The Sixth Crusade - Frederick II
Frederick, after much procrastination, set off for the Holy Land with a formidable army in
1228. His excommunication sentence was renewed because he ventured to sail without waiting
for the papal orders. There was really no fighting involved for the Syrians would not
support a ruler at odds with the Pope and Frederick was too smart to fight when he could
get what he wanted by diplomacy. This noble monarch could secure more for the Christians
by negotiation than any military commander since the first crusade could get by war, an
act than won him only the scorn of his fellow men. By good fortune he found that the
sultan Melek Kamel of Egypt was engaged in a war with his nephew, and therefore willing to
make terms with the Franks. This Mussulman ruler granted them a considerable part of the
Holy Land, . Frederick obtained a treaty by the Musselman ruler whereby Jaffa, Bethlehem
and Nazareth were ceded to the Christians, including Jerusalem, except the site of the
temple, and a 10 year truce was agreed upon. To add insult to injury, Frederick crowned
himself king of Jerusalem, for no ecclesiastic would perform the ceremony. The title
"King of Jerusalem" was held by all the German emperors, and afterward by the
emperors of Austria until 1835.
But the gains were mourned by the Moslems and not welcomed by the Christians, who put
Jerusalem under an interdict after Frederick visited it to crown himself king. Frederick
was excommunicated [the 2nd time] in 1239, by Gregory, and this sentence was renewed by
Innocent IV in 1245. The champion of the cross was exposed to the bitterest hostility of
the church. Everywhere he went he was victorious, but the papal legates and priests
harassed him by constant opposition, and even a crusade was preached against him in Italy.
Frederick returned to Europe after having affected more for the Christians in Palestine
than any of their former protectors. Gregory again hurled anathemas against a prince who
had made a treaty with the infidels.
Finally there was tranquillity in the Holy Land for fifteen years, and the peace raised
the Latins of Palestine to a prosperous condition. But through the quarrel between the
pope and the emperor the results of the crusade were lost. Though Jerusalem was won back
for a short time, the city was defenseless against the Moslems. It was just a matter of
time before it would be reoccupied. A new and more formidable enemy, the Khorasmian Turks,
driven from their native deserts by the Mongols, threw themselves on Palestine, stormed
Jerusalem in 1244, and shortly thereafter thoroughly defeated the Latins in a great battle
at Gaza. Jerusalem remained in Moslem hands until surrendered to the British in 1917.
1229. The sixth Crusade has elements of great
interest because it was led by the highly intelligent western emperor, Frederick II of
Germany. The papacy excommunicated him once for failing to go on the Crusade, and again
for going on it. The Emperor had promised to go on a crusade, and evaded his vow, making a
false start and then returning, he may have been bored. But the vow had been part of the
bargain by which he secured the support of Pope Innocent III in his election as emperor.
This was a Crusade bordering on absurdity.
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