St. Peter’s, Rome. Frederick Barbarossa is finally crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Hadrian IV. Just before his coronation, Frederick is met by a delegation from the Roman Senate, who propose that he be investiture as emperor by the Roman Senate instead, rejecting the papal investiture. Frederick indignantly refuses: he sees the Italian communes as inferior peoples, lands to be conquered, as he explicitly states on that occasion. Moreover, very little remains of the enormous metropolis that had dominated the world for centuries: the mighty Aurelian Walls that have surrounded the city since 270 AD are now far removed from the tiny central town, which has only 15,000-20,000 inhabitants, compared to the millions of the classical era.
