onradin of Swabia (1252-68), the last of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, son of Conrad IV. His father died when he was but two years old, and Manfred, his father’s half-brother, undertook to rule Naples and Sicily as king during the minority of the young sovereign. He was opposed in this by the Pope, who offered the crown of the two Sicilies to Charles of Anjou. Charles proved a cruel and hated king, and Conradin, though only a boy of fifteen, was persuaded to attempt to recover his inheritance. He was received with great honor in Rome, but was subsequently defeated, taken prisoner, and executed at Naples by order of Charles. His brief but tragic career has supplied the theme for various writers of romance. [World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935]

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