Frederick Barbarossa: life of the week

Summary

History Extra Podcast: "Frederick Barbarossa: Life of the Week" – Detailed Summary

Release Date: February 25, 2025
Host/Author: Immediate Media for History Extra Podcast
Episode Title: Frederick Barbarossa: Life of the Week

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Introduction to Frederick Barbarossa

The episode delves into the life and legacy of Frederick Barbarossa, one of medieval Europe's most formidable rulers. Hosted by a representative from History Extra, the episode features an in-depth interview with Professor Graham Loud, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Leeds and author of Frederick Barbarossa. The discussion explores Frederick's rise to power, his military campaigns, his complex relationship with the Papacy, and his enduring legacy in both historical scholarship and folklore.

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Early Life and Background

[03:04] Professor Graham Loud:
“Frederick Barbarossa was king of Germany from 1152 to 1190, and he was crowned Roman Emperor in the west in 1155. He was undoubtedly the dominant figure in the European politics of the later part of the 12th century.”

Frederick, born in December 1122 (likely in Hagenau, Alsace), was the son of Frederick, Duke of Swabia. However, little is known about his upbringing or early life until he appeared in historical records at age 15. Unlike many royal offspring, Frederick was not initially expected to ascend to the throne, leading to limited contemporary interest in his early years.

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Involvement in the Second Crusade

[06:13] Professor Graham Loud:
“Frederick participated in the Second Crusade as the second in command of the German army led by his uncle, Conrad III.”

The Second Crusade (1147-1148) was marked by heavy casualties and strategic failures. Frederick's role was significant yet fraught with challenges, including tense interactions with the Byzantine Empire and devastating losses during the Siege of Damascus. These experiences later influenced his cautious approach during his own crusade four decades later.

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Election as Holy Roman Emperor

[10:55] Professor Graham Loud:
“Frederick was elected and was crowned king at Aachen three days later, having moved very fast indeed from Frankfurt to Aachen to secure the coronation.”

Upon the death of Conrad III in 1152, Frederick swiftly secured his election as king of Germany, circumventing the potential succession of Conrad’s younger son, who was only six years old. This rapid ascent, supported by key German princes and churchmen, resembled a coup but included concessions to avoid future conflicts.

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Reign as Ruler: Relations with German Princes

[15:38] Professor Graham Loud:
“Much of rule in Germany is about this role as arbiter between the great men. And I mean the great men were quarrelsome. And what the emperor's got to do is try and quell these disputes, calm them down, but not offend either party so much that they're going to cause trouble in future.”

Frederick adeptly managed the complex relationships among Germany's powerful local princes, acting as a mediator to maintain stability. His ability to balance authority without overtly dominating the princes was crucial, especially as he spent significant periods focusing on Italian affairs.

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Italian Campaigns

[18:14] Professor Graham Loud:
“Frederick wanted to reassert genuine royal rule in Italy. He wanted to regain the regalian rights, which are rights over things like tolls, minting, fishing rights.”

Frederick's reign was heavily marked by his attempts to restore imperial authority in Italy, leading to prolonged military campaigns against autonomous Italian cities, notably Milan. His 1158-62 campaign resulted in the temporary destruction and evacuation of Milan in 1162. However, the rise of the Lombard League in 1167 signaled significant resistance, culminating in widespread rebellion and Frederick's eventual retreat from Italy.

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Relations with the Papacy

[23:46] Professor Graham Loud:
“Frederick's relations with the popes were always somewhat tense. This is a long-standing issue.”

Frederick's tenure was characterized by strained relations with the Papacy, particularly during the papal schism following Pope Adrian IV's death in 1159. Frederick supported the legitimacy of Victor IV over Alexander III, leading to a two-decade-long dispute. It wasn't until the 1177 Council of Venice that Frederick recognized Alexander III, along with signing truces with the Lombard League and the Kingdom of Sicily, thereby stabilizing his relations with both the Papacy and Italian cities.

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The Third Crusade and Death

[31:05] Professor Graham Loud:
“Frederick took the cross early in 1188, and very large scale recruitment took place in Germany.”

