PHILIP OF SWABIA. - Born on 26 July 1178, to Frederick Barbarossa and Beatrice of Burgundy, the fourth son of their union, he was created, at barely thirteen years of age, bishop of Würzburg. Marquis of Tuscany through the death of his brother Frederick from 1195, he joined, the following year, to the ancient Matildine estates, also the original duchy of Swabia.
The Eastern policy of Henry VI, his brother, inspired the marriage, ventures in 1197, of Philip with Irene, daughter of the emperor Isaac Angelos. On the death of Henry VI, after having at first taken a position in favor of the rights of the young Frederick, he had himself elected king of Germany. But the Guelph party opposed to him Otto of Bavaria, nephew of Richard the Lionheart. Mild, wise, but a natural defender of the German nation, he did not meet with the favor of Innocent III. Nor did the help of Philip II of France suffice to prevent the victory of Otto. A brief victory, he renewed the struggle in 1204. And, rapidly reconquering the regions of Lorraine, Thuringia and the Lower Rhine, he obtained recognition as king of Germany from Innocent and the promise of the imperial crown, albeit on condition of the renunciation, in favor of the Church, of the disputed Matildine estates. Already the national poet Walther von der Vogelweide was hailing him as emperor and victor, when, on 21 June 1208, he fell victim to a private vendetta, killed at Bamberg by Otto of Wittelsbach. And it was a hard blow to the Hohenstaufen, before they could have, with Frederick II, in Germany, their military and political resurrection.
Bibliography2 works
Braunschweig, Leipzig 1878; E. Engelmann, Philipp von Schwaben und Papst Innocenz III, während des deutschen Thronstreites, Berlin 1896.
Pier Fausto Palumbo