Frederick I’s conception of his rights and powers is well illustrated by the speech that he reportedly gave upon his entry into Rome in 1155 for his imperial coronation. The pope considered it his right to confer the crown on the king. But when Frederick came to Rome, envoys from the new city government that had been established there greeted him with an offer to give him the crown instead. Frederick reacted forcefully: the crown was not theirs to give; it was his by right. The gist of his reply to the Romans was recorded by his counselor and chronicler, Bishop Otto of Freising.

We have heard much heretofore concerning the wisdom and the valor of the Romans, yet more concerning their wisdom. Wherefore we cannot wonder enough at finding your words insipid with swollen pride rather than seasoned with the salt of wisdom. You set forth the ancient renown of your city. You extol to the very stars the ancient status of your sacred republic. Granted, granted! To use the words of your own writer, “There was, there was once, virtue in this republic.” “Once,” I say. And oh that we might truthfully and freely say “now”! Your Rome—nay, ours also—has experienced the vicissitudes of time. She could not be the only one to escape a fate ordained by the Author of all things for all that dwell beneath the orb of the moon. What shall I say? It is clear how first the strength of your nobility was transferred from this city of ours to the royal city of the East [Constantinople], and how for the course of many years the thirsty Greekling sucked the breasts of your delight. Then came the Frank, truly noble, in deed as in name, and forcibly possessed himself of whatever freedom was still left to you. Do you wish to know the ancient glory of your Rome? The worth of the senatorial dignity? The impregnable disposition of the camp? The virtue and the discipline of the equestrian order, its unmarred and unconquerable boldness when advancing to a conflict? Behold our state. All these things are to be found with us. All these have descended to us, together with the empire.

Source: Brian Tierney, The Crisis of Church and State, 1050–1300: With Selected Documents (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1964), 103–4.

Question to Consider

Why did Frederick think that Germany had inherited the Roman Empire along with all its power and glory?