Motivated by Saladin's victories and the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, Frederick embarked on the Third Crusade. His preparations were extensive, involving diplomatic negotiations for safe passage through hostile territories. Despite maintaining discipline and effective leadership, Frederick drowned in June 1190 while attempting to cross the River Saleph in Asia Minor. His death significantly weakened the crusader forces, leading to the eventual failure of the campaign.

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Legacy and Mythos

[38:56] Professor Graham Loud:
“In 1941 when Germany invaded Russia. And that was known as Operation Barbarossa and was apparently Hitler's personal choice of a codename. So, yes, he was seen as very much the poster boy for German nationalism.”

Frederick Barbarossa's legacy extends beyond his lifetime, particularly in German folklore where he is akin to King Arthur in British lore. The Kifuza legend portrays him as a sleeping hero destined to return in Germany's hour of need. This myth was revitalized in the 19th century amidst rising German nationalism and was later appropriated by Nazi Germany during Operation Barbarossa. Additionally, his influence persists in modern cultural representations, including Italian political symbolism and cinematic portrayals.

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Cultural Representations

[44:34] Professor Graham Loud:
“There’s a terrible film, Federico Barbarossa, which dates from 2009, starring Rutger Hauer as the emperor.”

Frederick's story has been adapted into various forms of media, reflecting both the historical and mythical aspects of his persona. While some portrayals, like the 2009 film Federico Barbarossa, have been criticized for historical inaccuracies, they underscore the enduring fascination with his figure in European culture.

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Conclusion: Historical Significance

[41:43] Professor Graham Loud:
“We need to be aware of the posthumous legacy, but in a sense, I think that is fairly uncontentious. Where we really need to be aware of him is the actual real historical significance.”

Frederick Barbarossa's reign was pivotal in shaping the political landscape of medieval Europe. His efforts to consolidate imperial authority in Germany and Italy set the stage for the region's fragmented future. His leadership during the Third Crusade demonstrated both his military prowess and the limitations of medieval crusading efforts. Frederick's enduring legacy, both historical and mythical, continues to influence perceptions of medieval leadership and nationalism.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• [03:04] Professor Graham Loud:
  “Frederick Barbarossa was king of Germany from 1152 to 1190, and he was crowned Roman Emperor in the west in 1155.”

• [10:55] Professor Graham Loud:
  “Frederick persuades the princes to choose him. He was, after all, an adult. He was 29, as opposed to six. So he's obviously a more suitable ruler.”

• [15:38] Professor Graham Loud:
  “Much of rule in Germany is about this role as arbiter between the great men. And I mean the great men were quarrelsome.”

• [23:46] Professor Graham Loud:
  “Frederick's relations with the popes were always somewhat tense. This is a long-standing issue.”

• [38:56] Professor Graham Loud:
  “In 1941 when Germany invaded Russia. And that was known as Operation Barbarossa and was apparently Hitler's personal choice of a codename.”

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Final Thoughts

Frederick Barbarossa remains a towering figure in medieval history, embodying both the strengths and complexities of imperial rule. Professor Graham Loud highlights the duality of Frederick's legacy—his substantial impact on European political structures and the later mythologizing that has, at times, overshadowed historical realities. Understanding Frederick's true role offers valuable insights into the evolution of medieval governance and the enduring narratives that shape our interpretation of history.

For more insights and detailed discussions on historical figures and events, subscribe to the History Extra Podcast and visit HistoryExtra.com.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host]

Hello and welcome to Life of the.

[Historian]

Week from History Extra, where leading historians delve into the lives of history's most.

[Podcast Host]

Intriguing and significant figures.

[Historian]

Frederick Battle Barbarossa has gone down in history as one of medieval Europe's most formidable rulers. He waged ruthless wars in Italy, clashed with the Papacy and came to an ignominious end on crusade. And yet his legacy is shrouded in myth and a strong sense of patriotic nationalism. I spoke to Professor Graham Loud to find out more about the life and and many afterlives of this legendary red bearded emperor.

[Podcast Host]

It's really lovely to have you here today, Graham, give us a 60 second brief introduction. Who was Frederick Barbarossa?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Frederick Barbarossa was king of Germany from 1152 to 1190, and he was crowned Roman Emperor in the west in 1155. He was undoubtedly the dominant figure in the European politics of the later part of the 12th century. But he's also a major figure in the longer run of German history, not least because of the great interest that was shown in his career in the 19th century, in the era of Bismarck, when Germany was once again united and he was seen as the quintessential German ruler of the Middle Ages. So he's got an important afterlife. But you could argue from a more dispassionate historian's viewpoint, his reign was actually decisive in the way German history developed into the late Middle Ages and beyond.

