that John was still the rightful king of Jerusalem. Henceforth, for almost
six years, the papacy continued toaccord the title to John, whilst
pointedly denying it to Frederick. This played a significant part in the
deterioration of the relationship between the two great powers in
1226 – 7.^157 However, Honorius’s caution meant that John was obliged
to turn to much more pugnacious allies nearby. The emperor’spro-
posedexpeditiontonorthernItalyhad brought about the revival of the
old‘Lombard League’against the Hohenstaufen. As Frederick jour-
neyed up towards Ravenna, John was often to be found skulking just
ahead of him, trying to stir up trouble. John spent much of 1226 at
Bologna, where his infant daughter, Blanche, died. (No doubt, she had
been named after her close kinswoman, the French queen.)^158 By the
end of the year, though, Honorius had come to recognize that the main
factor hindering the imperial crusade was the Lombard revolt, which
John was encouraging. The dying pope made a final effort to get
Frederick to restore John to his throne:‘to whom more faithful would
it be possible to entrust the kingdom of Jerusalem? Who would be more
welcome to the faithful living there? Who is more terrifying to the
infidel? Who is more useful to the business of the Holy Land?’^159 As
if knowing in advance that his pleaswould fail, however, Honorius also
appointed John as rector of the Patrimony of St Peter in Tuscany, in the
Papal State. The‘king of Jerusalem’was granted a specially extended
version of the Patrimony, extending north to include the Papal State’s
second city, Perugia.^160 The new pope, Gregory IX, promptly paid the
Perugians heavily for the privilege of installing himself and the curia
there, under John’sguard.^161
John’s prospects suddenly improved in September 1227, when there
was a complete break-down in the relationship between the papacy and
the emperor. Soon after sailing, at last, on crusade, Frederick had turned
back when he and his host were afflicted by plague. He had thus broken
the terms agreed at San Germano. Gregory IX–of a quite different
mettle from Honorius–would listen to no excuses but seized his oppor-
tunity to strike, laying plans to seize the kingdom of Sicily (which,
naturally enough, he regarded as afief of the Church). The ensuing
(^157) See R. Hiestand,‘Ierusalem et Sicile rex: Zur Titulatur Friedrichs. II’,Deutsches Archiv für
Erforschung des Mittelalters52 (1996), 181–9. A revisionist view has been suggested by
T. W. Smith,‘Between Two Kings: Pope Honorius III and the Seizure of the Kingdom
of Jerusalem by Frederick II in 1225’,Journal of Medieval History41, no. 1 (2015),
15841 – 59.
160 Perry,John, 140–1.^159 Honorius III,Regesta, ii, no. 6202.
161 Ibid., ii, nos. 6203–4, 6209.
Gregory IX,Registres, ed. L. Auvray, 4 vols. (Paris, 1890–1955), i, no. 34.
The Lure of Constantinople 67