Frederick II (1196-1250)
There are few individuals in European history that have elicited as much controversy as this man. A ruthless, brutal power player or a free-thinking patron of the arts and sciences a man who drives his eldest son to suicide and elevates his illegitimate sons to become kings. They called him the Stupor Mundi, the Wonder of the World.
This week we will go back 20 years and pick up the other strain of our history of the Hohenstaufen. The last three episodes we focused on events in Germany and the struggle between Philipp of Swabia and Otto IV.
Today we take a closer look at the early years of Frederick II, before he came up to Germany and took over. Little is known but much has been written about the youth of emperor Frederick II, not only because it was exceedingly turbulent, but also because it forged a man who burst on the European stage aged 14 already displaying many of those personality traits that would make him known as the Stupor Mundi, the Astonishment of the World. How did he become who he became?
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.
So far I have:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
#75 Wet Pants and Other Miracles
Otto IV attacks Sicily and Frederick II chases him back to Germany
Frederick II rose from the confines of his besieged royal palace in Palermo to sole ruler of the empire through a series of miracles
#76 Urchin to Emperor
The upbringing of emperor Frederick II “Stupor Mundi”
Aged 5 he had lost both parents, gained and lost a crown. Did he really roam the streets of Palermo alone and hungry before becoming emperor?
#77 A Nail in the Coffin
Frederick II in Germany and the Sanctification of Charlemagne
The reign of Frederick II in Germany from 1212 to1220 drives both a real and a metaphorical nail in the coffin of Charlemagne
#78 A Crusade without Crusaders
The Sixth Crusade that brings Jerusalem back
Frederick II sets off on crusade as an excommunicate. he has a year to regain Jerusalem, otherwise all will be lost
#79 Return to Sicily
Frederick II as a state builder in Sicily
In 1220-28 Frederick II breaks the power of the barons, expels the Pisans and Genoese and creates the Muslim colony in Lucera
#80 A different kind of Emperor
The Constitutions of Melfi
The constitutions of Melfi of 1231 were the most advanced, most modern law in the Middle Ages foreshadowing Machiavelli and Hobbes
#81 The King in Brackets
The sad story of Henry (VII), son of the emperor and rebel
The sad story of Henry (VII) eldest son and heir of emperor Frederick II who dies of his inability to understand the father he had barely ever met
#82 The Constitution of the Realm
The Mainzer Landfriede on 1235
In 1235 the imperial princes came to Mainz to celebrate the new modus operandi of the Holy Roman Empire: Everybody gets Everything they want
#83 The Court of Frederick II
The Invention of the Sonnet and other tall tales
At Foggia a circle of poets were the first to write in Italian and invented the Sonnet, plus tales taller than the giraffe in his garden
#84 The Art of Hunting with Birds
The Emperor as scientist
„Art of Hunting with Birds“ commissioned by the emperor Frederick II is as much a book about hunting as The Old Man and the Sea is about fishing..
#85 Cortenuova
The great (and only) victory of emperor Frederick II over Milan
The last great battle that made the HRE look as if it was indeed, Holy, Roman and an Empire
#86 Oops, we did it Again
Frederick II is excommunicated again!
After his victory over the Lombards, emperor Frederick II hurtles at ever increasing speed towards excommunication and doom..
#87 The Beast out of the Sea
The War of Words between Pope and Emperor
Excommunication is not the end, but deposition could be. Frederick must to avoid that at all cost – even by battle at sea
#88 A Road to Peace
Can Genghis Khan force a reconciliation between Frederick II and the Papacy?
Frederick II was desperate to reconcile with the pope. Though his foe Gregory IX had died, and he offered submission, things did not improve..
#89 Holy War
Pope Innocent IV calls a crusade against the emperor Frederick II
Pope Innocent IV declared a crusade against the emperor, the first purely political crusade. It culminates in a showdown before Parma
#90 Things Are Falling Apart
The Battle of Parma and the death of Piero delle Vigne
After the destruction of Victoria Frederick lashes out against his trusted advisor, Pietro da Vinea. Then Enzio is captured. The end is nigh.
#91 Hohenstaufen Epilogue
From Manfred of Sicily to the execution of Konradin
Frederick II died in 1250 leaving behind four capable heirs. But over the next 18 years all of them died in the struggle with the pope
#92 Papal Epilogue
From Boniface VIII’s Unam Sanctam to the Babylonian Captivity of the Church
45 years after the triumph over the Hohenstaufen, the papacy gets slapped in the face and their Babylonian Captivity begins
#93 Frederick II’s Afterlife
From Fake Emperors to Ernst Kantorowics
The Emperor Frederick II refuses to die. A revenant for 50 years, by1920 he is forgotten until Ernst Kantorowics produces his biography