29th
Today in 1268
Remember Frederick Barbarossa, world-grade badass? He was the first great ruler of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His grandson Frederick II inherited his namesake’s pride, but not his acumen. He was excommunicated four times: once for failing to go on crusade, once for being incredibly successful on a crusade, and twice for making war on the pope. His arch-enemy, Pope Innocent IV, said that Frederick II was probably a secret Muslim and used all his diplomatic power to disassemble Frederick’s (now Unholy) Roman Empire — finally avenging Frederick Barbarossa’s creation of the Antipope, two generations before.
Frederick II’s grandson, Conradin, did even worse. At his birth, hating the Hohenstaufens was Papal policy and his inheritance consisted of nothing more than the duchy of Swabia. When he was 14, the Italian enemies of the Pope asked for his aid against the Pope’s favorite, French Count Charles of Anjou. Conradin showed up without much money or military force, but his buddy, Margrave Frederick I of Baden came along for the adventure. Fortunately, the locals, along with adventurers from all over the known world, joined his cause. In August 1268, Charles destroyed Conradin’s army when they started pillaging before securing the combat zone. Conradin was captured shortly thereafter and imprisoned in Naples.
On this day in 1268, he was publicly beheaded, along with his dear friend, Frederick I of Baden.
With Conradin’s execution, the Hohenstaufen dynasty (indeed, the family itself) came to an end. While the Hohenstaufens were fighting with Popes in Italy, Henry the Blond, Count of Luxembourg, engaged in small-stakes diplomacy in the turbulent French-speaking area of the remains of the Holy Roman Empire. The County of Luxembourg was, in this period, as neutral as a sovereignty could be in the High Middle Ages.
In 1312, the House of Luxembourg was cosmopolitan, engaged in no intense feuds, and landed on the border between French- and German-speaking parts of Europe. There had been no Emperor for more than 60 years, and chaos was the rule in Europe, east of France. To the war-weary nobles looking for a new dynasty for the Holy Roman Empire, this family seemed like the ideal compromise candidate. Thus, Henry VII became the first Holy Roman Emperor of the House of Luxembourg, and the successor to the defunct House of Hohenstaufen.