[Podcast Host]

That's a fantastic introduction to him and we are definitely going to be coming on to talk about his afterlives, his legacy later on. But while we're setting up the context to Barbarossa's life, where does the name Barbarossa actually come from?

[Professor Graham Loud]

It's a name he was known by in Italy. It means, of course, simply red beard. And indeed we have a couple of contemporary descriptions of what he looked like. And he seems to have had blonde, reddish hair and beard.

[Podcast Host]

So simple, really helpful to start us picturing what he's like. As we're going through this discussion now, we should probably go right to the start of his life. What do we know about Frederick's background, his upbringing?

[Professor Graham Loud]

We know a certain amount about his background. We know almost nothing about his upbringing. He was the son of Frederick, Duke of Swabia, who was one of the major princes of early 12th century Germany. We know he was born in, well, almost certainly December 1122, possibly at Hagenau in Alsace, but we know nothing about his life at all until he was 15, which is when the first time he appears in the historical record. And we know really very little about his life till after he succeeded his father as Duke of Swabia in 1147. And this isn't unusual. Barbarossa was not a king's son. So there was no great sort of expectation that he would accede to the throne. And so contemporary historians didn't take any great interest in him. We do have a biography of him, but that was written while he was ruler and it says virtually nothing about his early life.

[Podcast Host]

One thing that is often talked about when we come to Frederick's youth is his involvement in the Second Crusade with his uncle and predecessor, Conrad iii. Could you tell us about his involvement with this as a young man in the mid 12th century?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, this is where he really hits the historical record, because we do have a certain amount of information about the second crusade. Conrad III went on crusade in 1147 and led a substantial German army on the crusade. But Frederick, Conrad's nephew, who's then probably 24, 25, was effectively the second in command of the German army.

[Podcast Host]

And do we know what his experience was on this crusade?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, clearly not entirely happy, because Conrad's crusade, in the end, was something of an anti climax. They suffered heavy casualties. What we know about Frederick was particularly to do with his relations with the Greeks. As the crusade went through the Byzantine Empire, there were a number of attacks on the German army, probably not sponsored by the Byzantine ruler. But in retaliation for one such attack, Frederick burned down a monastery. So he seems to have adopted rather drastic methods. We don't know a great deal about what he did later on in the Crusade, but he seems to have accompanied Conrad through Asia Minor and to have been present at the attack on Damascus in the spring of 1148, which again, went horribly wrong and was a complete fiasco. And eventually Conrad went home clearly pretty fed up, having accomplished very little. I think where Frederick's involvement in the Crusade is important is when he himself led a crusade 40 years later, because I think his experiences on Conrad's crusade taught him what not to do when leading a crusade.

[Podcast Host]

I think an important piece of context that we need here just to situate ourselves is we know that Barbarossa went on to become Holy Roman Emperor. What did the landscape look like at this time? We're talking about princes, we're talking about houses. What was the political climate?

[Professor Graham Loud]

The king of Germany was also king of Italy, by which we mean northern Italy. And it was traditional that each German ruler was crowned as emperor by the Pope in Rome. This did not necessarily follow very quickly upon their accession because it obviously depended on when they could actually mount an expedition to Italy. By the time of Barbarossa's accession, Germany was divided into a number of lordships, I think is the best term ruled by we tend to use the term princes, although they had all sorts of titles, who were not entirely independent but powerful local rulers. Italy by 1152 had actually largely escaped from the rule of the German king, simply because Barbarossa's predecessors had rarely, if ever, gone to Italy. The king still has great prestige, but a lot of that is dependent on his own personal influence, abilities and how far the princes see him as their leader, because his material power is very dependent on his own personal possessions. And we should see these local rulers, the princes, to use the shorthand, as people who are ruling areas based around their own private possessions. They're not really using delegated royal authority. These are the 10 or 12 local bigwigs in Germany, the people who really matter, and I mean they have real military financial power generally, they see it in their interest to work with the emperor if they can. And of course, he was also related to a number of them. And if the Stauffer, Frederick's own family were the most powerful family in Germany in 1152, his mother came from the Welf family, who was certainly the next most powerful family. It's this sort of influence which helps mediate what we call soft power.

