History of the Crusades. Episode 55 the Third Crusade Roman numeral 3.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the Kings of England and France set out on the Third Crusade.

This week we will examine the crusade of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany.

We've met Frederick before.

He accompanied his uncle, King Conrad of Germany, on the ill-fated Second Crusade

when he was young Duke Frederick of Schwabia. While his uncle had a disastrous

campaign Frederick actually did rather well. Despite his age and inexperience, he not only emerged unscathed from the Crusade, he gained some valuable military experience and took charge of the German army on occasions when his elderly uncle was sick or otherwise incapacitated.

His abilities certainly didn't go unnoticed by his uncle the king.

On his deathbed in 1152, King Conrad named Frederick as his successor, despite the fact that his six-year-old son was expected to take the German throne.

His uncle's faith in him was fully justified.

Frederick was a highly competent and successful monarch.

When he inherited the throne the kingdom of Germany was a fractured realm full of feuding noble families who fiercely defended their territory.

In addition to the German crown Frederick was also crowned King of Italy, which was really only a nominal title.

To cut a very long story short, Frederick took his crown and began to assert his power over his subjects, gradually building his realm and reputation

until he was the most powerful monarch in Europe.

The name Barbarossa means Red Beard in Italian, and Frederick was given the title by his Italian subjects due to the fact that he had, you guessed it, a red beard.

Now, you might be scratching your head and wondering where you've heard the name Barbara Rossa before.

Well, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II was

codenamed Barbarossa, the Nazis apparently being fans of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

Right, well, at the time of the Third Crusade, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was 67 years old, which made him a very old man by medieval standards.

Regardless of his age, Frederick took the cross in March 1188 and began preparations to leave Europe on

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