Diet of Pentecost

Due to its large number of visitors and its cultural pleasures, it represented a highlight of the knightly way of life and the development of power of the dynasty of Hohenstaufen.

In 1183, after successes in Italian politics and the subjugation of Henry the Lion at the beginning of the 1180s, Emperor Frederick I announced a court day in Mainz for the following year.

Following his entry into the cathedral, a large banquet took place, during which the greats of the empire provided the court offices of the innkeeper, Truchsesses, chamberlain and marshal.

The emperor's sons and many princes, who followed their example and did not want to be inferior to them in this respect, gave the knights and minstrels gifts in the form of horses, precious clothes, gold, and silver.

During the diet the emperor negotiated with Henry the Lion protected by archbishop Conrad[2] about an anti-French alliance with England, which however remained unsuccessful.

This was followed by a scandal when numerous vassals of the Archbishop, including the Count Palatine near the Rhine, a brother of the Emperor, also requested their withdrawal from the festivities.

The research sees in the Mainz Court Day due to the size of the number of participants and the effort a sure indication that Barbarossa wanted to put an end to his largely failed Italian policy and at the same time make it forgotten by a demonstration of his ruling power.