States of the Church, which he had repeatedly engaged to protect, and Naples, the inheritance of the boy Frederick, who was under the guardianship and protection of the Pope. In consequence of all these misdeeds he drew upon himself the Papal excommunication in 1211. A diet of princes held at Nuremberg pronounced his deposition. Otho was unable to resist the decree, and in 1212, Frederick, son of Henry VI. and the Pope's ward, received the crown of the kingdom of Germany.s 1 Vide his detailed statement, Reg. Innoc. III. Ep. 136, 140, p. 1132 seq., and his Promissio, in Pertz, t. ii. Leg. p. 108; Migne, ccxvii. p. 295, Ep. 9. 2 Hefele, v. p. 698 seq. 711 seq. Reg. Ep. 142, 143, p. 1142. * Report of Cardinal Ugolino, Reg. Ep. 152, p. 1146. His letters in the Registr. Innoc. Ep. 19, 20, 53, 54, 81, 106, 160, 187, 189, 190, 193, pp. 1016 seq. 1054 seq. 1087 seq. 1108, 1150, 1157, 1169 seq. 1172. Reg. Inn. Ep. 77, 189, pp. 1084, 1169. Hefele, pp. 692, 720. 'Cf. Innoc. III. 1. xiii. Ep. 210. Migne, t. ccxvi. p. 375; 1. xiv. Ep. 78, 79, 101, pp. 439 seq. 465. His 'Promissio' of 1213 is in Pertz, Leg. ii. 224. Walter, Fontes Jur. Eccl. pp. 76-78. PART II. CONFLICT OF FREDERICK II. WITH THE CHURCH. § 1. His proceedings until the death of Honorius III. § 2. His excommunication. § 3. His pretended war against the Saracens. § 4. His 'peace' with them rejected by the Pope. § 5. Frederick's hypocrisy and contradictions. § 6. Peace of San Germano. § 7. Violation of treaties and conduct in Italy. § 8. Release from the oath of allegiance. $9. Frederick's war against the Pope. § 10. The Council prevented. § 11. Louis IX. of France. § 12. Council of Lyons, 1245. § 13. Frederick's crimes. § 14. Election of an opposition king. $1. Frederick II. was solemnly crowned by the Archbishop of Mayence on the 25th July 1215, whilst the vanquished Otho wore away his days ingloriously on his paternal estates in Brunswick. Frederick promised solemnly in 1216 that after receiving the imperial crown he would give up Sicily to his son as a kingdom separate from the kingdom of Germany. This was a matter of the first importance for the material safety of the See of Rome. He also renewed all the promises made formerly by Otho IV. But after the death of the great Pope Innocent III.,3 Frederick showed himself as false as Otho, and nearly as despotic as his grandfather. At his coronation by Honorius III. on the 22d Nov. 1220, he had again taken up the cross, as he had promised to do at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1215, and had vowed. shortly to begin the campaign.5 But it was not his real intention to execute his promise, and he sought constantly fresh reasons for postponement. When in 1219 Damietta, which the Crusaders had gained at so much cost, had to be given up again to the Sultan of Egypt, Honorius deeply grieved, reminded Frederick (19th November 1221) of his promise. The blame of the misfortunes of the Crusaders had already been attributed to the Pope, because he had not by means of the ban forced the emperor to fulfil his promises. Frederick excused himself on the ground of the pressing necessities of his dominions, and again promised shortly to undertake the campaign. He renewed the promise in 12227 and 1223, when he once more vowed his willingness to enter upon the carefully prepared Crusade in less than two years.8 In spite of the serious nature of his grievances the Pope showed Frederick the greatest indulgence. Frederick already treated the subjects of the Pope as his own, oppressed the clergy in Sicily, and appeared unwilling to recognise the Papal right of confirmation of the nomination of bishops by the emperor.9 The Pope hoped that Frederick's marriage with Iolantha, heiress of the kingdom