Person:Constance of Sicily (1)

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Constance I (; 2 November 1154 – 27 November 1198) was reigning Queen of Sicily from 1194–98, jointly with her spouse from 1194 to 1197, and with her infant son Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1198, as the heiress of the Norman kings of Sicily. She was also Holy Roman Empress and later Dowager by marriage to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor.

When she was young, as the sole heir to the throne of Sicily, she didn't marry until she was 30 because of an ominous prophecy; shortly after becoming empress she was involved in the succession war against her illegitimate nephew King Tancred of Sicily for the Sicilian throne, during which, rarely for an empress, she was captured during such an offensive campaign, though finally without danger she escaped. In the history of Holy Roman Empire only two empresses had ever been captured, the other being her mother-in-law Empress Beatrice.

Shortly before ascending the Sicilian throne, at the advanced age of 40, she gave birth to her only child – Frederick, thus continuing the bloodlines of both Holy Roman Empire and Kingdom of Sicily.

After the death of her husband, she gave up the throne of the Holy Roman Empire in the name of her son, despite him being King of the Romans, in favor of her younger brother-in-law Philip of Swabia, making her son merely King of Sicily; meanwhile she still claimed herself Holy Roman Empress Dowager. Passing away merely one year later, she entrusted her young son to Pope Innocent III.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Constance of Sicily, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.