The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa

Bishop Otto of Freising, maternal uncle of Frederick Barbarossa, had already acquired a reputation as a major historian for his work the Two Cities before he began the official biography of the great medieval German emperor. Although The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa covers only the first eight years of Frederick's long and eventful reign, it illuminates that period when, as Professor Mierow says, 'Frederick's star shone most brightly. Succeeding to a disorganized realm, he restored order at home and prestige abroad; imperial control was reestablished in Burgundy, and an Imperial party in Italy.'.