Frederick I (1121?-1190), called Barbarossa or Red Beard, succeeded his uncle Conrad III as king of Germany in 1152. He became Holy Roman emperor in 1155. The German people admired and respected him as a great national hero. In 1180, he defeated his great rival for power in Germany, Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria. He enforced his authority in Germany and the Slavic borderlands to the east.
He was less successful in a bitter struggle against Pope Alexander III and the Lombard League of North Italian cities. The league defeated Frederick at the Battle of Legnano in 1176. It was in this battle that foot soldiers recorded their first great victory over feudal cavalry. The Lombard cities forced Frederick to grant them self-government in the Peace of Constance in 1183. The emperor started on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land in 1189, but drowned on June 10, 1190, while crossing a river. A German legend, however, says that Barbarossa never really died but instead is sleeping beside a huge table in the Kyffhauser Mountains. When his beard grows completely around the table, the legend says, Barbarossa will arise and conquer Germany’s enemies.
