Frederick Barbarossa

Frederick Barbarossa, also known as Frederick I, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. Elected King of Germany in 1152 and crowned emperor by Pope Adrian IV in 1155, he was by inheritance Duke of Swabia before his imperial election. His nickname Barbarossa (meaning "Red Beard" in Italian) was first used by the Florentines to differentiate him from his grandson Frederick II. The son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith from the House of Welf, he descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the prince-electors. Frederick joined the Third Crusade and opted to travel overland to the Holy Land. In 1190, he drowned attempting to cross the Saleph River. Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empire's greatest medieval emperors, combining qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: longevity, ambition, extraordinary organizational skills, battlefield acumen, and political perspicacity.