Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called the Younger or the Boy, but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (, ), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke of Swabia (1254–1268) and nominal King of Jerusalem (1254–1268) and Sicily (1254–1258). After his attempt to reclaim the Kingdom of Sicily for the Hohenstaufen dynasty failed, he was captured and beheaded.
Early childhood
Conradin was born in Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad IV of Germany and Elisabeth of Bavaria. Though he never succeeded his father as Roman-German king, he was recognized as king of Sicily and Jerusalem by supporters of the Hohenstaufens in 1254.
Having lost his father in 1254, he grew up at the court of his uncle and guardian, Louis II, Duke of Bavaria. His guardians were able to hold Swabia for him. Jerusalem was held by a relative from the royal house of Cyprus as regent. In Sicily, his father's half-brother Manfred continued as regent, but began to develop plans to usurp the kingship.
Little is known of his appearance and character except that he was as "beautiful as Absalom, and spoke good Latin".
Political and military career
Having assumed the title of King of Jerusalem and Sicily, Conradin took possession of the Duchy of Swabia in 1262, and remained for some time in his duchy. His remains, with those of Frederick of Baden, lie in the church of the monastery of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at Naples, founded by his mother for the good of his soul; and here in 1847 Maximilian, crown prince of Bavaria, erected a marble statue by Bertel Thorvaldsen to his memory. In the 14th-century Codex Manesse, a collection of medieval German lyrics, preserved at Heidelberg, there appear two songs written by Conradin, and his fate has formed the subject of several dramas. Conradin : a philosophical ballad was written by C. R. Ashbee, dedicated to his patron and friend Colonel Shaw Hellier, and published in 1908 by Essex House Press, "one of the most significant private presses at work during the Arts and Crafts movement"
The novel Põlev lipp (The Burning Banner) by Karl Ristikivi (1961; in Estonian) depicts Conradin's Italian campaign. A translation into the French by L'étendard en flammes, was published in Paris in 2005.
Notes
References
Bibliography
- F. W. Schirrmacher, Die letzten Hohenstaufen (Göttingen, 1871)
- K. Hampe, Geschichte Konradins von Hohenstaufen (Berlin, 1893)
- del Giudice, Il Giudizio e la condanna di Corradino (Naples, 1876)
- G. Cattaneo, Federico II di Svevia (Rome, 1992)
- E. Miller, Konradin von Hohenstaufen (Berlin, 1897)