Conrad IV of Germany in the context of "Palazzo dei Normanni"

Reinbot von Dürne (fl. 1230s/1240s) was a German poet active at the court of Duke Otto II of Bavaria. He was probably a native of the region around Wörth an der Donau or possibly Walldürn.

Reinbot wrote Der heilige Georg, also called the Georgslegende, a Middle High German epic recounting the life and martyrdom of Saint George in 6,000 lines divided into rhyming couplets. It was written during the reign of Otto II from 1231 to 1253, but scholars disagree on a more precise dating. The Oxford Companion to German Literature dates it to the first years of Otto's rule (1231–1236). Internal evidence suggests that it was written after Otto established a marital alliance with the imperial Staufer family. This could be either the betrothal of his (unnamed) daughter to Conrad IV in 1235 or else Conrad's actual marriage to Otto's other daughter, Elizabeth, in 1246.

There were many imperial interregna in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, when there was no emperor. Interregna in which there was no emperor-elect (king of the Romans) were rarer. Among the longest periods without an emperor were between 924 and 962 (38 years), between 1250 and 1312 (62 years), and between 1378 and 1433 (55 years). The crisis of government of the Holy Roman Empire and the German kingdom thus lasted throughout the late medieval period, and ended only with the rise of the House of Habsburg on the eve of the German Reformation and the Renaissance. The term Great Interregnum is occasionally used for the period between 1250 (death of Frederick II) and 1273 (accession of Rudolf I).

After the deposition of Frederick II by Pope Innocent IV in 1245, Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia was set up as anti-king to Frederick's son Conrad IV (d. 1254). Frederick’s "deposition" was widely regarded as illegitimate, and no monarch in Europe offered any meaningful support for Innocent in his crusade against the emperor—whose immense status and legendary reputation as perhaps the greatest monarch of his day continued undiminished, especially in the vast Hohenstaufen core holdings. In Germany, particularly in Swabia, most of Franconia and the south, Hohenstaufen power remained formidable and the papal cause could only rely on the support of the major ecclesiastical princes. The secular princes of Germany were variably loyal to the Hohenstaufen or took a neutral stance. Henry Raspe was killed in 1247 and succeeded as anti-king by William of Holland (died 1256). Throughout 1249-1250 Conrad IV had steadily defeated William, whose power never extended beyond a tenuous hold north of the Rhine, and extracted a truce from the major ecclesiastical princes. Everywhere, papal crusade against the Hohenstaufen appeared to be disintegrating. By Frederick II’s death in late 1250, the emperor controlled most of Italy and his son enjoyed a relatively solid base across southern and central Germany. The Hohenstaufen remained the most prestigious, powerful and preeminent dynasty in Europe. However, buoyed by Frederick’s death, the papacy remained intransigent and Conrad IV was unable to secure the imperial mantle and died of malaria near Rome in 1254 while consolidating his Sicilian inheritance in southern Italy. Conrad’s death and the extreme youth of his son, Conradin, signaled an implosion in the Hohenstaufen dynastic power and after the 1257 imperial election, the crown was contested between Richard of Cornwall, who was supported by the Guelph party, and Alfonso X of Castile, who was recognized by the Hohenstaufen party but never set foot on German soil. After Richard's death in 1273, Rudolf I of Germany, a minor pro-Staufen count, was elected. He was the first of the Habsburgs to hold a royal title, but he was never crowned emperor. Alfonso hold on to his claim to the throne until 1275. After Rudolf's death in 1291, Adolf and Albert were two further weak kings who were never crowned emperor starting a line of so-called count-kings which lasted to the establishment of a de facto hereditary monarchy by the Habsburgs in the 15th century.

Elisabeth of Bavaria (c. 1227 – 9 October 1273) was Queen of Germany and Jerusalem from 1246 to 1254 by her marriage to King Conrad IV of Germany.

Siegfried III von Eppstein (died 9 March 1249) was Archbishop of Mainz from 1230 to 1249. He in 1244 granted freedom to the citizens of Mainz, who subsequently could run their affairs more independently though their own council; in law it remained an episcopal city.

He acted as regent for Conrad IV of Germany, while Emperor Frederick II was campaigning in Italy, 1237 to 1242. He was, though, a supporter of Pope Innocent IV.

Isabella II (Old French: Ysabel; 1212 – May 1228), sometimes called Isabella of Brienne and erroneously Yolanda, was the queen of Jerusalem who reigned from 1212 to 1228. She was the daughter and successor of Maria of Montferrat, who died shortly after giving birth to her. Like her mother, Isabella died young before she could make an impression on politics.

Isabella's father, John of Brienne, ruled during her long minority; while he continued to regard himself as king for life, his opponents insisted that he was merely regent for Isabella. In 1223 John arranged for her to marry Emperor Frederick II, king of Sicily. A proxy wedding was held in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in August 1225, followed by Isabella's coronation as queen of Jerusalem. She then promptly departed for the Kingdom of Sicily, where she married Frederick in person. The marriage made her queen of Sicily and empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Defying his agreement with her father, Frederick declared himself king of Jerusalem immediately after their wedding and seized control of her kingdom. He sidelined Isabella, whose role in government was minimal. Her father's supporters alleged that Frederick abused her. She died shortly after giving birth to her only son, Conrad II, who succeeded her under Frederick's tutelage.