FREDERICK
256
FREDERICK
a modern state, the foundations of which it is true had
already been laid by the great Norman kings.
The organization of liis SiciUan hereditary states was completed Ijy the "Constitutiones iniperiales", published at Amalfi, 1231. In these laws, Frederick appears as sole possessor of every right and privilege, an absolute monarch, or rather an enlightened despot standing at the head of a well-ordered civil hierarchy. His subjects in this system had duties only, but they were well defined. After practically completing the reorganization of Sicily (1235), the emperor attempted, like his powerful grandfather, to re-establish the im- perial power in Upper Italy, but with insufficient resources. The result was a new hostile league of the Italian cities. Through the mediation of the pope, however, peace was maintained. During this time Archbishop Engelbert of Cologne, supported by sev- eral princes of the empire who had been efficiently
Tomb of Emperor Frederick II
Palatine Chapel, Cathedral of Palermo, XIII Century
assisted by the royal power in their struggle with the cities, preserved the peace in Germany. After the archbishop's death, however, a new order set in — a time of savage feuds and widespread disorder fol- lowed by the first open quarrel between the papacy and the emperor. Frederick had completed exten- sive preparations for a crusade in 1227. Four years previously, he had espoused Isabella (or lolanthe), heiress of Jerusalem, and now styled himself "Roma- norum imperator semper Augustus; Jerusalem et Si- cili£e rex ". It was his serious intention to carry out his promise to begin his crusade in August, 1227 (under pain of excommunication), but a malignant fever destroyed a great part of his army and prostrated the king himself. Nevertheless Gregory IX declared Frederick excommunicated (29 Sept., 1227), showing by this step that he considered the time had come to break the illusive peace and to clear up the situation.
Although the radical antagonism between empire and papacy did not appear on the surface, it was at the root of the ensuing conflict between Churcli and State. At the beginning of this struggle the excom- municated emperor started on his crusade again.st the express wi.sh of the pope, wisliing no doubt to justify his attitude by success. On 17 March, 1220, he
crowned himself King of Jerusalem. On 10 June,
1229, he landed at Brindisi on his return. During the
emperor's absence the curia had taken vigorous meas-
ures against him. Frederick's energetic action after
his return forced the pope to recognize the emperor's
success in the East and to release him from excom-
munication. The treaty of San Germano (20 July,
1230), in spite of many concessions made by the Em-
peror, was in reality an evidence of papal defeat. The
pope had been unable to break the power of his dan-
gerous adversary. Frederick forthwith resimied his
North Itahan policy. Again his attempts were frus-
trated, on this occasion by the threatening attitude of
his son Henry, who now appeared as indepentlent ruler
of Germany, thereby becoming his father's enemy and
unfurling the banner of rebellion (1234). After a long
absence, Frederick now returned to Germany, where he
took prisoner his rebel son (1235) . Henry died in 1 242.
About this time Frederick married Elizabeth of England (at Worms), and in 1235 held a brilliant diet at Mainz, where he promulgated the famous Laws of the Empire, a landmark in the development of the empire and its constitution. New measures for the maintenance of peace were enacted, the right of pri- vate feuds was greatly restricted, and an imperial court with its owTi seal was constituted, thereby establish- ing a basis for the future national law. As soon as the emperor had established order in Germany, he again marched against the Lombards, which conflict soon brought on another with the pope. The latter had several times mediated between the Lombards and the emperor, and now reasserted his right to arbitrate Ije- tween the contending parties. In the numerous mani- festos of the pope and the emperor the antagonism of Church and State becomes daily more evident. The pope claimed for himself the "imperium animarum" and the "principatus rerum et corporum in universo mundo". The emperor on the other hand wished to restore the " imperium niundi"; Rome was again to be the capital of the world and Frederick was to become the real emperor of the Romans. He published an energetic manifesto protesting against the world- empire of the pope. The emperor's successes, espe- cially his victory over the Lombards at the battle of Cortenuova (1237), only embittered the opposition between Church and State. The pope, who had allied himself with Venice, again excommunicated the "self- confessed heretic", the "blasphemous beast of the Apocalypse" (20 March, 1239). Frederick now at- tempted to conquer the rest of Italy, i. e. the papal states. His son Enrico captured in a sea-fight all the prelates who by the command of Gregory were coming from Genoa to Rome to assist at a general council. Gregory's po.sition was now desperate, and, after his death (22 Aug., 1241), the Holy See remained vacant for almost two years save for the short reign of Celestine IV.
During this interval the bitterness existing between the rival parties seemed to moderate somewhat, and about this time the emperor was threatened by a new and dangerous movement in Germany. The German episcopate could ill bear the prospect of being hence- forth at the mercy of the reckless tyrant of Italy. Frederick sought to weaken the hostile bishops by favouring the secular princes and granting privileges to the cities. The energetic Innocent IV ascended the papal throne on 25 June, 1243. To secure peace with the newly elected pontiff, the emperor was inclineil to make concessions. The main issue at stake however was not settled, i. e., the jurisdiction of the emperor in North Italy. In order to nullify Frederick's military superiority in the future phases of the struggle. Inno- cent left Rome secretly and went by way of Cicnoa to Lyons. Here he summoned a general council (21 June, 1245) by which Frederick was again excommuni- cated. Immediately there appeared .several preten- ders in Gerniaiiy, i. e., Henry Raspe of Thuringia and
