Frederick Barbarossa: the legend of the red beard. Frederick I Barbarossa: short biography, crusade Frederick 1 short biography

Crusades: Frederick I Barbarossa

Early life

Frederick I Barbarossa (lit. "red-bearded") was born in 1122, the son of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia and his wife Judith. As members of the Hohenstaufen and Welf dynasties, respectively, Barbarossa's parents provided him with strong dynastic ties that would help him later in life. At the age of 25, after the death of his father, he became Duke of Swabia. That same year he accompanied his uncle, Conrad III, King of Germany, on the Second Crusade. Although the crusade ended in complete failure, Barbarossa performed well and earned the respect and trust of his uncle.

King of Germany

Returning to Germany in 1149, Barbarossa was close to Conrad, and was summoned to him in 1152 while he was on his deathbed. When death was very near, Conrad gave Barbarossa the imperial seal and expressed his last will that the thirty-year-old duke should succeed him as king. This conversation was witnessed by the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, who later stated that Conrad was in his right mind when he named Barbarossa as his successor. Acting quickly, Barbarossa gained the support of the prince-electors and was named king on March 4, 1152.

As soon as Conrad's six-year-old son was deprived of the opportunity to claim the throne, Barbarossa proclaimed him Duke of Swabia. Having ascended the throne, Barbarossa wanted to return Germany and the Holy Roman Empire to the glory that it had once achieved under Charlemagne. Traveling around Germany, Barbarossa met with local princes and tried to unite Germany in this way. Skillfully maneuvering, he found common interests among the princes, and thus strengthened his power. Although Barbarossa was King of Germany, he had not yet been crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope.

Hiking in Italy

In 1153 the general feeling of dissatisfaction with papal authority in Germany increased. Moving south with his army, Barbarossa tried to relieve these tensions and in March 1153 concluded the Treaty of Constance with Pope Adrian IV. Under the terms of the treaty, Barbarossa agreed to help the pope in the fight against his enemies in Italy - the Normans, in return asking to be crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. After suppressing the community's troops under the leadership of Arnold of Brescia, Barbarossa was crowned pope on June 18, 1155. Returning home that autumn, Barbarossa again encountered hostility among the German princes.

To resolve the standoff, Barbarossa transferred rule of the Duchy of Bavaria to his younger cousin Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony. On June 9, 1156, in Würzburg, Barbarossa married Beatrice of Burgundy. And soon, almost without respite, the very next year he intervened in the Danish civil war between Sven III and Valdemar I. In June 1158, Barbarossa prepared a large campaign to Italy. In the years following the coronation, tensions grew between the Emperor and the Pope. While Barbarossa believed that the Pope should obey the Emperor, Hadrian argued the opposite at the Diet of Besançon.

Upon entering Italy, Barbarossa attempted to restore his imperial power. Marching through the northern part of the country, he conquered city after city, and occupied Milan on September 7, 1158. As tensions grew, Hadrian began to consider excommunicating the emperor, but he died before he could take any action. In September 1159, a new Pope, Alexander III, was elected, and he immediately began to claim the superiority of papal power over the imperial one. In response to Alexander's actions and his excommunication, Barbarossa began to support several antipopes, starting with Victor IV.

Returning to Germany at the end of 1162 to quell the unrest provoked by Henry the Lion, he returned to Italy again the following year to conquer Sicily. These plans quickly changed due to the fact that he was forced to suppress an uprising in Northern Italy. In 1166, Barbarossa attacked Rome and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Monte Porzio. His success was short-lived as an epidemic decimated his army and he was forced to retreat back to Germany. Remaining in his state for six years, he worked to improve diplomatic relations with England, France and the Byzantine Empire.

Lombard League

At this time, some priests from the German clergy took the side of Pope Alexander. Despite such disorder at home, Barbarossa again gathered a large army and crossed the Alps, heading to Italy. Here he met with the combined forces of the Lombard League, a union of northern Italian cities united in the fight on the side of the Pope. After winning several battles, Barbarossa asked Henry the Lion to join him. Expecting to strengthen his power through the possible defeat of his uncle, Henry refused to help him.

