Frederick Barbarossa

On this day, Stamira, also known as Stamura, saved the city of Ancona on the east coast of Italy from a siege by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa. During a particularly dire moment of the siege, the inhabitants of Ancona staged a short sortie and managed to throw a barrel containing resin and pitch in front of the besiegers but did not know how to safely ignite it. It was at this moment that the widow Stamira boldly left the protection of the city walls wielding an axe. She broke the barrel and set it on fire thus destroying part of the besiegers’ war machines, but at the price of herself being killed. Thanks to her sacrifice, the Ancona inhabitants were able to leave the city for a short time and supply themselves with food. In this way, the resistance continued until the arrival of reinforcements in mid-October forced the Imperial forces to lift the siege.

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On this day, Frederick I, also known as Frederick Barbarossa because of his red beard, was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt. Three years later he was also crowned King of Italy in Pavia and Holy Roman Emperor. Historians generally consider him among the Holy Roman Empire’s greatest medieval emperors. His longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organisation, his battlefield acumen, and his political perspicacity, made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries. Barbarossa’s leadership was characterised by his ambition to establish a strong and centralised imperial rule, which often put him at odds with the Pope and other European monarchs. Frederick drowned in 1190 while attempting to cross the Saleph river on his way to the Holy Land to fight in the Third Crusade.

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