Cultural depictions of Frederick Barbarossa

Lore & Background

Frederick I, nicknamed Barbarossa, reestablished imperial authority in Germany and enhanced the imperial position, but made mistakes when trying to assert his authority over North Italian communes, leading to a prolonged struggle. After being humbled in the Battle of Legnano, he changed his policies and attained a better working relationship with the Italian communes. His successful diplomatic efforts, together with developing circumstances, opened new possibilities for the imperial position, notably through the marriage of his son Henry VI with Constance of Sicily.

Various legends arose around Barbarossa. The most famous is the Kyffhäuser legend, which says he is not dead but asleep with his knights in a cave, and will awaken to restore Germany to a Golden Age. Another legend states that when seizing Milan in 1158, his wife Beatrice was humiliated, and Barbarossa forced magistrates to remove a fig from a donkey's anus with their teeth, or excrement, giving rise to the insulting gesture called fico. During the Risorgimento, Frederick became a symbol of the foreign oppressor defeated by the Lombard League.

Modern historians generally reject nationalist myths, portraying Frederick as an influential ruler who suffered many setbacks but often managed to recover. Recent German scholarship emphasizes his relationship with the chivalrous-courtly culture of the time. Scholars like Kurt Görich call for neutrality and warn against instrumentalization of the historical person.

Reader's Guide

Frederick Barbarossa's cultural depictions span centuries and vary widely between Germany and Italy. In Germany, he became a political symbol for the Wilhelmine government and the National Socialist movement, with the Kyffhäuser Monument declaring Kaiser Wilhelm I his reincarnation. In Italy, his image remains ambivalent: cities destroyed by him see him as a foreign oppressor, while others like Como and Pavia view him favorably as a supporter of their traditions. The Kyffhäuser legend, where he sleeps awaiting Germany's golden age, was promoted by the German Empire after 1871. His legacy also appears in literature, such as in Gargantua and Pantagruel, and in Italian historiography influenced by Risorgimento narratives. Modern scholarship, as summarized by Professor Gianluca Raccagni, notes his profound influence on public law and his near success in reestablishing imperial control over the papacy and Italian city-states.

Did You Know?

• After the 1162 conquest of Milan, the remains of the Three Kings were sent to Cologne, where they are still venerated in the Cologne Cathedral.
• The Kyffhäuser legend says Barbarossa's red beard has grown through the table at which he sits while he sleeps in a cave.
• During the Risorgimento, Frederick became a symbolic barbarian and foreign oppressor defeated by the Lombard League.
• In Brienno, Italy, Frederick Barbarossa even has a holy image.

The Kyffhäuser Legend and Its Political Mobilization

The most enduring myth surrounding Frederick I is the Kyffhäuser legend, which holds that the emperor never truly died but sleeps in a mountain cave—either in Thuringia or at the Bavarian-Austrian border—alongside his knights. In this tale, his red beard has grown long enough to pass through the table where he sits, and he periodically dispatches a boy to check whether the ravens circling the peak have finally ceased their flight, the sign that would rouse him to restore Germany to a Golden Age. A parallel Sicilian variant was recorded earlier concerning his grandson Frederick II. The legend became a powerful political tool: the German Empire erected the Kyffhäuser Monument atop the mountain, declaring Kaiser Wilhelm I a reincarnation of Frederick, with the 1896 dedication timed to the anniversary of Barbarossa's coronation. Interestingly, Prussian authorities were initially lukewarm toward the Barbarossa cult, which had originally served Southern princes seeking a voice in central governance. Only after 1871, when Wilhelm I became German emperor, did the state actively promote the sleeping-king narrative.

The Italian Mirror: Oppressor, Barbarian, and the Fico Legend

In Italian cultural memory, Frederick I occupies a far more conflicted position than in German tradition. During the Risorgimento, he was recast as the archetypal foreign barbarian whose armies were ultimately defeated by the heroic Lombard League, a narrative that shaped Italian historiography for generations. Writers like Cesare Cantù amplified this image, recounting episodes in which Frederick returned Milanese captives with severed hands or gouged-out eyes. Some Italian schoolbooks, as Cardini notes, still portray him as a proto-fascist figure. A particularly vivid legend surrounds the 1158 siege of Milan, when his wife Empress Beatrice was allegedly captured by the Milanese and paraded through the streets on a donkey in public humiliation. In retaliation, the story goes, Frederick forced the city's magistrates to extract a fig—or, in darker versions, excrement—from a donkey's anus using only their teeth, while they cried 'Ecco la fica.' This tale, referenced in Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, is sometimes cited as the origin of the Italian insulting gesture known as the fico. Unlike Germany, where the legend tends toward reverence, Italy's Barbarossa remains ambivalent and emotionally charged, with contrasting accounts persisting in cities like Milan, Tortona, and Asti.

Messianic Prophecy and the 'Good King' Archetype

From the earliest centuries after his death, Frederick I was woven into eschatological narratives that cast him as a prophetic figure. The medieval Golden Legend, refined by Jacobus de Voragine, structured the end of the world around three stages: catastrophic natural disasters, the rise of the Antichrist, and the emergence of a righteous king to defeat him. Barbarossa appeared in this final role—not merely a new ruler but the ultimate one, an emperor of peace tied to the latter days. This Messianic reading surfaces in the Italian Sibyla Eritrea, the Sächsische Weltchronik of 1260, and Salimbene di Adam's Cronica of 1280. In later centuries, German propaganda amplified these popular fables, pairing Frederick I and his grandson Frederick II as embodiments of the 'good king' ideal. This cult of the national leader was later absorbed by figures as diverse as Martin Luther, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Bismarck, and ultimately mobilized by the National Socialists. The roots of these end-time accounts stretch back thousands of years, entering Christian thought through the writings of the Apostle Peter, and the millennial fables were freely exchanged across Continental Europe.

Modern Historiography and the Call for Neutrality

Contemporary scholarship has largely moved beyond the nationalist and propagandistic frameworks that dominated earlier centuries. Historians today generally reject the mythologized narratives, instead presenting Frederick as a complex and influential ruler who, despite numerous setbacks, repeatedly managed to recover and reassert his position. He reestablished imperial authority in Germany and strengthened the imperial office, yet his attempts to impose direct control over the North Italian communes provoked a prolonged and costly conflict. The decisive turning point came at the Battle of Legnano, where his humiliation prompted a significant policy shift toward a more cooperative relationship with the Italian cities. His diplomatic acumen, combined with favorable circumstances, opened new avenues for the imperial position, most notably through the marriage of his son Henry VI to Constance of Sicily. Recent German scholarship has also turned attention to Frederick's engagement with the chivalrous and courtly culture of his era, exploring dimensions of his personality beyond pure political analysis. Scholars such as Kurt Görich now urge a measured, neutral approach, warning against both the old instrumentalization by political movements and any new form of myth-making that would reduce the historical person to a symbol.

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