In March 1152, the German princes gathered in the city of Frankfurt and elected Frederick ‘Barbarossa’ of Hohenstaufen (r. 1152–90) their new king. The dynamic young Swabian duke took the throne with a sense of entitlement unknown since the days of the Emperor Henry III (r. 1039–56). Shortly after his election, he confidently notified Pope Eugenius III of his new station. Seeking neither warrant nor approval, Frederick informed the pope of a new relationship between the imperium and the Roman Church. Barbarossa portrayed his election, as well as his subsequent anointment by Pope Hadrian IV in 1155, as the fulfilment of preordained circumstances. The new king was determined to make the imperial title more than a hollow honour, and from the first years of his reign he sought to strengthen his position by adding to his dominion the wealth and resources of Italy, riches he deemed the rightful assets of his office.