Philip, the fifth and youngest son of Emperor Frederick I and Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy, daughter of Renaud III, count of Burgundy, and brother of the emperor Henry VI, had entered the clergy, had been made provost of Aix-la-Chapelle, and in 1190 or 1191 had been chosen bishop of Würzburg.

Having accompanied his brother Henry to Italy in 1191, Philip had forsaken his ecclesiastical calling, and, traveling again to Italy, had been made duke of Tuscany in 1195 and received an extensive grant of lands.

In his retinue in Italy was the Minnesinger Bernger von Horheim.

Philip had become duke of Swabia on the death of his brother Conrad in 1196; in May 1197, he marries the Dowager Queen of Sicily, Irene Angelina, daughter of the Greek emperor Isaac II and widow of King Roger III of Sicily.

Irene had been captured on December 29, 1194, in the German invasion of Sicily.

In Germany, she is renamed Maria.

Her father, who had been deposed in 1195, urges her to get Philip's support for his reinstatement; her brother, Alexios, will subsequently spend some time at Philip's court during the preparations for the Fourth Crusade.