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to whom he had entrusted the government had risen CHAP. against him and had ravaged his lands with sword and fire. Let all good subjects withstand the traitors and strengthen the hands of King Conrad, before the Tartars could profit by these divisions. A new and friendly Pope would soon be elected, and the Kaiser himself would once more come to Germany. William, the Count of Julich, received five hundred marks from the Empire, and was thus induced to form an alliance with the burghers of Aix-la-Chapelle in the Hohenstaufen interest. Those of Spires were rewarded for their services early in 1242 by the restoration of a stream of water, which Frederick had before diverted to a mill built for his own use. The citizens of Worms received a fresh gift, through the intervention of their good Bishop. Two of the Charters of Cologne were confirmed, although that city was now cursed with a rebel pastor. Boppo, the disloyal Prelate of Bamberg, had been false to the oath he had sworn to the Crown on being invested, and had wasted the goods of his Bishoprick. Frederick, then at Avezzano, took counsel with the German Princes at his side, recalled all the injurious alienations of this Prelate, and invested Henry, the new Bishop of Bamberg. Two officials were charged to carry this sentence into effect, and Henry was endowed with unusual rights as regarded his mint. His gratitude did not outlast three years. The burghers of Erfurth were taken under the Kaiser's special protection, on account of the resistance they had made to the traitorous Archbishop of Mayence. Many German nobles came to visit Frederick at Capua in 1242; among these were the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, the Protonotary of the Imperial

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CHAP. Court, Rodolph of Habsburg, the Burgrave of Nuremberg, Conrad von Hohenlohe, and Anselm the younger of Justingen. Favours were conferred upon the Count of Groningen and the Margrave of Meissen, which were not always repaid with gratitude. It was impossible, so Frederick found to his cost, to govern Germany from an Italian Palace. Had the Tartars delayed their inroad for a few years, they might perhaps have been more successful. As it was, although they left Germany almost unscathed, they were indirectly the means of ruining the Christian power in Palestine.

The Holy Land, ever since Frederick's departure from it in 1229, had been the scene of civil wars. John of Ibelin, who never forgave the Emperor's harsh treatment, headed constant rebellions, at one time in Palestine, at another in Cyprus. Still at first, all promised well for the Hohenstaufen cause. The Barons of the Kingdom of Jerusalem made a declaration that they recognized none but Conrad as their Sovereign, and that they had done homage to the Emperor as his son's guardian. The Pope strengthened the hands of the Imperial deputies, and ordered Gerold, the perverse Patriarch, to ratify Frederick's treaty with the Moslem and to take off the Interdict laid upon the Holy Places. This was accordingly done in the presence of the Patriarchs of Antioch and Aquileia, and of fourteen Bishops.* The Templars were commanded to submit to the Emperor; and in 1231, Gregory at last made up his mind to give his friend the title of King of Jerusalem, since John de Brienne had by this time become

* Alb. Trium Fontium.

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Emperor of Constantinople. Richard Filangieri came back from Italy, at the head of an army composed in part of old Apulian rebels, of whom Frederick 1229–1250. was glad to be rid. But the Marshal found himself unable to control John of Ibelin, who opposed him both in Palestine and in Cyprus. Beyrout, Tyre, and Acre became the chief points of the struggle. Gregory now recalled his Legate the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and replaced him by the Patriarch of Antioch, a Lombard devoted to the Emperor. mann von Salza came to Palestine in 1233 for the last time, and doubtless strove to reconcile the angry disputants. In the next year, Theodoric the Archbishop of Ravenna was sent out by the Papacy to discountenance the rebel party, which he did only too effectually. Gregory's disapproval of the Archbishop's strong measures was afterwards one of the main charges brought against Rome by Frederick.

Her

Early in 1236, the nobles of Palestine were once more in open rebellion, with Eudes de Montbeillard at their head. They allied themselves with their brethren of Cyprus, and joined in sending Geoffrey Le Tort, a famous lawyer, to lay their complaints before the Holy See. He was laden with rich gifts for the Pope and Cardinals, and reached Viterbo in the summer of 1237. Gregory was now no longer on the side of Frederick, whose power was becoming far too great for the safety of Rome. Geoffrey Le Tort accordingly carried back letters, which promised the favour of the Church to the malcontents in the East. A sort of suspicious,

* Continuation of William of Tyre. French MSS., quoted by Bréholles.

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uneasy armistice was maintained between the Royalists in Tyre and their adversaries in Acre for a few years longer.

In the spring of 1239, the Pope excommunicated the Emperor, and thus signed the death-warrant of the Christians in the Holy Land. This year brought to an end the truce with the Moslem, made in 1229. Frederick had faithfully kept it; he had shed tears over the death of Sultan Kamel, had received many gifts from the East, and had been aided by Paynim allies at the siege of Brescia. The third Act of the Fifth Crusade was now about to open. An army of French pilgrims set sail for Palestine, in defiance of the wishes of the Pope. Most of them arrived in the autumn of 1239, and soon heard that the Sultan of Karak had seized upon Jerusalem and had overthrown the Tower of David; its wonderful masonry, its huge stones clamped with iron and lead, had been unable to resist the destructive fury of the Moslem. It seemed at first sight that this disaster would be speedily avenged; the newly arrived Crusaders were the flower of France, with the noblest Princes of the realm at their head. There was the chivalrous King of Navarre, a Troubadour of no mean reputation, who when Count of Champagne had laid siege with success, so at least it was said, to the heart of Queen Blanche, and who now, instead of singing the praises of his lady, bewailed in verse the woes of Jerusalem. There was Hugh the Duke of Burgundy, a descendant of Hugh Capet; and Peter the Count of Brittany, surnamed Mauclerc. Many nobles of renown bore arms in the enterprise ; among these was Amaury de Montfort, the eldest son of the conqueror of Languedoc, the chief whom St.

Louis had appointed his deputy in the East. But all the efforts of this gallant host were fated to end in nothing. Disunion, as was always the case, proved the bane of the Crusaders. They could never agree among themselves as to the Mohammedan ally to be countenanced, or the Mohammedan foe to be attacked. If a truce was made with any Eastern power, its continuance depended upon caprice. As the French Chronicler remarks; When the Sultan died, the Truce also died.' In 1239, the Christians, as usual, were divided into two parties; the one, following Frederick's policy, wished for peace with powerful Cairo and for war with Damascus; the other, seduced by Templars, burned to attack Egypt.

The Count of Brittany had made a foray into Syria, and had come back with many herds of camels, oxen, and horses. The Duke of Burgundy and several other barons, jealous of this success, resolved to march upon Gaza, avowing that they had come to Palestine to fight the infidels. In vain did the King of Navarre entreat them to delay their enterprise, promising that, if they would wait but one day, the whole army should march to Ascalon. The mutineers, in defiance of the orders of their elected chief, set out by night, crossed a small stream into the enemy's country, and lay down to feast and sleep at break of day. Their camp was pitched in a spot surrounded by hills. The Egyptian Emir at Gaza, forewarned of their approach, had bonfires lighted, and soon saw a vast crowd of Saracens gathered under his banner. The countless

* Alb. Trium Fontium.

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1229-1250.