FREDERICK 11 



3323 



FREDERICK 



but he set up one anti-pope after 

 another, and once entered Rome 

 with an army and secured the 

 coronation of his nominee. This 

 success, however, was transitory, 

 and soon his army was destroyed 

 and he himself became a fugitive. 

 To cow the cities he placed his own 

 officials therein, and in 1162 

 stormed and humiliated Milan, 

 hut a few years later came the 

 central disaster of his reign. The 

 cities formed against him the Lom- 

 bard League, an association blessed 

 by the pope, and on May 29, 1176, 

 the rival armies met at Legnano. 



Frederick was totally defeated 

 and fled from the field, after which 

 no alternative was left to him but 

 to sue for peace. A truce with the 

 league became permanent a few 

 years later, and in 1177 he signed 

 the treaty of Venice with Alex- 

 ander III. He had various dis- 

 putes with Alexander's successors, 

 but his power in Italy was never 

 the same again. In 1189 he set 

 out on a crusade, and on June 10, 

 1190, was accidentally drowned in 

 a river in Cilicia. 



Frederick was a commanding 

 personality with marked ability 

 and generous instincts, fearless, 

 just, and devout, and his memory 

 was long cherished by the Germans. 

 But his reign was unfortunate for 

 the Empire, and .his costly cam- 

 paigns in Italydidmuch to reduce it 

 to impotence. See Empire ; Papacy. 



A. W. Holland 



Frederick II (1194-1250). Ger- 

 man king and Roman emperor. Son 

 of the emperor Henry VI and 

 grandson of Frederick I, Frederick 

 was born in Italy, Dec. 26, 1194, 

 heir to the splendid Hohenstaufen 

 inheritance and to that of his 

 mother, Constance, the heiress of 

 Sicily. Educated with more than 

 usual care, his varied abilities 

 earned for him the designation of 

 stupor mundi, the wonder of the 

 world. In 1196 he was chosen 

 German king, and when his father 

 died two years later he became 

 king of Sicily and a ward of Pope 

 Innocent III. 



In 1212, following an invitation 

 from some of the princes, Frede- 

 rick left Italy to supplant Otto IV 

 in Germany, and was there 

 crowned king by his partisans. 

 After six years the old struggle 

 between Welf and Hohenstaufen 

 ended in his favour with Otto's 

 death in 1218. In 1220 he was 

 crowned emperor at Rome, and 

 after spending some years in 

 governing Sicily and fighting in 

 Italy he tardily fulfilled his pro- 

 mise to go on crusade. In 1228 he 

 reached the Holy Land, and, hav- 

 ing already taken the title of king 

 of Jerusalem, was crowned there as 



soon as he had obtained possession 

 of the city and its neighbourhood. 

 Returning to Europe, Frederick 



Frederick II. The emperor's seal 

 as king of Jerusalem 



was faced again with the hostility 

 of the pope. Beginning soon 

 after 1214, this was due chiefly 

 to the emperor's evident intention 

 of uniting Sicily and Germany, a 

 course strongly resented by the 

 papal court. Frederick was strong 

 enough to force the peace of San 

 Germano on Gregory IX in 1230, 

 after which he brought Sicily 

 completely under his personal rule. 

 In Germany he pursued a contrary 

 policy, for there, by the privilege 

 of Worms, 1231, he gave the 

 princes a charter of independence. 



The concluding years of Fred- 

 erick's reign were sad and unfor- 

 tunate, not unlike those of Henry 

 II of England. In 1231, and again 

 somewhat later, his eldest son 

 Henry had revolted ; these risings 

 were easily suppressed, and his 

 second son, Conrad, was named as 

 his successor. About 1239, how- 

 ever, began his last and greatest 

 quarrel with the papacy. Ex- 

 communication he faced with a 

 smile of contempt, but it was more 

 serious when the pope allied him- 

 self with the Lombards and worked 

 upon the turbulent princes of Ger- 

 many. War broke out both in 

 Germany and Italy. In the for- 

 mer anti-kings were found and 

 crowned ; in the latter the em- 

 peror's troops were utterly routed 

 at Parma in 1248. Struggling 

 to the last against a ring of foes, 

 Frederick died at Fiorentino, Dec. 

 13, 1250. His splendid tomb is in 

 the cathedral at Palermo. 



Frederick was thrice married. 

 His second wife was Yolande, the 

 heiress of Jerusalem, and his third 

 was Isabella, a daughter of John 

 of England. Besides his lawful 

 children, he had several illegiti- 

 mate ones, notably Enzio, king of 

 Sardinia, and Manfred. The em- 

 peror, who wore six crowns, made 

 a great impression on his age ; his 

 court in Sicily was an intellectual 



centre ; in religious affairs he was 

 tolerant, and in most other matters 

 also in advance of his age. See 

 Hist, of Frederick II, Emperor of 

 the Romans, T. L. Kington- 

 Oliphant, 1862; Stupor Mm..ii. 

 Life and Times of Frederick 1 1 . 

 L. Allsho.ro, 1912. A. w. Holland 



Frederick HI (1415-93). 

 man king and Roman emperor. A 

 prince of the house of Hapsburg, 

 Frederick was chosen German king 

 in 1440, and was nominal ruler of 

 the country for over 50 years. He 

 was lethargic and indifferent, and 

 under him the Empire lost what 

 power and prestige it had retained. 

 His feeble attempts to secure the 

 kingdom of Hungary and Bohemia 

 failed, and he was for a time de- 

 prived of Austria, and was un- 

 able to check the Turkish inroads. 

 For some time before his death, on 

 Aug. 19, 1493, he had ceased to take 

 any part in the government of the 

 country, which he left to his son 

 Maximilian I, he himself being im- 

 mersed in study and contemplation 

 of the future greatness of his family. 

 Frederick was the last emperor to 

 be crowned in Rome, 1452. 



Another and earlier German king 

 is sometimes called Frederick III. 

 A son of King Albert I, he was a 

 Hapsburg. In 1314 a minority of 

 the electors chose him as German 

 king, and at once he was involved 

 in war with the other king, Louis 

 of Bavaria. He was defeated and 

 taken prisoner, being released on 

 acknowledging his rival. On this 

 account he is not usually reckoned 

 in the succession of German kings. 

 He died Jan. 13, 1330. See LouisIV. 



Frederick (1831-88). German 

 emperor. Son of the emperor Wil- 

 liam I, he was born at Potsdam, 

 Oct. 18, 1831. 

 After studying 

 at Bonn he tra- 

 velled, and in 

 1855 was be- 

 trothed to 

 Victoria, prin- 

 cess royal of 

 England, whom 

 he married in 

 1858. In politics 

 he strongly 

 opposed Bismarck. In the Austrian 

 war, 1866, he commanded an army 

 at Sadowa. In command of an 

 army in the war of 1870, he fought 

 afc Worth and Sedan, and took 

 part in the siege of Paris. 



Frederick was a strong advocate 

 for the establishment of the Ger- 

 man Empire, though bis ideals dif- 

 fered considerably from those of 

 Bismarck. The Liberal party hoped 

 great things when he came to the 

 throne, but he was attacked by 

 cancer of the throat, and was 

 obliged to go to Nice in 1887. On 



L 



Frederick, 

 German emperor 



