Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 78 – A Crusade without Crusaders

This is a story I was looking forward to telling for quite some time. It has everything – crossed wires, stubbornness and vitriol as well as diplomacy, cultural awareness and stunning success. It is the story of the crusade of Frederick II, that has no parallel, for one because Frederick did undertake it whilst banned by the pope and further, because he brought Jerusalem back under Christian control for one last time, without a shot being fired. The latter had not been achieved since the Frist crusade and will not happen again before the British for Palestine in 1918.

Before we start just a reminder. The History of the Germans Podcast is advertising free thanks to the generous support from patrons. And you can become a patron too and enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and other privileges from the price of a latte per month. All you have to do is sign up at patreon.com/historyofthegermans or on my website historyofthegermans.com. You find all the links in the show notes. And thanks a lot to Christoph, Claire and Jaume who have already signed up.

We left off last episode with Frederick II’s magnificent coronation in Rome. This was the last step in the string of rituals that firmed up the legitimacy of his rule as emperor. The price he had to pay for all this had been steep. He had to recognise the territorial gains the papacy had made in central Italy, he had to relinquish control of the imperial church, he had to vow to go on crusade and finally he had to promise not to seek a union between the empire and the kingdom of Sicily.

Given all these constraints Frederick does what his father and grandfather had done once they had been crowned by the pope, he instantly forgot all about the commitments he just made. As for Sicily and the empire, he had finagled this ruse of making his son first king of Sicily upon papal request. In step 2 he had then made the same child king of the Romans on the grounds that he was about to set off for crusade and that the imperial princes had urged him to organise his succession. With Henry being just 8 years-old, the de facto ruler of both Sicily and the Empire was Frederick II, and the pope could not do much about that.

Frederick left the city of Rome 3 days after his coronation to go home. And home was the kingdom of Sicily. It was the kingdom of Sicily he really cared about. The imperial crown was something he took on, more to protect his homeland than for any great ambition to exercise power north of the Alps. Nothing makes that clearer than the way he organised the administration of his domains. He would reside in Southern Italy from here on out only to journey north when his presence there becomes absolutely mandatory. He will spend just 2 more years of his remaining 30 years on the throne in Germany. Germany will be run first by a regency council and once his son Henry has grown up, by him as king of the Romans.

The next few years are taken up by further tightening his hold over Southern Italy. You may remember that when he left in 1212 his position had been extremely precarious. Various factions had been fighting for domination of the kingdom, the German Ministeriales, the remains of the family of King Tancred, the barons of Puglia and the chancellor Walter of Pagliara. When he comes back in 1220, he passes a number of laws designed to rebuild royal power and reverse the Encastellation of his dominion.

I could not find much detail about what happened in the kingdom during the 8 years he was away in Germany. The question is why his regime did not collapse in that time. Frederick had put his foreign queen, Constance of Aragon in charge as regent and seemingly hoped for the best. Given that the kingdom is in reasonable order, or at least had not risen up and chosen a new ruler is nothing short of a miracle. Or maybe Constance of Aragon was a much more astute politician and administrator than sources give her credit for. She strikes me as one of those protagonists worth of investigation.

Whether she was a competent ruler or not, she is unlikely to have enjoyed her marriage very much. Frederick II is the first of the medieval German emperors with a voracious sexual appetite. During her marriage he fathered six children with 4 different women, some daughters of aristocrats in Germany or Italy, others with less exalted women. How much is true of the stories that he maintained two fully equipped harems in his main residences and a mobile one that followed him on his journeys remains unclear. Papal propaganda has a habit of ascribing the seven deadly sins to emperors who opposed the. In case of Frederick they focused on Lust, Sloth and Pride, painting a picture of him as the Sultan of Lucera, living very much like an eastern potentate in a palace dripping with gold, surrounded by dancing girls and eunuchs.

Even if that was not the case, Constance could not count on the constancy of her husband. In 1222 she died and is buried in a Roman marble sarcophagus in Palermo cathedral. Its inscription says: Queen of Sicily was I, Constance, Wife and empress, now here I lie, forever yours, Frederick.

