Heroes of Modern Europe | Page 4

the Hohenstaufen enemies of the Pope. It was under
a famous emperor of the House of Swabia that the struggle between
Papacy and Empire, "the two swords," gained attention from the rest of
Europe.
In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII had won many notable
victories in support of his claims to temporal power. He had brought
Henry IV, the proud Emperor, before whose name men trembled, to sue

for his pardon at Canossa, and had kept the suppliant in the snow, with
bare head and bare feet, that he might {15} endure the last humiliations.
Then the fortune of war changed, and the Pope was seized in the
Church of St Peter at Rome by Cencio, a fiery noble, who held him in
close confinement. It was easier to lord it over princes who were hated
by many of their own subjects than to quell the animosity which was
roused by attempted domination in the Eternal City.
The Pope was able sometimes to elect a partisan of the Guelf party as
emperor. On the other hand, an emperor had been heard to lament the
election of a staunch friend to the Papacy because he believed that no
pope could ever be a true Ghibelline.
Certain princes of the House of Hohenstaufen were too proud to
acknowledge an authority that threatened to crush their power in Italy.
Henry VI was a ruler dreaded by contemporaries as merciless to the last
degree. He burned men alive if they offended him, and had no
compunction in ordering the guilty to be tarred and blinded. He was of
such a temper that the Pope had not the courage to demand from him
the homage of a vassal. It was Frederick II, Henry's son, who came into
conflict with the Papacy so violently that all his neighbours watched in
terror.
Pope Gregory IX would give no quarter, and excommunicated the
Emperor because he had been unable to go on a crusade owing to
pestilence in his army. The clergy were bidden to assemble in the
Church of St Peter and to fling down their lighted candles as the Pope
cursed the Emperor for his broken promise, a sin against religion. The
news of this ceremony spread through the world, the two parties
appealing to the princes of Europe for aid in fighting out this quarrel.
Frederick defied the papal decree, and went to win back Jerusalem
from the infidels as soon as his soldiers had {16} recovered. He took
the city, but had to crown himself as king since none other would
perform the service for a man outside the Church. Frederick bade the
pious Mussulmans continue the prayers they would have ceased
through deference to a Christian ruler. He had thrown off all the
superstitions of the age except the study of astrology, and was a scholar

of wide repute, delighting in correspondence with the learned.
The Arabs did not admire Frederick's person, describing him as
unlikely to fetch a high price if he had been a slave! He was
bald-headed and had weak eyesight, though generally held graceful and
attractive. In mental powers he surpassed the greatest at his house,
which had always been famous for its intellect. He had been born at
Palermo, "the city of three tongues"; therefore Greek, Latin, and Arabic
were equally familiar. He was daring in speech, broad in views, and
cosmopolitan in habit. He founded the University of Naples and
encouraged the study of medicine; he had the Greek of Aristotle
translated, and himself set the fashion in verse-making, which was soon
to be the pastime of every court in Italy.
The Pope was more successful in a contest waged with tongues than he
had proved on battle-fields, which were strewn with bodies of both
Guelf and Ghibelline factions. He dined in 1230 at the same table as his
foe, but the peace between them did not long continue. In turn they
triumphed, bringing against each other two armies of the Cross, the
followers of the Pope fighting under the standard of St Peter's Keys as
the champion of the true Christian Church against its oppressors.
Pope Innocent IV, who succeeded Gregory, proved himself a very
cunning adversary. He might have {17} won an easy victory over
Frederick II if the exactions of the Papacy had not angered the
countries where he sought refuge after his first failures. It was futile to
declare at Lyons that the Emperor was deposed when all France was
crying out upon the greed of prelates. The wearisome strife went on till
the very peasants had to be guarded at their work by knights, sent out
from towns to see that they were not taken captive. It was the day of the
robber, and all things lay to his hand if he were