Philip of Swabia elected antiking

1198

With the Hohenstaufen dynasty in disarray after Henry VI's death, his brother Philip of Swabia was elected King of the Romans by the Staufer party, while the Welf party elected Otto of Brunswick a few months later. Germany entered the double-election crisis that would drag on for a decade. Pope Innocent III inserted himself as arbiter, claiming the right to judge between rival kings, a constitutional innovation that both parties resented.