued, they could demand money, titles, marriages and privileges in exchange for their continued loyalty. Killing one of them would bring back tighter, more centralised royal power.

But if Otto acted alone, what does that mean. Was he simply a particularly prickly man who could not control himself. Or was he acting within the context of the honour code of the times.

German historians of the period have recently focused more and more on honour as a broader social concept. They conclude that the concept of honour, i.e., the loss or gain of reputation within the aristocratic class is crucial to maintaining political and economic positions. A lord who cannot defend his honour risks losing his vassals and subsequently his military and financial resources.

I am not qualified to really give an opinion on that. But I notice that broken marriage agreements are quite common as alliances are shifting back and forth. We have already talked about the devaluation of oaths and the machiavellisation of society. Hold that against the one isolated case of royal assassination and my money is on Otto being exceptionally prickly or has indeed suffered a massive humiliation by Philipp.

Otto never got to explain his actions. Heinrich von Kalden, most feared of the Hohenstaufen Ministeriales, hunted him down, and in a barn somewhere in Bavaria cut off his head and threw it into a river.

Next week we will see how Otto IV. the only Welf on the imperial throne will fare. Let is find out what is left of the royal infrastructure and income after 10 years of handouts to imperial princes? And most crucially, will his alliance with Innocent III hold against the political train tracks of the empire?

Before I go, let me thank all of you who are supporting the show, in particular the Patrons who have kindly signed up on patreon.com/historyofthegermans. It is thanks to you this show does not have to do advertising for matrasses or as I recently heard energy supplements and pension plans. If Patreon isn’t for you, another way to help the show is sharing the podcast directly or boosting its recognition on social media. If you share, comment or retweet a post from the History of the Germans it is more likely to be seen by others, hence bringing in more listeners. My most active places are Twitter @germanshistory and my Facebook page History of the Germans Podcast. As always, all the links are in the show notes.   

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Emperor Henry VI is dead and his son just 3 years old

This week we will see the reverse of 1046 when there was one emperor choosing between three popes. Today, we have one Pope, given the choice between three emperors. How could that happen? Last time we looked we had Henry VI. at the peak of his reign, being king of Sicily, having pushed through the inheritability of the imperial title and de-facto encircled the pope militarily. But now, just 2 years later the picture is reversed. There is a reason the wheel of fortune is one of the favourite subjects of high medieval painting..

History of the Germans
History of the Germans

A narrative history of the German people from the Middle Ages to Reunification in 1991. Episodes are 25-35 min long and drop on Thursday mornings.
“A great many things keep happening, some good, some bad”. Gregory of Tours (539-594)

HotGPod is now entering its 9th season. So far we have covered:

Ottonian Emperors (# 1- 21)
– Henry the Fowler (#1)
– Otto I (#2-8)
– Otto II (#9-11)
– Otto II (#11-14)
– Henry II (#15-17)
– Germany in 1000 (#18-21)

Salian Emperors(#22-42)
– Konrad II (#22- 25)
– Henry III (#26-29)
– Henry IV/Canossa (#30-39)
– Henry V (#40-42)
– Concordat of Worms (#42)

Early Hohenstaufen (#43-69)
– Lothar III (#43-46)
– Konrad III (#47-49)
– Frederick Barbarossa (#50-69)

Late Hohenstaufen (#70-94)
– Henry VI (#70-72)
– Philipp of Swabia (#73-74)
– Otto IV (#74-75)
– Frederick II (#75-90)
– Epilogue (#91-94)

Eastern Expansion (#95-108)

The Hanseatic League (#109-127)

The Teutonic Knights (#128-137)

The Interregnum and the early Habsburgs (#138 ff
– Rudolf von Habsburg (#139-141)
– Adolf von Nassau (#142)
– Albrecht von Habsburg (#143)
– Heinrich VII (#144-148)
– Ludwig the Bavarian (#149-153)
– Karl IV (#154-163)
The Reformation before the Reformation
– Wenceslaus the Lazy (#165)
– The Western Schism (#166/167)
– The Ottomans (#168)
– Sigismund (#169-#184
The Empire in the 15th Century
– Mainz & Hessen #186
– Printing #187-#188
– Universities #190
– Wittelsbachs #189, #196-#199
– Baden, Wuerrtemberg, Augsburg, Fugger (#191-195)
– Maps & Arms (#201-#202)
The Fall and Rise of the House of Habsburg
– Early habsburgs (#203-#207)
– Albrecht II (#208)
-Freidrich III (#209-

Ep. 73: Philipp of Swabia (1198-1208) – One Pope, Three Emperors
byDirk Hoffmann-Becking
Ep. 73: Philipp of Swabia (1198-1208) – One Pope, Three Emperors

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans: Episode 73 – One Pope, three Emperors

This week we will see the reverse of 1046 when there was one emperor choosing between three popes. Today, we have one Pope, given the choice between three emperors. How could that happen? Last time we looked we had Henry VI. at the peak of his reign, being king of Sicily, having pushed through the inheritability of the imperial title and de-facto encircled the pope militarily. But now, just 2 years later the picture is reversed. There is a reason the wheel of fortune is one of the favourite subjects of high medieval painting..

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Last week’s episode closed with the end of the negotiations between emperor Henry VI. and Pope Celestin III. Subject of the intended agreement  was nothing less than the resolution of all existing conflicts between the papacy and the empire. Henry VI. had put everything and the kitchen sink on the table. He had offered financial freedom for the papacy, a settlement for the lands of Matilda, a crusade, vassalage for the kingdom of Sicily and most bewildering of all, vassalage of the whole empire. But the ancient pope Celestin III, now in his 90s refused. He refused because an empire that held both Northern Italy including Tuscany and the Southern Italian kingdom of Sicily would have been the end of papal independence.

There was no possible compromise to be had. The pope is not going to accept Henry VI. as King of Sicily. Full stop.

Henry left Rome, frustrated but determined not to give up.  He had to perform a full 180-degree shift in policy.

The crusade that he had worked on for so long, that he had sacrificed the inheritable monarchy for and that he thought would be the lever to force the papacy into recognition of his kingship was now irrelevant. The Pope would not make him king of Sicily even if he brings Jerusalem back into Christian hands. That does not mean he would stop the crusade, but he would not join it.

His top priority is now to protect his reign in Sicily. As soon as the papal refusal of Henry’s offer was public, it would encourage more opposition and rebellion. And that he needed to nip in the bud.

