Historical What if: The Sleeping King

[Bonefish]

Throught the years, I've read a good bit of history, and I frequently ask myself: "what if", what if this event had transpired differently, what would be the ramifications? One event that has constantly captured my imagination is the death of Frederick 1 Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor.

Barbarossa had taken up the call for Crusade immediatly, marching his vast Imperial Army overland through the balkans into Seljuk Rum, where he captured the Seljuk Capital. He crossed over into Cilicia, and drowned at the river Saleph. His army disintegrated and the Third Crusade went on with-out him.

Richard and Phillip, Kings of England and France respectively, both long time adversarys quarreled constantly over political goals(Richard supporting the Incompetent Guy, Phillip and Leopold supporting Conrad of Monferrat) and the division of spoils. The austrian and French leaders, disgusted with the crusade and it's dominance by the Wilful King Richard, left the Holy Land.

Richard, while a skillful battlefield commander, was unable siege Jerusalem due to his lack of men. Eventually, he and Saladi nwould negotiate a Truce, te Third Crusade would be seen as a failure of the Kings of Europe. In six years the Fourth Crusade would be launched, and the world would be changed forever.

What would the ramifications of Frederick's survival? Let us say he crosses the Saleph and lives for 5-7 more years(he was already 68, so quite old anyway). His army was quite massive(certainly NOT 100,000 men, but it's reasonable to believe something to nthe order of 20-30,000), he was an excellent battlefield commander, and his force of personality was impressive.

Would Barbarossa be able to quell the dissension between Richard and Phillip? As Holy Roman Emperor, he held the second most prestigious title in Europe(other than Vicar of Christ, aka Da Pope). Would this prestige as well as his army(which would have equalled the combined forces of the French and English) allowed him to bring the wilfull Richard into line?

Could the Crusaders have taken Jerusalem? A victory there could force Saladins tenous Ayyubid empire to crumble. Would a third crusade have been launched?

In longer-terms, what would this mean for the European Age of Exploration. After the failures of the crusades, the italian maritime republics(Genoa, Pisa, Venice) dominated trade in the Mediterraean, leading the rest of Europe to explore alternate routes to the east. Venice in particular grew very rich after the Sack of Constantnople in the 4th crusade. Had this not occured, would the Italian maritimes be able to exert such an influence, being nominal vassals of the Holy Roman Empire.

What are the reprucussions of a succesful crusade for the office of Emperor and the Hohenstaufen dynasty? Would the Hohenstauffens be able to increase their control over Sicily, would the stave off Papal hostility?

How would the capture of Jersusalem effect religion in Europe? Would the Reformation still happen? What about the inquistition?

So many questions. I wish I had a time machine. Also, what historical What If scenerions can YOU think of?