The following two centuries featured two important
rivaling princely families, the Hohenstaufen of Swabia who
held both the imperial and German crowns, and the Welf, from
Bavaria and Saxony with alliance to the papacy.
The Salian line died out with the death of Henry V in 1125.
For fear that his nephews, Frederick and Conrad Hohenstaufen
would endeavour to revive royal power, the princes avoided
electing them in favour of Lothair, Duke of Saxony. This promptly
led to conflict with the Hohenstaufen family and when finally
Conrad Hohenstaufen was elected king upon Lothair's death
in 1138, the family feud continued to rage not only in Germany
but in Italy as well, where the Welf were intent on curbing
the Hohensaufen imperial ambition.
Frederick I, known as Frederick Barbarossa given his red beard
was Conrad's nephew and succeeded him in 1152. His reign was
to last until 1190 and most of this time was spent by the
monarch travelling back and forth between both Germany and
Italy in an effort to restore imperial power in both countries.
By marrying Beatrice, heiress to Burgundy he managed to join
Germany with Burgundy . Despite the fact that he was crowned
emperor in Italy most city states in the northern part of
the country refused to support him and together with the papacy
opposed Frederick by forming the Lombard League, under leadership
of Pope Alexander III.
Despite numerous attempts to conquer Italy
, Frederick ultimately failed to restore power. Dying in 1190
while leading the Third Crusade, he was succeed by his son
Henry VI, an extremely ambitious ruler with his sights set
on conquering the known world. Forcing the northern Italian
cities under his rule and gaining Sicily through a death in
his wife's family, he also tried unifying the peninsula under
the Hohenstaufen name. Unable to make royal succession hereditary,
he did manage to secure a pledge through with the German crown
would go to his son, Frederick II. Henry VI's intentions for
a Mediterranean empire were stopped short when he died suddenly
of natural causes in 1197.
Given that Frederick II was only three years old at the time,
Henry's work came rapidly undone, with the north Italians
reasserting their independence and the Germans refusing to
accept a child king. While the infant's uncle Philip served
in the child's place, other factions elected a counter king,
Otto IV, and civil strife ensued. Frederick II returned to
Germany in 1215 where his election was secured by Pope Innocent
III and began his rule.
Frederick is considered to be one of the most
talented, diplomatic and capable rulers of the Middle Ages.
He focused mainly on Italy , where he set up his court and
was noted for his excellence as an artist, scientist and poet.
In order to gain support in Germany , where he spent little
of his time, he agreed to various substantial concessions
to the nobles of the land, stipulated in the Privilege of
Worms (1231), notable increasing their power within their
respective territories. Little was done by Frederick to unify
Germany and by the time his son died in 1254, the Great Interregnum
followed, lasting until 1273. This was a time of complete
anarchy with no centralized power whatsoever and individual
princes competing arduously to further their own interests.
While enduring the political chaos of the time, Germany began
developing on other levels. Trade began to grow and towns
acquired certain levels of independence, the population increased
to 14 million by 1300 and the number of towns also increased
immensely. City halls, cathedrals, town halls and guildhalls
were built, as were canals and roads, beneficial to furthering
trade. The southern and western areas of Germany were the
most heavily urbanized.