To get on the front foot he called an assembly of the Southern Italian barons to Capua. There the nobles the cities were to show their charters and documents for inspection. All rights and privileges were put under scrutiny. Given how thin on the ground written documentation was at the time, any confirmation of their possessions was made dependent on their display of loyalty. To drive his point home, he also staged a show trial of Richard of Acerra, the defender of Naples in 1192. Richard had not only defied the emperor through his skilful defence of Naples, but he was accused of having committed atrocities. When the ancient city of Capua had fallen into his hands after Henry’s withdrawal in 1192, Richard had its German garrison massacred.

As soon as Henry had taken control of the kingdom, he had issued a search warrant for Richard of Acerra. Richard had fled but was betrayed by a monk who handed him over to one of Henry VI. Knights.

In an elaborate show trial, Richard of Acerra was condemned to death for high treason. The emperor had him dawn behind a horse through the streets of Capua, then hanged from the gallows by his feet where he remained alive for two days before the court jester put an end to his suffering.

The lack of legitimacy caused by the papal refusal to recognise Henry as king had to be made up for by terror.

Henry, satisfied with his handiwork, proceeded to Puglia to inspect progress of the crusade. The most senior of the imperial princes, Konrad, archbishop of Mainz was leading the first contingent of 30 ships that left Bari in March 1197. Contingents from Bavaria and Austria were on their way through Italy, looking to take ship from Messina or Bari. The same goes for the large number of mercenaries the emperor had hired. One detachment, led by duke Henry of Brabant had taken ship in the low countries and were sailing along the Atlantic coast towards Sicily, making brief stopovers to help the Portuguese in their expansion southwards. It was all a bit uncoordinated and undisciplined, leaving the population of his new kingdoms fearing rather than cheering the crusaders.

In this atmosphere of unrest and disapproval, Henry scheduled a re-run of the assembly in Capua for the Sicilian nobles. They too were asked to present their charters for inspection, leading to a redistribution of land and possessions from unreliable candidates to imperial loyalists. We should not forget that Henry VI. had brought a not insignificant number of his own Ministeriales and aristocratic followers to his new lands and these men were expecting to be rewarded with their own territories. Men like Markward of Annweiler, Konrad von Querfurt and Heinrich von Kalden took all the leading roles in the kingdom.

The Sicilian/Norman aristocrats realised that their days as the elite in the land was numbered unless they acted now. They arranged a conspiracy that involved not just the nobles but also many cities and the leaders of the large Muslim and Greek communities. It seems they had even involved the pope into their plans. At least we are told that old Celestin warned some German crusaders from travelling south.

The plan was to kill Henry during a hunting trip and simultaneously take out all his key advisors. The rebels had assembled a small army of armoured knights for that purpose and they may even have already elected a new king, the lord of Castrogiovanni who was variously known as Jordan le pin or as William the Monk. This new king was to marry Constance and thereby become the legitimate ruler of Sicily.

The plot failed literally at the very last minute. Henry VI. had already set out for his hunting expedition which was where the conspirators planned to strike. Outside town one of his spies rode up to him and told him not just about the extensive preparations of the conspirators but also about the armed men following him into woods. Henry just about managed to get back behind the walls of Messina. Markward of Annweiler and the Marshall Heinrich von Kalden mustered some of the mercenaries and crusaders who had gathered in Messina and rode out to meet the insurgents. At a bloody battle below Mount Etna the last of the Sicilian Normans were utterly routed. The survivors fled to their castle at Castrogiovanni. The imperial troops surrounded the castle and when Henry arrived with even more troops from Palermo the garrison surrendered. The leaders of the rebellion were caught alive, including their potential king.

Henry’s justice was even more cruel than at Capua. They were all condemned to death, some were hanged, others burned, drowned or sawn in half. The pretender was given the most brutal death. He had a crown fixed to his head with iron nails and Henry said to him: “Now you have this crown you so badly craved. I do not envy you for it, enjoy this you so desired.”

The irony of it. If there is one man in this narrative who craved the crown of Sicily above and beyond any other thing, it is Henry VI.  

These events are often cited as proof that Henry was a cruel and vicious ruler. And they are no doubt brutal punishments. But they were driven not by excessive brutality beyond the standards of his time, but out of a position of weakness.

Thanks to the papal refusal to legitimise Henry and Constance as the rulers of Sicily had changed his approach. When he still hoped for Papal recognition, Henry was magnanimous and did not condemn his opponents to death, let alone a humiliating and painful death. But now his only chance of staying on the throne was by taking away his opponents’ resources and establishing an atmosphere of fear and suppression. Like many a usurper before him, he resorted to a display of exaggerated brutality to cow the opposition.

All this took place in May. Over the next few months, more and more crusaders gathered in the harbours of Sicily, until on September 1, 1197 order was given for the 250 ships to set sail for the Holy Land.

Meanwhile Henry’s brother Philipp had prematurely ended his honeymoon and was on his way to Folignano to pick up little Frederick, by now elected King of the Romans, to take him to Aachen for his coronation.

Henry’s position was now fairly stable, not quite as stable as he wanted it, but stable. Sicily was cowering in fear before its ruthless new ruler and the imperial princes north of the Alps had finally elected his son to be king and his coronation was not that far away.

But then he suddenly felt weak. A fever that troubled him since the siege of Naples in 1192 had come back with a vengeance but was now accompanied by terrible bouts of diarrhoea. He was brought to Messina and the empress was called to expect the worse. But on September 25th he seemed to recover and ordered his imminent departure for Palermo. Most of the imperial train was already packed up and en route to the capital, when the emperor suddenly relapsed. On September 28th after confession and the last rites, emperor Henry VI. died in the presence of just his wife and few close advisors.

How is this possible. Henry VI. was just 32 years old, much younger at his death than even Henry V., whose unexpected and early death ended the Salian dynasty.  Only Otto III had died younger, at just 22 years of age, but then Otto III had been fasting himself to death since his teenage years.

Talk of poison spread. Suspicion fell on his wife, Constance. The couple had spent most of the last few years apart as Constance was first confined with her precious only child and then managed Sicily when Henry was up in Germany and Rome. As is common with medieval rulers, we know very little about the emotional side of their relationship.

Those who argue that Constance may have wanted Henry out of the way point to the fact that Henry had systematically replaced Sicilian Normans with German knights. And many of these Sicilian Normans were Constance’s cousins, respected courtiers, admirals and generals at the court of her father and her nephew. It may be that Constance shared their resentment at the takeover by the Annweilers and Kaldens from the North.

