Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia
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Frederick IV of Hohenstaufen (1145 or 1145 – 1167) was duke of Swabia, succeeding his cousin, Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1152.
He was the son of Conrad III of Germany and his second wife Gertrude von Sulzbach and thus the direct heir of the crown, had there been true heredity. However, on his death bed, Conrad III allegedly advised the only two persons present, his nephew Frederick Barbarossa and the bishop of Bamberg, to nominate Frederick Barbarossa and handed the Imperial insignia to him. Barbarossa wasted no time to get the Bavarian clerics to endorse him and to have the archbishop of Cologne convene a hurried Reichstag where the electors of the Empire (minus their "primus inter pares", the archbishop of Mainz, an ally of the Pope) elected Frederick Barbarossa to be King instead of his six-year-old cousin Frederick who became of Duke of Swabia instead.
Frederick participated in Barbarossa's campaigns in Italy, becoming one of the many casualties of the Imperial army that succumbed to disease after occupying Rome in 1167. Barbarossa then gave Swabia to his three-year-old son, Frederick V.
[edit] Marriage
Frederick IV married Gertrude of Bavaria. She was a daughter of Henry the Lion and his first wife Clementia of Zähringen. They had no known children.
Gertrude survived him and married Canute VI of Denmark. She died childless.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Frederick III Barbarossa |
Duke of Swabia 1152–1167 |
Succeeded by Frederick V |
