Conrad of Antioch

Conrad of Antioch (Italian: Corrado d'Antiochia; born 1240/41, died after 1312) was a scion of an illegitimate branch of the imperial Staufer dynasty and a nobleman of the Kingdom of Sicily. He was the eldest son of Frederick of Antioch, imperial vicar of Tuscany, and Margherita di Poli. He was thus a grandson of the Emperor Frederick II (reigned 1220–50), a nephew of King Manfred of Sicily (1258–66) and cousin of King Conradin (1266–68). His surname, which is contemporary, comes from his paternal grandmother, a mistress of Frederick II from Antioch. He may be called "Conrad I" to distinguish him from his descendants with the same given name.

Conrad's activity was mainly confined to the north of the Kingdom of Sicily and to the Papal State. Under Manfred, he governed several counties and held numerous castles in fief in the region of Abruzzo. He fought as Manfred's representative to re-assert Staufer control of central Italy. After Manfred's death, he was forced into exile by the Angevin conquest. In exile Conradin elevated him in rank by granting him the title Prince of Abruzzo and he took part in Conradin's attempt to regain the kingdom. Following the failure of this in 1268, he became a prisoner-of-war until 1272. The remaining forty years of his life were mostly spent quietly at his castle in Anticoli, save for the years 1282–86, at the start of the War of the Vespers, when he launched several invasions and raids into Abruzzo. These ultimately failed to shake Angevin control.