Politically it is harder to see how Constance would benefit from Henry VI. death. The death of the emperor threw Sicily into turmoil. The official legitimate heir was little Frederick. But Frederick was not even in Sicily. He was in Folignano and for all Constance knew could already be on his way to his coronation as King of the Romans in Aachen. And one thing is clear. Once Frederick was crowned as future emperor, the pope would not allow him to become king of Sicily. And without papal permission, a three-year-old and an ageing empress would not hang on to the crown for long. Hence for Constance to seek her husbands death would only make sense if (i) she knew that Frederick was still in Folignano and Philipp would not get to him in time, (ii) she had an agreement with the papacy that Frederick could become king of Sicily in exchange for renouncing the rights to the empire, and most crucially (iii) Constance believed that her husbands policy to hold on to Sicily and the Empire was doomed. And that is where the theory falls down. Yes, Henry was not popular in Sicily, but his regime was not doomed by any stetch of the imagination.

That being said, Constance next steps are exactly what I lined out above. Upon the emperor’s death she sends envoys to bring Frederick down to Sicily as fast as humanly possible. At the same time she opens negotiations with Pope Celestin III. She promises effectively Frederick’s renunciation of the imperial crown, makes the pope the little boys’ guardian, throws out all the German courtiers and replaces them with Sicilians. And with that she can have little Frederick crowned King of Sicily in 1198. This is where we will leave the two of them for the next couple of episodes. No worries we will get back to the beautiful south soon.

Taking Frederick to Sicily and dropping opposition to the papacy helps Constance and Frederick clinging to the Kingdom of Sicily, but it creates a huge problem for Henry’s younger brother Philipp, by now duke of Swabia,  for the Hohenstaufen position in Germany and for the empire as a whole.

I mentioned earlier that Philipp was on his way down to Folignano to pick up young Frederick and take him to his coronation in Aachen. But when he got there, he is told that his mother had already taken him down to Palermo. I guess medieval people did not say Oh shit, but whatever the equivalent of Oh Shit is in early high German, that is what Philipp must have said when he is shown the empty crip at the home of the Duke of Spoleto.  

The empire needs an emperor, and the elected future emperor is little Frederick. Philipp had spent the last years making exactly that happen. Having a child emperor is already a bit of an anomaly in an elective monarchy, but a child emperor that isn’t even here that is complexity cubed.

Philipp is wrecking his brain on his way back to Germany how to solve the issue. Constance, he is sure, will not hand over Frederick, because that would cause the same problem in Sicily, the new king is a child and a child that isn’t even here. So no, there is little chance that Frederick will come to Germany before he has reached adulthood.

But what shall we do in the meantime? A regency council headed by himself, Philipp and some of the loyal imperial princes? Or shall a new king be elected, either as a permanent ruler or to rule until Frederick comes back?

How and who should decide that? In the 12th century the answer to that question is increasingly to let the pope decide. Ever since the Investiture Controversy had broken the supremacy of the emperors over the other rulers in Europe, disputes over difficult questions like the succession to the throne were brought to the courts of the church. And thanks to the expanding network of papal legates, the church could provide dispute resolution quickly and locally.

Questions as fundamental as the one brought about by the death of Henry VI. should hence be decided by the church and most specifically by the pope. But the papacy was unable to act. Pope Celestin III had died at the start of the year 1198 at the ripe old age of 92. His successor, Innocent III who will become the most important pope of the Middle Ages. But it takes him a few weeks to get into gear, weeks during which no decision can be expected.

Into that vacuum steps Adolf, archbishop of Cologne. He is at this point the most senior bishop present in Germany and hence in charge of imperial elections. Konrad, archbishop of Mainz is down in the Holy Land and so are many other imperial princes.

Adolf had only reluctantly accepted the election of young Frederick, but now as circumstances had changed, acts as that had never happened.

He writes to the newest of the imperial vassals, Richard the Lionheart and invites him to come down for the election. Richard politely declines. But the former prisoner on the Trifels and imperial ATM realises that this is a great opportunity to get back at his now dead tormentor.  As a vassal and prince, he can make a suggestion for the election. And that suggestion was to elect Otto, count of Poitou, Duke of Aquitaine.

Otto who?

Otto was born around 1177, so is pretty much the same age as Philipp of Swabia. His father was Henry the Lion, known to you all and friend of the podcast. His mother was Matilda, daughter of King Henry II of England and hence the sister of Richard the Lionheart. The reason we have not heard anything about Otto is, because he grew up at the English court.  His father was exiled to England in 1181 when Otto was maybe six and he stayed there after his father had returned to Germany.

King Richard was exceedingly fond of his nephew, who had little prospects in Germany being the younger son of a family that insisted on Salian law inheritance. Richard first tried to make him the Earl of York though the locals rejected him. But he was successful in appointing him count of Poitou in France, a title Richard used himself= before he became king of England. As Count of Poitou he was also the acting as duke of Aquitaine, that great territory in South West France that had come into the Angevin family through the marriage of Eleanor and Henry II. Otto was now in one of the top positions of the Angevin empire.

If Henry VI. had not died in 1197, Otto would have likely played a significant role in English politics. He was not just one of Richards favourite nephews, but he was also a potential heir to his throne. Richard was 36 at the time and given the state of his personal inclinations and relationship with his wife was likely to remain childless. As we have been told by Erroll Flynn, John Derek, Russell Crowe, Cary Elwes, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery and four more, his brother John later to be called Lackland was not the right man to become king. Or at least that is what Richard thought after John had offered vast amounts of money to Henry VI. to prolong Richard’s stay in Germany.

The other potential heir was Arthur of Brittany, the son of Godfrey, another brother of Richard’s and John’s. Arthur had technically a better claim than John Lackland, since Godfrey had been older than John. But Arthur was living at the court of Phillippe Auguste of France, Richard’s arch enemy, which disqualified him.

That made Otto the technical# 3 to succeed and as far as Richard was concerned, the #1. But Richard also knew that if he were to appoint Otto as his successor, a civil war was unavoidable. Henry VI. death and the disappearance of little Frederick down south was an absolute godsend for Richard the Lionheart.

He wrote back to Adolf of Cologne that Otto was on his way, and he should get everything ready for the election and coronation.

Adolf may have been in opposition to the Hohenstaufen for a while, so a non-Hohenstaufen candidate was something he liked. But a Welf? The prospect of a Welf King and emperor was not exactly what an archbishop of Cologne could get excited about. Cologne had been one of the great beneficiaries of the fall of Henry the Lion. When henry the Lion lost his duchies of Saxony and Bavaria, Saxony was split in two, one, Westphalia had gone to Cologne and the other still called Saxony had gone to Bernhard of Anhalt and Bavaria had gone to the Wittelsbachs. It could not be their interest to get a son of Henry the Lion on to the throne.