[Podcast Host]

How did Frederick Barbarossa come to be elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1152?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Probably by playing very dirty. The term Holy Roman Emperor, I should say, is rather anachronistic. It's not generally used before the late 13th century. But by the late 13th century, everybody considered the empire to have an elective kingship. So it wasn't necessarily father son succession earlier on, it's not particularly clear because although there were elections, usually there's only a real election when the deceased ruler did not have an adult son. Most rulers had their sons crowned in their lifetime, and most inverted commerce elections only had one candidate, and they were much more like acclamations. Now, what complicated matters in 1152 was that Conrad III had two sons. And just before he went on crusade, he had his eldest son Henry, who was then aged 10, crowned as king, so effectively the next ruler. But Henry died in 1150. Conrad, for whatever reason, did not have his younger son, who was very young crown king. He may well have intended to do so, and indeed we think he probably did intend to do so in 1152, but he died before he could carry this through. But this would explain why so many of the leading men of Germany were present soon after Conrad's death to elect Frederick as king. I think Conrad had summoned them to elect his younger son, who's also called Frederick, as king. Died before it could happen. Frederick persuades the princes to choose him. He was, after all, an adult. He was 29, as opposed to six. So he's obviously a more suitable ruler. But it's interesting. He worked very fast. Conrad was buried in a hurry. Frederick was elected and was crowned king at Aachen three days later, having moved very fast indeed from Frankfurt to Aachen to secure the coronation. So it all looks a bit like a coup, although. A coup which was supported by a number of German churchmen and several of the leading princes. The younger Frederick, Conrad's sons, was disregarded, although Frederick did agree that he should become Duke of Swabia and he should receive a substantial endowment of lands. So he sort of played fair, but only a bit.

[Podcast Host]

How kind.

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, I think it was prudent, because otherwise, if the younger Frederick grew up to be thoroughly dissatisfied, he probably caused real trouble. So I think this was seen as playing fair to ward off potential difficulties in the future.

[Podcast Host]

A very tactical play, then. What was Frederick like as a ruler? Do we get a sense of that at all?

[Professor Graham Loud]

To some extent, yes. Partly because we do have a detailed biography covering the early years of the reign, which was written first of all by his uncle, Bishop Otto Freising, and then by Otto's secretary. And we have a certain amount of information, particularly about his behavior in Italy. He seems to have been quite good at man management with his equals. He's actually pretty adept at managing the princess. Where he's not so good is in Italy, when he's dealing with the Italian towns, which had been effectively independent for about a generation and had started to govern themselves. But Frederick clearly wasn't comfortable with that. The other problem I think he has is that he has a very strong sense of his own reputation and honour and prerogatives, and when he felt that they were being challenged or infringed, he could get very nasty indeed. So he's not a man to cross. Although you might argue for medieval rulers, that's actually probably part of the job description. Kings who are not feared are not respected. But he is good at managing his social equals.

[Podcast Host]

So let's start there, then. How did he navigate the complex relationships of the German princes?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, one of the points, of course, is that for much of his reign, Frederick's major concern was Italy and reasserting royal rule in Italy. That meant that for quite a lot of his reign, he was actually an absentee in Germany. I mean, between 1158 and 1178, he spent something like 11 years in Italy and nine years in Germany. Now his major concern with the princes was therefore they shouldn't cause trouble. He didn't want a situation where he can't go to Italy because he's sorting out rebellion in Germany or blood feuds between different princes. So he's basically trying to damp down problems. And in a way, much of rule in Germany is about this role as arbitrat between the great men. And I mean the great men were quarrelsome. And what the emperor's got to do is try and quell these disputes, calm them down, but not offend either party so much that they're going to cause trouble in future. And he's pretty good at that.

