Constance of Hauteville

The daughter of Roger II, she married Henry VI, heir to the throne of Germany and the son of the Swabian king, Frederick I Barbarossa, in 1186. In 1191, together with her husband, she began the conquest of the kingdom of Sicily, then ruled by Tancred of Lecce. In 1198, after Henry had died, Constance recognized the feudal seigniory of Pope Innocent III, with whom she made an agreement on behalf of her son Frederick II, renouncing his claim to the imperial crown. Shortly after naming the pope regent of the kingdom and her son’s guardian, she died.