But money talks and Richard of England had money, lots of money. We are entering the high Middle Ages and taxation is becoming a thing. England always had a coherent enough structure to force through taxation and the King of France was establishing the same in his territories. The Empire had fallen behind. The territorial lords and the independent cities of Northern Italy and increasingly Germany were building taxation infrastructure, but the empire as a whole had no such capabilities. Henry VI. had tax income from Sicily but nothing from the empire.

Richard was willing to use his money to buy his beloved nephew a crown, the crown of the empire no less.

And another force pushed for the candidature of Otto, one that appears for the first time on the imperial stage. The merchants, more specifically the merchants of Cologne. Cologne was the centre of trade between England and Germany and down the Rhine into Italy. The Cologne merchants were very keen on a close alliance between the empire and England and that meant they supported Otto.

With Adolf on board one crucial element of the process to become the anointed king was in place – Otto had the correct archbishop for the coronation. And, since the archbishop of Mainz was down in the Holy Land, Adolf was also in charge of the imperial duties of his colleague upriver, i.e, he was the correct archbishop for organising the election. The only thing that was missing were the imperial regalia, those were in the castle of Trifels, firmly in the hand of the Hohenstaufen.

Talking about the Hohenstaufen where is Philipp, duke of Swabia and currently leader of the clan? Well, he had rushed back to Germany after his failure to bring young Frederick to Germany and listened to all the chatter about an English-welfish candidate for the imperial crown.

What is he to do now? Should he try to be elected himself and be king in his own right, stepping over the rights of his nephew? Or shall he claim to act as his nephew’s guardian and representative? But how would that work?  Would the imperial vassals recognise the representative of a four-year old who wasn’t even baptised, let alone crowned as their liege lord?

We do not know what Philipps actual motives were, but he declared his willingness to accept an election as king and so, on March 8th, 1198 Philipp was elected King of the Romans and future emperor by an impressive number of imperial princes led by the dukes Bernhard of Saxony and Ludwig of Bavaria, the archbishop of Magdeburg and the bishops of Bamberg, Eichstaett, Merseburg and Worms. But he did not have any of the most senior archbishops, those of Cologne, Mainz and Trier on his roster. The election also took place in Muehlhausen in Thuringia, not exactly on Frankish soil, as was the custom.

As soon as Philipp was elected, a call went out to Otto to come down to Germany where he arrived in June. Otto’s allies besieged and entered Aachen on 12h of July 1198 where he was crowned by the correct archbishop, in the correct place, but with replicas of the actual imperial regalia.

Philipp had hesitated to proceed to his own coronation, in part because he hoped he may still be able to sway the archbishop of Cologne to join his side and also, because he wanted to have his nephew’s prior permission for this irrevocable step.

The permission from Frederick was also important because the German crusaders were now returning from the Holy Land. It is all a bit chaotic, even more chaotic than a normal succession. Henry’s crusade had simply ended with his death. As soon as the crusaders had heard of the demise of the emperor, they knew that their home would be in turmoil. Long gone were the days when the lands and possessions of a crusader were sacrosanct whilst he was down freeing Jerusalem. Everybody rushed home as fast as they could to protect or even expand their territory in the now inevitable rejigging of the cards. And these crusaders had sworn an oath on the succession rights of little Frederick. So, in order to transfer their loyalty to him, Philipp needed the little boy’s consent.

That came through in July and another obstacle was also cleared. In 1198 Philipp had still been under excommunication. Excommunication is by now so common, I barelyh mention them any more.. He had picked up the papal wrath when his brother had made him duke of Tuscany. In this role Philipp had pushed the imperial prerogatives against papal resistance. That was enough to have him excommunicated. As I said, the actual Middle Ages are gradually coming to an end and being replaced by a more cynical, everyone for himself attitude, where the papacy will use its moral superiority in the pursuit of purely temporal political objectives. This political excommunication was lifted by the papal legate so that a coronation could take place in Mainz on September 8th, 1198.

Mainz was not Aachen but had at least historically been a place of coronation. Philipp also had the correct imperial regalia, which we know are important to confer legitimacy. But he did not have the correct archbishop. In fact no German or any other archbishop was willing to perform this coronation in the see of the absent archbishop of Mainz. Philipp’s party had to resort to the rather obscure bishop of Tarantaise in Burgundy who apparently owed Philipp’s brother, the count of Burgundy big time.

There we are at the end of 1198. We have three elected Kings of the Romans.

There is the child Frederick, four years old and elected by most of the princes but far away and not yet crowned.

Then there is Otto counted as Otto IV, who could rely on English money and the Bishop and city of Cologne.

And finally, Philipp, usually not given a numeral though he sometime called himself Philipp II counting the emperor Philipp the Arab in the 3rd century as his predecessor. He had the strongest position amongst the territorial lords, counting the dukes of Saxony and Bavaria in his camp plus his own domain as duke of Swabia.

And then we have the throng of undecided princes many just on their way back from the crusades, Henry, the Count Palatinate, Bernhard von Zaehringen, the archbishop of Mainz and Trier just to name a few.

For the good of Christendom, the pope should decide this election and bring peace to the empire. That is what he is for. And the new pope, Innocent III, will decide it along of what is fair and best for the empire. Sorry, just kidding. He will certainly not do that. He will make his decision on the basis what is best for the political objectives of the papacy and only two years after the civil war had gone into full swing.

His reasoning in 1200/1201 boils down to the following:

Frederick should not have been elected when he was just 2 years old since Christendom requires a capable and proactive emperor, something a small child could not be, in particular not one that hasn’t even been baptised.

Philipp of Swabia, he argues is also unsuitable because at the time of the election he had still been excommunicated. The lifting of the ban by the papal legate was invalid because Philipp was descendant of a race of persecutors of the church who, like his father and brother had shown scant regard for the rights of the church.

Otto, he argues may not have had a lot of votes on his side, but that does not matter since he was descendent from the Kings of England and the House of Welf, both of which are renowned for their fealty to the mother church, something he had so aptly displayed himself.

This assessment will come back to bite his holiness in his unholiness, but before that we have to go through 10 years of civil war, political manoeuvring and hollowing out of royal rights, ending in murder most foul. I hope you will join us again.

