family. Born at Jesi near Ancona on the 26th of December
1194, he was baptized by the name of Frederick Roger, chosen
German king at Frankfort in 1196, and after his father’s death
crowned king of Sicily at Palermo on the 17th of May 1198.
His mother, who assumed the government, died in November
1198, leaving Pope Innocent III. as regent of Sicily and guardian
of her son. The young king passed his early years amid the
terrible anarchy in his island kingdom, which Innocent was
powerless to check; but his education was not neglected, and
his character and habits were formed by contact with men of
varied nationalities and interests, while the darker traits of his
nature were developed in the atmosphere of lawlessness in which
he lived. In 1208 he was declared of age, and soon afterwards
Innocent arranged a marriage, which was celebrated the following
year, between him and Constance, daughter of Alphonso II.
king of Aragon, and widow of Emerich or Imre, king of Hungary.
The dissatisfaction felt in Germany with the emperor Otto IV. came to a climax in September 1211, when a number of influential princes met at Nuremberg, declared Otto deposed, and invited Frederick to come and occupy the vacant throne. In spite of the reluctance of his wife, and the opposition of the Sicilian nobles, he accepted the invitation; and having recognized the papal supremacy over Sicily, and procured the coronation of his son Henry as its king, reached Germany after an adventurous journey in the autumn of 1212. This step was taken with the approval of the pope, who was anxious to strike a blow at Otto IV.
Frederick was welcomed in Swabia, and the renown of the Hohenstaufen name and a liberal distribution of promises made his progress easy. Having arranged a treaty against Otto with Louis, son of Philip Augustus, king of France, whom he met at Vaucouleurs, he was chosen German king a second time at Frankfort on the 5th of December 1212, and crowned four days later at Mainz. Anxious to retain the support of the pope, Frederick promulgated a bull at Eger on the 12th of July 1213, by which he renounced all lands claimed by the pope since the death of the emperor Henry VI. in 1197, gave up the right of spoils and all interference in episcopal elections, and acknowledged the right of appeal to Rome. He again affirmed the papal supremacy over Sicily, and promised to root out heresy in Germany. The victory of his French allies at Bouvines on the 27th of July 1214 greatly strengthened his position, and a large part of the Rhineland having fallen into his power, he was crowned German king at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 25th of July 1215. His cause continued to prosper, fresh supporters gathered round his standard, and in May 1218 the death of Otto freed him from his rival and left him undisputed ruler of Germany. A further attempt to allay the pope’s apprehension lest Sicily should be united with the Empire had been made early in 1216, when Frederick, in a letter to Innocent, promised after his own coronation as emperor to recognize his son Henry as king of Sicily, and to place him under the suzerainty of Rome. Henry nevertheless was brought to Germany and chosen German king at Frankfort in April 1220, though Frederick assured the new pope, Honorius III., that this step had been taken without his consent. The truth, however, seems to be that he had taken great trouble to secure this election, and for the purpose had won the support of the spiritual princes by extensive concessions. In August 1220 Frederick set out for Italy, and was crowned emperor at Rome on the 22nd of November 1220; after which he repeated the undertaking he had entered into at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1215 to go on crusade, and made lavish promises to the Church. The clergy were freed from taxation and from lay jurisdiction, the ban of the Empire was to follow the ban of the Church, and heretics were to be severely punished.
Neglecting his promise to lead a crusade, Frederick was occupied until 1225 in restoring order in Sicily. The island was seething with disorder, but by stern and sometimes cruel measures the emperor suppressed the anarchy of the barons, curbed the power of the cities, and subdued the rebellious Saracens, many of whom, transferred to the mainland and settled at Nocera, afterwards rendered him valuable military service. Meanwhile the crusade was postponed again and again; until under a threat of excommunication, after the fall of Damietta in 1221, Frederick definitely undertook by a treaty made at San Germano in 1225 to set out in August 1227 or to submit to this penalty. His own interests turned more strongly to the East, when on the 9th of November 1225, after having been a widower since 1222, he married Iolande (Yolande or Isabella), daughter of John, count of Brienne, titular king of Jerusalem. John appears to have expected that this alliance would restore him to his kingdom, but his hopes were dashed to the ground when Frederick himself assumed the title of king of Jerusalem. The emperor’s next step was an attempt to restore the imperial authority in northern Italy, and for the purpose a diet was called at Cremona. But the cities, watchful and suspicious, renewed the Lombard league and took up a hostile attitude. Frederick’s reply was to annul the treaty of Constance and place the cities under the imperial ban; but he was forced by lack of military strength to accept the mediation of Pope Honorius and the maintenance of the status quo.
After these events, which occurred early in 1227, preparations for the crusade were pressed on, and the emperor sailed from Brindisi on the 8th of September. A pestilence, however, which attacked his forces compelled him to land in Italy three days later, and on the 29th of the same month he was excommunicated by the new pope, Gregory IX. The greater part of the succeeding year was spent by pope and emperor in a violent quarrel. Alarmed at the increase in his opponent’s power, Gregory denounced him in a public letter, to which Frederick replied in a clever document addressed to the princes of Europe. The reading of this manifesto, drawing attention to the absolute power claimed by the popes, was received in Rome with such evidences of approval that Gregory was compelled to fly to Viterbo. Having lost his wife Isabella on the 8th of May 1228, Frederick again set sail for Palestine, where he met with considerable success, the result of diplomatic rather than of military skill. By a treaty made in February 1229 he secured possession of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and the surrounding neighbourhood. Entering Jerusalem, he crowned himself king of that city on the 18th of March 1229. These successes had been won in spite of the hostility of Gregory, which deprived Frederick of the assistance of many members of the military orders and of the clergy of Palestine. But although the emperor’s possessions on the Italian mainland had been attacked in his absence by the papal troops and their allies, Gregory’s efforts had failed to arouse serious opposition in Germany and Sicily; so that when Frederick returned unexpectedly to Italy in June 1229 he had no difficulty in driving back his enemies, and compelling the pope to sue for peace. The result was the treaty of San Germano, arranged in July 1230, by which the emperor, loosed from the ban, promised to respect the papal territory, and to allow freedom of election and other privileges to the Sicilian clergy. Frederick was next engaged in completing the pacification of Sicily. In 1231 a series of laws were published at Melfi which destroyed the ascendancy of the feudal nobles. Royal officials were appointed for administrative purposes, large estates were recovered for the crown, and fortresses were destroyed, while the church was placed under the royal jurisdiction and all gifts to it were prohibited. At the same time certain privileges of self-government were granted to the towns, representatives from which were summoned to sit in the diet. In short, by means of a centralized system of government, the king established an almost absolute monarchical power.
In Germany, on the other hand, an entirely different policy was pursued. The concessions granted by Frederick in 1220, together with the Privilege of Worms, dated the 1st of May 1231, made the German princes virtually independent. All jurisdiction over their lands was vested in them, no new mints or toll-centres were to be erected on their domains, and the imperial authority was restricted to a small and dwindling area. A fierce attack was also made on the rights of the cities. Compelled to restore all their lands, their jurisdiction was bounded by their city-walls; they were forbidden to receive the dependents of the princes; all trade gilds were declared abolished; and all official appointments made without the consent of the archbishop or bishop were