In the 1220s Fredrick’s entire focus was on rebuilding the Norman political structures in his kingdom of Sicily. We will spend most of the next episode discussing this in detail. This preoccupation with matters in southern Italy meant Frederick had little or no capacity to fulfil his pledge to go on crusade.

Pope Honorius III was as we said a much more conciliatory man than his predecessor Innocent III. But he did have one great focus, and that was the recovery of Jerusalem and the other holy sites in Israel.

Let us take a quick look at where things stand in the Holy Land by 1217. Following the Third Crusade, which is the one with Barbarossa, Richard Lionheart and Philippe Auguste, the kingdom of Jerusalem had recovered to the point that it did hold several strong positions along the coast of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria with its most important position in Akkon or Acre as it is called now. The 4th crusade did not do anything to progress towards Jerusalem as the crusaders sacked Constantinople on behalf of their Venetian paymasters. That broke the Byzantine empire into multiple smaller states, some like Constantinople and parts of Greece held by Latin crusaders and others by former Byzantine generals.

Meanwhile Saladin had consolidated his position. His empire now stretched from Eastern Turkey through Syria and Jordan to Egypt as well as along both shores of the Red Sea down to Yemen. The thin stretch of crusader cities was surrounded on all sides by one of the most powerful Muslim states ever created.

Internally the Kingdom of Jerusalem was on a near permanent war footing. The Knights Hospitallers and the Templars were the closest thing to a standing army the Middle Ages had produced. They had enormous influence as did the great barons of the kingdom who controlled often enormous fortresses manned by an ever-changing guard of crusaders from back home who would come over for a few years to fulfil vows and receive absolution.

Transport links between the west and Outre Mer had improved significantly. The maritime republics of Venice, genoa and Pisa had established staging posts along the route to Akkon where ships could be repaired and victualed. Venice in particular had created a string of safe harbours along the Dalmatian coast and the Peloponnese. Their galleys would travel back and forth, transporting crusaders east and returning with the luxury goods from Persia, India and China becoming immensely rich in the process.

The kingdom was held together by its titular king, John of Brienne, husband to Maria of Montferrat, the actual queen of Jerusalem. John was a minor nobleman from Champagne but a respected military leader, which is why the magnates of the kingdom of Jerusalem had asked him to come and marry their queen. Through this marriage he became king of Jerusalem, though he ruled only on behalf of first his wife and once she had died on behalf of his daughter, Isabella of Brienne.

This all sounds as if it was a well-oiled machine where new knights would arrive on a conveyer belt from the west, would be put to good use and then replaced with the next set of recruits. Nothing could be further from the truth. The supply of new recruits was extremely volatile. Conflicts like the civil war between the Welf and the Hohenstaufen in Germany precluded many knights to undertake the journey, popes may redirect crusaders to suppress heresy or fight pagans in the East and, in particular after the fourth crusade, enthusiasm for the crusades waned a bit.

And lastly as we have seen on all the crusades since the first one, the arrival of great princes with zero understanding of the political, military and geographical situation in the Middle East and great rivalry between each other can lead to division and ineffectual campaigns.

With all that in mind Innocent III had called for a fifth crusade in 1216. Innocent III convinced he was the true emperor wanted to lead the crusade in person. Not a completely stupid idea since he was at this point recognised as the superior overlord of all the princes in Europe, even of the emperor Frederick who called himself “king by the grace of god and the will of the pope”. With him in the lead there was no risk the venetians would again turn the crusaders into their private mercenary army.

But the great papal-led crusade never happened since Innocent III had died unexpectedly in 1216 at a relatively young age. His successor Honorius III was much too old to undertake such a dangerous journey himself. Hence the fifth crusade had a more familiar setup. King Andrew of Hungary and duke Leopold of Austria were the military leaders at the outset. Honorius sent a papal legate as his representative who was to ensure the crusade pursues its main objective, the recapture of Jerusalem.

The fifth crusade did try a novel approach to the recapture of Jerusalem. Instead of sending the army straight to the target, Jerusalem, they decided to attack Egypt.

Egypt was the jewel in the crown of the Ayyubid empire. Its capital, Cairo was en-route to half a million inhabitants become the largest city west of China. In many ways Cairo had taken over the role of Constantinople as the great trade link between east and west. Goods came up the Red Sea or down the Silk Road through Syria. From Cairo they would be shipped down the Nile and from there all across the Mediterranean.

