In the year of our lord 1164, the world was very different than what we see nowadays. First, the Albertas [1] had not yet been discovered and would not be found for another 336 years. Then, there's the fact that Iberia was divided into several Christian Kingdoms of Aragon, Castille, Leon, Portugal, and Navarre battling the Islamic Almohad Caliphate, the Middle East's Christian Kingdoms was surrounded by Muslim Caliphs across the Middle East, England controlled the Western half of France as the two crowns had not yet been in Union before that Union split once more, The Byzantine Empire still controlled most of the Balkans, Hungary and Poland had not yet been united in union until decades later, and a large state called Kievan Rus controlled modern day Russia. However, there was thing that remained extremely similar to the present day. In the heart of Europe, the Holy Roman Empire, the most powerful state in Europe, was ruled by the Hohenstaufens.
While the Empire's successive German Empire is ruled by a Cadet Branch today, back then, it was ruled by the first Hohenstaufen Emperor, Friedrich I, Barbarossa. Born in mid December of 1122, Barbarossa had seen a massive rise to the top as Duke of Swabia, impressing his uncle, then Conrad III, King of Germany, on the failed Second Crusade that led to him becoming the next King of Germany. He would focus on concentrating Germany around the King before going to become Emperor, crowned by the pope himself. By the year of 1164, he had ruled his Kingdom for nearly a decade and was aged 23 when his wife, Beatrice of Burgundy, would give birth to their eldest son and heir to the Kingdom.
On July 16th, 1164, the future Friedrich V of Swabia and much later Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor, would be born healthy and strong much like his future brothers. Within a year, he would be crowned as King of the Romans and be betrothed to Henry II de Plantagenet of England's daughter, Eleanor. While the French King Louis VII would struggle to have a male heir, as his sole son, Philippe, would die a few months after being born. [2] Europe would come to see a new Era come by as the time of the Friedrichs had come and the world would never be the same.
[1] - Named after Albert Temeller, a 15th-16th century German explorer that discovers the New World ITTL.
[2] - Philippe II dies in infancy here, leaving Louis VII without male heirs, which means his succession would be between Henry The Young King, Louis' younger brother Robert of Dreaux, and his nephew Peter II of Courtenay as well as the House of Blois when he dies.
So this TL was a bit on the fly as you can tell from how I'm writing it. I'll probably need some help to keep track of everything, like with the Dynasties and everything, so if you'd like to help me, please send me a message on Discord, otherwise the amount of work I'll need to do for the Dynasties will make me wanna drop the TL, which I don't want to do. Till next time, enjoy!
While the Empire's successive German Empire is ruled by a Cadet Branch today, back then, it was ruled by the first Hohenstaufen Emperor, Friedrich I, Barbarossa. Born in mid December of 1122, Barbarossa had seen a massive rise to the top as Duke of Swabia, impressing his uncle, then Conrad III, King of Germany, on the failed Second Crusade that led to him becoming the next King of Germany. He would focus on concentrating Germany around the King before going to become Emperor, crowned by the pope himself. By the year of 1164, he had ruled his Kingdom for nearly a decade and was aged 23 when his wife, Beatrice of Burgundy, would give birth to their eldest son and heir to the Kingdom.
On July 16th, 1164, the future Friedrich V of Swabia and much later Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor, would be born healthy and strong much like his future brothers. Within a year, he would be crowned as King of the Romans and be betrothed to Henry II de Plantagenet of England's daughter, Eleanor. While the French King Louis VII would struggle to have a male heir, as his sole son, Philippe, would die a few months after being born. [2] Europe would come to see a new Era come by as the time of the Friedrichs had come and the world would never be the same.
[1] - Named after Albert Temeller, a 15th-16th century German explorer that discovers the New World ITTL.
[2] - Philippe II dies in infancy here, leaving Louis VII without male heirs, which means his succession would be between Henry The Young King, Louis' younger brother Robert of Dreaux, and his nephew Peter II of Courtenay as well as the House of Blois when he dies.
So this TL was a bit on the fly as you can tell from how I'm writing it. I'll probably need some help to keep track of everything, like with the Dynasties and everything, so if you'd like to help me, please send me a message on Discord, otherwise the amount of work I'll need to do for the Dynasties will make me wanna drop the TL, which I don't want to do. Till next time, enjoy!