The Children of Adam and Eve

Frederick II (Holy Roman Empire) (1194-1250), Holy Roman emperor (1215-50)
and as Frederick I, king of Sicily (1198-1212).

Born in Lesi, Italy, on December 26, 1194, Frederick was the son of Henry
VI and grandson of Frederick I, Holy Roman emperor. He was made German
king in 1196 and on the Death of his father two years later became king of
Sicily. When his mother, Constance of Sicily (1146-98), acting as regent,
died several months later, the four-year-old prince was placed under the
guardianship of Pope Innocent III, the new regent of Sicily. Emperor Otto
IV was deposed in 1211, and the German princes selected Frederick to
replace him. A contest for the imperial throne ensued, because Otto was
unwilling to relinquish the crown. Supported by the papacy, to which he
promised many concessions, and aided by the French, Frederick was
eventually secure in his title. He was crowned king of Germany at
Aix-la-Chapelle (now Aachen, Germany) in 1215 and Holy Roman emperor at
Rome in 1220.

On his coronation Frederick made a number of elaborate promises to the
Church, including a vow that he would go on a Crusade. He postponed the
Crusade, However, because of an outbreak of anarchy in Sicily and because
of the resistance of the Lombard cities, which in 1226 renewed the Lombard
League, originally formed against his grandfather, Frederick I. The
following year Frederick annulled the Treaty of Constance and put the
Lombard cities under the ban of the empire. Threatened several times with
excommunication if he did not fulfill his coronation pledge, Frederick
determined to sail for Jerusalem in 1227. An epidemic forced him to return
three days after his departure, whereupon Pope Gregory IX declared him
excommunicated. In 1228 Frederick led the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land,
where he took Jerusalem and concluded a 10-year truce with the sultan of
Egypt. Having married Yolande (1212-28?), the Young daughter of the
titular king of Jerusalem, John of Brienne, and having assumed his title
upon her Death, Frederick was crowned king of Jerusalem in that city in
1229.

He returned to Europe and spent many of his remaining years attempting to
bring the Lombards under subjection. During intermittent stRuggles with
the papacy he was excommunicated twice again, by Pope Gregory IX in 1239
and in 1245 by Pope Innocent IV. His participation in costly wars in Italy
caused him to neglect the welfare of his German subjects. Frederick
managed to establish peace, prosperity, and order in Sicily, However,
promulgating there in 1231 a comprehensive code of Laws, described as the
best issued by any Western ruler since the reign of Charlemagne. Frederick
also made worthy contributions to learning in Italy. Because he was a man
of culture, he gathered scholars and men of letters at his Sicilian court,
which Dante called the birthplace of Italian poetry. The University of
Naples was founded by Frederick in 1224. For about a century after his
Death, on December 13, 1250, the belief persisted that Frederick was still
alive. According to one famous legend, Frederick resides in a cave in the
Kyffh?er Mountains, in the region of Thuringia, awaiting the summons of
the German people to return and restore peace in the empire. The legend
was later interpreted to refer to Frederick I.