Conrad II (February/March 1172 – 15 August 1196), was Duke of Rothenburg (1188–1191) and Swabia from 1191 until his death. He was the fifth son of Frederick I Barbarossa and Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy.
Contents
Life
After the third-born son of the Emperor, who was originally called Conrad, had been renamed Frederick around 1170, this first name, which had a long tradition in the Staufen dynasty, had been freed up for a younger son.
Conrad was invested by his father with the Franconian domains which reverted to the German crown after the death of Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia in 1167; this certainly happened at the latest in 1188 when he was first referred to as dux de Rotenburch (Duke of Rothenburg). In addition, the young prince also received the lands of Weißenburg and Eger.
On 23 April 1188 Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and King Alfonso VIII of Castile signed the Treaty of Seligenstadt, under which was arranged the betrothal between Conrad —son of the German Emperor— and Berengaria —eldest and only surviving child of the Castilian King, and thus the heiress presumptive of her father. Conrad then marched to Castile, where in Carrión de los Condes the engagement was celebrated and he was knighted in July 1188, making him a servant of his new lord and future father-in-law, King Alfonso VIII. Berengaria's status as heiress of Castile was based in part on documentation in the treaty and marriage contract, which specified that she would inherit the Castilian throne after her father or any childless brothers who may come along. Conrad would only be allowed to co-rule as her spouse, and Castile would not become part of the Holy Roman Empire. Furthermore, he was not allowed to claim the throne for himself in case of Alfonso VIII's death but was obliged to defend and protect the kingdom until Berengaria would arrive in case of her absence. The treaty also documented traditional rights and obligations between the future sovereign and the nobility.