On May 29, 1176, Barbarossa and his army suffered a crushing defeat at Legnano, and the emperor was believed to have died in the battle. Having lost control of Lombardy, Barbarossa made peace with Alexander in Venice on July 24, 1177. Having recognized Alexander as Pope, he was again accepted into the fold of the church. The emperor and his army then moved north. Arriving in Germany, Barbarossa discovered that Henry the Lion had launched an open rebellion against him. Invading Saxony and Bavaria, Barbarossa seized Henry's possessions and forced him into exile.

Third Crusade

Although Barbarossa was reconciled with the Pope, he continued to take measures to strengthen his position in Italy. In 1183 he signed a treaty with the Lombard League, alienating it from the Pope. Additionally, his son, Henry, married Constance, a Norman princess of Sicily, and was proclaimed King of Italy in 1186. Although these maneuvers led to increased tensions with Rome, this did not prevent Barbarossa from agreeing to participate in the Third Crusade in 1189.

The paths of the participants of the Third Crusade. The cross marks the place of death of Frederick I Barbarossa

Forming an alliance with Richard I of England and Philip II, King of France, Barbarossa formed a huge army with the goal of recapturing Jerusalem from Saladin. While the English and French kings and their troops reached the Holy Land by sea, Barbarossa's army was too large and was forced to go by land. After passing through Hungary, Serbia and the Byzantine Empire, they crossed the Bosphorus and moved into Anatolia (the territory of present-day Turkey). After two battles they reached the Selif River in southeastern Anatolia. Although versions of subsequent events differ, it is believed that Barbarossa died on June 10, 1190, while crossing this river. His death led to chaos in the army, and only a small part of the original troops, led by his son Frederick VI of Swabia, reached Acre.

From the Hohenzollern dynasty, who ruled in 1701-1713.

1) from 1679 Elisabeth Henrietta, daughter of Landgrave Wilhelm VI of Hesse-Kassel (b. 1661 + 1683);

2) from 1684 Sophia Charlotte, daughter of the Elector of Hanover Ernst August (b. 1668 + 1705);

3) from 1708 Sophia Louise, daughter of Duke Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. 1685 + 1735).

Elector of Brandenburg Frederick III, called Frederick I after taking the royal title, was born in Königsberg. He was short in stature and weakly built, but he was distinguished by an ardent character and showed a lot of curiosity and hard work from childhood. His father did little to raise him, but he still received a good education thanks to the dedication of his mentor Dunkelman, who donated most of his estate for this purpose. From early youth, Frederick was very fond of pomp, splendor and court etiquette. He began to reign independently in 1688 and soon announced his desire to take the royal title. Achieving this goal became the cornerstone of his entire policy. Emperor Leopold had long resisted the claims of the Brandenburg Elector, but he was in great need of money in view of the expected War of the Spanish Succession, and the rich Hohenzollern very opportunely offered him 6 million gold pieces. This made Leopold abandon all hesitation. In July 1700, he bestowed royal dignity on Frederick, and on January 18, 1701, the new king was crowned in Königsberg. They write that Frederick spent 300 thousand thalers on bribing imperial ministers and officials, but with the acquisition of a higher status he won immeasurably more. The importance of Prussia in Germany became much more significant after this. This became obvious already under Frederick's immediate descendants. He himself was primarily concerned with satisfying his pride and spared nothing to increase the splendor of his Berlin court, which under him became the center of splendor and luxury.

