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Conrad III's Imperial Politics (1140s)

Type Event Region Europe Time c. 1141–1150

In the 1140s, Hohenstaufen-born Conrad III ruled the Holy Roman Empire as German king but never received papal coronation as emperor, pursuing allian…

Timeline

  1. 1141–1143Germany · Holy Roman EmpireThrough imperial diets and individual negotiations, Conrad III won over princes of great duchies such as Saxony and Bavaria; after the 1142 Treaty of Frankfurt he temporarily stabilized the situation in northern Germany, securing broader recognition of the Hohenstaufen throne and laying the domestic foundation for subsequent external actions.
  2. 1146–1148Germany and the Levant · Holy Roman EmpireConrad III responded to Pope Eugene III's bull Quantum praedecessores, vowing the cross in late 1146 and leading an army east in 1147. Crusade mobilization was both a religious duty and a political lever to enhance imperial prestige and strengthen ties with the papacy, but the expedition's failure instead weakened his personal authority.
  3. 1147–1150Italian Peninsula · ItalyBefore and after the crusade, Conrad III intervened in Italy several times: attempting to check Norman King Roger II's expansion in southern Italy, upholding imperial suzerainty over the cities of northern Italy, and continuously sparring with the papacy over the boundaries of imperial and papal power. Marriage negotiations with the Kingdom of Sicily around 1149 showed his pragmatic diplomatic orientation.

Sources