New coin today Frederick Barbarossa Holy Roman Emperor 1155-1190 AR Pfennig struck in Aachen (18mm 1.5g) Obverse: FREDERI IMPR Emperor holding sword and globus cruciger Reverse: ROMA CAPVT MVNDI (Rome capital of the world) Tower behind enclosure wall with gate Menadier 27 Frederick Barbarossa was born in 1122, the son of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia and his wife Judith. At age 25 following the death of his father Frederick became Duke of Swabia and shortly afterwards, he accompanied his uncle Conrad III on the doomed 2nd crusade, But he had distinguished himself as a capable leader in the eyes of his uncle king, who named Frederick his successor (instead of Conrad's own son) .. And when Conrad died in 1152 Frederick was crowned "King of the Romans" He quickly set to work with uniting his kingdom. "The Germany that Frederick tried to unite was a patchwork of more than 1600 individual states, each with its own prince. A few of these, such as Bavaria and Saxony, were large. Many were too small to pinpoint on a map. The titles afforded to the German king were "Caesar", "Augustus", and "Emperor of the Romans". By the time Frederick would assume these, they were little more than propaganda slogans with little other meaning" In 1155 Pope Adrian IV crowned Barbarossa the "Holy Roman Emperor" for promises of assistance against Adrian VI's enemies in Norman Italy and the Byzantines.. however Barbarossa soon afterwards became involved in a Danish civil war and while he was away the Pope had been forced to deal with the Normans alone which led to him making a peace deal assigning the Normans territory Barbarossa viewed as his own.... Barbarossa set out on an Italian Expedition in 1158 and conquered city after city, The Pope considered excommunicating Barbarossa, but the Pope soon died.. Following Adrian IV's death there were now two rival popes who both claimed the Papacy Victor IV and Alexander III, Barbarossa supported Pope Victor IV(now considered an Antipope) Barbarossa continued to support a series of Antipopes until Barbarossa and Alexander III were finally reconciled in 1177.. Barbarossa "addressed the problems that had caused infighting between the various German magnates, ending the civil wars that plagued Germany for years. In addition, he reinforced the power of the Emperor over the Papacy regarding temporal matters. He also recovered imperial rights in northern and central Italy, and revitalized the military and administrative powers within the empire. Under Barbarossa, the German empire certainly reached a high-point." Then... In 1189 Frederick Barbarossa Embarked on the 3rd Crusade... At age 67 Leading an army of up to 100,000 men on his way to the Holy Land, he drowned in the Saleph river in Cilicia... His death led to chaos among his soldiers most of whom returned home with only about 5000 soldiers eventually reaching Acre.. Barbarossa drowning
You read my mind on this one. I was just considering buying one of his coins. I like the obverse very much.
Nice coin. Crude, sure (sign o' the times), but attractively toned and historical, with a neat design.
An interesting period in history that I knew nothing about. Did the popes also issue coins during this time? John
Excellent historical coin and I enjoyed your history lesson. I love waking up in the morning to learn something new!
supposedly from Pope Adrian I (772 AD)- Pope John XIV (984 AD) the Popes regularly issued coins, but from 984 until 1305 coins minted in Rome did not reference the Pope..
