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Beatrice of Swabia (died 1174)

Beatrice of Swabia[1] (1162/3–1174), also spelled Beatrix, was a princess of the Staufer dynasty, a daughter of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Countess Beatrice I of Burgundy. She was born in 1162 or 1163, the first child of her parents.[2][3][4] She was named after her mother as her eldest brother, Frederick, was named after her father.[2]

In 1173, Barbarossa sought to arrange her marriage to Philip, son of King Louis VII of France. Louis's brother, Archbishop Henry of Reims, intervened to scotch negotiations on behalf of Pope Alexander III, since at the time Barbarossa recognized a rival pope in Callixtus III.[5]

During the siege of Ancona later the same year (April–October 1173), Archbishop Christian I of Mainz on his sovereign's behalf, proposed Beatrice's marriage to the young King William II of Sicily.[5][6] According to Romuald of Salerno, William rejected the proposal because he did not wish to offend Alexander III.[7]

In late 1173, rumours swirled in Germany that Saladin, the sultan of Egypt, had proposed that his son marry Beatrice, in return for which he would convert to Christianity and release all Christian prisoners in Egypt. Christian of Mainz, on the emperor's behalf, had sent an ambassador to Saladin in 1172 seeking an alliance. In response, an envoy from Saladin arrived in Germany in October 1173. The rumours of a proposed marriage with between the sultan's son and a daughter of Frederick are reported in the Chronica regia Coloniensis.[5] A garbled version of this story is also recorded by Otto of Sankt Blasien, who places it in 1179 and attributes the marriage project to the sultan of Iconium.[8]

According to Romuald of Salerno, Beatrice died not long after the proposed marriage to William II fell through.[9] She was certainly dead before Romuald, who died in April 1181.[2] She is generally thought to have died in 1174.[2][10] She was buried in Lorch Abbey, alongside her brothers Rainald and William, who also died young.[10] There she is mentioned the verse epitaph of the Staufers, as recorded in the 15th-century Hystoria Friderici imperatoris magni.[11] Her burial in Germany implies that she died before her father's fifth Italian campaign, and thus early in 1174.[2][12]

According to some writers, Beatrice was married in 1173 to Count William III of Chalon [it]. Their daughter, Beatrice [it], was born in 1174 and inherited the County of Chalon in 1202.[1][13]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Kinkade 2004, p. 179; Kinkade 2020, p. 183.
  2. ^ a b c d e Assmann 1977, p. 450.
  3. ^ Sulovsky 2024, p. 164.
  4. ^ Loud 2025, n.p. in Google preview.
  5. ^ a b c Freed 2016, p. 355.
  6. ^ Robinson 1990, p. 500, calls her Sophia when describing this episode.
  7. ^ Fröhlich 1992, p. 102.
  8. ^ Assmann 1977, pp. 449, 451.
  9. ^ Assmann 1977, p. 448: non multo post imperatoris filia est defuncta.
  10. ^ a b Freed 2016, p. 5.
  11. ^ Assmann 1977, p. 440: soror his quinis est combinata Beatrix.
  12. ^ Loud 2025, n.p. in Google preview, says "c. early 1174".
  13. ^ Quarré de Verneuil 1876, p. 65.

Bibliography

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  • Assmann, Erwin (1977). "Friedrich Barbarossas Kinder". Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters. 33: 435–472.
  • Freed, John B. (2016). Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth. Yale University Press.
  • Fröhlich, Walter (1992). "The Marriage of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily: Prelude and Consequences". Anglo-Norman Studies. 15: 99–115.
  • Kinkade, Richard P. (2004). "Beatrice 'Contesson' of Savoy (c. 1250–1290): The Mother of Juan Manuel" (PDF). La corónica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (3): 163–225.
  • Kinkade, Richard P. (2020). Dawn of a Dynasty: The Life and Times of Infante Manuel of Castile. University of Toronto Press.
  • Loud, Graham A. (2025). Frederick Barbarossa. Reaktion Books.
  • Quarré de Verneuil, A.-H.-R. (1876). Le comté de chalon, le Charollais et la ville de Paray-le-Monial: Étude historique. Émile Protat.
  • Robinson, Ian S. (1990). The Papacy, 1073–1198: Continuity and Innovation. Cambridge University Press.
  • Sulovsky, Vedran (2024). Making the Holy Roman Empire Holy: Frederick Barbarossa, Saint Charlemagne and the sacrum imperium. Cambridge University Press.
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