Editing Hohenstaufen (section)

===End of the Staufer dynasty ===
Conrad IV was succeeded as duke of Swabia by his only son, two-year-old [[Conradin]]. By this time, the office of duke of Swabia had been fully subsumed into the office of the king, and without royal authority had become meaningless. In 1261, attempts to elect young Conradin king were unsuccessful. He also had to defend Sicily against an invasion, sponsored by [[Pope Urban IV]] (Jacques Pantaléon) and [[Pope Clement IV]] (Guy Folques), by [[Charles of Anjou]], a brother of the [[Kingdom of France|French]] king. Charles had been promised by the popes the Kingdom of Sicily, where he would replace the relatives of Frederick II. Charles had defeated Conradin's uncle [[Manfred, King of Sicily]], in the [[Battle of Benevento]] on 26 February 1266. The king himself, refusing to flee, rushed into the midst of his enemies and was killed. Conradin's campaign to retake control ended with his defeat in 1268 at the [[Battle of Tagliacozzo]], after which he was handed over to Charles, who had him publicly [[executed]] at [[Naples]]. With Conradin, the direct line of the Dukes of Swabia finally ceased to exist, though most of the later emperors were descended from the Staufer dynasty indirectly.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.grin.com/document/180488 |title=SDie Hinrichtung Konradins von Hohenstaufen – Reaktionen der Zeitgenossen und Rezeption der Nachwelt  |publisher=   Grin  |author=Lukas Strehle |date=19 October 2011 |access-date=February 28, 2020 }}</ref><ref name="Benjamin2010">{{cite book|author=Sandra Benjamin|title=Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History - 7 - Hohenstaufens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOpFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT292|date=20 April 2010|publisher=Steerforth Press|isbn=978-1-58642-181-6|pages=292–}}</ref>

The last member of the dynasty was Manfred's son, Henry [Enrico], who died in captivity at [[Castel dell'Ovo]] on 31 October 1318.{{efn|[[Manfred, King of Sicily|Manfred of Sicily]] was himself a son of [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] born out of wedlock, who had been legitimised by the posterior marriage of his parents on his mother's deathbed. Therefore, his son, Henry [Enrico] (May 1262 – 31 October 1318), was the last Hohenstaufen who could have claimed full dynastic rights, albeit not being the last [[Patrilineality|agnatic]] descendant of the family. In fact, the last patrilineal descendant was Henry's first cousin once removed, Giovanna di Stevia (1280 – 1352), a daughter of [[Conrad of Antioch|Conrad]], and grand-daughter of [[Frederick of Antioch]], also an illegitimate son of Frederick II.}}<ref>Carrara, Mario. ''Gli Scaligeri'', Varese, Dell'Oglio, 1966.</ref><ref name="Gregorovius 2010">[[Ferdinand Gregorovius|Gregorovius, Ferdinand]] (2010) [1897]. ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages''. Vol. 5, Part 2, Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref>Matthew of Paris, Mon. Germ. Hist. Scriptores XXVIII pp. 360-361</ref><ref>Cronica Fratris Salimbene di Adam, Ordinis Minorem, MGH SS XXXII p. 349</ref>

During the political decentralization of the late Staufer period, the population had grown from an estimated 8 million in 1200 to about 14 million in 1300, and the number of towns increased tenfold. The most heavily urbanized areas of Germany were in the south and the west. Towns often developed a degree of independence, but many were subordinate to local rulers if not [[Imperial immediacy|immediate]] to the emperor. Colonization of the east also continued in the thirteenth century, most notably through the efforts of the Teutonic Knights. German merchants also began trading extensively on the [[Baltic region|Baltic]].