The Hohenstaufen (/ˈhoʊənʃtaʊfən/ HOH-ən-shtow-fən, US also /ˌhoʊənˈʃtaʊfən, -staʊ-/ -S(H)TOW-fən, German: [ˌhoːənˈʃtaʊfn̩]), also known as Staufer, were a dynasty of German kings (1138–1254) during the Middle Ages. Before ascending to the kingship, they were Dukes of Swabia from 1079. As kings of Germany, they had a claim to Italy, Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire. Three members of the dynasty—Frederick I (1155), Henry VI (1191) and Frederick II (1220)—were crowned emperor. Besides Germany, they also ruled the Kingdom of Sicily (1194–1268) and the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1225–1268). The Hohenstaufen portrayed themselves as the successors of ancient Romans and their traditions.
The Origins
The noble family first appeared in the late 10th century in the Swabian Riesgau region around the former Carolingian court of Nördlingen. A local count Frederick (d. about 1075) is mentioned as progenitor in a pedigree drawn up by Abbot Wibald of Stavelot at the behest of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1153. He held the office of a Swabian count palatine; his son Frederick of Buren (c.1020–1053) married Hildegard of Egisheim-Dagsburg (d. 1094/95), a niece of Pope Leo IX. Their son Frederick I was appointed Duke of Swabia at Hohenstaufen Castle by the Salian king Henry IV of Germany in 1079.
At the same time, Duke Frederick I was engaged to the king’s approximately seventeen-year-old daughter, Agnes. Nothing is known about Frederick’s life before this event, but he proved to be an imperial ally throughout Henry’s struggles against other Swabian lords, namely Rudolf of Rheinfelden, Frederick’s predecessor, and the Zähringen and Welf lords. Frederick’s brother Otto was elevated to the Strasbourg bishopric in 1082.
Upon Frederick’s death, he was succeeded by his son, Duke Frederick II, in 1105. Frederick II remained a close ally of the Salians, he and his younger brother Conrad were named the king’s representatives in Germany when the king was in Italy. Around 1120, Frederick II married Judith of Bavaria from the rival House of Welf.