The new king, unlike his father, was not very hardworking, but he was surrounded by real statesmen who did a lot for the prosperity of Prussia at that time. In foreign policy, Frederick was devoted to the imperial course until the end of his reign. At the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession he joined the great coalition formed in Europe against Spain and France, and for twelve years maintained a considerable military force, which was of great assistance to the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. In his religious policy, the king remained a zealous defender of Protestantism and gave the most cordial welcome to the French Huguenots, accepting more than 25 thousand refugees and giving them equal rights with other subjects. A lot was done under him to develop education: in 1694 a university was founded in Halle, in 1695 the Berlin Academy of Painting was established, and in 1700 the creation of the Berlin Academy of Sciences was announced. The king went to great expense for this, but, according to the general belief, he agreed to them not out of love for the arts or sciences, but rather out of vanity, in order to be like Louis XIV.

All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999

FRIEDRICH I (Friederich I) (1657–1713), first king of Prussia, representative of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Frederick, the son of the Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm, nicknamed the Great Elector, was born in Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad) on July 11, 1657. After the death of his father in 1688, he became an Elector (as Frederick III) and, in alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, participated in the wars with King of France Louis XIV. The active army grew under Frederick from the 30,000 men left to him by his father to about 39,000. Yet Frederick's interests were not limited to the military field. Under the influence of his second wife Sophia Charlotte and the famous philosopher and scientist Leibniz, he founded the Academy of Arts (1696), the Academy of Sciences (1700), opened a university in Halle (1694), and recruited scientists, artists and sculptors. Frederick erected a majestic castle in Berlin and decorated the capital of his domains with new buildings and wide streets. For his wife, he built a palace with a park and an opera building in Charlottenburg (now a district of Berlin). Meanwhile, Huguenots invited from France (in total about 25,000 of them arrived, of which about 5,000 settled in Berlin) began to develop industry in Prussia. With the Elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus, becoming King of Poland, and the Elector of Hanover, George, apparently destined to succeed Queen Anne on the English throne, Frederick did not want to lag behind his rivals. In the Duchy of Prussia, the sovereign possession of the Hohenzollerns, located outside the Holy Roman Empire, he could secure the status of king without the consent of the emperor. But since Leopold sought an alliance with Brandenburg in view of the impending War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1713), he agreed to recognize Frederick as king, and in November 1700 Frederick entered into an alliance with Austria. During a magnificent ceremony held in Königsberg on January 18, 1701, Frederick crowned himself and his wife, which was supposed to emphasize the independence of his throne from any secular or ecclesiastical authority. Thus, he became king in Prussia, while simultaneously remaining Elector of Brandenburg. With the receipt of the royal title, Frederick's love for grandeur and splendor increased even more. However, the change in title did not mean that from now on the center of gravity moved from Brandenburg to Prussia: Berlin, and not Königsberg, continued to be the capital and royal residence. True, it was not the red Brandenburg eagle that appeared on the new royal coat of arms, but the black Prussian eagle. This eagle is the only link connecting the kingdom with the Teutonic Order of Knights, which ruled Prussia until its dissolution in 1525.

Attempts to create a class of peasant landowners in the state after 1701 were defeated by stubborn resistance from the nobility. At the same time, the court's expenses were increasing, and Prussia was too poor to bear this burden and at the same time maintain a large standing army. Frederick died in Berlin on February 25, 1713, his son and heir Frederick William I increased his military power and cut all other expenses. Under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht, signed on April 11, 1713, Prussia received the Spanish part of Upper Geldern (Spanish Netherlands) and the canton of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) as reward for assistance in the War of the Spanish Succession. In addition, France recognized the Electors of Brandenburg as their title of “Kings of Prussia.”

Materials from the encyclopedia "The World Around Us" were used.

Read further:

Friedrich Wilhelm I(1688-1740), King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty, son of Frederick I.

Frederick Barbarossa is known to us as one of the greatest emperors of the Middle Ages. The reason for this is his personal qualities and a favorable combination of circumstances.

In the 12th century, the Staufen (Hohenstaufen) dynasty sat on the throne in Germany. In 1152, the not-so-lucky Conrad III died, the only German ruler who never went to Rome to claim the imperial crown. Before his death, however, he made a wise decision and recommended that the nobility elect to the throne not his young son, but his nephew, Duke Frederick of Swabia, who would later be given the nickname Barbarossa (Redbeard) by the Italians for his thick red beard.