Alexandria had been the great port for exports from Egypt in antiquity. In the 13th century this had changed to a degree. Alexandria was not on the Nile, meaning goods needed to be brought there by road. River transport tended to be safer which meant harbours on the Nile itself began to overtake Alexandria. In 1217 the most important of those was Damietta. Damietta was positioned on the northernmost branch of the Nile and had grown to be a large city and well defended city surrounded by strong walls and towers.

The crusaders plan was to take Damietta, choke off the source of Cairo’s and hence the source of Ayyubid wealth and power. This pressure may just get them to a point where the successor of Saladin, Sultan al Kamil would be forced to hand over Jerusalem and all the Holy sites.

And against all the odds, the crusaders did almost achieve their goal. They did take Damietta in a 2-year-long campaign that saw the usual combination of internal squabbling, pointless heroism and military ingenuity.

One great feat stands out. The defenders of Damietta had suspended an iron chain between two large towers on either side of the river stopping any ship from getting through. The chain needed to come down in order for the city to be taken. And for that they needed a floating siege engine. Amongst the crusaders was a man from Cologne, Oliver who would later rise to be bishop of Paderborn. He came up with an ingenious idea. He lashed two ships together and built a platform between the tops of the two masts, from there the attackers could launch projectiles and a siege ladder. This worked and they could take the towers and the chain was cut. It did not meant the end of the siege though since the defenders quickly sank a number of barges in the river so the crusaders still could not get through.

From then on, both sides dig in and the siege drags on for another year and a half. When Damietta finally falls, it was almost empty except for the dead and the ill. Disease and dwindling supplies had forced Sultan Al Kamil to take his army home

Having lost the key to the global East-West trade meant Sultan Al-Kamil is ready to negotiate. The Sultan is prepared to hand over almost all the crusaders could ask for. The city of Jerusalem as well as the holy sites of Bethlehem and Nazareth. The right to rebuild the defensive walls around Jerusalem and as negotiations drag on, even more territories in Palestine.

For any rational observer this should be the end of the crusade. All military objectives are achieved and they can enter Jerusalem as liberators. That is what for instance King John of Brienne and the barons of the kingdom of Jerusalem say. Let’s take the deal and go home.

But there is a snag. The sultan does not want to and probably cannot hand over key castles that protect the pilgrim route to the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Amount. It is after all the place where Mohammed had ascended to heaven and hence a holy place for all Muslims.

That is not good enough for the hardliners, in particular not for the papal legate. The whole of the old kingdom of Jerusalem is what he wants, including the castles. The templars and Hospitallers being knightly orders reporting directly to the pope have to side with the papal legate.

Negotiations go back and forth for another 2 years whilst the crusader army remains inside the destroyed city of Damietta. In 1221 Al Kamil ups his offer and throws in more land and holy sites. Again, the legate refuses.

Sultan Al Kamil meanwhile is busy implementing his plan B, should negotiations fail. He is gathering troops and building defensive positions along the Nile.

The crusaders are at the same time sitting around and are doing very little as the camp is riven with discord. The papal legate is pushing for further military action whilst the opposition does not want to jeopardise the deal that is on the table. Arguments go back and forth and ever more unusual plans are made to break the gridlock.

In September 1219 Francis of Assisi arrives in Damietta. His plan is to convert Sultan Al Kamil to Christianity. Francis and his followers head towards the camp of the sultan and begin preaching. For some reason the sultan believes these unwashed men in beggars clothing are emissaries of the crusaders. Francis is brought before the defender of the holy sites of Mekka and Medina and begins preaching, I guess in either in Latin or Italian. Sultan Al Kamil treated him with respect, let him finish and had him led back safely to the crusader camp. Contrary to legend, Sultan al Kamil did not convert and the situation remained unchanged.

Finally news arrive that they had all been secretly hoping for. The son of the Prester John, ruler of a Christian kingdom in the east was on his way with a vast army. If we attack Cairo from the west and prester John from the east we can create a pincer movement that will wipe the Saracens from the face of the earth. Let us go for glory, for Christ and for the plunder of the richest of Islamic cities.

