Conrad IV of Germany

Conrad entered the world on 25 April 1228 and became King of Jerusalem the same day — his mother, Queen Isabella II, died delivering him. The Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II piled titles on the boy: Duke of Swabia in 1235, King of Germany and King of Italy by 1237. When Frederick was deposed and died in 1250, Conrad took Sicily and ruled as Conrad I until his own death on 21 May 1254, twenty-six years old. He spent most of his reign trying to enforce claims across an empire that barely wanted him, the last Hohenstaufen king to hold any real power before the dynasty collapsed.