The German princes become stronger during Frederick's…

The German princes become stronger during Frederick's long stays in Italy, and begin a successful colonization of Slavic lands.

Offers of reduced taxes and manorial duties entice many Germans to settle in the east as the area's original inhabitants are killed or driven away.

Because of this colonization, the empire increases in size and comes to include Pomerania, Silesia, Bohemia, and Moravia.

A quickening economic life in Germany increases the number of towns and gives them greater importance.

It is also during this period that castles and courts replace monasteries as centers of culture.

German medieval literature, growing out of this courtly culture, reaches its peak in lyrical love poetry, the Minnesang, and in narrative epic poems such as Tristan, Parzival, and the Nibelungenlied.