On July 4th 1221 after a 3-day fast to prepare themselves, the crusader army set off along the Nile for Cairo, the fabled citadel of Saladin where they still hold the captured pieces of the Holy Cross. Along the path they cross several canals and reservoirs. The Nile was at its crest which allowed the Muslim armies to bring ships up the canals in the crusader’s rear. Cut off from their supply lines they tried to move forward but faced resistance. Being stuck with no way going forward or back, the Sultan’s soldiers opened the sluices, and the Nile water simply drowned the crusader army in mud. No battle needs to be fought; the crusader army capitulated.

Prester John and his army never showed, because prester John never existed.

The other one who had not shown was the emperor Frederick II. Since the crusade had ebgum, Honorius had urged Frederick in ever more desperate letters to make good on his crusading pledge and join the army at Damietta. Frederick was however still tied up in his reorganisation of the kingdom of Sicily and could not leave. He did send his admiral, Henry of Malta and his chancellor, Walter of Pagliaria with a sizeable troop contingent to Damietta thow. These troops arrived after the army had set off for Cairo. When news came off the catastrophic defeat, the new leadership in Damietta considered their options. Damietta was well defended and now newly garrisoned, so could hold out for a while against the Sultan. But what then? Will there be more troops come to Damietta after the tale of incompetence and pig-headedness spread across Europe. Probably not.

So they offered a treaty to the Sultan. They would leave Damietta in exchange for the pieces of the Holy cross Saladin had captured at the Battle of Hattin. This time it is the sultan who is stubborn. Instead of digging up some old pieces of wood and let the crusaders go with their heads held up at least a little bit higher, he just says. Could not find that odd memento you care so much. May have ended up on a skip, sorry.

And with that the surviving crusaders leave empty handed. Two weeks later Sultan Al Kamil re-enters Damietta. The fifth crusade is over.

As is customary, the pope blamed the failure of the expedition not on the stubbornness and credulity of his legate, but on the hesitancy of Frederick II. If only Frederick had come with a large army as he had promised, Cairo could now be ours. Nobody explained why imperial horses would be able to charge Egyptian position through the mud of the Nile banks.

As a negligent crusader, Frederick was up for excommunication. And that is before all his other misdemeanours such as his personal rule of Sicily in violation of all sorts of golden bulls and solemn oaths.

The reason he for now escapes this punishment is down to a man who will be one of Frederick’s most important advisers, a man who also stands at the beginnings of the state of Prussia, Hermann von Salza, Grand Master of the Teutonic knights.

Hermann von Salza came from a dynasty of Ministeriales in the service of the Landgraves of Thuringia. His early years are as so often undocumented. But it seems he joined the order of the Teutonic knights shortly after its founding.

The Teutonic knights were the youngest of the great military orders. The order had been founded in 1190, so after the fall of Jerusalem, as a field hospital during the siege of Akkon. It took the name of the German House of St. Mary in Jerusalem in the hoe that one day they would re-open the old hospital for German pilgrims in Jerusalem that had been there since before the First Crusade. Its founders weren’t knights but burghers of the trading cities of Bremen and Hamburg.

It did not take long for the community to transition from providers of medical care to military order. Already by 1193 the German knights were put in charge of some of the defences of Akkon.

The Teutonic knights filled a gap in the crusader military. The Templars were dominated by French knights whilst the Hospitallers mainly took English and Italian nobles. The Germans had been latecomers to the crusader movement as they had often been detained by conflicts at home. And so they lacked a permanent base in the Holy Land. The states of the order contain an unusual requirement: its members had to come exclusively from German lands. That is less down to discrimination against a English, French or Italian knights it more to prevent the Teutonic knight from straying into the recruitment grounds of the two older orders.

The Teutonic knights grew fast and enjoyed support from papal and imperial side. But the real boost came when it elected Hermann von Salza as its fourth grand Master. The order had enjoyed support from Barbarossa and Henry VI and was hence broadly supportive of the Hohenstaufen cause. But when the king came up to Germany in 1212 and in particular after the battle of Bouvines, the Teutonic knights became a key element in Frederick’s governance of the empire North of the Alps. In return, they were showered with land and privileges. There will be a separate season on the Teutonic Knights and the Hanseatic League coming up after this one where we will go into much more detail. But for now it is enough to understand that Frederick II and the Teutonic knights are in a symbiotic relationship. Frederick gives them material wealth and helps them recruit young noblemen to their cause. In return the knights support him in Germany, help organise his crusade and maintain communications with the papacy.

