L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano PETER TAFURI O ne of the greatest and most important rulers of the Middle Ages, Frederick II, called by his con- temporaries the stupor mundi, the wonder of the world, usually receives relatively brief mention in most history books. He was born in Iesi in 1194, the son of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and Queen Constance of Sicily. As a bit of background, the Holy Roman Empire was a quasi-confedera- tion of basically independent lands in Germany, Austria and adjacent areas, with nominal con- trol over northern and central Italy, where the various city states were de facto independent republics. The title of Emperor was not hereditary per se, but rather elected by a small number of princes. Similarly, the title of King of the Germans was more nominal than actual. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Sicily, which encompassed the island plus the southern portion of the Italian mainland, was a royal domain in the more familiar sense, but the local nobility still wielded con- siderable power in their own fiefs, making laws and com- manding small private armies; theoretically they owed complete loyalty to the King, but often put their own interests first. The ruler of central Italy was the Pope, who besides wielding sec- ular power had that of the Church at hand. By the age of two both of Frederick's parents were deceased; Pope Innocent III became his guardian. He had been crowned King of Sicily, but his uncle Philip of Swabia arrived and declared himself regent. Frederick was essentially a prisoner in his palace until 1206, when he was declared of age to be King in his own right. He set out to consolidate his power in the Kingdom against the rebellious nobles; they were aided in 1209 by the new Holy Roman Emperor Otto of Brunswick, who invaded Italy. Fortunately for Frederick, Innocent III sided with him and excommunicated Otto. In addi- tion, Frederick was elected King of the Germans in 1211. By 1212 Otto was forced to with- draw and Frederick pursued him into Germany where he eventual- ly defeated him. Two years after Otto's death in 1218, Frederick was made the Holy Roman Emperor and returned to Italy. In 1225 he married his second wife, Yolande of Jerusalem, deposed her father Philip and made himself King there. In 1228 he set off on the Sixth Crusade. Finding virtually no support among the Christian forces in the Holy Land, he resorted to diplomacy and met with the Sultan Al-Kamil. They negotiated a treaty whereby Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and some surrounding land was given back. He crowned himself King of Jerusalem, which was disputed by the local Christian nobles; a de facto civil war broke out soon after his departure which dragged on for years. Meanwhile, during his absence from Italy papal forces invaded southern Italy, but upon his return he fought back and made peace in 1230. He then turned his attention to Germany, where the princes had forced his son Henry to greatly weaken the power of the Emperor. He even- Frederick II was one of the first enlightened despots and creator of the modern state The Wonder of the World tually negotiated a settlement in 1235 and then turned his atten- tion to northern Italy, which was in a state of rebellion against imperial control. He invaded from Germany and the resulting war dragged on for several years; it spilled over into the Papal States, where Pope Innocent IV eventually declared Frederick deposed as Emperor and launched a plot against him. It failed, the rebels were executed, and a temporary peace was made in 1247 that gave Frederick the upper hand. However, it was not to last. The city of Parma revolt- ed and after a decisive battle it was victorious and other cities rose-up in rebellion as well. This war also dragged on, but Frederick fell ill in 1250 and was not able to participate. He divid- ed his realms between his surviv- ing sons, made peace with the Church, and died on December 13; his tomb is in the Cathedral of Palermo. His goal of unifying Italy under his dominion failed, and it would be over 600 years before that finally happened. Despite all the time and effort he put into maintaining and attempting to expand his power, he was able to achieve much in such fields as the law, science, literature and art. He was one of the first enlightened despots and creator of the modern state, as shown in 1231 when he issued the Constitutions of Melfi, one of the great legal documents of all times, which weakened the power of the nobility and helped centralize the government. In it, a uniform body of laws was pro- mulgated, which everyone in the Kingdom, whether clergy, noble or commoner, Christian, Jew or Muslim, was subject to. The nobility and cities lost the right to issue their own criminal laws and were made subject to taxes imposed by the King. The law was enforced by judges appoint- ed by the monarch and thus obe- dient to him. The superstitious practice of trial by ordeal was abolished, and judges were instructed to logically consider evidence to determine guilt or innocence. A civil service was created which was staffed by commoners regardless of their religion, rather than nobles and clergymen. Internal tariffs were abolished and weights and mea- sures were standardized which greatly aided trade and further enriched the realm. An advisory council was established which consisted of the nobility and commoners who owned land. His royal court was home to the Sicilian School of Poetry; it was there that the first works of literature in an Italian dialect were written, a century before Dante, and where Giacomo da Lentini created the sonnet. The poems produced there expanded and developed the themes of courtly love and chivalry and greatly influenced the literature of the rest of Italy. Among his other achieve- ments, he reformed the medical profession by requiring that any teachers of it must have had prac- tical experience in the field rather than just book learning. He also separated the occupation of phar- macist from that of physician. The price of drugs was fixed to prevent price gouging. He was personally quite intel- ligent, speaking six languages and writing the first book on hunting with falcons; it was based on observation and experi- ence, which earned him a place as the father of modern ornitholo- gy. Keenly interested in science, astronomy and astrology, he patronized some of the leading authorities of the time, and corre- sponded with others from throughout the known world. He employed a group of Jewish scholars to translate scientific books into Latin and founded the world's first state sponsored uni- versity in Naples. And he had a traveling zoo, full of exotic ani- mals and birds, including a giraffe and an elephant! Ruler of diverse realms, mili- tary leader, scholar, patron of the arts and sciences, he truly was the wonder of the world. HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS

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