Conquest and loss of Italy. Friedrich I of Barbarossa. Frederick II
Northern and Middle Italy for visibility was part of the Holy Roman Empire. She showed obedience to the emperor only when he sent his troops there. In general, it had to be conquered from time to time. The emperors did not spare any forces or means, because they were eager to reign over the Christian world.
In the middle of XII century. in Germany, the dynasty of Staufen came to power. Her most prominent representative was Frederick I Barbarossa. He made every effort to conquer Italy.
Friedrich I quarreled with Pope Alexander III – the person is also very bright. He refused to comply with the agreement concluded in Worms, claimed that he received the crown not from the pope, but “directly from God”, that his state was “sacred” and without the pope. The pope tirelessly cursed the emperor and united Italian cities against him. Friedrich I five times stamped a military boot on Italy. He conquered Lombardy and entered Rome, but the resistance of
Northern and Central Italy, the emperor lost, but took possession of Sicily and the South of Italy.
The desperate struggle of Frederick I and my father did not leave Europe indifferent. The Pope was supported by England, France, Spain, Hungary, and the emperor – only dependent on him German clergy…
Frederick I tried to turn the princes into submissive vassals, but he failed. To prevent the disintegration of Germany into independent principalities, he also could not. During the Third Crusade, the Emperor suddenly died. Several years passed after his death, and the German Empire collapsed.
In 1212, Pope Innocent III helped to become King Frederick II. It was one of the
XIII century. From the letter of Frederick II in response to his excommunication from the church
Roman curia – is this a real church! – calls himself my mother and wet nurse, and acts like a stepmother, and therefore it can be called the root and the beginning of all evil. Her ambassadors constantly go to all lands… like wolves in sheep’s clothing, try to enslave free ones, anger peace-loving people and everywhere to deflate money. They do not disdain neither the holy churches, nor the shelters of the poor, nor the homes of the righteous. The popes want to turn the whole world to contemplate at the feet of their emperors, kings of all and princes… Therefore, the whole world must unite to overthrow this unheard-of tyranny and destroy it for the sake of common security.
The pope did so that Sicily and Southern Italy passed under the authority of Charles of Anjou – the brother of the French king, as a result of which Germany finally lost Italy. For 20 years, Germany itself was troubled by the Interregnum.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)