Hermann von Salza must have been a truly accomplished diplomat as well as sturdy traveller. He manages to be simultaneously involved in the siege of Damiette and the subsequent lost battle and negotiations between Frederick and the pope over his coronation in 1220 and then over his dispensation from the charge of criminal negligence in 1222.

Hermann von Salza is the main negotiator on the issue of the crusade between Frederick II and pope Honorius III. Having got Frederick off the hook in 1222 did not mean he was relieved from his pledge to go on crusade. The two sides agree a delay for 2 years and then in subsequent meetings new departure dates are set.

Finally in 1225 the pope wants to properly nail down Frederick II using a carrot and stick approach. The stick is automatic excommunication. If Frederick does not leave for the Holy land by August 1217 with at least 1000 knights he will keep in the field for 2 years, shipping for a further 2000 and an escrow payment of 100,000 ounces of gold. The carrot is Isabella of Brienne, the actual queen of Jerusalem. Frederick gets to marry her and with it the title of King of Jerusalem. That caused the first rift since there was already a King of Jerusalem, Isabella’s father, John of Brienne. The relationship between the two kings soured rapidly, though they had been firm friends in the past.

More rifts occurred when Frederick began to row back on his third promise to the popes, leaving them the March of Ancona and the duchy of Spoleto. One of Fredericks vassals had begun a slow landgrab in Spoleto which irritated the pope no end. But from Fredericks perspective these lands are crucial as a land bridge between his kingdom in the south and imperial Italy in the north. This issue gained even more prominence when Frederick tried to intervene in Lombard affairs but could neither bring an army up from Sicily nor could his son bring down troops from Germany as a newly founded Lombard League blocked the passes.

And then he begins to purge the Sicilian clergy of papal appointees and replaces them with his own men.

Suffice to say that tensions are running high as we are approaching embarkation day, August 1217. Hermann von Salza had been promoting the crusade in Germany but failed to build up much enthusiasm amongst the princes. The disaster of both the fourth and the fifth crusade had drained the air from the crusading spirit. Fredrick had to pay many of them though his friend, the Landgrave Lewis of Thuringia did come on his own volition with a large army. As before, the crusades comprised not just armed men but also civilian pilgrims keen to see the Holy Sepulchre before their death. All of them were heading to Brindisi in the summer of 1217. Numbers are hard to gage, but if we take Fredrick’s commitment of 3000 knights who came with 3 servants, grooms etc, we have 9,000 armed men alone plus a probably equal number of pilgrims mean almost 20,000 people camped before Brindisi.

Fredrick had promised shipping for 3000 knights and sustenance for his 1000 knights and their retinue, but not for all of the 20,000 who had piled in. Many suffered hunger and the sanitary conditions in the camp were likely terrible. In the summer heat disease broke out, they say it was. Before the first galley went to see nearly half of the crusaders were dead or ill. Fredrick and his friend the Landgrave of Thuringia caught the fever but still decided to set off. Frederick because he feared the automatic excommunication and Lewis, because he was a friend. 2 days later the landgrave was dead and the emperor gravely ill. The captain of the ship decided to return to Otranto. Fredrick was brought to Pozzuoli where he recovered in the ancient Roman thermal baths that were still operating in the 13th century.

In the meantime Honorius III had died and his successor Gregory IX had none of hthe forbearance of his predecessor. Some of you say that my narrative is somewhat biased in as much as the “church is always evil”. Now where I am standing, I feel I am reasonably restrained. But that can be because of the way that people before me have framed events. To get you an impression, here is Ernst Kantorowicz talking about Gregory IX: quote

“His weapons and methods were for the most part unattractive: slight untruths, imputations, calumnies: they were often too transparent and produced an ugly impression, robbing the Pope's procedure of every shadow of right, especially as no one but himself recognised the deeper necessity of the struggle. The obstinate old man, drunk with hate, pursued his end with singleness of aim to his last hour, indifferent to the fact that he was called a " heretic," that he was forsaken by those nearest him, until he became — for all his petty dishonesties — not only a dangerous enemy but a great one.”