Frederick is believed to have been born in 1122. His father, Duke of Swabia, belonged to the Staufen family, and his mother to the Welf family, Dukes of Bavaria. Thus, Conrad hoped to put an end to the irreconcilable enmity of two noble families - the Staufens and the Welfs.

Frederick was a man in the prime of his life (he had just turned 30), slenderly built and of average height, with light brown hair and a reddish beard, with a noble bearing, possessing all the knightly virtues, intelligence and decisive character.

No wonder they admired his eloquence - he fully justified these reviews. In the letter that the king sent to Pope Eugene III, announcing his election, Frederick writes that he will make every effort to “adorn the church with all its advantages and return the power of the Roman emperor to its former strength, for the whole world is ruled by two forces: the sacred power of the clergy and royal power."

After being crowned with the royal crown in Aachen, Frederick I assembled the first Reichstag in Merseburg and resolved the dispute between two Danish princes over the succession to the throne. Then the king’s immediate concern was resolving disputes that arose in Bavaria about the distribution of power between representatives of the most important clans.

Within a year and a half, Frederick I managed not only to instill confidence in everyone in his impartiality and firmness, but also to actually settle many different discords and disagreements and therefore could undertake the usual campaign to Italy for the imperial crown. The imperial title for a person like Frederick should have had a completely different meaning than for kings of the ordinary type.

Italy was going through a severe crisis at that time., which had significance not only in relation to Rome, as the papal residence, but extended far beyond the borders of Italy. Amid these unrest, Pope Eugene III died (1153)

Lombardy flourished- new connections with the East and the rapid development of Levantine trade through the Crusades - all this had a revitalizing effect on the naturally rich country, abundantly irrigated by the Po River. Here the nobility closely united with the cities and rallied to such an extent with the lower classes that they put not their own interests above all, but the interests of the city.

FIRST ITALIAN CAMPAIGN OF FREDERICK I BARBAROSSA

With a small army - 1,800 knights and retinue - Frederick I first came to Italy in the fall of 1154. On the Roncal Valley, he reviewed his army, and then listened to the complaints with which they came to him. The most serious complaints were directed against "proud Milan" - the king of the Lombard cities, who ruined the cities of Como and Lodi and turned them into simple villages.

All the excuses of the Milanese consuls were found insufficient; when the city did not want to submit to the will of the king, it was declared disgraced. The royal army devastated the entire Milanese region and destroyed several Milanese castles.

The city of Tortona, allied with Milan, relying on the Milanese, also decided to disobey the king, but after a five-week siege it was taken and destroyed. The mutual envy of the big cities helped the king in this case, and after he thus established his power in Northern Italy, Frederick moved towards Rome.

From the end of 1154, the Pope was Adrian IV, a worthy man who rose to power without any illustrious ancestors, fortune, or family ties - only thanks to his outstanding personal merits.

Adrian came out to meet the king and only a question of etiquette overshadowed their first meeting. The pope expected that the king, according to custom, would hold the stirrup for him when dismounting, but he considered this humiliating to his dignity, and therefore the pope, in turn, deprived him of the usual honor of “kissing the world.” However, the senior princes explained to Frederick that the custom, which he did not observe, had been accepted since ancient times.

The embassy, ​​sent to the king by the Roman commune and speaking very arrogantly, was met by the king very unkindly, and he immediately ordered the city and the church of St. Peter to be occupied by troops.

And it happened in the church Frederick's coronation with the imperial crown, which the mass of the Roman population learned about only when it was completed. An uprising followed, which was suppressed only after a stubborn battle.

But Rome was not completely pacified by him, and the second service that the pope expected from the emperor - the pacification of the Normans - was also not provided. This did not happen at the will of Frederick. Powerful vassals from the squads did not want to go south in the hottest time of the year, dangerous diseases began in the army, and Frederick I set off on a return campaign.

