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Hohenstaufen Dynasty

Hohenstaufen
Staufer
Hohenstaufen family arms.svg
Arms of the Hohenstaufen
Country  Holy Roman Empire
 Sicily
 Jerusalem
Estates Swabia
Titles
Founded 1079
Founder Frederick I, Duke of Swabia
Final ruler Conradin
Dissolution 1268
Ethnicity German
German royal dynasties
House of Hohenstaufen
Chronology
Conrad III 1138 – 1152
Frederick I Barbarossa 1152 – 1190
Henry VI 1190 – 1197
Philip of Swabia 1198 – 1208
Frederick II 1212 – 1250
Conrad IV 1250 – 1254
Family
Family tree of the German monarchs
Succession
Preceded by
Süpplingenburg dynasty
Followed by
House of Habsburg

The Hohenstaufen, also called the Staufer or Staufen, were a dynasty of German kings (1138–1254) during the Middle Ages. Besides Germany, they also ruled the Kingdom of Sicily (1194–1268). In Italian historiography, they are known as the Svevi (Swabians), since they were (successive) dukes of Swabia from 1079. Three members of the dynasty—Frederick I, Henry VI and Frederick II—were crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

The name "Hohenstaufen", meaning "high Staufen", originates in the 14th century, when it was first used to distinguish the conical hill named Staufen in the Swabian Jura, in the district of Göppingen, from the village of the same name in the valley below. The name "Staufen" derives from Stauf (formerly stouf and akin to Early Modern English ), meaning "chalice", and was commonly applied to conical hills in Swabia in the Middle Ages. The family derives its name from the castle which the first Swabian duke of the lineage built there in the latter half of the 11th century. Staufen castle was only finally called Hohenstaufen by historians in the 19th century, to distinguish it from other castles of the same name. The name of the dynasty followed, but in recent decades the trend in German historiography has been to prefer the name Staufer.

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.


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Wikipedia

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