[1220-1227 A.D.]
The pope cast all the odium on the emperor Frederick, a man who had thrice sworn to redeem the Holy Land, and had compromised with his conscience by merely sending soldiers and provisions. Frederick despised the thunders of the Vatican; but although he was not awed by force, he could not resist papal artifice. Honorius soothed his irritated mind, and received him again as a faithful son of the church. Hermann von Salza, master of the Teutonic order, returned to Europe, and gave the emperor the hope of being the redeemer of Palestine. Yolande, the daughter of the king of Jerusalem, could easily be obtained in marriage, and her father would cede his rights, which he was wearied of endeavouring to convert into an actual and firm dominion. The emperor and the pope approved of this project. Frederick accepted from the king of Jerusalem a renunciation of all his claims to the Holy Land, as the dowry of Yolande; and he pledged his honour to the pope, the cardinals, and the masters of the Hospitallers and Teutonic knights, that he would within two years travel with a powerful army into the East, and re-establish the throne of Godfrey de Bouillon. For the succeeding five years, rebellions in Italy, and the insurrections of the Saracens in Sicily, detained the emperor from his purpose. Honorius did not live to witness the event of his exertions, but his successor, Gregory IX, was equally furious in the cause.
At the time appointed for the sailing of the expedition, Brundusium and its vicinity were crowded with soldiers. But the heats of summer destroyed the health of the people of the north; thousands died, and of those who endeavoured to return to their homes, the greatest part perished through poverty or disease. Although the emperor did not escape the common illness, yet he embarked at Brundusium. But after sailing for three days, additional infirmity compelled him to return. Gregory inherited the papal virtues of violence and ambition; he pronounced a sentence of excommunication against the emperor, for declining to combat the enemy of God.[71]
[1227-1229 A.D.]
The thunders of the Vatican rolled again and again over the head of the emperor, but the author of them suffered more than the object. The emperor sent troops into the papal territories, who ravaged the march of Ancona, and the patrimony of St. Peter. Such of the Hospitallers and Templars (the firm friends of the pope) as had estates in the imperial dominions in Italy, were plundered and dispossessed.[72] The emperor heavily taxed his subjects, both churchmen and laity, for the expenses of the holy war. In defiance of Gregory’s warnings against his entering on the crusade, till he should be relieved from the censures of the church, Frederick embarked at Brundusium in August, 1228, and arrived shortly afterwards at Acre. The joy of the Christians at the arrival of the emperor was soon checked by letters which the patriarch received from the pope, prohibiting the faithful from obeying a rebellious son of the church. The Teutonic knights feared no clerical censures; and at their head, and of some other soldiers, the emperor quitted Acre, went to Joppa, and repaired the fortifications of that important city. He then made further advances towards Jerusalem.
While matters were in this state, news was brought to the emperor of an effectual method which the pope had taken of preventing him from continuing the war in Palestine with the enemies of Christ. The pope’s troops, of whom Jean de Brienne (the father-in-law of Frederick) was one of the chief commanders, burned the imperial towns in Italy, imprisoned, tortured, and robbed the people. The duke of Spalato, the emperor’s lieutenant, had been unable successfully to resist, though the imperial army had been but little impaired by Frederick’s foreign expedition. These circumstances made the emperor anxious to return to Europe; a treaty was immediately signed. For ten years the Christians and Mussulmans were to live upon terms of brotherhood. Jerusalem, Joppa, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and their appendages, were restored to the Christians. The Holy Sepulchre likewise was given to them; and the people of both religions might offer up their prayers in the place of devotion, which the former class called the temple of Solomon, and the latter named the mosque of Omar. The address of Frederick more effectually promoted the object of the holy wars than the heroic frenzy of Richard; many of the disasters consequent on the battle of Tiberias were wiped away, and the serious and habitual hopes of Europe, for a permanent settlement in Asia, seemed to be realised. But the barons of the Holy Land, breathing interminable war, and secretly envying superior genius, avowed indignation that a Christian sovereign should accept the friendship of the infidels. The patriarch and clergy hated an excommunicated prince; a man too who had given licence to the Saracens to adore their God in a Christian temple. With some appearance of reason, however, they contended that the treaty was not binding on the Mussulmans while the approbation of the sultan of Damascus was withheld. But, despising the blood-thirstiness of the barons, and the cruel bigotry of the priests, Frederick asserted his royal prerogatives; and, as he had acquired some of the old possessions of the Bouillon family, he avowed his intention of having the crown placed upon his head in the Holy City agreeably to constitutional forms.
Some persons, discontented with the conditions of the treaty, wished to betray him into the hands of the sultan of Egypt. The guilt of this treachery lies between the Hospitallers and the Templars. Kamil read the letter which conveyed to him the news, exclaimed to his associates, “See the fidelity of these Christian dogs”; and despatched a friend to Frederick with the paper which he had received. The emperor repaired to Jerusalem; but no hosannas welcomed his approach. By the command of the patriarch no religious ceremonies were performed in the churches during his stay. Even the German prelates preferred their spiritual to their temporal allegiance; and the emperor, accompanied only by his courtiers and the Teutonic knights, went to the church of the sepulchre. He boldly took the crown from the altar, and placed it on his own head, and Hermann von Salza pronounced a laudatory oration. Orders were then given for the restoration of the city’s walls, and the emperor returned to Acre. In that city too there was every demonstration of sorrow at his appearance. Mass was performed in secret; the churches were deprived of their ornaments; the bells were not rung, and the dead were interred without any religious ceremony. But by some well-measured acts of severity, a semblance of respect was at length shown to the emperor; and he then returned to Europe, leaving the priests and people to thank Heaven for his departure.
Few parts of the Crusades are more difficult to understand, and to reduce into a clear and intelligible form, than the expedition of Frederick. He was vilified by the Templars and Hospitallers, and other friends of the pope; and their narratives of events are more numerous than those of the imperial party. He gained more for the Christians than any prince had acquired since the first establishment of the kingdom; and if the pope had not hated him worse than his holiness hated the Saracens, and thereby caused his return to Europe, there is every probability that after the death of the sultan of Damascus, the emperor would have brought matters to an issue completely triumphant. Gregory IX and his clergy had the effrontery to tell the world that Frederick had left the sepulchre of Christ in the hands of the infidels. But the fact was that it was given to the Christians. The temple of Solomon indeed, or rather the mosque of Omar, was left in the hands of the Mussulmans; a right of visiting it, however, being allowed to the Christians.[c]