Returning to Germany, Frederick showed imperial power in full force. He promulgated an energetic decree on the non-violation of the general peace throughout the state, and everyone was extremely amazed when he applied to some high-born violators of the general peace the ancient and very shameful penalty known as “carrying the dog.”

The next year, 1156, the Bavarian question was finally resolved, because of which two powerful families of the Welfs and the Babenbergs were at enmity.

The Duchy of Bavaria was given to the fief of Henry the Lion of the Welf family, who provided serious services to the emperor during his campaign in Italy, but the Eastern Mark was separated from Bavaria and a separate Austrian state was formed from it.

In the same year, having divorced his first wife, Frederick married Beatrice, heiress of the richest county of Upper Burgundy. It was not without reason that many suitors sought her hand - her domains were so vast and populated that she had 5 thousand knights at her disposal.

After a short struggle with Boleslaw IV of Poland, which ended successfully for Frederick, he convened the Reichstag in Burgundy (1157), and then the papal legates came to him, with whom he had to enter into not entirely pleasant explanations. The pope had every reason to be dissatisfied with the results of Frederick's Italian campaign, since they turned out to be beneficial only to the emperor, while the pope was left to the mercy of fate and was in no way protected either from the Roman party of independents or from King William.

The papal legates handed the emperor a letter from the pope, who subtly hinted that Frederick I owed everything to the Holy Roman Church and had not yet shown her gratitude. The legate Bishop of Siena asked sharply: “From whom did Frederick receive his imperial dignity, if not from the Holy Pope?” Frederick pacified his excitement, inviting the papal legates to immediately leave, and he himself published a manifesto for public information, in which, outlining the claims of the pope, he declared that he received both royal and imperial power by virtue of the election of princes “from one God.”

An important issue of state law, raised at the Reichstag in Besançon, became the subject of serious legal research, which was undertaken by lawyers from the school of the famous Bolognese scientist Irnerius. The results of their research were of great service to Frederick when he undertook his second campaign in Italy in 1158. At first, the reason for the campaign was the willfulness of Milan, which still sought hegemony over all Lombard cities.

The pope tried in vain and sent a new embassy to the emperor, in a different sense, explaining the expressions of his first message in order to ward off the storm. Frederick moved with a large army to Italy, where his envoys, taking advantage of the discord in Italian cities, recruited allies for him against Milan.

Sources:
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus Efron
Eger O. World History. v. 2
Ilovaisky D.I. Hohenshaufen and Welf.

Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa is an iconic historical figure. It was his name that was named after the plan for a “lightning war” against the USSR. They say Barbarossa sleeps in the rock and will come out when the German Empire is reborn.

Who was Friedrich Hohenstaufen?

The Kingdom of Germany in the 12th century was one of the most powerful powers in Europe and the core of the Roman Empire. This is what contemporaries called the union of the Italian, German and Burgundian kingdoms before it became the Holy Roman Empire in 1254.

Power in it was firmly held by noble families, from which the king was elected. Frederick's father was the Duke of Swabia, Frederick One-Eye, from the Staufen family, and his mother was Judith of Bavaria, who came from the no less noble Welf family. King Conrad III of Germany was his uncle.

Like all boys in noble families of that time, he learned fencing, horse riding, hunted and accompanied his father on campaigns. Despite his patronage of the arts, he remained illiterate until the end of his life and never learned to read or write.

According to the recollections of contemporaries, the young man had naturally good health and physique, knew how to conduct a conversation, respected the code of chivalry and was known as an expert in military affairs. At the age of 25, he took part in the Second Crusade, which ended unsuccessfully. For Frederick it was an excellent school, in which he acquired both military and political experience. The leader of the campaign, King Conrad III, noticed him, and when his own son Henry died in 1150, he appointed him as his successor. The coronation of the new German ruler took place in Frankfurt on March 4, 1152.

The first steps and wars of the emperor

Elected king by the German nobility, Frederick Barbarossa wanted to further strengthen his power: for this he needed the crown of the emperor, traditionally awarded in Rome by the pope.

