Free Rothenburg Walking Tour:

Counts Of Comburg

Did you know that there were actually two castles built in early-day Rothenburg?  There had been a small settlement along this stretch of the Tauber River valley (Detwang) in as early as 950-970 before the Counts of Comburg built the small fort known as the Vinegar Jug Castle in the hill of today’s Infirmary Quarter in 1080.  The counts oversaw this part of Franconia at the time from their court in Schwäbisch Hall and their castle allowed their to protect the river.  For more about their early castle and the Infirmary Quarter see out Castle Wall walking tour.

In 1115, Conard III (House Hohenstaufen) married Gertrude, the daughter of local Count Heinrich II von Comburg-Rothenburg.  The wedding was important for the region as Conrad was directly related to all previous 18 Holy Roman Emperors going back to Charlemagne the Great and was destined for the throne himself.  Just one year after the wedding the Count died leaving no male heirs and Conrad III was named Duke of Franconia by his maternal uncle Holy Roman Empire Henry IV.  Conrad was also named Prince-Regent for Germany along with his older brother Frederick I (Duke of Swabia).  HERE is a map of the territories at the time to understand how much land the brothers were put in charge of.

House Hohenstaufen Vs. House Welf

When Conrad’s uncle Henry IV died in 1125, he could have become the King of Germany since he was Prince-Regent, but instead supported his older brother Frederick I (Duke of Swabia) who lost the election of in surprise fashion to a distant cousin Lothair III (Duke of Saxony, House Welf).

Hohenstaufen Castle in Göppingen (now ruins) was the old family seat in Swabia built by Frederick I (1050-1105, Duke in 1079) and is later where King Philp of Germany was assassinated in 1208.

Lothair (who was old at almost 50) stripped the brothers of their titles after the election, but Conard was appointed as the German Anti-King in Nuremberg with the support of Swabia, Austria (which his mom had ties to), and the Imperial Cities.  Conrad was also crowned the King of Italy 1128 following the death of Matilda of Tuscany, but after huge military defeats, he eventually had to acknowledge Lothair III as the German King.  Leading up to Lothair’s crowning as Holy Roman Empire in 1133, House Welf leveraged there being two Popes at the time to get support to influence the Electors.  Breaking with House Hohenstaufen, Lothair claimed that the Empire got its power from the Pope and gave Tuscany to his son-in-law Henry The Proud (Duke of Saxony & Bavaria, House Welf).  Tuscany would later be handed to Henry’s brother and two additional generations of House Welf (1137-1173) before Frederick Barbarossa House Hohenstaufen would get it back

King of Germany – 1138

After Lothair died (December 1137), Conrad III was quickly elected King of Germany in Coblenz (March 1138) snubbing Lothair’s son-in-law and heir, Henry The Proud (Duke of Bavaria & Saxony).  Henry was a Bavarian Duke from the Welf family and was the most powerful prince in Germany at the time.  Because Henry the Proud didn’t support him, Conrad striped Henry of the Bavarian duchy and gave it to his half-brother Leopold Leopold the Generous (House Babenberg) who also control the Margrave of Austria.  The whole thing sparked a bit of a civil war between the families which continued on with Henry the Proud’s son Henry the Lion versus Conrad III.

The newly crowned King Conrad III grew to be one of the most powerful men in Europe over the next 14 years and seemed destined for the Holy Roman Empire Crown which had sat vacant since Lothair’s death.  Conrad had a lot of close allies as his brother-in-laws included Prince Vladislav II of Bohemia (later King), Prince of Polish Ladislaus the Exile, and Byzantine Emperor Manuel I.  Conrad III’s mom had also re-married to Leopold III Margrave of Austria (House Babenberg) in 1106 the year after their father’s death.  Leopold had fostered the development of Vienna and Krems as their family oversaw Austria from 976-1246 when they died out.

New Castle In Rothenburg

Because the land in Rothenburg was fertile and cheap, King Conrad III decided to build Castle Hohenstaufen here in 1142 sparking the true beginning of Rothenburg.  Gertrude

and was headed toward the title Holy Roman Emperor, but unfortunately died before he could be crowned.  Conrad’s Brother Fredrick II

After the death of Castle Hohenstaufen’s next resident, Friedrich the Duke of Rothenburg, it sat vacant in disrepair, but the village around the castle continued to grow.

Rothenburg sat on the crossroads of two major trade routes, and was further elevated to a Free Imperial City in 1274 by Rudolf I King of Germany (Habsburg Dynasty).

