Montfort, father of the father of Parliament. He quarrelled with the Emperor Otto, and called upon
the Germans to depose him. They did so, and at his suggestion elected Frederick II, now just of
age, in his stead. But for his support of Frederick he exacted a terrific price in promises--which,
however, Frederick was determined to break as soon as possible.
Innocent III was the first great Pope in whom there was no element of sanctity. The reform of the
Church made the hierarchy feel secure as to its moral prestige, and therefore convinced that it
need no longer trouble to be holy. The power motive, from his time on, more and more
exclusively dominated the papacy, and produced opposition from some religious men even in his
day. He codified the canon law so as to increase the power of the Curia; Walther von der
Vogelweide called this code "the blackest book that hell ever gave." Although the papacy still had
resounding victories to win, the manner of its subsequent decline might already have been
foreseen.
Frederick II, who had been the ward of Innocent III, went to Germany in 1212, and by the Pope's
help was elected to replace Otto. Innocent did not live to see what a formidable antagonist he had
raised up against the papacy.
Frederick--one of the most remarkable rulers known to history-had passed his childhood and
youth in difficult and adverse circumstances. His father Henry VI (son of Barbarossa) had
defeated the Normans of Sicily, and married Constance, heiress to the kingdom. He established a
German garrison, which was hated by the Sicilians; but he died in 1197, when Frederick was three
years old. Constance thereupon turned against the Germans, and tried to govern without them by
the help of the Pope. The Germans were resentful, and Otto tried to conquer Sicily; this was the
cause of his quarrel with the Pope. Palermo, where Frederick passed his childhood, was subject to
other troubles. There were Muslim revolts; the Pisans and Genoese fought each other and every
one else for possession of the island; the important people in Sicily were constantly changing
sides, according as one party or the other offered the higher price for treachery. Culturally,
however, Sicily had great advantages. Muslim, Byzantine, Italian, and, German civilization met
and mingled there as nowhere else. Greek and Arabic were still living languages in Sicily.
Frederick learnt to speak six languages fluently, and in all six