CONRAD III., of the House of Hohenstauffen, Duke of Franconia, ind nephew of Henry V., was elected kiug of Germany in 1138, after he death of Lotharius II., who had succeeded Henry. Conrad bad lready been proclaimed King of Italy during the life of his uncle.
Ienry the Proud, of the House of Well', duke of Saxony and of 3avaria, who had married Lotharius's daughter, and whose sway !xtended from the Baltic to the Alps, had also pretensions to tho mperial crown. Conrad, assembling a diet at Wiirzburg, stripped 4eory both of Bavaria, which he bestowed on Leopold V., margrave if Austria, and of Saxony, which he bestowed on Albert the Boar, rho was descended from the ancient dukes of that province. A civil war was the result : Henry the Proud preserved Saxony, but dying n the midst of the war, his rights descended to his infant son Efenry, afterwards styled the Lion. Welf, brother of Henry the Proud, expelled Leopold from Bavaria. A battle was fought at Wins serg in Suabia, between Welf and Conrad, which was lost by the 'orrner, and is memorable as having given rise to the distinctive names if Guelphs and Ghibelines, which became the rallying words of two apposite parties that desolated Germany and Italy for centuries. At he battle of Winsberg, the war cry of the Saxons and Bavarians was Mat of their leader ' Welf; ' and that of the imperial troops was Weiblingen,' a town of Wiirtemberg, the patrimonial seat of the Hohenstauffen family. The two names were originally applied to the respective adherents of the Saxon duke and of the emperor; but that of 1Velf soon became extended to all the rebels or disaffected to the imperial authority. The Italians, adopting the distinction long
after, named Guelphs all the opponents, and Ghibelines the supporters of the imperial authority in Italy. [GUELPHS AND GH1BELINES.] For the moment however peace was made in Germany : Henry the Lion was acknowledged Duke of Saxony, and gave up Bavaria to the margrave of Austria. Albert the Boar was indemnified for the loss of Saxony by the erection of Brandenburg into an independent margravate, which his own successes over the Sclavonic tribes bordering on the Baltic coon raised to an equal rank with Saxony, Bavaria, Suabia, and the other great provinces of the empire. Having thus given peace to Germany, Conrad was induced by the preaching of St. Bernard to assume the cross. He set out with a numerous host for the East, by the way of Constantinople. In conjunction with Louis VII. of France, he penetrated into Syria, and besieged Damascus and Ascalon, but without success. Conrad having lost most of his followers, returned disappointed to Germany, which he found again distracted by the intrigues of Welf. He defeated Welf, and died in 1152, as he was preparing to set out for Italy to receive the imperial crown from the hands of the pope. He was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick of Hohenstauffen, duke of Suable, surnamed by the Italians `Barbaressa.'