Fredrick I Barbarossa

Italy , one of the biggest parts of the Holy Roman Empire , specifically in the Po valley , the equivalent of the feudal lord was the chief magistrate called a consul (Brown Carson 245 ) to whose rule the governments of many towns had been entrusted . The consuls also had the rights [called regalia] which bishops and nobles had formerly exercised .[and]claimed to have received .from the Emperor Constantine (Brown Carson 245 This clearly meant that the rights of the consuls were almost irrevocable and in a sense , God-given . In to deal with this

Frederick had to resort to betrothing his son to the Sicilian heiress (Brown Carson 245 , just like what Otto I had done hundred years ago . This betrothal led to Frederick 's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor and thereby he set forth his claims to the regalia (Brown Carson 246 . And this naturally met opposition from the Italian towns that refused to recognize his claims . Thus , Frederick resorted to force It is said that he tied prisoners of war to his siege engines to be shot at by their own side , razed cities to the ground that opposed him and installed German governors to extract maximum obedience and profit (Fines 87 . However , the fifth of the expeditions that the emperor sent to northern Italy resulted in a victory of the Italian Lombard League of foot soldiers over the imperial troops composed mainly of feudal horsemen . The end result was that Frederick was finally obliged to yield the towns their regalia , but the consuls were to becomes his vassals and the citizens to swear fealty (Brown Carson 246

The Papacy and Practical Equality . During the course of the Italian campaigns of Frederick , he also had to struggle with the papacy and he [maintained] a series of anti-popes (Brown Carson 246 Fortunately...