born 1093
died Feb. 15, 1152, Bamberg, Ger.
German king (1138–52), the first of the Hohenstaufen dynasty .
Nephew of Emperor Henry V of Germany, he revolted when he was passed over as heir by the electors, and he was crowned antiking at Nürnberg (1127) and king of Italy (1128). Returning to Germany in 1132, he fought the German king Lothar II until 1135, when Conrad submitted and was pardoned. He became king when Lothar died, quelling resistance in Bavaria and Saxony. Conrad set out for Palestine on the Second Crusade (1147) and visited Constantinople (1148), where he cemented an alliance with Manuel I Comnenus . Unable to visit Rome, he never received the imperial crown.