Conrad’s Kids and Crusades

Gertrude of Comburg (died 1131, married 1115) was the first wife and queen of Conrad III, her dad was Henrich II the last Count of Rothenburg (died 1116).  The couple had one daughter together Ahnesa -or- Agnes Hohenstaufen (1116-1152) who married to Grand Duke Izyaslav II Mstislavich Of Kiev and possibly two other daughters Bertha and Gertrud.

Then married Gertrude of Sulzbach (1110-1146, married 1135) who’s dad had Berengar II (House Babenberg) founded the monastery in Berchtesgaden.  The couple had two sons Henry Berengar (1136-1150) and Frederick IV (1145-1167).  His wife fell ill after the second birth and died in 1146.

Henry (at just age 3) was betrothed to Sophia daughter of King Béla II of Hungary in 1139, but when her dad died in 1141 and her brother became King of Hungary the wedding was called off.  Henry was the winning general at the Battle of Flochberg (1150) near Nördlingen against Welf VI and Welf VII but then died later that year.  Conrad’s son was betrothed to Sophia, daughter of King Béla II of Hungary, at age six which would have made the family even stronger but the wedding was called off and Henry died in 1150 after helping his dad defeat the Welfs in battle.

Frederick IV as the last surviving heir to Conrad III, seemed bound to become the King of Germany and Holy Roman Empire after his dad died in 1152, but it took a twist.  Frederick IV married Gertrude of Saxony-Bavaria, daughter of Henry the Lion (House Welf) who later went on the marry the Canute VI the King of Denmark after his death.  They had no Kids.

Before leaving in 1147 with 20,000 troops to fight with Louis VII of France in the 2nd Crusade, Conrad III arranged for his son his sons Henry Berengar (then 10 years old) Fredrick (then 2) had the princes in Regensburg named Co-Kings of Germany (Prince Regent) with him to take over in case he died in battle.

After taking a questionable route being badly defeated in Anatolia, Turkey Conrad fell sick in Ephesus and was tended to by the doctor of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I in Constantinople.  Their relationship was interesting and Manuel had recently married Conrad’s sister-in-law Bertha of Sulzbach (his wife’s Gertrude’s sister, House Babenberg, the girl’s dad founded the monastery in Berchtesgaden) .  made it to Jerusalem and participated in the ill-fated Siege of Damascus (1148) before returning to Germany.

Death of King Conrad

When Conrad died on the 15th of February 1152 at Bamberg (also born in Bamberg) of malaria from the Crusade, where he was buried in Bamberg Cathedral (as is Henry II the Saint HRE) and his title King of Germany went to his nephew Frederick Barbarossa who had fought with him in the 1st Crusade instead of his own six-year-old son Frederick IV (1145–1167) who then became the Duke of Swabia.  It was a bit controversial as only Frederick Barbarossa and the prince-bishop of Bamberg was at his deathbed to hear the order.

a new castle in Nuremberg built under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254).  Frederick IV took part in his cousin’s campaigns in Italy where he died from disease after occupying Rome in 1167 at the age of 21 and with no heirs, Frederick Barbarossa gave Swabia to his own three-year-old son, Frederick V mainly because his oldest son Henry VI was  to be crowned King of the Romans (later HRE)

Ghibellini Vs. Guelphs

rival Hohenstaufens of Swabia (led by Conrad III of Germany) used “Wibellingen”, the name of a castle today known as Waiblingen, as their cry; “Wibellingen” subsequently became Ghibellino in Italian. The names were likely introduced to Italy during the reign of Frederick Barbarossa. When Frederick conducted military campaigns in Italy to expand imperial power there, his supporters became known as Ghibellines ( Ghibellini) mainly agriculture. The Lombard League and its allies were defending the liberties of the urban communes against the Emperor’s encroachments and became known as Guelphs (Guelfi) mainly merchants.

Frederick Barbarossa (Married Beatrice of Burgundy) died in 1190 in the Third Crusade but both his son, grandson, and great-grandson would become Holy Roman Emperors before they died out. While Frederick Barbarossa had his court in Mayence (now Mainz) the Holy Roman Emperors floated around castles throughout their lands.

Frederick Barbarossa took the Margrave of Tuscany from House Welf in 1195 and gave it to his fifth and youngest with the Philip who would the 1st German king to be Assassinated.  One of Barbossa’s iligetimate sons also oversaw Tuscany before it broke off into City States of Siena, Florence ect.  At the same time, three generations after Barbossa would maintain the HRE Crown with 1 gap.

Barbarossa had beef with the Pope over who was higher then the other and when Pope Alexander III excommunicated him he starting supporting some anti-popes although they made up in 1176. Although they were strained he raised 150,000 troops for the 3rd crusade. legend has it that Barbarossa isn’t dead lies sleeping on a throne in Kyffhauser Mountain (where a huge monument commemorating the 1813 Battle of Leipzig now sits), this is similar to the story of the sleep Charlemagne which he modeled after by traveling to always get the favor of princes in the territories.