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[Podcast Host]

When you join Metro plus tax for a limited time and subject to change max one offer per account. Well, somewhere he's not so good as you've said, is in Italy. Can you tell me a bit more about his Italian campaigns? How did these play out? What were his motivations?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, his motivation is he wants to reassert genuine royal rule in Italy. He wants to rule in Italy and not just reign. Now, partly because this is what he saw as his function and also not just this was his duty, but he wanted to leave to his successors effective royal rule in Italy in a way that his immediate predecessors had not left to him. So he wanted to regain what were called the regalian rights, which are rights over things like tolls, minting, fishing rights. He wanted to enforce rule as normal prerogatives, like being able to levy attacks when their army went through Italy, which was called the fodrum. He wanted his justice to be respected and he was obviously not happy when Italian cities tried militarily to oppose him when he went to Italy. And we can see this Most clearly in 1160, when he held a diet or parliament, at a place called Roncaglia near Picenza, where he laid down a whole series of laws, all of which were largely intended to recover lost regalian prerogatives. And he said, if you have a charter for a previous ruler, saying, you can exercise these regalian rights, then I won't. Don't take them back. But if you don't, then these regalian rights belong to me. But the Italian cities had, for quite a long period, been effectively exercising many of these rights. And, of course, this went down very badly, and particularly with Milan, which is the largest and most powerful Italian city and was the one which was least willing to obey the emperor. And also the Milanese were active in trying to enforce their rule over a number of neighboring cities. Of course, that gave Frederick a bit of an advantage, because most of Milan's neighbours didn't want to be ruled by Milan and they looked to the emperor to protect them. Partly what he's doing is he's playing on divisions between the different cities, mainly in Lombardy, which is the most advanced area of Italy, both economically and politically, and where the real resistance to his rule lay. And for a time, this worked quite well, but only for a time.

[Podcast Host]

Are there any key moments in the timeline of the Italian campaigns that really stand out that we should know about?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Yes, there is the very long campaign against Milan on his second Italian expedition of 1158-62, which culminates in the surrender of Milan and its destruction in 1162, when the inhabitants were forced to evacuate the city to move to other cities or to villages in the Milanese territory. And much of the city was destroyed, particularly by Frederick's Italian allies. Even the cathedral was destroyed and Milan remained derelict and largely uninhabited for something like five years. So that was the moment when it looked as though the military campaign to overcome Italy had really succeeded. The other key Moment comes in 1167. This was linked with another aspect of Frederick's policy in Italy, which we haven't talked about yet, which is relations with the papacy and with the papal schism that had developed after 1160. Frederick, on his fourth Italian expedition, went to Rome in the summer of 1167, while he was marching south to Rome, there was a major uprising in Lombardy. And this time a group of Lombard cities made an alliance, which became known as the Lombard League. And then when Frederick got to Rome, his army took the city and promptly was devastated by an epidemic. But a substantial number of his troops died. Several of the leaders of the army died. One of whom was Frederick's effectively right hand man, Archbishop Reynold of Cologne. And with the remainder of the army in a pretty awful state, he had to try and fight his way out of Italy, facing a very widespread rebellion by the Lombard League and eventually escaped From Italy in 1168 via the Macenis pass of the West. But. But by that stage with very few troops and that moment, 1167, 8 is when his Italian policy really unravels.

[Podcast Host]

