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Life

Early years

Frederick was born December 26, 1194, one day after his father Henry VI was crowned King of Sicily at Palermo. He was born in the small town of Jesi near Ancona . His mother Constance of Sicily was on her way to Sicily and held up by her pregnancy, she delivered her son in a pavilion tent in the market square of the town. Constance was 40 years old and she knew that many would question whether the child was really hers, therefore she invited the town matrons to witness the birth and later on returned to the town square and breast-fed the infant in public. He was baptized in Assisi and named after his two illustrious grandfathers: Frederick Roger.

Henry VI tried to safeguard the Empire fore the House of Hohenstaufen and had the Prince-Electors take an oath to elect his son as King of the Germans. September 1197, Henry VI suddenly died of a fever, little Frederick was still in central Italy under the care of Conrad of Spoleto and was hastily brought from Foligno, to his mother’s court in Palermo. Constance of Sicily was in her own right queen of Sicily and had her three year old son crowned King of Sicily (May 17, 1198) and established herself as regent.

In Frederick's name she dissolved Sicily's ties to the Empire, renouncing his claims to the German kingship and Empire. The Hohenstaufen claims on the German Crown now went to Frederick’s uncle Philip of Swabia and were later disputed by Otto of Brunswick. In the short period Henry VI was King of Sicily he acted cruel and ruthless towards his opponents and became very unpopular with the Sicilians, as did his German Knights. Constance had people like the seneschal Markward of Anweiler expelled from the kingdom, to there benefices on the Italian peninsula they had been rewarded with. Constance herself died six months later (November 28, 1198); in her will she had appointed a council of regency headed by Walter of Palear and appointed the newly chosen Pope Innocent III guardian of her little son.

During the minority of Frederick his kingdom relapsed into a period of confusion, with several waring party's and changing alliances. The key players were: Pope Innocent III and his papal troops, the German faction with Markward of Anweiler and later on William Kapparon. The French knight Walter of Brienne called in by Innocent III, Walter of Palear de chancelor of the kingdom heading the Norman faction, the Pisans and the Genoese fighting over there many trade intrests along the coast and the Saracens from the inner highlands of the island who started a rebellion.

At the end of his guardianship Pope Innocent III arranged a marriage between Frederick and Constance of Aragón (the widow of King Emeric of Hungary) who took with her 500 knights as dowry. They were married August 15, 1209, in the ceremony she was crowned Queen of Sicily. By this time, Constance of Aragón was thirty years old and her new husband only fifteen, two years later, in 1211, she gave birth a son, called Henry.

The man and his Titles

Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (December 26, 1194 – December 13, 1250) Holy Roman Emperor, King of Jerusalem and King of Sicily.

No king of Cyprus

Frederick II was no king of Cyprus, see David Abulafia, Frederick II, A Medieval Emperor, Pag.117: "His authority in Cyprus was derived from the creation of a Cypriot kingdom by Henry VI; it was the authority,as Frederick himself insisted, of the Roman emperor over a subject kingdom".

J.R.Cartier (talk) 13:59, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Introduction

-He was also … -He was raised …

At the age of three he was crowned King of Sicily, his undoubted right; his mother Constance, being the daughter of Roger II of Sicily.

• • Frederick II was not “also” King of Sicily

-His other royal titles … Crusade.

Frederick used the titel King of Jerusalem after he married Yolande of Jerusalem the heiress to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

• • Frederick II was Never “King of Cyprus”, see discusssion