Before I go, let me thank all of you who are supporting the show, in particular the Patrons who have kindly signed up on patron.com/historyofthegermans. It is thanks to you this show does not have to do advertising. I was absolutely shocked to hear the host of another show I admire and which is much more successful than this one pretending he supports some energy supplement.. If Patreon isn’t for you, another way to help the show is sharing the podcast directly or boosting its recognition on social media. If you share, comment or retweet a post from the History of the Germans it is more likely to be seen by others, hence bringing in more listeners. My most active places are Twitter @germanshistory and my Facebook page History of the Germans Podcast. As always, all the links are in the show notes.   

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by on

Emperor Henry VI takes over

When Barbarossa drowns in the river Saleph in 1190 the crown transfers to his eldest surviving son, Henry, known to History as Henry VI.

This is the first time since the accession to personal rule of Emperor Henry III in 1039 that the imperial crown moves from father to grown up son without a glitch. In the previous 150 years, the passing of an emperor had been a dramatic event where all the cards were dealt anew. Just remember, Henry IV came to the throne as a child, Henry V by rebellion against his father, Lother III wasn’t in any meaningful way related to the imperial family, Konrad III came in by a coup against the named heir, as did Barbarossa. The French meanwhile had five transitions from father to son, with only one 6-year regency.   This consistency in reproduction is one of the key reasons the Capetion dynasty was so much more successful than their German counterparts, though the greatest of the Capetions has only just appeared, Phillipp II Augustus (1180 to 1223). More, and a lot more about him later.

Talking about famous protagonists, the other contemporary of Henry VI is of course Richard the Lionheart (1189 to 1199). Of him we will hear even more.

But today’s episode is mainly about the lay of the land and the first attempt to achieve the main aim of his reign, control of the kingdom of Sicily.

History of the Germans
History of the Germans

A narrative history of the German people from the Middle Ages to Reunification in 1991. Episodes are 25-35 min long and drop on Thursday mornings.
“A great many things keep happening, some good, some bad”. Gregory of Tours (539-594)

HotGPod is now entering its 9th season. So far we have covered:

Ottonian Emperors (# 1- 21)
– Henry the Fowler (#1)
– Otto I (#2-8)
– Otto II (#9-11)
– Otto II (#11-14)
– Henry II (#15-17)
– Germany in 1000 (#18-21)

Salian Emperors(#22-42)
– Konrad II (#22- 25)
– Henry III (#26-29)
– Henry IV/Canossa (#30-39)
– Henry V (#40-42)
– Concordat of Worms (#42)

Early Hohenstaufen (#43-69)
– Lothar III (#43-46)
– Konrad III (#47-49)
– Frederick Barbarossa (#50-69)

Late Hohenstaufen (#70-94)
– Henry VI (#70-72)
– Philipp of Swabia (#73-74)
– Otto IV (#74-75)
– Frederick II (#75-90)
– Epilogue (#91-94)

Eastern Expansion (#95-108)

The Hanseatic League (#109-127)

The Teutonic Knights (#128-137)

The Interregnum and the early Habsburgs (#138 ff
– Rudolf von Habsburg (#139-141)
– Adolf von Nassau (#142)
– Albrecht von Habsburg (#143)
– Heinrich VII (#144-148)
– Ludwig the Bavarian (#149-153)
– Karl IV (#154-163)
The Reformation before the Reformation
– Wenceslaus the Lazy (#165)
– The Western Schism (#166/167)
– The Ottomans (#168)
– Sigismund (#169-#184
The Empire in the 15th Century
– Mainz & Hessen #186
– Printing #187-#188
– Universities #190
– Wittelsbachs #189, #196-#199
– Baden, Wuerrtemberg, Augsburg, Fugger (#191-195)
– Maps & Arms (#201-#202)
The Fall and Rise of the House of Habsburg
– Early habsburgs (#203-#207)
– Albrecht II (#208)
-Freidrich III (#209-

Ep. 70: Henry VI (1189-1197) – Conquest of Sicily – From Father to Son
byDirk Hoffmann-Becking
Ep. 70: Henry VI (1189-1197) – Conquest of Sicily – From Father to Son

Transcript

Hello and Welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 70 – From Father to Son

I know, I know, you were expecting another Germany in 1200 episode, talking about feudalism and chivalric culture. And that was really the episode I wanted to produce. But as it happened, Clio, the muse of history refused to kiss me, an event much reminiscent of my teenage years.

I probably read too many books and articles on feudalism which left me utterly confused with nothing interesting to say. I would never dare to say that this debate, on which so many eminent historians have voiced an opinion is nothing but a wild goose chase. I have someone to do that for me. If you want to hear a straightforward perspective on what feudalism was, check out lecture 5 of the High Middle Ages course on the Great Courses Plus. Philip Daileader does a much better job of it than I could do.

Which means we can resume our narrative again! Hurrah!

When Barbarossa drowns in the river Saleph in 1190 the crown transfers to his eldest surviving son, Henry, known to History as Henry VI.

This is the first time since the accession to personal rule of Emperor Henry III in 1039 that the imperial crown moves from father to grown up son without a glitch. In the previous 150 years, the passing of an emperor had been a dramatic event where all the cards were dealt anew. Just remember, Henry IV came to the throne as a child, Henry V by rebellion against his father, Lother III wasn’t in any meaningful way related to the imperial family, Konrad III came in by a coup against the named heir, as did Barbarossa. The French meanwhile had five transitions from father to son, with only one 6-year regency.   This consistency in reproduction is one of the key reasons the Capetion dynasty was so much more successful than their German counterparts, though the greatest of the Capetions has only just appeared, Phillipp II Augustus (1180 to 1223). More, and a lot more about him later.

Talking about famous protagonists, the other contemporary of Henry VI is of course Richard the Lionheart (1189 to 1199). Of him we will hear even more.

But today’s episode is mainly about the lay of the land and the first attempt to achieve the main aim of his reign, control of the kingdom of Sicily.

Before we start just a reminder. The History of the Germans Podcast is advertising free thanks to the generous support from patrons. And you can become a patron too and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and other privileges from the price of a latte per month. All you have to do is sign up at patreon.com/historyofthegermans or on my website historyofthegermans.com. You find all the links in the show notes. And thanks a lot to Tomas, Dennis and Christoph who have already signed up.

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Henry VI was born probably in November 1165 as the second son of Frederick Barbarossa and his wife Beatrice of Burgundy. His elder brother died very young and may have had some disability that rendered him unsuited to kingship in the customs of the time. Henry hence grew up as the heir to the throne.

