King Enzio imprisoned in Bologna, from
a medieval manuscript.
Enzio or
Enzo (
Italianisation of
Heinz,
diminutive of
Heinrich) (c. 1218 – 1272) was an
illegitimate son of
Emperor Frederick II and
King of Sardinia.
Life
Enzio was an illegitimate son of Frederick II by a certain
Adelaide. It is speculated that she was Adelaide of Urslingen. He
was the eldest of the illegitimate sons of the emperor, and
allegedly the favourite one .
He had a pleasant personality and a strong physical resemblance to
his father. He fought in the wars between his father, the pope, and
the Northern Italian communes.
When
Ubaldo of Gallura died in
1238, the
Doria family of
Genoa, in order to secure the
Giudicato of Logudoro from
Pisan domination, convinced the emperor to
marry Enzio to Ubaldo's widow,
Adelasia of Torres . By marrying her,
Enzio would accede to half of the island of
Sardinia jure uxoris.
He was created a
knight in Cremona
and granted
the title "King of Sardinia". He travelled to the island to
marry Adelasia in October that year.
In July
1239, he was assigned as imperial
vicar general in Lombardy, as well as General-Legate in Romagna
, and left
Sardinia never to return. In 1241, he took part in the capture of a
papal fleet at Giglio
Island
in the Tyrrhenian Sea
. His first successful move as military leader
was the reconquest of Jesi
, in the
Marche, which was Frederick's
birthplace. Later he was captured in a skirmish against
the Milanese at Gorgonzola
, but soon released. In 1245 or 1246 his
marriage was annulled.
In 1247, he took part in the unsuccessful
siege of Parma
.
He
continued to fight the Guelph Lombards, assaulting the Guelphs of
Reggio
and
conducting an assault in the surroundings of Parma.
During a
campaign to support the Ghibelline cities
of Modena
and Cremona
against Guelph Bologna
, he was
defeated and captured on 26 May 1249 at the Battle of
Fossalta. Enzio was thenceforth kept prisoner in
Bologna, in the palace
that came to bear his name
.
Every attempt to escape or to rescue him failed, and he died in
prison in 1272: after the murder of
Conradin in 1268, he was the last of the
Hohenstaufen.
Enzio shared the father's passion for
falconry, and was thus nicknamed
Falconello ("little falcon"). He was the dedicatee of a
French translation of a hunting
treatise by
Yatrib. Like his brother
Manfred, he presumambly grew fond of
poetry at Frederick's court: during his long imprisonment Enzio
wrote several poems, and his pitiful fate was itself a source of
inspiration for several poets .
The
powerful Bentivoglio family of Bologna
and Ferrara
claimed descent from him.
See also
Sources
Footnotes
- According to this site, Frederick II's eldest illegitimate
son was Frederick di Pettorana
- Bedürftig Friedemann: p. 63 "Taschenlexikon Staufer"
- Decker-Hauff Hansmartin: Band III p. 367
- Mühlbacherer Josef: p. 205
- Lexikon des Mittelalters: Band III, p. 2030
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