Having pacified the rebellious vassals in Germany, the young king could assemble a fairly large and well-equipped army of knights, ready to march on Rome. The cities of northern Italy and Roman townspeople became his main opponents in long wars after the imperial coronation of 1155.

In total, the emperor made six Italian campaigns. It is no coincidence that it was the Italians, after the death of Frederick, who gave him the nickname Barbarossa (in Italian barba - beard, rossa - red). Politics in Italy have not always been soft. So, in 1162, he completely destroyed Milan, and resettled the remaining inhabitants in four neighboring villages.

Frederick Barbarossa perfected the tactics of the knightly army. The core of his army was the heavily armed knightly cavalry. It was she who was assigned the main role in the battle - to break through the enemy’s formation, mounted or on foot, and defeat his main forces. The infantry, mostly consisting of peasants, pinned down his flanks and finished off those who remained.

However, such tactics did not always work - in 1176, Frederick, having met with the militia of northern Italian cities at Legnano, was unable to break through the line of pikemen at the head of heavily armed cavalry, was knocked out of the saddle and almost died. The news of his “death,” together with the attack of the Brescian cavalry on the flank, sowed panic in the ranks of the German army. The battle was lost, which, however, did not prevent Barbarossa from remaining one of the best commanders of the Middle Ages.

Third Second Cross

Already in old age, the powerful ruler Frederick Barbarossa had another chance to show the qualities of a true Christian knight. In 1187, Sultan Salah ad-Din defeated the troops of the King of Jerusalem and captured the Holy Sepulcher. The monarchs of the strongest states in Europe went on the Crusade, the third in a row - the French king Philip II, the English king Richard I, already nicknamed the Lionheart during his lifetime, and the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

The latter was much older than his comrades and it took him less time to gather an army. In addition, the German emperor had the power and money to organize the campaign, was confident in himself and did not pay attention to political intrigues.

On May 11, 1189, the army of Frederick Barbarossa set out from Regensburg. He himself was the only European ruler to take part in the Crusade for the second time. However, when approaching Constantinople, it became clear that the Emperor of Byzantium, Isaac II, was in fact not inclined to help the crusaders.

Overcoming obstacles, the army crossed into Asia Minor and defeated the Seljuks at Iconium, where, according to the chronicler, Frederick fought like a lion. But the movement of the army towards Jerusalem was stopped by the sudden death of the emperor.

The mystery of death

The death of Frederick Barbarossa is shrouded in mystery. Traditionally it is believed that he drowned while crossing the Salef River in Armenia (modern Turkey). However, the emperor’s contemporaries already expressed doubts about this version. The emperor knew how to swim well and had his warriors next to him.

There is another version that the emperor stopped to rest on the bank of the river and decided to refresh himself in its waters. But the water turned out to be very cold and maybe a cramp, or maybe the desire to swim right after lunch, caused the death of almost seventy-year-old Barbarossa.

Be that as it may, the death of the leader forced many of the crusaders to turn back. And those who remained, fighting disease and the Seljuks, were unable to retake Jerusalem. The fate of the emperor's body is also unknown. It was embalmed to be delivered to Germany, but it was not returned to its homeland. This gave rise to many legends in the minds of the emperor's admirers.

Legends of Barbarossa

Frederick Barbarossa was known, respected and feared by his contemporaries and their descendants. But the legend about him appeared only after the reign of his grandson, Frederick II, in the middle of the 13th century. Largely due to the fact that the latter managed to liberate Jerusalem from the infidels. The images of the Friedrichs in the people's memory are mixed (let us remember how the figures of Vladimir the Saint and Vladimir Monomakh merged in the epic Vladimir the Red Sun). Already at the end of the Middle Ages, a legend spread that Frederick Barbarossa did not die, but was sleeping in a mysterious mountain. The most commonly named mountain was Kyffhäuser in Thuringia.

According to legend, the emperor sits at the table, and his long red beard wraps around the table. From time to time, Barbarossa wakes up and sends two ravens to see if the quarrels in Germany have subsided. When this happens, and the beard wraps around the table three times, the emperor will rise up and restore order with his own hand.

