I may have done extensive research on the era for professional reasons. Also, like I said, 'twas my hometown Philip's murder took place in. The wiki entry on Otto (IV) at least mentions he got flogged to death at his own request to expiate for his sins, which certainly is one of the most flamboyant of our Emperors' deaths, but given Beatrice died 24 days after the marriage got consumated, my sympathy for him is, err, non existent. (He also raped at least one mayor's wife when he toured the German cities after finally making it on the throne.)
Another true story wiki barely hints at is that young Frederick, who'd travelled across the Alps with a small entourage which Otto sought to prevent, arrived just three hours before Otto did at Late Konstanz and thus literally sat down and ate the meal prepared for Otto. He got let in because he had the excommunication bill against Otto with him, which made 17 years old Federico Secondo the sole remaining legal King of the Romans, Germans and of Sicily. If he'd arrived three hours later, though, after Otto's men had already occupied the city, he'd have been screwed.
Otto had it coming there, too. The main reason why the Pope until then had backed Otto and the Welfs against the Staufen was that he wanted to prevent the Church territories being sandwiched between the HRE on the one hand and the Kingdom of Sicily (which covered a large part of lower Italy in addition to the island and belonged to the Staufen since Frederick's father and Philip's older brother had married Constance d'Hauteville, heiress to the Norman Kings of Sicily) on the other, and he'd made Otto promise Otto would never claim Sicily. Of course, no sooner was Otto crowned as Emperor in Rome by the Pope that he took the army he'd conveniently brought with him ("just an escort, your holiness, honest") and marched on Sicily.
Now, young Frederick, who'd been orphaned at age 4, had survived various regents and grown up in Palermo partly raised by the local population (Sicilian-Norman-Arab, and his life long affinity to Muslim culture hails from there), had started to rule Sicily at 14 (which was when Norman Kings come of age) and had no army to speak of. He'd been screwed if Otto had actually invaded. But that particular Pope was one of the most ruthless and inventive politicians of the middle ages. Sure, he'd had excommunicated the late Philip of Swabia and backed Otto in order to keep the Staufen from owning the HRE and Sicily both, but now that Otto had broken the promise under which he'd been made Emperor, well, Innocent III excommunicated Otto and basically told young Federico that if he could make it to Germany alive across the Alps (where Otto's men were stationed), Germany was his. Otto, instead of advancing further to Sicily, hastily returned to cover his home base, and that was his mistake.
(In his time as Emperor, years later, Frederick also got excommunicated, twice, by two different Popes. The first time this happened, he dealt with it by going on Crusade - excommunicated, mind - , negotiated a peaceful solution with the Sultan, and crowned himself - since no Priest was allowed to - King of Jerusalem right there without having had to fight a single battle. The Templars tried to kill him, though, and failed. Pope Gregory then had to end the excommunication on him.)
Game of Thrones, HRE Edition
Another true story wiki barely hints at is that young Frederick, who'd travelled across the Alps with a small entourage which Otto sought to prevent, arrived just three hours before Otto did at Late Konstanz and thus literally sat down and ate the meal prepared for Otto. He got let in because he had the excommunication bill against Otto with him, which made 17 years old Federico Secondo the sole remaining legal King of the Romans, Germans and of Sicily. If he'd arrived three hours later, though, after Otto's men had already occupied the city, he'd have been screwed.
Otto had it coming there, too. The main reason why the Pope until then had backed Otto and the Welfs against the Staufen was that he wanted to prevent the Church territories being sandwiched between the HRE on the one hand and the Kingdom of Sicily (which covered a large part of lower Italy in addition to the island and belonged to the Staufen since Frederick's father and Philip's older brother had married Constance d'Hauteville, heiress to the Norman Kings of Sicily) on the other, and he'd made Otto promise Otto would never claim Sicily. Of course, no sooner was Otto crowned as Emperor in Rome by the Pope that he took the army he'd conveniently brought with him ("just an escort, your holiness, honest") and marched on Sicily.
Now, young Frederick, who'd been orphaned at age 4, had survived various regents and grown up in Palermo partly raised by the local population (Sicilian-Norman-Arab, and his life long affinity to Muslim culture hails from there), had started to rule Sicily at 14 (which was when Norman Kings come of age) and had no army to speak of. He'd been screwed if Otto had actually invaded. But that particular Pope was one of the most ruthless and inventive politicians of the middle ages. Sure, he'd had excommunicated the late Philip of Swabia and backed Otto in order to keep the Staufen from owning the HRE and Sicily both, but now that Otto had broken the promise under which he'd been made Emperor, well, Innocent III excommunicated Otto and basically told young Federico that if he could make it to Germany alive across the Alps (where Otto's men were stationed), Germany was his. Otto, instead of advancing further to Sicily, hastily returned to cover his home base, and that was his mistake.
(In his time as Emperor, years later, Frederick also got excommunicated, twice, by two different Popes. The first time this happened, he dealt with it by going on Crusade - excommunicated, mind - , negotiated a peaceful solution with the Sultan, and crowned himself - since no Priest was allowed to - King of Jerusalem right there without having had to fight a single battle. The Templars tried to kill him, though, and failed. Pope Gregory then had to end the excommunication on him.)