Regesta Imperii IV/1/2: Regesten Konrads III. 1138-1152

Within the regesta Imperii, the well-known editions of medieval sources, the regesta of king Konrad III. (1138 - 1152) fill the gap between the regesta of emperor Lothar III (1125 - 1137), published in 1994 and the regesta of emperor Frederick I. (1152 - 1190), which have been appearing since 1980. These volumes set the formal standard for the modern Konrad regesta. Until recently, Konrad has had a negative reputation because of the verdict of medieval chroniclers (for example the Chronica regia Coloniensis: Huius regis tempora admodum tristia fuerunt. Nam inaequalitas aeris, famis et inedie perseverantia, bellorum varius tumultus sub eo vigebant. Erat tamen viri militari virtute trenuus, et qoudregem decuit, valde animosus; set quodam infortunio res publica sub eo labefactari ceperant) and of many historians of the 19th and 20th centuries. In their option, Konrad has sometimes been labelled a completely unsuccsessful ruler, who in cormparion with his famous and glorious successor Frederick I and with the cosmopolitan Frederick II appeared colorless and provincial. Nowadays, a medieval rulers reputation rests not on succsessful or failed deeds, but rather on his room for manoeuvre and on the general context that shaped his and his advisers actions. Regarded in this way Konrad was less an unlucky loser, than the politicla and administrative pioneer for his nephew Frederick I. On the basis that Konrad left, the highly talented Frederic could realize his plans during his long reign. Until now, the fundamental book about Konrad was Wilhelm Bernhardis volume for "Jahrbücher des Deutschen Reiches" (1883), which was completed by Friedrich Hausmanns "edition of Konrads charters in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Diplomata regum et Imperatorum Germania). The new volume of Konrads regesta which contains a critical synthesis of chronicles, charters and the last literature, will lead to a new view on Konrads person and reign and to some corrections in the perspective of the early Stauffen rulers. In his volume published in 1831 "Regesta chronologico-diplomatica regum atque imperatorum Romanorum", J. F. Böhmer presented 124 short regesta for Konrads time. The new volume contains 790 detailed regesta.