This is something that you've hinted at as we've been talking. Why did Frederick Barbarossa have such a turbulent relationship with the papacy?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Frederick's relations with the popes were always somewhat tense. This is a long standing issue. It certainly goes back to the previous century. And it was ultimately linked with the German ruler's view of his powers over the church compared with the popes. And it's certainly the case that relations had been better between the 1120s and Frederick's succession. But Frederick was also inherited an alliance with the papacy of his uncle, which extracted against the new kingdom of Sicily which had emerged in southern Italy. Frederick considered that the kingdom of Sicily was on imperial territory. He had not sanctioned this kingdom and he didn't recognize it. But Pope Adrian IV made peace with Sicily in 1156. And Adrian's relations with Frederick are really quite tense. They were made worse by an incident at a diet at Besancon in Burgundy at 11:57, when the papal legate who'd been sent to the parliament, it was alleged that he proceeded to claim that the pope thought that the empire was a fief or beneficium, which was his right to confer on the emperor. The legate nearly got lynched by the princess because of course the princes saw their election or acclamation was the key factor which made a ruler king. And Frederick accused the pope then of trying to undermine his authority quite deliberately. Now that didn't have any immediate consequence. The pope rode back a bit and said, no, I didn't really mean it. I think I've been misinterpreted. But when Adrian iv died in 1159, there was a disputed papal election. Frederick called a council, which he said is a church council, but we'll hold this council. This will decide who the true pope is. One of the two candidates said, yes, I'll appear at the council. The other one said, no council held by a layman has any right to judge the papacy. I was properly elected, effectively tells the emperor to mind his own business. The council took place in February 1160 and guess which pope they chose the one who turned up at the council. Unfortunately, although Germany recognized that Pope Victor IV and those cities in northern Italy which supported Frederick recognized him, nobody else did. The whole of the rest of Christendom supported the other pope, Alexander iii. But what this meant was that the papacy was disputed for the next 20 years. And Frederick was extremely obstinate in supporting not just the pope chosen at the Council of Pavia, but after his death, a successor, and then a second successor, when he might have been wiser of doing a deal with Alexander III. And his Roman expedition of 1167 was designed as an attempt to solve the problem once and for all. But though he captured Rome, he didn't capture Alexander iii, who fled to the kingdom of Sicily. And so it didn't actually solve the problem. And as time went on, even some of the German churchmen started to feel, well, this has been going on too long, we must find a solution. And it was clear the only solution would be the recognition of Alexander III. But it wasn't in the end, till 1177, that a final solution was found to both the papal dispute and the problems with the Italian cities. And the fact it took so long was down to primarily to one of Frederick's less agreeable and useful qualities. He was extremely obstinate and he didn't like having to climb down. So the other really decisive moment in dealing with Italy and with the papacy is the great summit conference at Venice in 1177.

[Podcast Host]

Could you explain what went down at this conference, just briefly?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, the conference was not just a conference between the Pope and the emperor, but was attended by representatives of the Lombard League and of the king of Sicily. Frederick agreed that he would recognize Alexander III as pope, and he behaved with suitable respect to Alexander. And he publicly, very publicly, recognized Alexander as the one true legitimate pope, only taking him 18 years. He also made a six year truce with the Lombard League and a 15 year truce with the kingdom of Sicily. And that was significant because he effectively recognized the legitimacy of the Lombard League and the legitimacy of the kingdom of Sicily. And indeed, after 1177, having opposed the kingdom of Sicily beforehand, he then tried to make friends with the king of Sicily and eventually concluded an alliance. And in 1186, Frederick's elder's son Henry married the heiress to the kingdom. So that was a very significant move. Relations with the Lombards took a little longer finally to sort out. But as the six year truce came to expire in 1183, a definitive peace was concluded with the Lombard cities in which Frederick actually gave way on most of the major points, but in return for a financial payment in lieu of the regalian rights which he agreed not to exercise. So he didn't come out completely empty handed. But he had to recognise the Lombard cities were, to all intents and purposes, self governing. Although by that stage he'd clearly established his authority pretty clearly in central Italy, and he was still very much in control of Tuscany, Umbria and the Romagna.

[Podcast Host]

Another major moment in Frederick's life that you've hinted about is his involvement with the Third Crusade. He set off on another crusade after the Second Crusade. Why did he join the cause? What did his preparations then look like?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, the reason why he joined is very simple, and that is to do with Saladin. After the Second Crusade, there was very little direct crusading activity in Europe. For the next 40 years. There are Latin Christian states in the east. Above all, the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The holy places are in Christian hand. But the Second Crusade had been such a fiasco that attempts to start other major expeditions simply didn't work. And of course, Western rulers, whose involvement was going to be essential, are involved in their own disputes. Particularly, of course, think of Barbarossa's dispute with the papacy in the Lombard cities. But in 1187, the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was catastrophically defeated at the Battle of Hattin in Galilee. And Saladin then conquered virtually the whole of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He captured Jerusalem itself, the city, in October 1187. And so it was the catastrophe in the east, which leads all the leaders of Christendom to say, well, we've got to forget our disputes and we need to do something about this. And we find Frederick and the Popes in direct communication by December 1187 at the latest, talking about a Crusade. In the same month, Frederick meets the French King Philip again. We don't know exactly what they talked about, but the likelihood is it was the Crusade, since both of them in the end went on it. And Frederick took the cross early in 1188, and very large scale recruitment took place in Germany. Now, the details of the preparations are to some extent vague, but it's clear there was intensive preparation because it was arranged that Frederick would only actually depart a year after he'd taken the cross. And that year is clearly spent in preparation, raising money, gathering recruits. And what we do know about an intensive diplomatic campaign, because it was decided at a very early stage that Frederick would follow the land route to the Holy Land, through the Balkans, through the Byzantine Empire, through through Turkish Asia Minor, and down via Antioch to Jerusalem. So from Northern Syria, southwards. So what Frederick did do is he sent embassies out to the Byzantine Emperor, to the Sultan of Turkey, to the King of Hungary, and to one or two other local rulers of the Balkans to arrange passage. So they would give him free passage. They would arrange markets where his troops could buy supplies, and with luck, he'd be able to get through without any fighting.

