History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 88, Emperor Frederick's Crusade Roman numeral 2.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the crusade of Emperor Frederick II succeed, as the Muslims negotiated the return of

the cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth to the Latin Christians in return for a 10-year-long truce.

To Emperor Frederick, this was an almighty achievement, one which cemented himself, in his own eyes at least,

not only as the most powerful monarch currently in Europe, but one of the most exalted emperors of all time.

The reality, however, was quite different.

The Muslims of the Middle East viewed the decision of Al-Kamil to negotiate away the Holy City of Jerusalem with horror,

and viewed Emperor Frederick with increasing suspicion.

As we mentioned last week, Al-Kamil had been busy trying to defeat his nephew, Arnaizia, and take Damascus.

The fact that our Camille had just given Jerusalem, a city which had been hard-fought and won

by Saladin to the into Al-Nizir's hands. No one wanted to be

ruled by an Egyptian who had just given away Jerusalem and our Nazir's supporters made the most of

our Camille's incredibly unpopular decision. In the end however, military might prevailed.

Our Camels much larger forces surrounded Damascus and the city eventually fell, and the lands of Syria and Egypt were once again ruled by one man, Al-Kamil.

As for Emperor Frederick, he was generally viewed by the Muslims with a certain amount of disquiet.

Despite the fact that the Emperor spoke their language fluently and was clearly sympathetic to their religion and its practices,

they just didn't know what to make of this Christian ruler who seemed indifferent to his own faith.

Likewise, the retaking of Jerusalem didn't seem to increase Emperor Frederick's popularity amongst the local Latin Christians.

He still had allies within the order of the Teutonic Knights, but not a whole lot of fans elsewhere. To many Christians, the whole

Return of Jerusalem episode was just a little bit weird. Crusades were meant to be won on the battlefield, not with scribes and

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