I leave that standing here and you can find out for yourselves from what follows.

Gregory IX wasted no time. Frederick II had disembarked in Otranto half dead on September 12th, 10 days later pope Gregory IX excommunicated him. The fact that Frederick was ill was no excuse. The two sides now courted public opinion. Frederick pointed to his determination to go and the death of his friend. The pope claimed it was Frederick’s idea to leave from brindisi in August when the risk of disease was highest. He claimed the emperor had not paid the 100,000 ounces of gold as promised nor provided the shipping required.

Frederick then tried the age-old strategy of doing penance, as Henry IV and Barbarossa had done. But Gregory IX refused to grant absolution to a penitent. Instead he began rattling off a long list of transgressions, some real, some entirely invented. This is where the stories of Frederick’s sexual and moral deviance begin. Gregory IX does not care for the resolution of the conflict in the interest of the crusade. Gregory IX main concern is the encirclement of the church. For that he is prepared to let a chance to regain Jerusalem go.

What makes this decision easier is that Frederick, like his father, was running the crusade very much as his personal campaign, not as a campaign on behalf of the pope. Hence in the unlikely case the he would be successful, all the glory would go to him, not to the pope. Honorius could accept this in the interest of the higher purpose, Gregory could not.

It now all boils down to one thing, can Frederick go on crusade and can he recapture Jerusalem. If he does, the pope will have to relent, if he does not, then it is all over. It is a bot like in 1212, there is only one option to be safe and that option is a hare-brained scheme of gaining a kingdom from a much more powerful opponent.

In June 1228 Frederick sets sail for Akkon with a sizeable but not huge army. Those who come along are not crusaders because there is no promised absolution should they die in the endeavour. There is no papal blessing to this journey. Frederick takes his own army including his Muslim fighters, another affront to the idea of a religious holy war.

Nobody is more surprised about Frederick’s departure than pope Gregory IX. But he acts quickly. With Frederick out on the high sees and the 100,000 ounces of gold that Frederick had indeed paid safely in the papal coffers, he musters a mercenary army to invade Sicily. At the same time he subtly encourages the imperial princes to elect a new king to replace the unrepentant excommunicate.

What Frederick II sees in the wake of his ships is the total unravelling of his realm. But sill the only way out is to recapture Jerusalem. That task had been too much for the greatest of medieval warriors, Richard the Lionheart, Philippe Auguste, Leopold of Austria even his own grandfather the great Frederick Barbarossa, they all failed. And he hasn’t got time. Jerusalem needs to be his before the papal armies storm into Palermo.

This sounds like a completely loopy scheme, even more foolish than his wild dash to Constance in 1212. But he is no longer 17 and this time he has a plan. A trump card nobody knows about. Since before he left Frederick had been in contact with the sultan Al Kamil of Egypt. Al Kamil was tied up in family quarrels that were so serious he was prepared to renew the old offer he had made e before Damiette. Return of the kingdom of Jerusalem in exchange for an alliance against his brother, the emir of Damascus. That would involve some military action, but one with a much higher chance of success than anything attempted these last 40 years.

When Frederick arrives in Akkon he receives a shocking message from Al Kamil. As it happens his brother, the one he was quarrelling with, had been kind enough to set off for paradise. Al Kamil had seized the opportunity, taken over most of his brother’s territory including Jerusalem and was now lying with a large army in Nablus. No longer does he need the help of his brother emperor. He wishes him all the best in his endeavour. And here are some camels, silks and other gifts as signs of my enduring friendship. Your most sincere friend etc., etc., pp

The emperor’s position is now desperate. Things weren’t helped by a storm that cut his supply lines and his army goes hungry. His negotiations have fallen through. An enemy army is on the march in Sicily and the pope has relieved all his subjects in Italy from their oath of fealty. Gregory even sent envoys to Outre-Mer setting the patriarch of Jerusalem and all the local clergy to preach against the excommunicated men who was planning to despoil the Holy Sepulchre. That meant he could no longer count on the forces of the Templars and Hospitallers. No way he can attack the sultan now.

