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Frederick II died one of the greatest, most energetic, imaginative and capable rulers of the entire Middle Ages, passing away in the “full glory” of imperial power. [67] Yet, for all the grandeur of his reign, his efforts to bind together Sicily, Italy, and Germany in closer imperial unity ultimately proved futile with the eventual collapse ...
- Overview
- Early years
- Consolidation of the empire
Frederick II (born December 26, 1194, Jesi, Ancona, Papal States [Italy]—died December 13, 1250, Castel Fiorentino, Apulia, Kingdom of Sicily) king of Sicily (1197–1250), duke of Swabia (as Frederick VI, 1228–35), German king (1212–50), and Holy Roman emperor (1220–50). A Hohenstaufen and grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa, he pursued his dynasty’s...
In 1196, Frederick, at the age of two, was elected king by the German princes at Frankfort. His father, however, failed in his attempt to gain the princes’ support to make Frederick’s succession hereditary. Just before embarking on a Crusade to the Holy Land, Emperor Henry died in September 1197 after a brief illness, only 32 years old. Though the medieval Roman Empire was at the height of its strength, the emperor’s death brought it close to dissolution.
After the death of her husband, Empress Constance had young Frederick brought to Sicily, where in May 1198 he was crowned king of Sicily. Before her death later that year, Constance loosened the bonds that joined Sicily to the empire and to Germany by appointing Pope Innocent III her son’s guardian as well as regent of the Kingdom of Sicily, which was already under papal suzerainty. In Germany two rival kings were elected, Frederick’s uncle Philip of Swabia and Otto of Brunswick, as Otto IV.
Even the pope, however, did not succeed in protecting Sicily from many years of anarchy. German and papal captains, local barons, and Sicilian Saracens, as well as the cities of Genoa and Pisa, fought for mastery of the country. The situation was not stabilized until the imperial chancellor conquered Palermo in November 1206 and governed in Frederick’s name. In December 1208 Frederick, then 14, was declared of age.
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In 1209 he married the much older Constance of Aragon, who brought him an urgently needed troop of knights with whose help he gained control of Sicily, defeated a conspiracy of the barons, and was partially successful in regaining the crown properties that had been lost during his minority. At this time his relations with the pope began to show signs of strain.
In April 1220 Frederick’s nine-year-old son, Henry VII, was elected king by the German princes, thus negating Frederick’s promise to Pope Innocent that he would relinquish control of Sicily in favour of Henry, for it meant that Sicily and Germany would eventually be united under one ruler. Although Frederick sought to exonerate himself with Pope Honorius III by claiming that the election had been held without his knowledge, he had to pay for it by surrendering extensive royal prerogatives to the German ecclesiastical princes.
Crowned emperor by the pope in St. Peter’s Church, in Rome, on November 22, 1220, Frederick confirmed on the same day the legal separation of the empire from the Kingdom of Sicily while continuing the existing personal union. In addition, he granted important privileges to the Italian ecclesiastics and issued laws against heretics, and it seemed indeed that harmony had been reestablished between the emperor and the pope for some years to come. Frederick spent the following years consolidating his rule in Sicily. He broke the resistance of the barons to revocation of certain of their privileges and defeated the rebellious Saracens (1222–24), whom he later resettled in Apulia where they became his most faithful subjects, providing him with a loyal bodyguard immune to papal influence.
- Gunther Wolf
Dec 12, 2000 · Frederick II was ill for some months before his death. Early in December 1250 a fierce attack of dysentery confined him to his hunting lodge of Castel Fiorentino in the south of Italy, which was part of his kingdom of Sicily.
Apr 2, 2014 · He died in 1786. Early Life. Frederick was born into the House of Hohenzollern on January 24, 1712, to Frederick William I of Prussia and Princess Sophia-Dorothea — the sister of George II of...
4 days ago · Frederick William I died on May 31, 1740, and Frederick, on his accession, immediately made it clear to his ministers that he alone would decide policy. Within a few months he was given a chance to do so in a way that revolutionized Prussia’s international position.
- Matthew Smith Anderson
- Frederick II, king of Prussia (1740–86), was a brilliant military campaigner who, in a series of diplomatic stratagems and wars against Austria and...
- Frederick II was born on January 24, 1712, in Berlin, Prussia (now in Germany).
- Frederick II ascended the throne, becoming the king of Prussia, in 1740, following the death of his father, Frederick William I.
May 14, 2020 · The emperor seized all titles and power from his son and sentenced him to imprisonment; he died in 1242 CE. Frederick's other son, Conrad IV (r. 1237-1254 CE) was elected as the new king of Germany, and two years later, he was also hailed as the King of the Romans (1239 CE) in Vienna.
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Frederick II, German Friedrich, (born Dec. 26, 1194, Jesi, Ancona, Papal States—died Dec. 13, 1250, Castel Fiorentino, Apulia, Kingdom of Sicily), King of Sicily (1197–1250), duke of Swabia (1228–35), German king (1212–50), and Holy Roman Emperor (1220–50).
