Editing Frederick Barbarossa (section)

===Later years===
[[File:Friedrich-barbarossa-und-soehne-welfenchronik 1-1000x1540.jpg|thumb|left|Frederick Barbarossa, middle, flanked by two of his children, King Henry VI (left) and Duke Frederick VI (right). From the ''[[Historia Welforum]]'']]
Increasing anti-German sentiment swept through Lombardy, culminating in the restoration of Milan in 1169.<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=253}}</ref> In 1174 Frederick made his fifth expedition to Italy. (It was probably during this time that the famous ''[[Tafelgüterverzeichnis]]'', a record of the royal estates, was made.<ref>{{harvp|Leyser|1988|p=157}}</ref>) He was opposed by the pro-papal [[Lombard League]] (now joined by [[Venice]], Sicily and [[Constantinople]]), which had previously formed to stand against him.<ref name="Kampers 6252b">Kampers, Franz. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06252b.htm "Frederick I (Barbarossa)"]. ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 21 May 2009.</ref> The cities of northern Italy had become exceedingly wealthy through trade, representing a marked turning point in the transition from medieval feudalism. While continental feudalism had remained strong socially and economically, it was in deep political decline by the time of Frederick Barbarossa. When the northern Italian cities inflicted a defeat on Frederick at [[Alessandria]] in 1175, the European world was shocked.<ref>{{harvp|Le Goff|2000|p=104}}</ref><ref>Reprint of B. Arthaud. ''La civilization de l'Occident medieval'', Paris, 1964.</ref> With the refusal of Henry the Lion to bring help to Italy, the campaign was a complete failure. Frederick suffered a heavy defeat at the [[Battle of Legnano]] near Milan, on 29 May 1176, where he was wounded and for some time was believed to be dead.<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=257}}</ref> This battle marked the turning point in Frederick's claim to empire.<ref>{{harvp|Davis|1957|pp=332 et seq.}}</ref> He had no choice other than to begin negotiations for peace with Alexander III and the Lombard League. In the Peace of Anagni in 1176, Frederick recognized Alexander III as pope, and in the [[Peace of Venice]] in 1177, Frederick and Alexander III were formally reconciled.<ref>{{harvp|Brown|1972|pp=164–165}}</ref> With decisions of Paschal III nullfied, Beatrice ceased to be referred as empress.

The scene was similar to that which had occurred between [[Pope Gregory VII]] and [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor]] at [[Canossa]] a century earlier. The conflict was the same as that resolved in the [[Concordat of Worms]]: Did the Holy Roman Emperor have the power to name the pope and bishops? The [[Investiture controversy]] from previous centuries had been brought to a tendentious peace with the Concordat of Worms and affirmed in the [[First Council of the Lateran]]. Now it had recurred, in a slightly different form. Frederick had to humble himself before Alexander III at Venice.<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=260}}</ref> The emperor acknowledged the pope's sovereignty over the Papal States, and in return Alexander acknowledged the emperor's overlordship of the Imperial Church. Also in the Peace of Venice, a truce was made with the Lombard cities, which took effect in August 1178.<ref>See [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ Yale Avalon project].</ref> The grounds for a permanent peace were not established until 1183, however, in the [[Peace of Constance]], when Frederick conceded their right to freely elect town magistrates. By this move, Frederick recovered his nominal domination over Italy, which became his chief means of applying pressure on the papacy.<ref>{{harvp|Le Goff|2000|pp=96–97}}</ref>

In a move to consolidate his reign after the disastrous expedition into Italy, Frederick was formally crowned [[King of Burgundy]] at [[Arles]] on 30 June 1178. Although traditionally the German kings had automatically inherited the royal crown of Arles since the time of [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor|Conrad II]], Frederick felt the need to be crowned by the Archbishop of Arles, regardless of his laying claim to the title from 1152.

[[File:Erfurt Peterskirche 745.jpg|thumb|The now secularised St Peter's Church at [[Petersberg Citadel]], Erfurt, where Henry the Lion submitted to Barbarossa in 1181]]
Frederick did not forgive Henry the Lion for refusing to come to his aid in 1176.<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=263}}</ref> By 1180, Henry had successfully established a powerful state comprising Saxony, Bavaria, and substantial territories in the north and east of Germany. Taking advantage of the hostility of other German princes to Henry, Frederick had Henry tried in absentia by a court of bishops and princes in 1180, declared that imperial law overruled traditional German law, and had Henry stripped of his lands and declared an outlaw.<ref>{{harvp|Davis|1957|p=333}}</ref> He then invaded Saxony with an imperial army to force his cousin to surrender. Henry's allies deserted him, and he finally had to submit to Frederick at an [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]] in [[Erfurt]] in November 1181.<ref>{{harvp|Friedrich|2003|p=5}}</ref> Henry spent three years in exile at the court of his father-in-law [[Henry II of England]] in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany. He finished his days in Germany, as the much-diminished Duke of Brunswick.<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=264}}</ref> Frederick's desire for revenge was sated. Henry the Lion lived a relatively quiet life, sponsoring arts and architecture. Frederick's victory over Henry did not gain him as much in the German feudalistic system as it would have in the English feudalistic system. While in England the pledge of fealty went in a direct line from overlords to those under them, the Germans pledged oaths only to the direct overlord, so that in Henry's case, those below him in the feudal chain owed nothing to Frederick. Thus, despite the diminished stature of Henry the Lion, Frederick did not gain his allegiances.<ref>{{harvp|Cantor|1969|pp=433–434}}</ref>

Frederick was faced with the reality of disorder among the German states, where continuous civil wars were waged between pretenders and the ambitious who wanted the crown for themselves. Italian unity under German rule was more myth than truth. Despite proclamations of German hegemony, the pope was the most powerful force in Italy.<ref>{{harvp|Le Goff|2000|pp=102–103}}</ref> When Frederick returned to Germany after his defeat in northern Italy, he was a bitter and exhausted man. The German princes, far from being subordinated to royal control, were intensifying their hold on wealth and power in Germany and entrenching their positions. There began to be a generalized social desire to "create greater Germany" by conquering the Slavs to the east.<ref>{{harvp|Cantor|1969|p=429}}</ref>

Although the Italian city states had achieved a measure of independence from Frederick as a result of his failed fifth expedition into Italy,<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=262}}</ref> the emperor had not given up on his Italian dominions. In 1184, he held a massive celebration, the [[Diet of Pentecost]], when his two eldest sons were knighted, and thousands of knights were invited from all over Germany. While payments upon the knighting of a son were part of the expectations of an overlord in England and France, only a "gift" was given in Germany for such an occasion. Frederick's monetary gain from this celebration is said to have been modest.<ref>{{harvp|Dahmus|1969|p=240}}</ref> Later in 1184, Frederick again moved into Italy, this time joining forces with the local rural nobility to reduce the power of the Tuscan cities.<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=265}}</ref> In 1186, he engineered the marriage of his son Henry to [[Constance I of Sicily|Constance of Sicily]], heiress to the [[Kingdom of Sicily]], over the objections of [[Pope Urban III]].<ref>{{harvp|Comyn|1851|p=266}}</ref>

Pope Urban III died shortly after, and was succeeded by [[Pope Gregory VIII]], who even as [[Apostolic Chancery|Papal Chancellor]] had pursued a more conciliatory line with the Emperor than previous popes and was more concerned with troubling reports from the Holy Land than with a power struggle with Barbarossa.<ref name="Kampers 6252b"/>