After Barbarossa’s death in the 3rd Crusade (1189–1192) falling off his horse and drowning, Otto IV (only German king of the Welf dynasty) third son of Henry the Lion (Duke of Bavaria and Saxony) and Matilda of England was a rival German King and HRE to Barbarossa son Henry VI until Henry and two more generations after held the titles.

Henry The Lion
Frederick Barbarossa (nickname in Italian means Red Beard) was elected Holy Roman Emperor and tried to expand his holdings into Tuscany by force.  His followers took on the Ghibelline banner while his opposition that of the Ghelps which drug on his Siena versus Florence for hundreds of years.  After being stalled in battle, the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick Barbarossa approached a settlement with the Henry the Lion in In 1156 as Fredericks dad was a Hohenstaufen and his mom was a Welf as his dad (Conrad III’s older brother) had married Judith of Bavaria daughter of Duke of Bavaria (1120 to 1126 ), Henry IX (second son of Duke Welf I of Bavaria) and continued his campaign elsewhere.

The move gave Henry the Lion (House Welf) Bavaria and elevated Austria to a Duke under Henry II Jasomirgott (house Babenberg) in 1156 (died 1177).   Prior to this all of Austria was part of Bavaria since 976 (overseen by the Babenbergs) and Bavaria was even ruled from Salzburg for a short while in the 700s.  Extinction of the Babenbergs line in 1246, whereafter they were succeeded by the House of Habsburg.

Welfs Out, Wittelsbachs In

After Barbarossa’s struggles in Italy he returned to Germany in 1180 to find Henry the Lion had grown strong ruling Bavaria and Saxony and feeling both threatened and unsupported by Henry this   Declared that Imperial law overruled traditional German law, the court had Henry stripped of his lands and declared him an outlaw.  Other German princess had beef with Henry and went along with it.  After the exile to England/France Henry the Lion joined Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) and tried to get Saxony back

Otto I the Redhead (House Wittelsbach, Count Palatine, also called Otto VI) who was a valiant Knight of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa who had a big victory in Verona in 1155.  Wittelsbach (Counts of Palatinate) who rules Bavaria from 1180-1918 with 2 HRE, 1 King of the Romains, 2 Anti-Bohemian Kings, one King of Hungary, one of Denmark and Norway, one of Sweden and Finland, and one of Greece.

When the last Duke of Merania (Dalmatia) Conrad II (House Wittelsbach) died in 1182 Duke Otto bought the Gothic Dachau castle (his family built in 1100) and moved his Royal Court there.

Lower Bavaria later run out of Landshut with a backup of Berghausen from 1353-1505 (has sort of been divided 1255-1340 with no set boundaries) all same family.

Palatine  was along the Rhine with Otto I’s dad moved his residence from Scheyern Castle (which it had been the court since 940) to Wittelsbach Castle in 1120
Palatine court at Heidelberg (1085–1690) Düsseldorf (1690–1720) Mannheim(1720–1803)
Otto I may have been Otto son of Fredrick II and grandson of Fredrick I (start of Hohenstaufen), was the brother of Archbishop Conrad I of Mainz and Salzburg

Rothenburg Earthquake of 1356

In 1356, Castle Hohenstaufen was ruined by a large earthquake which also damaged sections of the city wall.  Much of the stone from the castle was used as a quarry to repair and bolster Rothenburg’s fortifications.  With the city at its peak of 6,000 residents in 1400AD, Mayor Toppler decided to rebuild the castle’s Upper Ducal House into what is now the Chapel of St. Blaise.  Originally the castle didn’t have a chapel and the Ducal House was actually where the king received his guests.  At the time of Toppler’s work, Rothenburg was the 2nd largest city in Germany and one of the 10 largest in the Holy Roman Empire.  In more recent time, a memorial was added inside the chapel for German soldiers who died in WW1 & WW2.  As you leave the chapel, keep an eye out of sections of the castle’s original foundation and for the Jewish Memorial.  The memorial stone is for the half of Rothenburg’s 500 Jews killed in 1298 for religious reasons.  The Jews were often forced to live outside of the city walls and were officially banned in 1520.

Castle Garden Created – 1700s

Roaming further down the rest of the castle grounds you will see the Castle Garden (Burggarten) which was added in the 1700s and was not originally part of the complex.  The garden has beautiful geometric flower beds with 8 sandstone statues representing the 4 seasons and 4 elements.  It is one of the best places in Rotheburg to relax, offering great views of the Tauber River Valley below.