FRIEDRICH II (Friederich II)

(1194-1250)
Frederick, son of Emperor Henry VI and Constance of Sicily, the grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa and King of Sicily, Roger II, was born in ERA (near Ancona), December 26, 1194. heir to the imperial throne), when a year later, Henry VI died, Frederick Law were rejected. And although the party Hohenstaufen was strong enough, . to elect a Germanic king his uncle Philip of Swabia, . House of Welf nominated king-rival - Otto IV, . son of Henry the Lion., . Erupted in connection with this struggle has split the whole of Europe,
. In 1197, while under the tutelage of his mother, Frederick became king of Sicily, and when the next year his mother died, she entrusted the custody of his minor son Pope Innocent III, at the court of which he was raised. In 1208 Philip was assassinated on the motives of personal revenge, after which rival Philip Otto IV was crowned as Emperor. Abrupt change of the previous priorities, in 1210 Otto invaded Italy, and began a vigorous campaign to conquer the whole of the Apennine peninsula. As a result, Pope Innocent III withdrew from Otto and in 1211 secured at the Reichstag, the rebellious German princes elected Germany's King Frederick. By the time Frederick was already married (the marriage took place in 1209) the widow of the Hungarian king Constance, daughter of King Alfonso II of Aragon. Frederick had promised to separate Sicily from other empires and transmit it to his infant son, Henry VII, . with his father as regent (Papa, . had the right to Sicily, . was opposed to unification Sicily, . Italy and Germany in the hands of a monarch), . but not kept his word,
. When the throne infirm Pope Honorius III, Frederick took the habit of constantly delayed speech in a crusade (in what previously sworn) and ensure the election of Henry Germanic king.
Despite this, in 1220 in Rome, Honorius gave the crown to Frederick Holy Roman Emperor, and by 1226 under the rule of Frederick was blshaya part of Italy, which was a direct threat to papal power. In 1227 Pope Honorius indulgent replaced pope Gregory IX, who insisted that Frederick kept his oath on a crusade. Finally swim in the sea in the direction of the Holy Land, Frederick was forced to return due to the outbreak of the epidemic in the army, and then the pope excommunicated him. In 1228 Friedrich yet reached Palestine, and by resorting to subtle diplomacy, acquired from the Muslims of Jerusalem. He was crowned as King of Jerusalem, having inherited the title through his second wife Iolanta (Constance died in 1222), daughter of former King John Briennskogo. But my father continued fighting against the estates of Frederick in Italy, which forced Frederick to return in 1230. Be squarely addressed by the constitution, Sicily, in 1231 Frederick has issued a so-called. Melfiyskie constitution (often called Liber augustalis, ie. Imperial book), . new set of laws, . are far ahead of its time, . since turned Sicily in absolutist state with a strong bureaucracy, . sound tax system and the virtual elimination of the feudal liberties,
. The Italian city once formed the Lombard League in order to provide resistance to attempts of Frederick on their independence, but in 1237 they were defeated at the Battle of Kortenouva. In March 1239 Gregory IX took the side of cities in a new war with Frederick, who now joined the offensive on Papal States. When in 1241 Friedrich made the march on Rome, the Pope died. In June 1245 at the Cathedral of Lyons Pope Innocent IV declared Frederick deposed and called for a crusade against him. Frederick died at Castel Fiorentino (near San Severo, Apulia) December 13, 1250.

Although originally Frederick was Hohenstaufen, it should consider more Sicilian than German, because he lived, it was mostly in Sicily. As a patron of Arts and Sciences, . he himself deserved the title of scientist and poet: some works, . emerged from his pen, . can put in one of the best examples of the works of the time (we have his treatise on falconry, . app,
. 1246). Be at the court of Frederick was an honor for both scientists and the troubadours and minnesinger from France and Germany. Style reign of Frederick possible with some amendments, called enlightened absolutism, it was a rationalist, . not shy away from contact with astrologers, showing tolerance for other creeds and cultures, . he ruthlessly persecuted heretics within Catholicism,
. A mysterious and richly endowed with personality Friedrich aroused contemporaries called him stupor mundi (Lat. 'wonder of the world'), feelings of admiration and fear. He himself was sometimes inclined to regard themselves as a precursor of the Messiah (as during the entry into Jerusalem in 1228), but some called him the Antichrist.