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056 - 25 The Hohenstaufens in Italy · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Part two, chapter twenty five of Short History of the
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  Speaker 1: Christian Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain, Chapter twenty five. The hoen Staufens
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  Speaker 1: in Italy. The Italian rule of the hoen Staufens is
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  Speaker 1: one of the most romantic episodes in European history. Frederic
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  Speaker 1: the First, otherwise called Frederic Barbarossa or the Red Beard,
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  Speaker 1: was a man of remarkable genius. Since the time of Charlemagne.
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  Speaker 1: He was the most gifted occupant of the German imperial throne.
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  Speaker 1: He sought, at the expenditure of much blood and treasure,
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  Speaker 1: to restore the imperial power over the Lombard cities. His
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  Speaker 1: whole aim was to crush out the uprisings of Italian freedom.
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  Speaker 1: He had fierce conflicts with the popes over his rights
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  Speaker 1: in Italy. He was a man of earnest piety, and
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  Speaker 1: he finally became a martyr to the deliverance of the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Sepulcher. He was drowned in the Caliadnes in Silicia
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  Speaker 1: eleven ninety while leading one of the armies of the
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  Speaker 1: Third Crusade. His son Henry, married Constance, heiress of the
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  Speaker 1: Norman kingdom of Lower Italy and Sicily, often called the
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  Speaker 1: two Sicilies. Thus the Hoenstaufen scepter shadowed the whole of
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  Speaker 1: Italy twice. This Henry the sixth eleven ninety to ninety
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  Speaker 1: seven tried to conquer this inheritance for himself. After several vicissitudes,
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  Speaker 1: his son, Frederic the Second, was crowned Emperor at Aila
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  Speaker 1: Chapelle in twelve fifteen. On account of his extraordinary attainments
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  Speaker 1: and fine natural gifts, he was called the wonder of
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  Speaker 1: the world. He was far ahead of his time in
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  Speaker 1: the liberality of his sentiments. He gave profound attention to
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  Speaker 1: his dominions. In Sicily, he had advised the settlement there
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  Speaker 1: of a colony of Saracens. The little affair was an
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  Speaker 1: outgrowth of the Crusades. Here he had a small army
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  Speaker 1: which stood ready to defend his cause. When he was
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  Speaker 1: crowned at a La Chapelle, he took upon himself the
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  Speaker 1: vow of the Crusader. His wife Eolante, was heiress of
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  Speaker 1: the Crown of Jerusalem, and in twelve twenty eight he
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  Speaker 1: set sail for Palestine. Here he was crowned King of Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: His possessions in Italy were meanwhile in danger of being
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  Speaker 1: blotted out through the vigorous management of Pope Gregory the Ninth.
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  Speaker 1: Gregory had excommunicated him, ostensibly for delaying his departure for Palestine,
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  Speaker 1: but really, as we believe, to make him so unpopular
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  Speaker 1: with his people in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
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  Speaker 1: that his rule could be terminated. But here Gregory failed.
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  Speaker 1: He was compelled to acknowledge Frederic as rightful ruler over
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  Speaker 1: the Two Sicilies. However, the struggles between Frederic and the
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  Speaker 1: popes continued from year to year. The popes used their
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  Speaker 1: utmost influence to weaken the force of the Emperor, not
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  Speaker 1: only among his Sicilian subjects, but in Germany as well.
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  Speaker 1: The fall of the hoens Dauphins in Sicily was only
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  Speaker 1: a question of time. When Frederic died, the case was hopeless.
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  Speaker 1: Pope Innocent the Fourth declared that Sicily was really a
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  Speaker 1: part of the States of the Church, and so took
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  Speaker 1: possession of it. Conrad the Fourth left Germany to take
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  Speaker 1: care of itself and undertook to regain the hold on Sicily.
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  Speaker 1: Conrad died before the struggle was over, and his son
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  Speaker 1: conradin found not only a slender hold on Sicily, but
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  Speaker 1: simply a mere tithe of the ancestral possessions in Germany
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  Speaker 1: as his inheritance. At first Manfred, a natural son of Frederic,
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  Speaker 1: took possession of the two sissies and held them against
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  Speaker 1: the forces and manipulation of the Roman pope. What should
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  Speaker 1: the popes now do? They followed one another in rapid succession,
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  Speaker 1: but each one kept a careful eye on Sicily. They
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  Speaker 1: gave up the struggle at last because of the fidelity
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  Speaker 1: of the Sicilies to the Hoenstaufens, and sold their alleged
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  Speaker 1: right to the Sicilies, first to England and then to France.
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  Speaker 1: Pope Clement the Fourth aided Charles of au to take
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  Speaker 1: possession of the Sicilian kingdom. Charles was crowned king after
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  Speaker 1: the Battle of Benevento in twelve sixty six, when Manfred
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  Speaker 1: was slain. Conradin Now came down from Swabia and appeared
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  Speaker 1: upon the scene. He was defeated in the Battle of
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  Speaker 1: Tagliacoso and taken prisoner and put to death in twelve
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  Speaker 1: sixty eight. This put an end to the German rule
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  Speaker 1: south of the Alps. The popes were once more at ease.
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  Speaker 1: So far as Italy was concerned, it had been a
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  Speaker 1: bitter struggle. Though their rule was restored, the intense hostility
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  Speaker 1: which it had engendered on the part of Germany did
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  Speaker 1: not die out. The German rulers never forgot the affair,
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  Speaker 1: and in the later centuries lost no opportunity to put
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  Speaker 1: their bitter memories in practical form against the papacy. It
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  Speaker 1: was well, however, for the future unification of Italy, that
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  Speaker 1: the progress towards nationality was not complicated by the presence
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  Speaker 1: of Germany on her soil. In their opposition to the Hohenstaufens,
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  Speaker 1: the popes were working for a higher end than they
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  Speaker 1: had in mind. End of Chapter twenty five.