Frederick Barbarossa Quotes

Drowned in a river on the way to Jerusalem

In 1189, Frederick joined the Third Crusade at sixty-seven. He marched the largest army the crusades had ever seen through the Balkans and Anatolia. On June 10, 1190, he drowned crossing the Saleph River in modern Turkey. His death shattered the German contingent. He never reached Jerusalem, but his legend grew until Germans believed he would return in their hour of greatest need.