of Jerusalem, would serve as a fresh motive to induce him to save that kingdom from its threatened subjection; but the emperor applied to his father-in-law to obtain for him a fresh postponement, because he feared an insurrection of the Lombards, who were, however, quieted by the intervention of the Pope. The Pope then despatched Cardinals Pelagius and Gualo of St. Martin with distinct proposals with regard to the repeatedly postponed expedition. At the treaty of San Germano (July 1225) Frederick undertook to furnish a certain supply of money, troops, and ships, and to engage in the Crusade within two years; he swore that if he had not fulfilled these engagements within the appointed time he should be excommunicated, and that he himself and his dominions should, by a just judg ment, be at the Pope's disposition.10 1 Hefele, pp. 721, 724. 2 Pertz, Leg. ii. 228 seq. Bréholles, Hist. Diplom. Frid. II. t. i. p. 469 seq. Rayn. a. 1215, n. 38: 'Ne forte pro eo, quod nos dignatione divina sumus ad imperii fastigium evocati, aliquid unionis regnum ad imperium quovis tempore putaretur habere, si nos simul imperium teneremus et regnum, per quod tam Apostolicae Sedi quam haeredibus nostris aliquod posset dispendium generari.' Migne, ccxvii. p. 305, Ep. 19. 3 His letters to Innocent, Pertz, Leg. ii. 223, 224. Migne, 1.c. p. 310 seq. Ep. 16, 17. Cf. Hefele, Conc. v. p. 812 seq., who also exposes Schirrmacher's very partial explanation. 5 Honor. Ep. ad Ep. Alban. Raynald. a. 1220, n. 53, 21 seq. Hefele, v. 811 seq. Raynald. a. 1221, n. 6, 18 seq. Cf. letters addressed to the Pope after the conquest of Damietta from the king and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, from the Grand Masters and other Crusaders (Petr. Bles. Ep. 195; Migne, ccvii. pp. 478, 479), as well as the Papal letters consequent thereon (ib. Ep. 196, pp. 479-481). Richard a. S. Germano, Chron. a. 1222. Honor. III. Ep. ad Pelag. ap. Rayn. a. 1222, n. 2, 4. Honor. Ep. ad Reg. Franc. Rayn. a. 1223, n. 4. Spondan. h.a. n. 1. Hefele, 1.c. p. 819. 9 Rayn. a. 1221, n. 32; 1222, n. 26 seq.; 1223, n. 15, 19. HuillardBréholles, Hist. Diplom. Frid. II. t. ii. pp. 139, 200, 239, 258, 272 seq. 431. 10 Rayn. a. 1225, n. 1-7. Bianchi, t. ii. 1. vi. § 4, n. 1, pp. 418-420. Döllinger, Lehrb. ii. p. 196 seq. Hefele, v. 819 seq. § 2. When Honorius, towards whom Frederick had alternately shown himself hostile and friendly, died in March 1227, Cardinal Ugolino, who was very active in favour of the Crusades, and for whom Frederick had testified much esteem, was made Pope under the title of Gregory IX. He immediately entreated the emperor most pressingly to fulfil his promises,1 admonished him fervently, and as Frederick still procrastinated, threatened him with excommunication.3 Through Frederick's fault a fine army of Crusaders, assembled in Lower Italy, melted away. The Landgrave Louis of Thuringia and some bishops died in the summer of a sickness that arose at that time; rumour reported that the landgrave had been poisoned by the emperor. Fre 2 derick was pleased at the miscarriage of the enterprise, and, feigning illness, retired to the baths of Puzzuoli. Deeply grieved at the frustration of the hopes of Christendom, Gregory IX., on the 29th Sept. 1227, pronounced sentence of excommunication upon the faithless Frederick, who even on his own showing had deserved it long since. He still wished, as Frederick at first endeavoured to excuse his conduct, to show him indulgence if he would only give proof of a serious conversion. The emperor's tyranny in Sicily, his leaning towards the Saracens, and his immoral life, for which Gregory had rebuked him on former occasions, had caused him to be the object of much mistrust, and had given ground for many