WHILE, in England and France, warriors were girding on their armor for the crusade, Frederick, Emperor of Germany, the hero of forty fights in Europe, took the cross, and prepared to strike a blow in Asia for the Holy Sepulchre.
Frederick Barbarossa was nephew of the Emperor Conrad, who had enacted so conspicuous a part in the crusade preached by St. Bernard. At that time, in the vigor of youth, and unmoved by the tears of his father, the Duke of Suabia, who earnestly implored him to remain at home, Frederick had accompanied liis imperial uncle, and signalized his prowess in the skirmishes with which the unfortunate enterprise commenced. After the death of Conrad, in 1152, he ascended the throne and entered upon his career.
At the beginning of his reign, Frederick was encompassed with difficulty; and the Pope was by no means in humor to smoothe the Emperor's way. In fact, Adrian the Fourth, originally known as Nicholas Brcakspeare, an English mendicant, refused to perform the ceremony of coronation without imposing a condition hard to bear. " You must," said the Pope, "prove yourself a faithful son of the church by holding my stirrup while I mount my mule." Frederick reluctantly consented; and the Pope and his mule met publicly in the great square of Viterbo, a town surrounded by walls built by the last of the Lombard kings. All was going smoothly; but the Emperor purposely mistook the stirrup. " I have yet," he remarked with a sneer; "I have yet to learn the business of a groom."
Having settled the affairs of Germany, Frederick Barbarossa applied his energies to the reduction of Italy. The task was most difficult, and appeared endless. The Milanese, in particular, proved most refractory; and, supported by the Pope, they maintained so long and arduous a struggle, as to keep the Emperor perpetually in his harness.
Forty years had passed since Frederick accompanied Conrad to the East; and the great Emperor had reached the age of threescore and ten, and become famous as the most illustrious personage in Europe. A man of ordinary height, with broad shoulders, and a manly form, a red beard, hair partly gray, prominent eyelids, short and wide cheeks, an expression indicating remarkable firmness of mind -- speaking German, though not ignorant of other languages -- such was Frederick Barbarossa, when," at seventy years of age, having one foot in the grave," he set out once more to combat the infidel.
After sending a declaration of war to Saladin, and receiving from the Sultan a haughty defiance, Frederick set up his standard at Mayence; and, having been joined by Leopold, Duke of Austria, and other princes of the empire, he marched with his second son, the Duke of Suabia, towards Constantinople, where Isaac Angelus then reigned. At first, the Emperor of the East ordered the governors of his states to harass the crusading army; but finding, after some skirmishes, that Frederick could not be thus treated with impunity, Isaac came to reason, and sent ambassadors with an offer of ships and provisions. Nevertheless, he formed an alliance with Saladin; and, in various ways, made the rival Caesar feel the effects of his perfidy.
Europe left behind, and the Hellespont crossed, Frederick Barbarossa arrived among the Turks, and found a new foe in the Sultan of Iconium. Having been as lavish of his promises as the Greek Emperor, the Sultan proved not less perfidious. No sooner had the crusaders reached the Meander, than they began to comprehend their situation. The banks of the river, the tops of the mountains, and the surrounding thickets, were defended by the Sultan's soldiers; and when the German warriors attempted to pass, they were assailed on all sides by arrows and javelins.
The crusaders were about to ford the Meander, when they learned that the Duke of Suabia, who led the van, was missing, and supposed him to be dead. But the Emperor's piety and courage were proof even against such tidings of calamity. "Woe is me!" he exclaimed, "my son is slain; but Christ live? On, my men! " Encouraged by the words of their aged chief, soldiers and men charged through the stream, bearing down all opposition, and slaughtering the Turks in such numbers, that their corpses covered the passage they had been ordered to defend.
This victory achieved, Frederick Barbarossa and his soldiers proceeded on their way. But they were, ere long, involved in serious difficulty and distress. Not only were they exposed to cold, hunger, and famine, but to constant attacks by the Sultan's troops, who harassed them night and day. At length, to avert still worse evils, Frederick determined to besiege Iconium; and directed his march towards that city.
