CONSTANCE

born 1154 died Nov. 27, 1198, , Palermo German Konstanze, Italian Costanza queen of Sicily (119498) and Holy Roman empress-consort (119197), whose marriage to a Hohenstaufen gave that German dynasty a claim to the throne of Sicily and whose political skill preserved the throne for her son. The daughter of King Roger II of Sicily, Constance married the future emperor Henry VI in 1186 and was crowned with him in Rome in 1191. On the death of her nephew William II (1189), she claimed the Sicilian throne. The Sicilians, however, supported Tancred of Lecce, her natural nephew, who waged war against her and actually held her prisoner. The death of Tancred (1194) allowed Henry and Constance to take the throne of Sicily. When Henry died in 1197, Constance consolidated her power in the kingdom, secured the protection of Pope Innocent III, and succeeded in having her son, the future emperor Frederick II, crowned king in April 1198.