Talk:Frederick Barbarossa

I'm considering adding a bit on the Holy Lance / "Spear of Destiny"

I got this from: https://www.history.co.uk/articles/facts-about-the-spear-that-killed-jesus

"Early German king, Henry the Fowler, also carried the lance, according to legend. Henry was a leading Saxon king, and it passed down through other Saxon royal hands before finding its way to the famous warrior king Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor in the second half of the 12th century.

Frederick conquered half of Italy and went on the Third Crusade. In Turkey, in 1190, while traveling to fight in the Holy Land, he is said to have dropped the lance in a creek and then drowned in the water minutes later."

It sounds noteworthy.  I was hoping somebody(s) could give me the yea or nay. Know Einstein (talk) 19:18, 5 March 2023 (UTC)

This legend is not told in Freed's biography and I can't find a source for it, so I'd say it should not be included for now. In any case, Cultural depictions of Frederick Barbarossa would be a better place for it. Srnec (talk) 00:33, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

Problems with the lead

I have tagged several sentences in the lead for needing to be added to and verified in the body. These include the assertion that Barbarossa was superhuman, or that he re-established a legal code that this very article later says was already "well established" by the time Barbarossa came to power. Ed ^{[talk] [OMT]} 19:01, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

I have also tagged a sentence as disputed because the article body notes that historians disagree on the date Barbarossa was crowned as the king of Italy. Ed ^{[talk] [OMT]} 19:06, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

External links modified (September 2025)

Hello fellow editors,

I have just modified 1 external links on Frederick Barbarossa. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090113200910/http://lba.hist.uni-marburg.de/lba/pages/ to http://lba.hist.uni-marburg.de/lba/pages/

Please refer to the FaQ for information on correcting errors with the bot.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 10:32, 9 September 2025 (UTC)

Lothair III preceded Frederick I as HRE

As noted at Holy_Roman_Emperor#List_of_emperors, Lothair III preceded Frederick I as HRE. John George III (talk · contribs) has twice now edited this article to introduce incorrect information, and has engaged in a lengthy thread over on my talk page about this, yet appears unwilling to accept this fact. The discussion should be taking place here. --ZimZalaBim^talk 12:54, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

im talking King of Germany which conrad iii John George III (talk) 04:35, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Request for clarity in the 'Second Crusade' section.

The text says "The duke of Swabia razed the monastery, captured and executed the robbers and demanded they return the stolen money. " In this sentence, who is "they", and what money is stolen? "They" can't be the robbers; they have been executed. Further, no theft of money is mentioned in this sentence or those preceding it in its paragraph. ~2025-31492-12 (talk) 10:51, 4 December 2025 (UTC)

the unhealthy Italian summer?

Occurs just past midway in the 'first Italian campaign' section. Does this line represent a unreferenced quotation, or hidden medical knowledge? ~2026-29210-20 (talk) 10:17, 15 May 2026 (UTC)

Good catch. It's described in the source as "The malignant quality of the summer climate". I have edited the sentence to better match the pertinent information from the source, which is that it was part of the reasoning (with disease) as to why Frederick needed to withdraw his army. SamWilson989 (talk) 16:53, 15 May 2026 (UTC)

This is possibly a reference to malaria, a long-term problem for the Italian Peninsula: "Malaria may have contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire, and was so pervasive in Rome that it was known as the "Roman fever". Several regions in ancient Rome were considered at-risk for the disease because of the favourable conditions present for malaria vectors. This included areas such as southern Italy, the island of Sardinia, the Pontine Marshes, the lower regions of coastal Etruria and the city of Rome along the Tiber. The presence of stagnant water in these places was preferred by mosquitoes for breeding grounds. Irrigated gardens, swamp-like grounds, run-off from agriculture, and drainage problems from road construction led to the increase of standing water." Dimadick (talk) 10:28, 17 May 2026 (UTC)