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- BIOGRAPHY
Konrad III was born in 1093, a younger son of Friedrich I, Herzog von Schwaben and Agnes von Franken, a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich IV. About 1115 he married Gertrud von Komberg, daughter of Heinrich, Graf von Rothenburg, and Gepa von Mergentheim, and they had a daughter who married Isjaslaw II, grand duke of Kiev. Gertrud died about 1131, and before 1134 Konrad married Gertrud von Sulzbach, daughter of Berengar I, Graf von Sulzbach, and Adelheid von Diessen; they had two sons, Heinrich Berengar and Friedrich IV, neither of whom would have progeny. Konrad also fathered five children by a mistress, Gerberga. The eldest, Sophia, married Konrad von Pfitzingen.
Konrad was appointed duke of Franconia by his uncle, Emperor Heinrich V, in 1115. One year later he acted as regent for Germany, together with his elder brother, Friedrich II of Swabia. At the death of Heinrich in 1125, Konrad unsuccessfully supported Friedrich for the kingship of Germany.
Elected anti-king of Italy in December 1127 at Nuremberg, in opposition to Lothar von Supplinburg, Konrad acknowledged Lothar as emperor only in 1135. After this he was pardoned and could take possession of his lands again. After Lothar's death in December 1137, Konrad was elected King of the Germans and King of the Romans (the title customarily accorded preparatory to accession as emperor) at Coblenz, on 7 March 1138, in the presence of the papal legate. Konrad was crowned at Aachen six days later and was acknowledged in Bamberg by several princes of southern Germany. As Duke Heinrich X 'the Proud' of Bavaria, son-in-law and heir of Lothar and the most powerful prince in Germany, who had been passed over in the election, refused to do the same, Konrad deprived him of all his territories, giving Saxony to Albrecht 'the Bear', Markgraf von Brandenburg, and Bavaria to Leopold of Austria. Heinrich, however, retained the loyalty of his subjects. The civil war that broke out is considered the first act of the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, which later extended southwards to Italy. After Heinrich X's death in October 1139, the war was continued by his son Heinrich 'the Lion', supported by the Saxons, and by his brother Welf. Konrad, after a long siege, defeated the latter at Weinsberg in December 1140, and in May 1142 a peace agreement was reached in Frankfurt.
In the same year Konrad entered Bohemia to reinstate his brother-in-law Wladislaw II as prince. The attempt to do the same with another brother-in-law, the Polish prince Wladislaw II, failed. Bavaria, Saxony and other regions in Germany were in revolt.
In 1146 Konrad heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Crusade at Speyer, and he agreed to join Louis VII on the Second Crusade. Konrad and his army went overland, via Hungary, causing disruptions in the Byzantine territories they passed through. They arrived at Constantinople by December of 1146, ahead of the French army.
Rather than taking the coastal road around Anatolia through Christian-held territory, by which he sent most of his non-combatants, Konrad took his army across Anatolia. On 25 October 1147 they were defeated by the Turks at the battle of Dorylaeum. Konrad and most of the mounted knights escaped, but most of the foot soldiers were killed or captured. The remnants of the German army limped on to Nicaea, where many of the survivors deserted and tried to return home. Konrad and his adherents had to be escorted to Lopadium by the French, where they joined the French army of Louis VII. Konrad fell seriously ill at Ephesus, and was sent to recuperate at Constantinople, where his host the Byzantine emperor Manuel I acted as his personal physician. After recovering, Konrad sailed to Acre, and from there reached Jerusalem. He participated in the ill-fated Siege of Damascus, and after that failure he grew disaffected with his allies. Another attempt to attack Ascalon failed when Konrad's allies failed to appear as promised, and Konrad returned to Germany.
In 1150 he and his son and co-king Heinrich Berengar, defeated Welf VI, duke of Spoleto and his son Welf VII at the Battle of Flochberg. Heinrich Berengar died later that year and the succession was thrown open. The Welfs and Hohenstaufen made peace in 1152 and the peaceful succession of one of Konrad's family was secured.
Konrad was never crowned emperor and continued to style himself King of the Romans until his death on 15 February 1152. On his deathbed, in the presence of only two witnesses, he named his nephew Friedrich Barbarossa his successor, rather than his own six-year-old son Friedrich, who instead succeeded Barbarossa as duke of Swabia. Friedrich Barbarossa, who had accompanied his uncle on the unfortunate Crusade, forcefully pursued his advantage and was duly elected king in Cologne a few weeks later.
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