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Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Soon after the failure of the Fifth Crusade, Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, decided he would try his luck on Crusade, since he hadn’t been allowed to go on the last one.

Frederick marched on Acre, in Syria. Acre was under the control of the Islamic Mamluks. But not everyone supported him; the Pope even excommunicated him. The political problems between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines that had troubled Frederick at home continued to be a problem in Syria.

Then Frederick got an offer from al-Kamil, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. Al-Kamil wanted to put his brother in power in Syria in place of the Mamluks. He would hand over Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem to Frederick in exchange for help from Frederick’s army. Frederick agreed, and crowned himself King of Jerusalem in 1229 AD.

The Fortress of Acre - a stone castle

The Fortress of Acre in Syria

But only a few months later Frederick II had to go home to Italy because of problems there. He left Jerusalem without an army to protect it. The truce held for a while, as the Ayyubids got weaker and weaker. But in 1244, the Mamluks, who were rising into power in West Asia, took Jerusalem.

The Seventh Crusade
More about Frederick II

Bibliography and further reading about the Crusades:

 

The Seventh Crusade
More about Medieval Europe
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