Frederick II

Frederick II (l. 1194-1250 CE) was the king of Sicily (r. 1198-1250 CE), Germany (r. 1215-1250 CE), Jerusalem (r. 1225-1228 CE), and also reigned supreme as the Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1220-1250 CE). He was born in Jesi in 1194 CE but spent his childhood in Palermo. He belonged to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty (1079-1268 CE) of Swabia, which ruled over the Holy Roman Empire from 1138 CE to 1268 CE. His life was spent struggling over the power dynamics with the medieval church, though he failed in subduing the Papacy, later European rulers would follow in his footsteps and succeed. He is most famous, however, for his involvement in the Sixth Crusade (1228-1229 CE) which returned Jerusalem to Crusader dominion via a peace settlement with the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt: al-Kamil, but his efforts remained unappreciated. The Papacy used religious propaganda to preach a crusade against him, but he died naturally in 1250 CE. He also founded the University of Naples in 1224 CE, the first-ever state university in medieval Europe.