We owe the spread of this legend and its literary treatment largely to the German romantics - scientists and writers who actively collected ancient monuments in the 19th century. Among them were the famous brothers Grimm. The ideal literary image they created obscured the true face of the emperor - a representative of his time and his class. Frederick Barbarossa was a knight, rude to the peasants and courtly among the courtiers, recklessly brave in battle and cunning in negotiations, a cunning politician and a skillful, calculating commander.

Frederick I Barbarossa

King Frederick received his nickname for the color of his beard (“Barbarossa” means “red-bearded”). Frederick Barbarossa became the German king in 1125. Only after this date did his biographers and historians have the opportunity to trace in detail the life path of the crowned conqueror.

Barbarossa created a large European army for his time, the main force of which was the heavy knightly cavalry clad in steel armor, and improved its organization. He is recognized as a classic of the military art of the Middle Ages. Under him, German knighthood became an example to follow for many other national knightly organizations in Europe.

The training of a German knight, as well as all other European ones, began in childhood. Serving as a page or squire for a lord for 10–12 years was the best practical school for the future knight. After the end of such service, a solemn knighting was carried out.

Frederick Barbarossa, as well as other warlike monarchs of the European Middle Ages, demanded from German knights perfect mastery of all seven knightly arts. These included: horse riding, swimming, archery, fist fighting, falconry, playing chess and writing poetry. The German king himself, and with him his German knights, perfected their martial art in constant internecine feudal wars. Besides wars, the knights considered only hunting and tournaments worthy of occupation, for which Frederick Barbarossa had a special passion.

Frederick Barbarossa religiously adhered to the feudal right to the title of knight. According to his decree, only those who were knights by birth had the right to a knightly duel with all its attributes. Only a knight could wear a baldric, a knight's belt and golden spurs. These items were the favorite rewards of the German knights, with which the king encouraged them.

In 1155, Frederick I Barbarossa became Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which included numerous German states and modern Austria, which played a leading role in the empire. By that time, Frederick Redbeard had strengthened royal power on German soil by all available measures, and primarily military ones.

Having become emperor, the monarch of Germany began to pursue an aggressive, aggressive policy that suited the interests of the German feudal lords. He sought to bring the rich Lombard city-states of Northern Italy under his rule.

The crowned commander made five campaigns of conquest in Northern Italy: in 1154–1155, 1158–1162, 1163–1164, 1166–1168 and 1174–1178.

During the first campaigns of conquest, Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa managed to subjugate many city-states of Lombardy to the Holy Roman Empire, which either paid off the Germans or were completely plundered when taken by storm. However, in 1167, 16 Lombard cities united into the Lombard League, united their military forces and opposed Barbarossa. The League was supported by the Republic of Venice and the Pope, who could not subjugate the willful ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.

The last, fifth campaign of Emperor Frederick I in Northern Italy began in 1174. At the head of an 8,000-strong German knightly army, large for that era, he crossed the Alps and, invading Lombardy, captured and plundered the city of Susa. But the knights were unable to immediately take the stronger, well-fortified city of Alexandria, and they besieged it.

Seeing a common danger, the units of the Lombard League united into a single army that could cut off the imperial army from its main rear base - the city of Pavia. In such a difficult situation for him, Frederick Barbarossa was forced in 1175 to conclude a truce with the league, which he used to prepare for the next war in the land of Lombardy.

However, when Redbeard resumed the war against the Italians, he initially had to abandon offensive actions. The reason was that one of his vassals - the ruler of Saxony and Thuringia - unexpectedly refused to participate in the war in Lombardy. Until the spring of 1176, the emperor had to sit out in Pavia awaiting reinforcements. The heavy knightly cavalry from various places in Germany had to make a long and tedious journey.

In the spring, Frederick I, at the head of his knightly army, set out from Pavia and near the city of Como united with detachments of German knights under the command of the bishops of Magdeburg and Cologne. The armed militia of the city of Como also joined Barbarossa, counting on rich booty in neighboring Lombardy.

