Frederick Barbarossa

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Frederick I of Swabia, known as Frederick Barbarossa, is mentioned by Dante in Purgatorio XVIII, where verse 119 recalls him with the expression «sotto lo 'mperio del buon Barbarossa» ('under the empire of the good Barbarossa'). According to the authorized notes to Canto XVIII, the epithet «buon» ('good') is used by Dante to indicate the valor of princes and lords, as occurs with Augustus in Inferno I 71. The notes clarify that Dante approves of the deeds of Frederick I of Swabia, even though the emperor destroyed Milan, because, according to the Dantean conception set forth in cantos VI and XVI of the Purgatorio, the emperor represents the sole legitimate authority on earth, placed by God as the guide of men in temporal matters.