Friedrich I, Barbarossa

(1122 –1190), also known as Frederick Barbarossa, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany and crowned in Aachen in 1152. He was crowned King of Italy in 1155 in Pavia and emperor by Pope Adrian IV in the same year in Rome. He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy in 1178. He was named Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule. The prevalence of the Italian nickname, even in later German usage, reflects the centrality of the Italian campaigns to his career.
Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empire’s greatest medieval emperors. He combined qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: his longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organization, his battlefield acumen and his political perspicacity. His contributions to Central European society and culture include the reestablishment of the the Roman rule of law, which counterbalanced the papal power that dominated the German states since the conclusion of the Investiture Controversy.
Frederick died in 1190 in Asia Minor while leading an army in the Third Crusade.