The Lombard League was a medieval alliance formed in 1167, supported by the popes, to counter the attempts by the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman emperors to assert influence over the Kingdom of Italy as a part of the Holy Roman Empire.
The defence of the Carroccio during the battle of Legnano by Amos Cassioli (1832–1891)
A Bronze replica of the Peace of Constance in Konstanz. Illustrating the comunes of the Lombard League in 1183.
Medieval miniature depicting the Battle of Cortenuova (1237)
Medieval miniature depicting the Battle of Parma (1248)
The Hohenstaufen dynasty, also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty's most prominent rulers – Frederick I (1155), Henry VI (1191) and Frederick II (1220) – ascended the imperial throne and also reigned over Italy and Burgundy. The non-contemporary name of 'Hohenstaufen' is derived from the family's Hohenstaufen Castle on Hohenstaufen mountain at the northern fringes of the Swabian Jura, near the town of Göppingen. Under Hohenstaufen rule, the Holy Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent from 1155 to 1268.
The Hohenstaufen Castle ruin
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his sons King Henry VI and Duke Frederick V of Swabia, Historia Welforum, 1167/79, Weingarten Abbey
Frederick's Castel del Monte, in Andria, Apulia, Italy.
Frederick II with his falcon, from De arte venandi cum avibus, c. 1240, Vatican Library
