The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of German origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty's most prominent rulers – Frederick I (1155), Henry VI (1191) and Frederick II (1220) – ascended the imperial throne and also reigned over Italy and Burgundy. The non-contemporary name of "Hohenstaufen" is derived from the family's Hohenstaufen Castle on Hohenstaufen mountain at the northern fringes of the Swabian Jura, near the town of Göppingen. Under Hohenstaufen rule, the Holy Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent from 1155 to 1268.
Name
thumb|The [[Hohenstaufen Castle ruin]]
The name Hohenstaufen was first used in the 14th century to distinguish the "high" (hohen) conical hill named Staufen in the Swabian Jura (in the district of Göppingen) from the village of the same name in the valley below. The new name was applied to the hill castle of Staufen by historians only in the 19th century to distinguish it from other castles of the same name. The name of the dynasty followed suit, but in recent decades, the trend in German historiography has been to prefer the name "Staufer", which is closer to contemporary usage.
Ruling in Germany
When the last male member of the Salian dynasty, Emperor Henry V, died without heirs in 1125, a controversy arose about the succession. Duke Frederick II and Conrad, the two current male Staufers, by their mother Agnes, were grandsons of late Emperor Henry IV and nephews of Henry V. Frederick attempted to succeed to the throne of the Holy Roman Emperor (formally known as the King of the Romans) through a customary election, but lost to the Saxon duke Lothair of Supplinburg. A civil war between Frederick's dynasty and Lothair's ended with Frederick's submission in 1134. After Lothair's death in 1137, Frederick's brother Conrad was elected King as Conrad III.
Because the Welf duke Henry the Proud, son-in-law and heir of Lothair and the most powerful prince in Germany, who had been passed over in the election, refused to acknowledge the new king, Conrad III deprived him of all his territories, giving the Duchy of Saxony to Albert the Bear and that of Bavaria to Leopold IV, Margrave of Austria. In 1147, Conrad heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Second Crusade at Speyer, and he agreed to join King Louis VII of France in a great expedition to the Holy Land which failed.
Conrad's brother Duke Frederick II died in 1147 and was succeeded in Swabia by his son, Duke Frederick III. When King Conrad III died without an adult heir in 1152, Frederick also succeeded him, taking both German royal and Imperial titles.
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick I (Reign 2 January 1155 – 10 June 1190), known as Frederick Barbarossa because of his red beard, struggled throughout his reign to restore the power and prestige of the German monarchy against the dukes, whose power had grown both before and after the Investiture Controversy under his Salian predecessors. As royal access to the resources of the church in Germany was much reduced, Frederick was forced to go to Italy to find the finances needed to restore the king's power in Germany. He was soon crowned emperor in Italy, but decades of warfare on the peninsula yielded scant results. The Papacy and the prosperous city-states of the Lombard League in northern Italy were traditional enemies, but the fear of Imperial domination caused them to join ranks to fight Frederick. Under the skilled leadership of Pope Alexander III, the alliance suffered many defeats but ultimately was able to deny the emperor a complete victory in Italy. Frederick returned to Germany. He had vanquished one notable opponent, his Welf cousin, Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and Bavaria in 1180, but his hopes of restoring the power and prestige of the monarchy seemed unlikely to be met by the end of his life.
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 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.
The last member of the dynasty was Manfred's son, Henry [Enrico], who died in captivity at Castel dell'Ovo on 31 October 1318.
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 immediate to the emperor. Colonisation 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.
Legacy
thumb|A Staufer stele in [[Cheb, Czech Republic (2013)]]
The Kyffhäuser Monument was erected to commemorate Frederick I and was inaugurated in 1896. The Hohenstaufen arms were adopted by the German state of Baden-Württemberg in 1954. On 29 October 1968, the 700th anniversary of the death of Konradin, a society known as "Society for Staufer History" (de) was founded in Göppingen.
The Castel del Monte, Apulia, which was built during the 1240s by the Emperor Frederick II, was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1996.
The German artist, Hans Kloss, painted his Staufer-Rundbild depicting, in great detail, the history of the House of Hohenstaufen, in Lorch Monastery.
From 2000 to 2018, the Committee of Staufer Friends (de) has built thirty-eight Staufer steles (de) in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.
Members of the Hohenstaufen family
thumb|right|Family tree of the Hohenstaufen emperors including their relation to succeeding dynasties
thumb|Seal of [[Henry (VII) of Germany|Henry II of Swabia (dated 1216) shows him as a mounted knight with a shield and banner displaying three leopards (three lions passant guardant)as the Hohenstaufen coat of arms; the three lions (later shown just passant) would later become known as the Swabian coat of arms.]]
Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of the Romans
- Conrad III, king 1138–1152
- Frederick Barbarossa, king 1152–1190, emperor after 1155
- Henry VI, king 1190–1197, emperor after 1191
- Philip of Swabia, king 1198–1208
- Frederick II, king 1208–1250, emperor after 1220
- Henry (VII), king 1220–1235 (under his father Emperor Frederick II)
- Conrad IV, king 1237–1254 (until 1250 under his father Emperor Frederick II)
The first ruling Hohenstaufen, Conrad III, like the last one, Conrad IV, was never crowned emperor. After a 20-year period (Great interregnum 1254–1273), the first Habsburg was elected king.
Kings of Italy
Note: The following kings are already listed above as German Kings:
- Conrad III 1128–1135
- Frederick I 1154–1190
- Henry VI 1191–1197
Kings of Sicily
thumb|upright|Arms of the Hohenstaufen Sicily
Note: Some of the following kings are already listed above as German Kings:
- Henry VI 1194–1197
- Frederick 1198–1250
- Henry (VII) 1212–1217 (nominal king under his father)
- Conrad 1250–1254
- Conradin 1254–1258/1268
- Manfred 1258–1266
- Constance II (Queen) 1282–1285
Dukes of Swabia
Note: Some of the following dukes are already listed above as German Kings:
- Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (Friedrich) (r. 1079–1105)
- Frederick II, Duke of Swabia (r. 1105–1147)
- Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (Frederick III of Swabia)(r. 1147–1152) King in 1152 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1155
- Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia (r. 1152–1167)
- Frederick V, Duke of Swabia (r. 1167–1170)
- Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia (r. 1170–1191)
- Conrad II, Duke of Swabia (r. 1191–1196)
- Philip of Swabia (r. 1196–1208) King in 1198
- Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1212–1216) King in 1212 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1220
- Henry (VII) of Germany (r. 1216–1235), King 1220–1235
- Conrad IV (r. 1235–1254) King in 1237
- Conrad V (Conradin) (r. 1254–1268)
Family tree of the House of Hohenstaufen
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The colors denote the monarchs from the Houses of:
- Hohenstaufen (1138–1208; 1215–1254)
- Süpplinburg (1125–1137)
- Welf (1208–1215)
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Notes:<br>
For further detailed dynastic relationships, see also :Family tree of the German monarchs.
See also
- Dukes of Swabia family tree
- Guelphs and Ghibellines