Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/267

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CONRAD 263 daemonian squadron, under the command of Ly- sander, but was surprised at ^Egospotami (405), and sustained that memorable defeat which placed Athens at the mercy of her great rival. How far he was responsible for this. disaster it is not easy to determine, but that his colleagues were shamefully remiss in duty there is no doubt. He was the only Athenian general od his guard, and, with the division under his com- mand, escaped to his friend Evagoras, king of Cyprus, where he remained eight years. In 395, having repaired in person to the Persian court to offer his services to Artaxerxes II. against the Spartans, he was appointed with Pharna- bazus to the joint command of a powerful fleet, with which, in August, 394, he gained a splen- did victory over Pisander at Cnidus. The next year Conon and Pharnabazus sailed for the Peloponnesus. After they had laid waste the coast of Laconia, Conon repaired to Athens, and rebuilt the walls and fortifications both of the city and of the Piraeus. Thus he had the satisfaction at last of being hailed by his coun- trymen as at once the deliverer and the re- storer of the city. Having been subsequently sent by the Athenians on an embassy to Tiriba- zus, satrap of Ionia, to oppose the intrigues of Antalcidas, who was endeavoring to negotiate a general peace under the mediation of Persia, he was seized in violation of public faith, and thrown into prison. According to some ac- counts he was put to death, but it is more probable that he escaped to Cyprus and there spent the rest of his days. The public life of Conon was one of the purest and most useful, as well as one of the most eventful, that adorn Athenian annals. CONRAD. I. Duke of Franconia, elected king of Germany in 911, when the male line of descendants of Charlemagne had become ex- tinct, died Dec. 23, 918. The royal authority had been so much shattered under the feeble rule of his predecessors that his brief reign was only a series of campaigns against his disobe- dient vassals. He was unsuccessful in his ef- forts to reconquer Lorraine from France, and to subdue Duke Henry of Saxony ; but in Swa- bia he overcame two lords who had broken the public peace and had them tried and executed. He also expelled Arnulf, the seditious duke of Bavaria, who however took revenge by inciting the Hungarians against Germany. They invaded the empire and carried destruction to the bor- ders of France. Conrad died from a wound re- ceived in battle with them, and on his death- bed entreated his subjects to elect his former adversary, the duke of Saxony, his successor. II. King of Germany from 1024, and emperor of the Romans from 1027, died at Utrecht, June 4, 1039. He was one of the wisest and most energetic among the rulers of Germany. Im- mediately after his election he visited* all the provinces of the empire, establishing law and order with a powerful hand. He proclaimed the treuga Dei (truce of God), and endeavored to base the imperial power more immediately upon the lower nobility, that is to say, upon the people, since at that time the middle and lower classes were not yet thought of in poli- tics. In 1026 he went to Italy, chastised the seditious vassal princes and municipalities, con- firmed the rule of the Normans in southern Italy, and was crowned Roman emperor by the pope. Having restored peace and order through- out Italy, he returned to Germany, suppressed a rebellion instigated by Ernest of Swabia, re- pelled the Hungarians who attempted to wrest Bavaria from the empire, conquered Burgundy, and defeated the Poles, who made inroads into eastern Germany. While his son Henry sub- dued the Slavs, who had invaded northern Saxony, Conrad went once more to Italy, where the imperial authority was again defied by the nobles and clergy (1036). He was only partially successful, and was compelled to raise the siege of Milan, after which he returned to Germany. He was succeeded by his son Henry III. III. King of Germany, a son of Frederick of Swabia, born in 1093, died at Bamberg, Feb. 15, 1152. At the age of 20 he distinguished himself in the defence of the emperor Henry V. against his enemies. Re- turning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he found Lothaire, elected by the Guelph party, upon the imperial throne, against whom he was in 1128 crowned king by the Lombards, but was ultimately defeated, excommunicated, and his coronation declared null. Still his courage and frankness, perhaps also apprehensions of the overshadowing power of the Guelphs, obtained for him many friends among the German princes, and after Lothaire's decease (1137) he was elected king (1138). He now turned against his rival, Henry the Proud, duke of Bavaria and Saxony, and wrested Bavaria from him, but left him in possession of Saxony. The at- tempts of Henry's brother, Guelph IV., to re- conquer Bavaria, were frustrated by Conrad. In the mean time the Italian municipalities had risen against the papal power, and Conrad was invited by both parties to aid them. Distrust- ing the friendship of the Italians, he declined to do so, nor was he tempted by the offer of the imperial crown. A crusade which he undertook, jointly with Louis VII. of France, was unsuccessful. He was defeated at Ico- nium in 1147, and compelled to desist from his attempts to conquer Damascus and Ascalon. When he returned to Germany, in 1148, he found disorder reigning supreme. The Guelphs, allied with the Norman king, Roger of Sicily, had once more tried to reconquer Bavaria ; in Poland the legitimate duke Ladislas II. required Conrad's assistance against his own brothers ; and Italy once more urged upon him the ne- cessity of his presence. While preparing for a campaign, in Italy, he suddenly died, probably poisoned by agents of King Roger. IV. King of Germany, born in Apulia in April, 1228, died at Lavello, May 21, 1254. The son of the emperor Frederick II., he was crowned king of the Romans in 1237, and succeeded his