|
East Germany Hohenstaufen Dynasty, 1138 - 1254
During the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, which is generally
associated with the Age of Chivalry, castles and courts replaced
monasteries as centers of culture, and German medieval literature
reached its prime. During this period, Frederick I (Frederick
Barbarossa, 1152-90), the embodiment of chivalrous virtues and
later a popular figure in romantic literature, succeeded in
partly restoring order and stability by proclaiming a general
peace forbidding private wars and feuds and establishing a feudal
social order. He and his son Henry VI (1190-97) restored and
extended the empire. Eastward expansion, including conquest of
the area that was to be Prussia, was continued during the
dynasty, and towns gained in economic strength. After his
father's death during the third crusade, Henry continued the
Hohenstaufen policy; but he absorbed himself in the continuing
struggle between the empire and the papacy. His preoccupation
provided opportunity for the German princes to extract farreaching concessions, such as those put forth in an imperial
statute of 1232, which established lay and ecclesiastical princes
as virtually independent rulers within their territories. The
Great Interregnum (1256-73), a period of anarchy in which the
German princes vied for political control, followed the death of
Henry's successor, Frederick II.
Data as of July 1987
|
