Friedrich Barbarossa at Niš

Date: July 27, 1189 • Location: Nišava, Serbia

Friedrich Barbarossa arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja, during the Third Crusade.

Frederick Barbarossa, also known as Frederick I, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 1152. He was crowned King of Italy on 24 April 1155 in Pavia and emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155 in Rome. Two years later, the term sacrum ("holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his empire. He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on 30 June 1178. His nickname of Barbarossa "was first used by the Florentines only in 1298 to differentiate the emperor from his grandson, Frederick II ... and was never employed in medieval Germany". In German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, which in English means "Emperor Redbeard". The prevalence of the Italian nickname, even in later German usage, reflects the centrality of the Italian campaigns under his reign, and "remains to this day one of the [most] powerful historical monikers."