For what happens next, there are two versions. Modern historians like Hubert Houben claim that Al Kamil was preparing further confrontations with his nephew an-Nasir and hence was keen to sign an agreement. Others like Olaf Rader do not talk about Al Kamil’s motives at all.

Then there is the “old school” that sounds a bit romantic and improbable, but let me run you through it, again in the words of Ernst Kantorowicz:

“Frederick treated with Fakhru'd Din, [The Sultan’s envoy] which all goes to indicate how important the personal factor was throughout. The Emperor was a past master in the art of discussion. The charm of his personality, his astounding knowledge, his quick ness of repartee made him the equal of any, though at times his passionate pride and his biting wit led him into danger. In this case, however, where he was not upholding claims but seeking favours, this danger was absent, and it may well be that, after all the dissensions of his own camp, the conversations with the cultured and courteous Fakhru'd Din were restful and refreshing. Frederick had complete command of Arabic, and was acquainted with the Arab poets ; his amazing knowledge of philosophy, logic, mathematics and medicine, and every other branch of learning enabled him to turn any conversation into the philosophical channels dear to the Oriental heart. He had been completely successful in his handling of his Saracen colonists of Lucera, and now he moved amongst the Saracen princes with the perfect savour fair e of an accomplished man of the world. So he conversed away with Fakhru'd Din about philosophy and the arts of government, and Fakhru'd Din must have had much to tell his master about the Emperor.

Al Kamil was the very man to appreciate such qualities. He was an oriental edition of the Emperor, unless indeed it be more correct to call the Emperor an occidental edition of the Sultan. Al Kamil loved to dispute with learned men about jurisprudence and grammar, beloved especially of the Arab ; he was himself a poet — some of his verses still survive — and in his mountain castle, as they tell, " fifty scholars reclined on divans round his throne to provide his evening conversation." He spent money willingly in the furtherance of learning ; founded a school in Cairo for the study of Islamic Tradition, and appointed salaries for jurists. People praised his courteous bearing as much as his stern and impressive dignity. In addition he was an ad mirable administrator, who checked his own revenues and even invented new varieties of tax. He had no more fancy than Frederick for aimless bloodshed if the end could be reached by friendly means, and so it came about that their negotiations presently bore fruit.”

And that fruit was the return of the cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth to the crusaders including a narrow land corridor connecting them to Akkon and Jaffa. All that in exchange for a 10 year peace agreement.

Frederick II had achieved the impossible. Jerusalem was back in Christian hands. Frederick II entered Jerusalem on March 17th, 1229, proceeds to the church of the Holy Sepulchre where he puts on the crown of Jerusalem. The pilgrims and soldiers he had brought with him break out in great jubilation.

But when Frederick returns to Akkon, expecting a hero’s welcome he receives a most frosty response. The patriarch and the clergy of the kingdom refuse to release him from the ban. The barons of the kingdom are disappointed that he failed to regain the fertile lands surrounding the cities, making the holy sites largely a financial burden. And the templars are outraged that the temple mount and the Al Aqsa Mosque had remained out of bounds for Christian pilgrims. It is after all the place where Mohammed ascended to heaven, but for the templars it is the place where their order was founded.

When the animosity turns into street fighting does the emperor leave Akkon and sets sail for home. News arrive that papal troops had come as far as Benevento. It is time to go home and save his home.

Jerusalem would remain in Christian hands until 1241. Crusades will continue for another 100years but never again will crusaders gain control of the Holy sites.

Next week we will take a look at Frederick’s reign in Sicily, both before he sets off and afterwards. It is another tale of two versions, one that it was like every other medieval kingdom and one much more interesting and exciting. I hope you can join us again.

Before I go, let me thank all of you who are supporting the show, in particular the Patrons who have kindly signed up on patreon.com/historyofthegermans. It is thanks to you this show does not have to do advertising for matrasses or as I recently heard energy supplements and pension plans. If Patreon isn’t for you, another way to help the show is sharing the podcast directly or boosting its recognition on social media. If you share, comment or retweet a post from the History of the Germans it is more likely to be seen by others, hence bringing in more listeners. My most active places are Twitter @germanshistory and my Facebook page History of the Germans Podcast. As always, all the links are in the show notes.