Bernhard remained a loyal supporter of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He backed the efforts by Grand Master Hermann von Salza to reach a reconciliation between Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX and sealed a 1230 peace agreement in the church of San Germano. He later also intermediated in the conflict between the emperor and his rebellious son King Henry VII; in 1237, he supported the election of Henry's younger brother King Conrad IV. However, in his later years, having established marital relationships with the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty and the Counts of Andechs, he turned away from straitened Frederick II towards the ultramontane party. In 1247 he achieved the election of his younger son Philip as Archbishop of Salzburg.
