Relations to the papacy

The youthful king of Sicily knew little peace during the years following the death of his mother. Though Innocent III was nominally his guardian, Markward of Anweiler attempted to control the child-king, basing his claim to the regency on Henry VI’s last will. After Markward’s death in 1202, Frederick was caught between factions in the kingdom. Only after his marriage to Constance of Aragon in 1209 did his position improve. Then, in 1211, Innocent III turned to him as his candidate for the German throne. This dramatic reversal on the part of the pope and his seeming willingness to jeopardize what most historians have viewed as the papal position in Italy has raised serious questions. True, Innocent exacted a promise from Frederick to maintain the German kingdom separate from the kingdom of Sicily, with his son Henry to be king of Sicily while he became emperor. But acceptance of such a solution raised the question whether the papacy was really committed to any long-term policy, at least one that was consistently dedicated to the separation of the Sicilian kingdom from the German empire. In any case, Frederick spent the next eight years in Germany pursuing and consolidating his position as head of the German kingdom. The kingdom of Sicily was again thrown into turmoil by the competing factions among the nobility, by the efforts of towns and cities to assert greater independence, and by growing tensions between Sicilian Muslims and their Christian neighbours. In northern Italy, imperial authority atrophied; in most places it was little more than a hollow shell. Even in Germany, the new king found that he needed to gain the support of the German church through a broad grant of privileges. In addition, Frederick took the cross at Aachen in 1215, aligning himself with the plan of Innocent III for a new Crusade.

Historians concerned chiefly with papal-imperial conflicts have often missed the positive tone in the relationship between Frederick and the papacy during these early years. The keynote of these years was papal-imperial cooperation, especially on the successful completion of a Crusade. The limited results of the Third Crusade and the bitter fruit of the Fourth Crusade, which had led to the capture of Constantinople and large parts of the Byzantine Empire, had prompted Pope Innocent III to reformulate papal involvement in the Crusades, as outlined in the decree Ad liberandam (“To Free the Holy Land”) at the fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Innocent’s program required a level of commitment never before achieved, especially in financial and logistical terms. Frederick’s assumption of the cross demonstrated his support for Innocent’s program but raised problems, chiefly because of the uncertain state of affairs in Germany, even after the defeat of Otto IV by Philip Augustus at Bouvines in 1214, and outstanding issues in northern Italy. With the death of Innocent III in 1216, many thought the papal plan for a Fifth Crusade was in jeopardy, but his successor, Honorius III (1216–27), strove to maintain Innocent’s schedule as much as possible. Honorius pressed Frederick and other leaders of the Crusade to hasten their preparations. Although the first contingents from the north were prepared to leave in 1217, Frederick was not among them, partly because he underestimated his capacity to resolve his problems in Germany and Italy and partly because of the speed of preparations for the Crusade. It was not until 1220 that Frederick came to Italy for his imperial coronation and to reenter his Sicilian kingdom. His repeated postponements of his departure for the East, granted by a cooperative Honorius, ultimately prevented him from joining the Crusade. The defeat of the Crusaders in Egypt in 1221 delivered a serious blow to the policy of cooperation initiated by Innocent III and nurtured by Honorius.

Nevertheless, it was a notable period of cooperation. Even the various Italian cities increasingly relied on mediation to settle differences. While Frederick made few concessions, Honorius showed that he was willing to trust in Frederick’s promises to reach a final settlement of the Mathildine lands and to keep the administration of the kingdom of Sicily separate from that of the empire. Frederick promulgated imperial laws against heresy, based on the decrees of the fourth Lateran Council. Following his coronation, he began to restore royal authority in the kingdom of Sicily. His Assizes of Capua (1220) set forth a program to regain control of royal rights alienated since the reign of Henry VI. He also began to establish a more effective central administration. He worked to secure the support of important members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, including the abbots of Montecassino and La Cava as well as the bishops of the kingdom. He built support among the great nobles, especially the counts of Aquino, but he also encountered considerable resistance from a large segment of the nobility. Faced with this opposition and a revolt among the Muslims of Sicily, he again had to postpone his participation in a new Crusade, although he was careful to send aid and troops. The death of Honorius III in 1227 and Frederick’s cancellation of his departure for the East because of illness broke the dam of recriminations and distrust that had been building. The new pope, Gregory IX (1227–41), excommunicated Frederick for his repeated postponements and his alleged abuse of the rights of Sicilian churches during papal vacancies.

The kingdom of Jerusalem

An excommunicated Frederick embarked for the East, where he negotiated an agreement with the sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil of Egypt for the return of Jerusalem on terms somewhat less favourable than the sultan had earlier offered the Crusaders in return for Damietta. Frederick, who had married the heiress to the kingdom of Jerusalem in 1225 and had an infant son Conrad from this marriage, laid claim to the kingdom. He set up a regency and embarked on a program to strengthen royal administration. In the meantime, Gregory IX, claiming provocation by the imperial vicar Reginald (or Rainald) of Spoleto, gathered an army and invaded the kingdom of Sicily. Frederick returned from the East, defeated the papal forces, and reached an agreement with the pope at Ceprano in 1230 that did much to restore the basis for cooperation. He could at last devote his efforts to Italy.

The Sicilian kingdom

The kingdom of Sicily was Frederick’s first priority. It had long suffered neglect from his absence and internal strife. The Constitutions of Melfi, or Liber Augustalis, promulgated by Frederick in 1231, was a model of the new legislation developing from the study of Roman and canon law. The intent of this legislation was to bring together the disparate elements within the kingdom and to unify them more effectively under royal leadership. It provided for improvements in royal administration, greater efficiency in the courts, and a rationalization of civil and criminal procedures in the interests of justice. Frederick also worked to promote the general welfare of his kingdom. In 1224 he founded the University of Naples. His legislation then dealt with medical education and licensing, public health, and air and water pollution. But he did not lose sight of the place that the kingdom occupied within imperial thinking. Increasingly in the 1230s he was drawn into affairs in northern Italy and Germany that made him conscious of the importance of the Sicilian kingdom as a base for his imperial power. Very possibly, circumstance played a greater role than ideology in forcing this conclusion upon him.