The meeting of the two sovereigns took place at Venice, where they embraced, and swore a friendship which was never afterwards broken.
No longer guided by the pernicious counsels of his Chancellor, Frederic attended to his duties, and abjured all his errors. He governed his empire with energy and justice; and what he could not accomplish with the Church against him, was an easy task as soon as he submitted to her sway; within a few years he became the most powerful sovereign of the world.
At last, at an advanced age, he left Germany for the Holy Land. But he could not reach the goal which he sought, and on the very frontier of Palestine, on the 10th of June, 1190, he found his death in the freezing waters of the Cyanus.
The crusaders recovered his body, which they buried under the banner of the cross, at Antioch.
Recalled to the presence of his God, in the fulfilment of a holy enterprise, Barbarossa, we may hope, expiated the errors of his past life, and was vouchsafed the forgiveness of his sins.