As so often with medieval figures we have little concrete information about his life before he had turned 18. It is likely he received an education to prepare him for the imperial role. That meant he would not just learn how to fight, hunt and drink as his father had, but also in Latin, maybe a smattering of theology and mathematics and obviously reading and writing.

Henry VI did have a passion for the Minnesang, the art of the troubadours who sang about courtly love. The famous Manesse Liederhandschrift, a compilation of medieval love poetry from the late 13th century contains a poem by Henry VI. The poem is a bit so, so and some argue it wasn’t even by him, but it does a reasonable job of conveying the longing for the beloved who he would gladly sacrifice all his crowns and castles for. As we will see, he was not serious about that one.

We hear that his court was a bit jollier than his predecessors’ with travelling Minnesingers, troubadours, musicians and even a fool.  He was very sociable, generous to his friends and enjoyed intelligent conversation. Physically he was less impressive than Barbarossa, skinny and not very tall.

And what was crucial, he had been nurtured for his future role by his father. Since he was 9 years old he followed his father on his journeys to Italy and from place to place in Germany. In 1083, barely 19, he takes part in the complex negotiations that leads to the settlement between Barbarossa and the Lombard Leage.

In 1184 he makes his first appearance in the history books. The Diet of Pentecost in Mainz was the great event where Barbarossa and the Hohenstaufen clan celebrated its recovery from the setbacks and humiliation of the 1170s. Officially it was the to celebrate the knighting of Henry and his younger brother Frederick, Duke of Swabia.

Once Henry had become a knight and was thereby now a full member of the social elite, he took on major responsibilities. He headed a campaign against duke Casimir of Poland in Summer 1184 that concluded with Casimir giving homage to Henry and his father.

It is also in 1184 that an agreement was concluded the results of which will dominate the reign of Henry VI. Barbarossa had agreed with King William II of Sicily, nicknamed “the Good” that Henry would marry his aunt, Constance. Constance was at that point already 30 years old whilst the intended bridegroom was just 19.

Constance was the youngest daughter of King Roger II of Sicily and at that point the only legitimate member of the once so fecund Hauteville family. Her nephew, the current king of Sicily was 32 at the time and by all accounts should still be in with a chance of producing an heir.

But as long as William remained childless, she was the last remaining Hauteville.

We have come across the Kingdom of Sicily quite a few times now, so we do not have to go over the full backstory again. Basically, the Hautevilles had shown up in Southern Italy as mercenaries from the 1030s onwards and had rolled up the Lombard princes, the Byzantines and ultimately the Muslim Emirs of Sicily. In 1130 Roger II had consolidated all of Southern Italy and Sicily in his hand and acquired a royal title from the pope.

The kingdom of Sicily was, at least in the eyes of the Norans and the Popes a fief of the papacy. But as far as fiefs go, the Normans enjoyed a large amount of freedom. They controlled the church in their territory, including the right to select and invest bishops. Their fief could be inherited not just by the sons, but also by daughters and cadet branches. All that had been laid down in a Concordat the papacy had concluded with King Wilhelm I in 1156.

Hence Constance was the true and sole heir of the KIngdom of Sicily.

Which gets you to the point that is really hard to get your head around. A marriage between the heir of the imperial crown and the heir to the crown of Sicily is the very, very last thing the papacy could tolerate, let alone sponsor.

Now that the empire had found a way to collaborate with the Northern Italian cities that gave it a modicum of executive power, acquiring Sicily would put the pope into the chokehold of the emperor. If the empire and Sicily were one political block, the emperor could come down and besiege Italy at will. He could even do that without having to rely in his German knights. Sicily and its wealth was more than enough to muster an army that could march on Rome.

Ever since the Normans appeared they had been a key element of Papal political strategy. One of the reasons Pope Gregory VII could stand up to Emperor Henry IV was down to his alliance with Robert Guiscard. In Rome, the Sicilians and the Empire were roughly equally strong. The Empire may have the ability to muster larger armies, but these could not be kept in Italy for very long, whilst the Sicilians may have less manpower but were closer.

The popes who did not want to swap imperial overlordship with Norman control, played both sides against each other, sometimes involving peripheral powers like the emperor Manuel in Constantinople or the great maritime republic of Venice, Pisa and Genua.

A long as the popes were able to keep the empire and the Normans apart, they were free to pursue their policy of making the seat of Saint Peter the most powerful throne in Europe. And that meant in reverse, if the Normans and the Empire come together, the popes will be demoted to nothing but bishops of Rome.

So how could this engagement and then marriage come about? The pope in 1184 was Lucius III. He was much less of a man than his predecessor Alexander III. He could not reside in Rome where the senate still ruled. And he could not even take over one to the smaller cities in the Papal states, like Terracina or Agnani as some of his predecessors had. Being essentially expelled from his property he lived of the courtesy of the citizens of Verona. Not only his temporal situation was stretched, he also struggled to maintain control of the spiritual framework. As we saw last episode, heretic, anticlerical ideas spread around the growing cities, posing a direct challenge to the authority of the church. Lucius III needed help from secular rulers to confront this fundamental threat. Concerns about the deterioration of the situation in the crusader states may have also played a role.

But all that still cannot explain why the pope did not intervene to stop the engagement. It seems that Alexander III had even proactively supported a rapprochement between Sicily and the empire.

That leaves only one last reason. The great force of history known as cockup. WHatever Lucius III thought about this marriage, it wasn’t the correct assesment.

The actual marriage took place in 1186 in Milan. By now the new pope, Urban III could only look on and grind his teeth. But he could no longer stop the proceeding, setting a train of events in motion that will dominate the history of the empire for more than 50 years.

But let’s go back to Henry’s carreer.in the last years of Barbarossa, Henry became his right hand man. He was involved in the excalating conflict with pope Urban III. In 1186 and 1187 he took charge of Italian affairs including a campaign against the papal lands.

The conflict with the papacy ended when news arrived of the fall of Jerusalem and the popes now needed support from all temporal lords, including the Hohenstaufen. In preparation of the crusade the Reich needed to be secured. And that meant ending the ongoing feud between archbishop Phillip of Cologne and the emperor and to neutralise Henry the Lion.

Henry VI was involved in both efforts, in particular his diplomatic skill helped finding an arrangement with the former imperial chancellor.

As for Henry the Lion, you may remeber that he volunteered to go into exile with his father in Law, Henry II, king of England.

When Barbarossa set out from Regensburg in Mai 1189 to go to his watery grave in the middle of Anatolia, Henry VI took over the affairs of the empire.  As I said before, such a smooth transition to a tried and tested new monarch is exceedingly rare in German history.