Then the emperor's army moved towards Largo di Maggiore to join the militia of the city of Pavia and those German knightly detachments that were already on the way. Before this, the crowned conqueror carefully avoided meetings with the enemy, knowing well the balance of forces in the war.

The army of the Lombard League marched towards the army of the German knighthood. The backbone of the Lombard army was the Milanese city foot militia and the mounted knights of Milan. The city militias of Brescia, Lodi, Verona, Piacenza and Vercelli became allies of the Milanese. There were very few professional military mercenaries in this army.

The decisive battle between the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the Lombard League took place on May 29, 1176 near the city of Legnano. This battle is notable for the fact that it pitted the city's foot militia against a mounted knightly army.

The Lombards were well prepared to meet the enemy. The Milanese and their allies set up a fortified field camp on the road to Como and surrounded it with a shallow ditch. The city militia was stationed in the camp. The Milanese knights lined up for battle in front of the camp. Knights from Brescia (the so-called “death squad”) took refuge behind the fortress walls of the city of Legnano.

Approaching the position of the Lombards, Frederick Barbarossa sent about 3.5 thousand German knights to attack the Milanese knights. The Germans overthrew the Italian knights: some of them took refuge in the camp, and some found salvation in Legnano. It began to seem to the emperor and his military leaders that the battle was almost won and victory was close.

The Milanese infantry turned out to be more resilient compared to their knight compatriots. The German army, finding itself in front of the enemy camp, faced the closed ranks of Italian infantry, which was covered with shields and bristled with a forest of pikes. Behind the foot militia stood carrochios - heavy carts with banners hoisted on them. On the carrochio there were monstrance bearers with sacred gifts in the form of bread and wine, and there were priests calling on the soldiers to fight bravely and steadfastly.

The German knights tried unsuccessfully to break through the ranks of the Lombard infantry. Frederick Barbarossa's attention was focused on the assault on the enemy camp. He threw all his reserve troops into battle and now looked forward to the victorious outcome of the battle. Confident in his own superiority in strength, the emperor arrogantly did not bother about military security.

The knightly “death squad” of the city of Brescia, in the ranks of which were some of the fugitive Milanese knights, left the Legnano fortress unnoticed by the enemy. The Brescian knights, whose number was not so great, suddenly attacked the left flank of the imperial army and overthrew it. At the same time, the Milanese infantry launched a counterattack.

The foot militia of the Lombard League utterly defeated the knights of Barbarossa that day, and only the lack of a sufficient number of mounted warriors among the Milanese and their allies saved the lives of the fleeing invaders. Frederick I Barbarossa himself was knocked off his horse, lost his imperial banner and shield, and barely escaped his pursuers.

The ruler of the Holy Roman Empire had to actually capitulate to the Lombard League. He restored the self-government of the Lombard cities subject to the empire and renounced the right to appoint officials in them. Frederick Barbarossa returned to the Pope all the land possessions seized from him. However, this did not make Redbeard’s belligerence any less.

In world history, 1189 marked the beginning of the Third Crusade to the Holy Land. It was led by the three largest European monarchs - the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, the French king Philip II Augustus and the English king Richard the Lionheart. They all had their own troops and were constantly at odds with each other, laying claim to the main command and the glory of the winner.

Initially, the number of participants in the Third Crusade reached almost 100 thousand people. But on the way to Palestine, the crusader army of Redbeard suffered heavy losses in frequent skirmishes with the Muslim troops of Sultan Saladin (Salah ad-Din). Frederick I Barbarossa led his troops through the territory of the Byzantine Empire by land (the French and English crusaders headed to Palestine by sea) - this road was explored back in the First and Second Crusades. The campaign through Asia Minor took place with the reflection of constant attacks by light Arab cavalry.

However, Barbarossa was not able to reach the Holy Land. While crossing the Saleph River, the emperor-commander drowned.

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