Page 1: Ottonians and Salians   Page 2: Hohenstaufen

Conrad III., the first Hohenstaufen (1138-1152) on the throne, participated in Second Crusade together with Louis VII. of France, urged by St. Bernard of Clairveaux,  But the crusade failed, many people died and the king returned as a broken man.

His nephew and successor Frederick I. Barbarossa (red beard) was the epitome of the medieval emperor, but he of all people had to learn that, after the Investiture Controversy, the Pope would no longer submit to him. For many years, Frederick fought against the North Italian cities and the Popes, or both at the same time, to maintain what for him were the rights and the honor of the Empire, until he finally accepted the situation negotiated peace with them. Around the year 1254, at the height of the controversy with the Pope, the name of "Holy Roman Empire" appeared in the Hohenstaufen chancelleries. At the end of his life, he joined the third crusade, the so-called "Kings' crusade" together with Richard I. the Lionheart (Coeur de Lion) and Philip II. of France. But to see Jerusalem was not granted to him, he died in Anatolia before reaching the Holy Land.

The castle upon the Drachenfels and the monastery of Heisterbach

The archbishops of Cologne were very powerful men: they had the privilege to crown the Kings and were chancellors of the Empire. But the supremacy of the archbishops in the region was disputed more and more by Counts de Sayn from the South and the Counts de Berg from the North. In order to fortify his position, in 1140 the Archbishop made construct a castle in the Drachenfels.

Rainald von Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne and Barbarossa's chancellor, very much influenced the rigid policy towards Northern Italy. After the defeat and demolition of Milan in 1162, he brought the bones of the Biblical Magi as war prey to Cologne. 

His successor Philipp von Heinsberg (1167-1191) was, next to the emperor, the most powerful man of the Empire. He even fought against the Emperor, and for some time Barbarossa laid an embargo on Cologne and blocked traffic on river Rhine.

In 1189, the archbishop called for cistercian monks to live and work in the Seven Mountains. They constructed to a hermitage in honor of Maria upon a called mountain the Stromberg and they dedicated it to San Pedro, therefore the mountain obtained its new name: Petersberg (mountain of San Pedro). But shortly after they left the Petersberg to live in a near valley, the valley of Heisterbach. Under second abbot Gevard (1196-1209) and third Heinrich I. (1208-1240) the church of the abbey was constructed.

Henry VI. (1190-1197)

Henry VI. , son and successor of Frederick I. Barbarrossa, did not have much in common with his father. But as Emperor, he became more powerful during his short reign than all his predecessors. After marrying the Norman princess Constance, he was entitled to inherit the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, and in 1195 he succeeded in conquering Sicily and was crowned in Palermo. Henry VI. was the Emperor who hold king Richard I. Lionhearted (Coeur de Lion) of England prisoner for more than a year; the Robin Hood movies take place in those years. Finally in 1194, Richard's mother Eleanor of Aquitaine brought the incredibly high ransom money and Richard was released. After a great festivity in Cologne, they were accompanied to England, and good relations between London and Cologne remained. Richard also had to produce hostages, among them his nephew Otto, later king Otto IV. Henry VI. died very early in Italy.

The war for throne / the castle on top of the Löwenburg mountain

The sudden dead of Henry VI. left to the Empire in chaos, even anarchy. His young son Frederick was only two years old, his widow Constance had broken with the Hohenstaufen and the Empire. Soon, a civil war broke out in Germany between Otto IV. of the Guelphs family and Philip of Swabia from the Hohenstaufen family. Otto's claim was supported by the Pope and his Royal relatives in England, Philips by the French king. Since Cologne was Otto's capital, the Rhineland was devastated.

An embittered feud raved between the Counts of Sayn, supporters of the Guelphs, and Dietrich of Landsberg, a supporter of the Hohenstaufen. Only the marriage between Count Heinrich III. of Sayn and Mechthild of Landsberg ended the feud. When it seemed that Philip had won and the war was over, he was assassinated in 1208.

During the following years, Otto reigned as king and from 1209 on as emperor. But when Otto resumed the Hohenstaufens' policy and went for Southern Italy and Sicily, the Pope broke with him.

Frederick II.

The Pope now supported Frederick of Hohenstaufen who lived since his childhood in Sicily. Again, a civil war broke out. For some years, neither Otto nor Frederick II. won. Finally, Otto IV. supported his uncle John Lackland of England in his battle against the king of France, and suffered a crucial defeat in the battle of Bouvines in 1214. Soon, the way for Frederick was open. In 1215, he was crowned King in Aachen, in 1220 Emperor in Rome.

Frederick II. fascinates – be it by its personality, be it by his way from orphan in Palermo to Emperor convinced of the imperial ideal. Already in his time they called him Frederick II. "stupor mundi" (astonishment of the world) because of his extraordinary knowledge of languages, philosophy, astronomy, mathematical, natural sciences and also of foreign cultures, especially the Arab culture.

In Germany, he yielded greater powers to the Dukes so that they got to be lords of the territories, a crucial change of policy since from now on, the Kings' power declined more and more, giving way to a period of political instability (Interregnum) and soon a monarchy in which the real power was with the Dukes.

Frederick spent most of his life in Southern Italy, which was his home. Here he draw up his legislative work and wrote his famous falcon book "De arte venandi cum avibus", and here he constructed his castle "Castel del Monte".

Nevertheless, this so curious and open minded Emperor draw up very rigid laws against heresy, and condemned those found guilty to be burnt on the stake, because for him, heresy it was not only a crime against the Church, but a crime against the crown. Count Heinrich III. von Sayn, the Lord of the Löwenburg, was a highly respected noble and a courageous man, and yet he was accused of the heresy 1233 and almost was burned on the stake.

During the reign of Frederick II., the conflict between the Emperor and the Pope culminated in tragic way, the so-called "final fight" was a war of extermination.

The castle upon the Rosenau

In the High Middle Ages, a little castle stood on to of the Rosenau mountain, but only little is known about it. Obviously it was built in great haste within a few years. Since 1222 Dietrich of Dorndorf, a lower aristocrat, called himself Dietrich Count of Rosenau. He died in 1243, and still in the same year his family sold the castle Rosenau to the nearby Monastery of Heisterbach – just to be torn down about 1250. The motives for that have remained in the dark until today.