His father had barely made it to the Hungarian border before events in London and Palermo put events in motion that will lead, amongst other things, to King Richard the Lionheart being imprisoned on the castle of Trifels.

To understand these events, we need to take a quick look at the main riders and runners in Western Europe in 1190.

Up until now our history was fairly linear. As far as the empire was concerned, the significant players were the papacy, the princes and the powers on the Italian peninsula, i.e., the cities and the Normans. By 1190 the two new powers, France and England can no longer be ignored.

The King of France, Phillippe Auguste was an incredibly tenacious, ruthless and competent ruler who tripled, if not quadrupled the lands directly under royal control during his 43 year reign. We are still at the start of this process and he has not yet acquired Normandy or the County of Toulouse, but he is already shaping up to be the dominant figure in European History of the time.

The king of France’s main interest was dynastic. His objective was to wrestle as many counties and duchies from his great magnates as possible. And the greatest of his magnates was Henry II, King of England. Henry II controlled all of France west of Paris. And that was a lot more than half the Kingdom of France in 1190 given large parts of East and Southeast France were part of the Empire. For Phillippe Auguste this means he has to use absolutely every trick in the book to get ahead. Religious fanaticism, emerging nationalist feeling, bribery, kidnapping, anything goes. And if anything goes, involving the empire in the grand schemes becomes part of the plan, as we will see.

His opponents, Henry II and his brood are no sissies either. they fight back along the same lines. They too will now involve the empire in their schemes which means taking an increasingly active role in German politics.

Barbarossa could still largely ignore the Kings of France and England. All he tried to get from them was recognition of his antipopes, but not a lot more. But for his son, that is no longer the case. The conflict between France and England will last effectively 200 plus years and becomes the vortex into which a bg chunk of European history gets sucked in.

Henry VI’s chessboard has a lot more pieces than his dad, and three of them now fall over in quick successin.

In June 1189 the wife of Henry the Lion, Matilda dies and a week later her father, KIng Henry II of England. For Henry the Lion, exiled former duke of Saxony and Bavaria, this is a problem. Though his family is well regarded at court in England and his sons are close to the new King, Richard the Lionheart, hehimself does not have a role.

Richard is also now preparing for the Third Crusade which Henry the Lion cannot join, since he had just refused Barbarossa’s offer to come along instead of exile. Going to the Holy Land with the King of England would be a unforgiveable insult to his liege lord. He could not go and he could not stay, so he went for the third option, he returned back home to Brunswick.

That was a explicit breach of the oath he had given Barbarossa not to return for three years, i.e., not before 1192. His return created a major domestic crisis for the young emperor Hnery VI, which got worse as Henry the Lion returned to his favourit passtime, capturing his neighbours lands and castles. within a short period of time he had not just regained his old possessions but expanded them significantly.

In October 1189, mere weeks after the Lion’s return Henry VI convened an assembly, condemned Henry the Lion as an enemy of the Empire, banned him and rised an imperial army to subdue him. This army marched into Welf territory but did not get very far as winter fell.

In these December days, the next piece of news arrived that would dominate the young emperor’s life. King William II of Sicily had died unexpectedly at the age of 32.

Constance was the heir to the Norman kingdom!

Well, yes, on paper she was. All the barons of Sicily had sworn an oath to recognise her asqueen should WIlliam II die without offspring. The concordat of 1156 clearly states that the kingdom would be inherited by whoever is the closest legitimate offspring, male of female.

But politically, this was an impossiblity. The new Pope, Clement III, could not tolerate that. Clement III, despite his ill health was a more proactive pope. He managed to return the papacy to the Holy City by settling the constant conflict with the senate of the city. He was also the main organiser of the third crusade where he achieved the near impossible, a truce between Richard the Lionheart and Phillippe Auguste, so both could leave to recapture Jerusalem.

Given the legal situation, pope Clement III had only one option, do something illegal. There was still a branch of the Hauteville family left. Tancred, Count of Lecce was the illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia, a son of King Roger II. As an illegitimate son, he was excluded from the succession, but that did not stop Pope Clement III. Nor did it stop the Sicilian nobles who had sworn allegiance to Constance just 5 years earlier. So they eleveated Tancred to be King of Sicily and he was crowned early in 1190, even before the news had reached Henry VI that his father-in-law had died.

Tancred and his sons Roger and William

I do not believe in a model of history where there are forks in the road that set the train of history invariably down a particular path. But there are moments that put a spotlight on some of the fundamental choices that gradually shift events in a particular direction.

This is one of them. Henry VI has two options in early 1190. He could pursue imperial justice against Henry the Lion who had broken his oath and the crusader peace. Alternatively he could agree a hasty truce with the Welf and mount a military campaign to gain his wife’s inheritance. It is a choice between the interests of the empire and the dynastic interests of the House of Hohenstaufen.

Barbarossa had made his big u-turn in 1167 when he replaced imperial ambition with dynastic ambition. It is a sign of how embedded this political shift had already become that Hnery VI did not hesitate even for a second. Siciliy was what he wanted and let the Saxons sort out their ssues as they want it.

Henry VI signs an agreement with Henry the Lion that is extremely favourable to the Welf. The only commitment was that the two oldest sons of the Lion, Lothar and another Henry were to join the campaign against SIcily. Lothar dies soon afterwards so that only Henry the Welf joins the campaign.

And it is a great campaign. As Barbrossa had now died, Henry had formally become king, making this his first Italian campaign. As a first campaign almost all vassals of the empire were obliged to provide military suppot to the new king’s journey.

The army started to go down to Northern Italy in summer and autumn of 1190. Henry VI followed in the winter. In spring the great host starts moving towards Sicily.

Between Northern Italy and Sicily lies – the Holy City. And it is in Rome where the Pope now resides again and Henry is still only King of the Romans. We are still missing the imperial coronation. And that takes place on April 15th, 1191.

Hang on, what do you say? The pope who was proactively thwarting Henry’s claim on the Sicilian crown was offering an imperial coronation? How does this work.

Good question. I too am confused.

There are a number of things that happened around the same time that could explain it. First up, PopeClement III, the one who had engineered Tancred’s accession had died literally weeks before Hnery VI arrived in Rome. A new pope, Colestin III was duly elected, but as so often with these elections, he needed a moment to bed things down.

Secondly, the popes were in Rome only by the consent of the Senate of Rome. If the pope refused an imperial coronation he would have had to withstand an imperial siege. AN dthat would only work if teh Senate was prepared to go along.

