When the Sicilian nobles elevated Tancred of Lecce to King of Sicily in 1190, Conrad supported the claims of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor to the Sicilian throne by force of arms.
In 1192, Konrad failed to defend Capua against Richard, Count of Acerra.
At the same time, Konrad was active as the imperial administrator of Etruria.
In 1193, he took over command of the campaign against Tancred in Apulia and also in the following year he led the Swabian contingent of Henry VI's army in Italy.
His adversaries gave him the nickname Musca in cerebro (Italian : Muscaincervello, whichs means fly in the brain), because “eo quod plerumque quasi demens videretur” (he usually looked pretty crazy).