Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, was Duke of Swabia and the King of Germany in the 12th century. Apart from being King of Germany, he was also crowned King of Italy and King of Burgundy. He was an extremely ambitious ruler and firmly believed that his authority was second only to God. Fierce and strong-willed, Frederick I passionately opposed the Papal authority, but supported religious crusades of the Latin Church. He was well-loved by his subjects and is considered as one of the greatest medieval emperors by historians, thanks to his exceptional organizational skills, war strategies, political knowledge, and enthusiastic participation in religious crusades. He had a red beard due to which he was called ‘Barbarossa’ in the northern parts of Italy. It means ‘red-beard’ in Italian. He is credited with re-establishing the ‘Roman rule of law,’ which counterbalanced the papal authority.