[Podcast Host]

Unfortunately for Frederick, the Crusade did not go to plan for him. Can you shed light on the circumstances of 1190? What happened?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, there are two issues. One was that while the King of Hungary, for example, who was anyway an ally of Frederick's, was very helpful, the Byzantine Emperor was not. Now, remember that the Byzantine Empire is Greek speaking, that there are religious divisions between the Church and the Byzantine Empire. In the west, there is hostility. Relations between Greeks and Latins have got worse over the 12th century. But above all, the Byzantine Emperor was not happy with a large foreign army marching through his territory. And also he happened to be an ally of Saladin. And so to begin with, there was a lot of harassment by guerrillas that may simply have been links with the problem of finding food, commandeering supplies, the locals not liking all these nasty foreigns. But it soon became clear that the Byzantine Emperor was encouraging this, and it took a long time for that issue. Frederick spent something like three months over the winter of 1189 90, in camp at Adrianople, which isn't much more than 100 miles from Constantinople, and basically trying to intimidate the Byzantine Emperor so that he could have free passage over the Bosphorus and into Asia. And it wasn't till something like February, March 1190, that Emperor Isaac of Byzantium actually agreed to this and agreed to withdraw his troops, provide ships to transport the German army across the Bosphorus. The problem then came with the Turks, because although the Turkish Sultan of Iconium, who was the major ruler in Asia Minor, was willing to allow Frederick's passage, he was a Muslim, but he wasn't a friend of Saladin. But the problem was that the Turkish sultan's rule was increasingly weak. Power was fragmented, and he had almost no control over the Turkoman nomads in Asia Minor. And they launched a series of very serious attacks on the German army. Now, they weren't strong enough to defeat it. And it's notable that Frederick handled his army much better than his uncle had done 40 years earlier. The Germans maintained discipline, they beat off the attacks, and they advanced at a pretty steady pace through Asia Minor, although probably it's been worn down by battle losses, hunger, and disease. And on 10th of June, 1190, the army debouched onto the plain of Seleucia, flat, fertile area very near the sea. And on that day, Frederick tried to cross the River Salof and drowned. The circumstances are a bit murky. He may have been swept off his horse. One quite contemporary account suggests he crossed the river, stopped to have lunch, and then, because it was a very hot day, he decided to cool down the swim and drowned. But at that stage, his army was still in fighting shape and his son, his second son, Frederick, took command, marched the army to Antioch, and it was still at that point, ready to fight. But it got to Antioch and again there was an epidemic and much of the German army was wiped out by disease. So in the end, it didn't have a great effect on the situation in the Holy Land. But Frederick's command of the Crusade was an awful lot more impressive than that of the leaders of the Second Crusade.

[Podcast Host]