It was about the feast of Pentecost when the Emperor of Germany, after having overcome thousands of dangers, arrived before Iconium, within the walls of which the Sultan had shut himself. At first, matters were somewhat alarming. Scarcely, indeed, had the crusaders encamped, when a fearful storm burst upon their camp; and when next morning dawned, the Turks, led by the Sultan's son, came forth in such numbers, that defeat appeared inevitable. The Emperor, however, was undaunted. " I thank God," he exclaimed, raising his hands in the sight of all, " that the battle so long delayed by the flight of our foes, is now about to be fought."
The courage of Frederick was not lost upon his troops. Inspired by the sight of his countenance, so calm in the midst of danger, they shouted their battle-cry, and came hand to hand with the foe. Nothing could resist the onset, and ere the combat had long continued, heaps of Turks lay slain around. The city yielded without delay; and the Germans entered, with swords in their hands and vengeance at their hearts, the capital in which they had been promised provisions and peace.
Meanwhile, the Sultan of Iconium ascended a lofty tower, and thence viewed the country around and the hostile armies. Seeing that fortune was against him, and that his host was vanquished, the Sultan sent messengers to the Emperor throwing all the blame of hostilities on his son, and promising to do whatever was required. A treaty was accordingly negotiated, and hostages given by the Sultan for its fulfilment.
The capture of Iconium changed, for the better, the situation of the crusaders; and, as the fame of their exploits spread through the East, the Armenians sent to solicit the Emperor's alliance. The progress of the German army was then rapid and victorious; and their discipline excited such admiration, and was reported in such terms to Saladin, that he began to quake at their approach. Everything, in fact, so far as the Germans were concerned, looked promising, and they had already begun to indulge in visions of victory, when one day they reached the Selef, a little river, which rises in the mountains of Isauria, and washes the walls of Selucia.
On that day, however, a melancholy event swept all visions of conquest away. It was ordered that the great Emperor should never reach the opposite bank alive. No danger, indeed, appeared to impend. While the sumptcr horses and baggage were passing over, Frederick halted near a rock, on which was inscribed the words, " Here the greatest of men shall perish." Becoming impatient, and wishing to accelerate the march, the Emperor dashed into the stream at the nearest point, with the idea of getting before the sump-ter horses, and pursuing his march at the head of his army. The stream, however, proved too much for the aged warrior; and, carried down by its force, he struck his head against a tree, and falling from his horse, was immersed in the water. A cry of horror instantly rose, and hundreds of men rushed to the rescue. But when dragged out, Frederick was quite benumbed, and he almost instantly expired. His death filled the crusading army with dismay; and while some of the German warriors continued their expedition towards Antioch, under the Duke of Suabia, others, discouraged and despairing, deserted their standard, and returned home.
The news of the death of the great Emperor, on reaching Germany, caused the utmost grief; and many of his subjects refused to believe that he was no more. Even now, German tradition asserts that Frederick is not dead, but sleeping in a rocky cavern in the hills near Salzburg, ready to appear once more on earth when things come to the worst. It is added, that a peasant once stumbling among the rocks, entered the cavern, and saw the Emperor seated at, and leaning his elbow on a marble table, through which his beard had grown in such a way as to stream on the floor. He was half awake; and looking up, he inquired what time it was; and, on receiving an answer, said -- "Not time yet; but will be soon."
Well nigh seven centuries ago, however, the funeral rites of Frcdcnck Barbarossa were performed on the banks of the Selef. The body, after being adorned with royal magnificence, was conveyed to Antioch, and there the flesh, having been boiled from the bones, was laid in the Church of the Apostolic Sec, while the bones were sent by sea to Tyre, that they might thence be conveyed to Jerusalem. It was ordained, however, that Frederick should not find a resting-place in the Holy City he had vowed to rescue; for, at Tyre, the good Archbishop buried the remains of the great Emperor with becoming solemnity, and pronounced a funeral oration worthy of the obsequies of a monarch of whom Christendom had been proud.
Previous article Next article
From John G. Edgar
The Crusades and the Crusaders, 1860
