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Frederick II

Type Figure Region Holy Roman Empire Time 1194–1250 Also known as Frederick II Hohenstaufen

Hohenstaufen emperor, also King of Sicily and King of Jerusalem, known for law, science, and centralizing rule, and for long struggle with the papacy.

Timeline

  1. 1211–1212Frankfurt · Holy Roman EmpireWith the support of Pope Innocent III, the German princes deposed Otto IV in 1211 and elected the seventeen-year-old Frederick as king; crowned at Mainz in 1212, marking the Hohenstaufen return to the center of Germany.
  2. 1212–1215Palermo · Kingdom of SicilyAfter his German coronation he remained long in Sicily, implementing centralized administration and legal reform, strengthening the multicultural court under Norman-Arab traditions, and building strength for later conflict with the papacy on the Italian Peninsula.
  3. 1215–1229Rome · Papal StatesThe Fourth Lateran Council (1215) required Frederick to fulfill his crusade vow; he repeatedly delayed it citing Sicily's security. In 1225 he married Isabella II, heiress to the Jerusalem claim, thereby asserting the Jerusalem claim; in September 1227 he fell ill en route and turned back, and was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX. In 1228–1229 he still led an eastern campaign (the Sixth Crusade); in February 1229 he concluded the Treaty of Jaffa with the Egyptian sultan al-Kamil, peacefully recovering Jerusalem, and in March crowned himself King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Sources