You can only wonder how things might have turned out had Frederick Barbarossa himself survived. As we only have so much time to talk about Frederick's life, I'd like to talk a little bit about his legacy. Now, Barbaross has a similar legend in German folklore to King Arthur does in folklore in the British Isles. Could you tell us more about some of this mythos that surrounds him?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, the most famous myth is the Kifuza legend, although originally that was attached not to Barbarossa, but to his grandson, Frederick II. After Frederick II died in 1250, a myth developed that he wasn't actually dead, but that he was sleeping under the Kifoisa Mountain in Thuringia, and that at some point when the fatherland was in danger, he would wake and he would come and save it, and he would restore social justice and create a new and better and fairer kingdom. But by the 16th century, some people were really saying, this wasn't Frederick II, this was actually Frederick Barbarossa. And this was given a new lease of life by the upsurge in German patriotism at the end of the Napoleonic wars, and particularly by a poet called Friedrich Ruckert, who wrote a poem called Alta Barbarossa, Old Barbarossa, which is all about how the sleeping emperor will come and save Germany at the appropriate time, which became a sort of patriotic anthem. I think in the late 19th century, it was actually a compulsory text for study in German schools. And then after 1870, when Germany was reunited under Bismarck and William I of Prussia, Barbarossa was seen as a precursor of William I, and Barbarossa was seen as the last great medieval emperor before Germany started to split up and before imperial rule atrophied. And he's seen as a great sort of patriotic figure. And after the death of William I In 1888, a huge statue of William was erected on the Kefhause Mountain. And at his foot there was Barbarossa, sitting on his throne with a long beard, awaking from his sleep. And of course, in the final manifestation of this was in 1941 when Germany invaded Russia. And that was known as Operation Barbarossa and was apparently Hitler's personal choice of a codename. So, yes, he was seen as very much the poster boy for German nationalism.

[Podcast Host]

Is such an extraordinary legacy and quite a complex one. How do you think we should be seeing him today, taking in his contemporary history and his history since that time?

[Professor Graham Loud]

Well, we need to be aware of the posthumous legacy, but in a sense, I think that is fairly uncontentious. Where we really need to be aware of him is the actual real historical significance. His reign, which I would see is very different because Barbarossa's reign was really when princely power in Germany started to become entrenched. This wasn't a process of the princes opposing the emperor, because a lot of the time he actually encouraged this. And although it's a very long process, because you could argue the decay of royal authority in Germany and the growth of princely authority probably took a couple of centuries. But to my mind, Barbarossa's reign is the really vital period. And it got to the stage by the late Middle Ages when there's a famous incident in the 15th century when a papal legate who later became pope said, apparently publicly to German princes, you only obey the emperor when you choose to do so, and you generally don't choose to do so. I mean, German rulers after the late 13th century reigned, but they didn't really rule. They're kings almost by default, but they don't exercise the sort of power Barbarossa did. So this real significance of Barbarossa's reign to me is that it's a period when outwardly the ruler is still very powerful, when his word matters, when his authority actually works. But in practice, it's sowing the seeds for long term decay, which led to ultimately to the breakup of Germany into more and more separate powers. So in the long term, historical significance of Barbarossa's reign is very, very important. And similarly, in Italy, Barbarossa loses its dispute with the Italian cities. And it became clear that Italy in the late Middle Ages and beyond was going to be a land of city states. So it's very, very significant in the long term development of Europe for the next 500 years.

[Podcast Host]

Frederick barbarossa has this extraordinary legacy and also a very long legacy. Are there any particular adaptations, interpretations, retellings of his story that you think are really worth highlighting to our listeners?

[Professor Graham Loud]

I think the whole business about the Kiefhoise legend is very significant. In Bismarcks Germany there's the statue at the Kiefhauser, as said. And indeed you can climb down underneath the man and see what purports to be the throne on which he slept. Although when I went there he seemed to be out for the day. Although it's a terrible film, there's a film, Federico Barbarossa, which dates From I think 2009, starring Rutger Hauer as the emperor, which shows how the heroic Italian warriors of the Lombard League defeat the emperor at the Battle of Legnano in 1176. And of course remember that one of the main political parties in Italy which represents the northern cities is the Lombard League. So that's a direct survival from the reign of Frederick Barbarossa. I mean, the Italian film is terrible history, but it's quite significant in terms of Italian attitudes to Barbara and to his legacy.

[Historian]

That was Graham Loud speaking to me. Emily Brifitts Graham is Emeritus professor of Medieval History at the University of Leeds and author of Frederick Barbarossa, published by Reaction Books. If you want to hear more from us, be sure to sign up to our podcast newsletter where we share fascinating insights from our favourite episodes and chart our top hits each month. Head over to the History Extra website to sign up now.

[Podcast Host]

Thanks for listening to today's Life of the Week. Be sure to join us again next time to learn about about another fascinating.

[Historian]

Figure from the past.