Conradin

Conradin (1252–1268), sometimes called Conradin of Swabia, was a German prince of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and the last direct male heir of that line. He was the son of King Conrad IV of Germany and belonged to the Hohenstaufen royal house. He held the title of Duke of Swabia and was a claimant to both the German kingship and the Kingdom of Sicily.

In the mid-1260s, Conradin returned to Italy to press his claims to Sicily amid the Sicilian Vespers conflict and the expulsion of Charles of Anjou. He led a small force during the broader struggle to restore a Hohenstaufen ruler to the Sicilian throne. His campaign culminated in the Battle of Tagliacozzo on 23 August 1268, where his forces were defeated by the Angevin army led by Charles of Anjou.

Conradin was captured during or after the battle and taken to Naples, where he was executed by beheading on 29 October 1268. His death effectively ended the main male line of the Hohenstaufen dynasty's imperial ambitions in the Holy Roman Empire and in Sicily, marking a turning point in 13th-century Italian and German politics.

Conradin's legacy is that of a last scion of a once-prominent medieval dynasty. He is discussed in historical accounts of the Hohenstaufen, the politics of the Holy Roman Empire in the 13th century, and the Sicilian Vespers conflict, illustrating the dynastic and territorial struggles of the period.