Now the Senate made his own deal with the aspiring Caesar. They were keen on the destruction of the ancient city of Tusculum. Tusculum had been occupied by Imperial troops since 1187 and was a loyal city of the empire. But the Senate wanted it in exchange for a smooth coroantion.

There was nothing to it. Henry VI offered the Senate of Rome the city of Tuscuum on a silver platter. Tusculum fell, its citizens blinded, killed or exiled and its defences razed to the ground. Tusculum founded by Telegonos, the son of Odysseus and Circe, Tusculum that predates the city of Rome itslef and had been its rival since the time of the kings, was no longer. For 900 years it was grazed by goats and today is an archaeological park. Tusculum was the price Henry VI was prepared to pay for an imperial crown.

And so Pope Colestin III crowned Henry and Constance emperor and empress on April 15th, 1191, a day after his own consecration and ordination as a priest.

Immediately after the coronation the army left for the kingdom of Sicily. Pope Coelestin, his hand still wet from anointing the new emperor, protested. He warned that god, or more precisely the interests of the Roman Curia were opposed to the Norman kingdom falling into the hands of the emperor.

Henry and Constance shrugged off these papal objections and simply pointed to their undeniable right as heir of William II.

The army moved towards the border with Apulia. Citoes quickly fell to henry and Constance. Rocc D’arca, Capua, Salerno. Only when they arrived before Naples did they encounter resistance.

Richard of Acerra, the brother in law of Tancred commanded the city’s defences. Naples history goes back ll the way to the 2nd century BC as an early Greek colony. In the 9th century it had become a largely independent duchy that lasted until 1139 when King Roger II incorporated it into his new Sicilian Kingdom. WIth a population of 30,000 it was the second city of the kingdom surpassed only by Palermo.

Its position at the centre of the bay of Naples and its densive walls made a siege entirely depenent upon being able to prevent any resupply by sea. For that purpose Emperor Henry VI had engaged the ever loyal Pisans and Genoese. The Pisan fleet had arrived in May with the land troops and soldiers began running up against the walls, miners were digging tunnels to bring about the collapse of the walls and siege engineers put together terrifying siege engines.

All looks good, though time is of the essence as always in Italy. But it wasn’t time that ran out, but searoom.

One day the fleet of Tancred’s admiral, Margarito shows up in the bay. Margarito, like Tancred himself was a soldier and sailor forged in incessant campaigns against Byzantium, North African emirs, Venice and pretty much anyone else in the Mediterranean. We know little about how the actual seabattle evolved, but in the end the Pisan ships are on the bottom of the sea, the Pisan sailors loccked up in Castelloamare, the castle in the sea before Naples and supply routes into the city are open again.

Henry did not give up though. There was still a Genoese fleet on its way. The Genoese had been delayed for whatever reason, which may have included unwillingness to fight side by side with the Pisans. Both Pisa and Genua had been offered generous trade privileges in Sicily for their support, not an ideal system to ensure cooperation between the two maritime powers.

Whilst Henry is counting down the days until the Genoese arrive, Italy’s greatest and almost undefeated weapon arrives, the summer. and with summer comes disease and death for the Germans. Will they ever learn? Sell in may, go away as we bankers used to say.

It is a rerun on 1167, with a doube twist though. Like in 1167, soldiers and magnates die in droves. It is again the archbishop of Cologne who bites the dust, that is the same archbishop Philipp who so hugely benefitted from the fall of Henry the Lion. The obligatory duke of Bohemia is also on the list and so are many more.

But what we did not see in 1167 were defections. But that is exactly what happened. The younger Henry, son and heir of Henry the Lion went across the ine and joined the defenders of Naples. Such a blatent change of sides, in particular in a foreign war was pretty much unprecedented and further alienated the Welf and Hohenstaufen clans, undoing all the reconciliation work Barbarossa had done in the years post 1152.

But the final blow came from Salerno. As the siege had bedded down, Constance had moved to the nearby city of Salerno to await the outcome. As disiease took hold of the camp outside Naples and the siege was liften, the citizens of Salerno and their archbishop panicked. They had opened the gates to Henry and Constance without the slightest bit of resistance. They had welcome the empress in an effort to ingratiate themselves with the new rulers and maybe get some priveleges or even royal protection.

Now that Henry’s army was defeated Tancred would be back and he will take revenge on the treasonous citizens of Salerno. It did not matter that other cities had opened their gates as well. Salerno had stuck its neck out further than the rest and that means it would be cut off.

In their distress they did the only thing that would rescue them from certain destruction. They arrested the empress Constance and delivered her as a prisoner to King Tancred in Palermo.  

Henry, who had picked up the disease himself was lying on his sickbed at the monastery of Montecassino when he heard about his wife’s arrest. All seems lost. But it was not.

Henry VI recovered and returned to Germany. En route he meets King Philippe Auguste of France. As the two men swapped stories, talk began about a short stop Phillippe Auguste and Richard the Lionheart had made in Messina.

There the two kings had met the usurper King Tancred. Whilt Phillippe Auguste kept his distance, Richard the Lionheart pushed the “hey we are both Normans” card. Tancred was not quite as excited about his long lost cousin, but after the Lionheart’s soldiers had sacked messina he started seeing the family resemblance. Tancred and Richard made a deal whereby Richard recognised Tancred as legitimate king of Sicily and promised him support in case of an attack. In return, Tancred gave him a busload of cash, officially a refund of the dowry of Richard’s sister who had married William II and a contribution to the crusdae, but in reality, just money into Richard’s pocket. And Tancred promise dto make Rihard’s younger brother Arthur of Brittany the heir to the kingdom.

How much this alliance was worth to Tancred is surely in doubt, but from Henry’s perspective this English king seems to be behind all the things that had gone wrong so far. He had supported Henry the Lion’s return to Brunswick, he supported Tancred of Hauteville and he may have indirectly encouraged the unimaginable defection of an imperial prince. All of that was not only politically irritating, but also a breach of imperial law. Henry VI hence declared Richard the Lionheart an enemy of the empire. And Richard will soon appear inside the empire, more specifically in the lands of Leopold of Austria, a man Richard had insulted during his stint in the Holy Land. Leopold was not the only one he insulted, but the only one whose lands he decided to cross on his way home.

How this will pan out you may know already, but what Henry VI does with the money, you may not. We will see about that next time. As I am still on holiday, I know, its rude, timing for the next episode may again be a bit later than usual. Apologies for that.

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