Frederick II
Frederick II was the most extraordinary medieval emperor, known to his contemporaries as Stupor Mundi - Wonder of the World. Born in 1194, the son of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily, he was raised in Palermo in the cosmopolitan, trilingual court of Norman Sicily. Frederick spoke six languages, wrote poetry in Sicilian, and produced a groundbreaking scientific treatise on falconry applying empirical observation centuries before the scientific revolution. Through diplomacy rather than war, he negotiated the return of Jerusalem to Christian control in the Treaty of Jaffa (1229) with Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt, personally crowning himself King of Jerusalem. In Sicily he created Europe's first bureaucratic state with professional administrators, standardized law (the Constitutions of Melfi, 1231), and a university at Naples (1224). He died in 1250 in Fiorentino, Apulia.
- Lived: 1194 CE – 1250 CE
- Nationality: german
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader, scholar
