Frederick I Barbarossa

   Successor to Conrad III (q.v.) as king of Germany (q.v.) from 1152-1190; crowned western emperor in 1155. Frederick competed with Manuel I Komnenos (q.v.) for control over Italy and Hungary (qq.v.). Manuel I's invasion of southern Italy in 1155 failed in the face of stiff resistance by Norman king William I of Sicily (qq.v.). In 1158 Manuel I withdrew from Italy, signing a treaty with William I that recognized Frederick I as their mutual enemy. At this point, all Manuel could do was to try to keep Frederick I from annexing all ofItaly. However, Frederick's intervention in northern Italy became a quagmire that ended in his defeat by the league of Lombard towns at the battle of Legnano on 29 May 1176. Frederick also attempted to control Hungary (q.v.), but Manuel I countered in 1163 by betrothing his daughter Maria to Bela III (q.v.), who was given the Greek name Alexios. Frederick's relations with Byzantium (q.v.) deteriorated further during the Third Crusade, when Isaac II (qq.v.) made a treaty with Saladin (q.v.) to impede Frederick's army once it entered Byzantine territory. Frederick occupied Philoppopolis, then Adrianople (qq.v.), forcing Isaac II to cave in and transport Frederick and his troops to Asia Minor (q.v.). There, in Isauria (q.v.), Frederick drowned while crossing a stream.