Henry of Kalden

Henry of Kalden was again sent to Catania, where he and Markward von Annweiler defeated a large resistance army of Sicilian nobles in 1197, sacked the city and took captive its bishop.

Nevertheless, when the crusaders heard of Emperor Henry's death in Messina, they had to return to Germany in order to secure their hereditary estates.

In the throne quarrel with the Welf prince Otto IV, he aided Philip against the forces of Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia in 1204 and against the Cologne citizens in 1206, as well as in the negotiations with Pope Innocent III.

Henry of Kalden received permission from the Pope to track down and kill Otto to avenge his master's death.

After the December 1212 coronation of Henry VI's son Frederick II, however, Otto's position worsened and the marshal returned to the Hohenstaufen fold.