Honor Imperii: political legitimacy and military in Friedrich I Barbarossa

Author(s)

Vinicius Cesar Dreger de Araujo

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2011-03-17

Examining board members

Nachman Falbel; Álvaro Alfredo Bragança Júnior; Maria Cristina Correia Leandro Pereira; Cyro de Barros Rezende Filho; Marcelo Candido da Silva

• Advisor: Nachman Falbel

Abstract

Our thesis intends to analyze the history of the Honor imperii concept in Frederick I Barbarossas reign. For this we had to study the ways political legitimacy was obtained between the Tenth and Twelfth centuries seeking to understand the relative weights of military and sacred elements, Frederick Barbarossas singularities and the structural transformations sponsored by him in the regnum Teutonicorum After that we stablished a critical analysis of the Honor imperii in the documentation produced by the imperial Chancellery (charters and constitutions) and in Otto of Freising & Rahewins Gesta Friderici, the most important narrative source for Fredericks reign. We also studied the meanings of honor in the german cultural context of the Twelfth century. The Honor imperii was bound to the monarchs power projection by a proper legal structure (Roman and Feudal Laws) connecting it to the military exercise through the Just War Doctrine and the punishment of breaking the Landfrieden. (AU)