Conrad II, Duke of Swabia

Conrad II (February/March 1173 – August 15, 1196) was duke of Swabia from 1191 to his death and Duke of Rothenburg (1188–1191). He was the fourth son of Frederick III Barbarossa and Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy, and brother of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor.

He was engaged to Berengaria of Castile in 1187, and knighted by Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1188. The marriage was never completed, at first because of her young age of 9. By 1191, she resisted the marriage and sought an annulment of the marriage treaty.^[1]

In 1191, Conrad was present in Rome for the coronation of his brother, Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. He then joined the Norman campaigns in Sicily in 1191 and 1194. A chronicler described Conrad as "a man thoroughly given to adultery, fornication, defilement, and every foulness; nevertheless, he was vigorous and brave in battle and generous to his friends."

Conrad was murdered in Durlach in 1196, allegedly by the husband of a woman he had raped. Another story says that Conrad was bitten in the eye by a virgin he was attempting to rape, and that he died of the resulting infection.

Ancestry

Notes

Sources

• Burchard von Ursberg, Burchardi praepositi Urspergensis Chronicon, ed. 1916
• Shadis, Miriam (2010). Berenguela of Castile (1180–1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-23473-7. 

See also

• Dukes of Swabia family tree