Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II (Italian: Federico, Sicilian: Fidiricu, German: Friedrich, Latin: Fridericus; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220, and King of Jerusalem from 1225 to 1228. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI, of the Hohenstaufen dynasty (the second son of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa), and Queen Constance I of Sicily, of the Hauteville dynasty.

Frederick is considered to be one of the most brilliant and powerful figures of the Middle Ages and ruled a vast area, extending from Sicily in the south, through much of Italy, to Germany in the north. Viewing himself as a direct successor to the Roman emperors of antiquity, he was Emperor of the Romans from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death and also a claimant to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that dignity from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, Italy, and Burgundy. At the age of three, he was crowned King of Sicily as co-ruler with his mother, Constance, Queen of Sicily, the daughter of Roger II of Sicily. His other royal title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage and his connection with the Sixth Crusade. Frequently at war with the papacy, which was hemmed in between Frederick's lands in northern Italy and his Kingdom of Sicily (the Regno) to the south, he was "excommunicated four times between 1227 and his own death in 1250" and was often vilified in pro-papal chronicles of the time and after. Pope Innocent IV went so far as to declare him preambulus Antichristi (forerunner of the Antichrist).