complaints against him. Soon now too he published most malicious libels against the Church of Rome.5 On the 23d March 1228, the Pope renewed his excommunication in a Synod held at Rome, as Frederick persisted in his obstinacy and committed fresh crimes (robbery of the Knights Templars and Hospitallers; for example, of Count Roger and others), and the places at which he sojourned were laid under an interdict. Still no sentence of deposition was pronounced, and the Christians in Palestine considered Frederick as an excommunicated person indeed, but not as having lost his authority.8 1 Greg. IX. 1. i. Ep. 2. Rayn. a. 1227, n. 18, 20 seq. 2 Richard a. S. Germano, Chron. a. 1227. Vita Greg. IX. 1. i. Ep. 165, ad Frid. Rayn. h.a. n. 14. Letters of 8th June 1227. Rayn. h.a. n. 21 seq. H. Bréholles, iii. p. 7 seq. The Encyclical of Oct. 10, which Böhmer declares to be a noble document, is given in part in Brischar Stolberg's K G. vol. lii. p. 120 seq. 5 Bréholles, iii. pp. 37 seq. 48 seq. Böhmer, Regesten, p. 138. Vita Greg. IX. Ep. ad Episc. Apul. Rayn. a. 1228, n. 2. Mansi, xxiii. 162. Hefele, p. 855 seq. 7 Bossuet, Defens. P. i. 1. i. sect. 2, c. xxix. p. 167; 1. iv. c. vi. p. 347, with reference to Gregory's words: Imp. Fridericum excommunicatum, quamquam inviti, publice nunciamus et mandamus ab omnibus arctius evitari, contra ipsum, si contumacia ejus exegerit, gravius processuri.' * Matth. Paris. a. 1228, pp. 349, 351. Bossuet, 1.c. § 3. The Frangipani, who were in league with the emperor, excited an insurrection in Rome against the Pope, which obliged him to fly. Frederick, in mockery of the excommunication, entered upon a mimic war1 against the Saracens with a paltry army, whilst he left behind him a strong force, amongst which were some Saracens, to make war upon the States of the Church. His conduct towards John of Ibelin at the island of Cyprus, his secret negotiations with the Saracens, the treaty he entered into with the Sultan Camel on the 19th February 1229, as well as all his measures in Palestine, were not calculated to place him before the world in a better light. Gregory, constrained to take up arms by the attack made by Duke Rainald upon the Papal States, assembled an army under John of Brienne, who drove back the duke and seized several Neapolitan towns. In the mean time, Gregory IX. had, on the 30th August 1228, released all the inhabitants of the kingdom of both Sicilies from their oath of allegiance to Frederick ;3 he was justified in this as feudal sovereign of the kingdom on account of the felony of the vassal after the invasion of Rainald his lieutenant in July.4 1 In this sense he expressed himself to the Saracens (Wilken, Gesch. der Kreuzzüge, vi. 420, n. 12. 2 Richard, Chron. a. 1228. Austr. Rayn. a. 1229, n. 2, 23. Greg. IX. Ep. ad Mediol. et ad Duc. Matth. Paris. et Rayn. a. 1229, n. 3 seq. 15. Gerold. Hieros. ap. Bianchi, l.c. n. 4, pp. 3 Bréholles, iii. p. 494. Hefele, p. 857 seq. 425, 426, supposes that towards the end of the year 1228 Gregory had released all Frederick's subjects from their oath of allegiance. Bréholles, 1.c. p. 75. Letter of the Pope of Aug. 5. § 4. How can we regard it as otherwise than extremely disingenuous of Professor Huber1 to place before his readers the entry of the Pope's army into Apulia, keeping absolute silence on the prior invasion of the Papal States by the army of Duke Rainald, which had devastated and pillaged the country? What a history a Frenchman might make of the war of 1870 if he made similar omissions! Frederick himself acknowledged that Rainald was the aggressor in this instance, at the same time asserting that it had been done without his knowledge; which is hard to believe, for no one dared to stir hand or foot in his |