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Pope Fights — Frederick II: History Summarized

Overly Sarcastic Productions

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pope fight. Pope Fight. POPE FIGHT. P O P E F I I I I I G H T!!!!
On this episode, Holy Roman Frederick II wants to hang out in Sicily, but gets dragged kicking and screaming into The Plot. Despite his palpable disinterest in playing diplomatic footsie with the Vatican, he becomes one of the most dangerous opponents the Papacy ever faced.

SOURCES & Further Reading: "Sicily: An Island at the Center of History" by John Julius Norwich, Great Courses Lecture "Emperor Frederick II" from "The High Middle Ages" by Philip Daileader.

This video topic was requested by our patron Dr Angela J Black. Thank you Angela!

Our content is intended for teenage audiences and up.

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20 Comments

@OverlySarcasticProductions Creator 4 years ago Pinned

1:15 Wow emperor Henry sure did live for a long time, I had no idea. I could have sworn he actually died in 1197, but nope, the man lived right up through German Reunification. Wild.
-B

@EmperorTigerstar 4 years ago

I can just hear the boxing match bells ring every time the Pope sends another crusade attempt down to southern Italy.

@andrewsuryali8540 4 years ago

I'm kinda sad you didn't mention the strange fact that, because Frederick was excommunicate during the entire time he was in control of Jerusalem and its churches, the Pope had in effect excommunicated The Church of the Holy Sepulchre - the holiest church in all of Christendom.

@amethyst_cat9532 4 years ago

Frederick II: Any news?
Courtier: The pope has sent another strongly worded letter.
Frederick II: Another excommunication?
Courtier: No, your majesty. He has declared you an ancestor of the antichrist.
Frederick: Ah, he's been feeling creative.

@drilltotheheavens1695 4 years ago

When they say reality is much stranger than fiction tell them about Fredrick the 2nd. Excommunicated 4 times, peacefully won a crusade, and basically did all of this just so he could get back to his Falconing.

@Shadowreaper5 4 years ago

Man, imagine disappointing your dad so much that he puts you in forever-timeout. Mood. Also I'm pretty sure Fredrick won this one. Marched his army right up to Rome (in the Great Roman emperor tradition) and then scared a pope to death.

@thisisthet 4 years ago

YES, POPE FIGHTS. These series makes my Medieval History class slightly more bearable. Blessed be Blue

@15oClock 4 years ago (edited)

"Every day, I wake up and I'm forced to be awesome!"
-Frederick II.

@George_M_ 4 years ago

Frederick only lost areas he didn't want, and he got to keep falconing. I'd say he won, being happier than his enemies.

@eshasunrise 4 years ago

"Oh no, don't take Jerusalem, Germany, the throne I didn't want, and the treasures of the HRE, and also excommunicate me a THIRD time. Whatever will I do in Sicily with nothing but my falcons, literature, and people I actually like."
-Frederick, probably

@BrianGerstel 4 years ago

You left out one of the more interesting stories about Frederick II: his birth. When he was born, his mother, the Silician Hauteville Queen Constance, was 40 years old. The story goes that she knew that because of her age, her opponents would dispute the fact that Frederick really was her son, she gave birth in a public square so that she would have dozens if not hundreds of witnesses.

Given that his grandfather was Frederick Barbarossa, Frederick clearly got chutzpah from both sides of his family.

@1987MartinT 4 years ago

Honestly, I'd say that Frederick won. Yeah, he lost the Holy Roman Empire, but let's just admit that most Holy Roman Emperors have only had very limited control of the Empire. Through it all Frederick managed to hold on to his core territory: the Kingdom of Sicily.

@mr-mr-101 4 years ago (edited)

Pope: Threatens to excommunicate Fredrick.
Fredrick: Completely apathetic and does not care
Pope: Actually excommunicates him
Fredrick Thoroughly uninterested and not having it
New Pope: Excommunicates him AGAIN
Fredrick: Even more uninterested and apathetic
New Pope: Triple excommunicates him, declares that he is a heretic, too sinful to be a king and the literal Anti-Christ
Fredrick: "Somehow I care even less now than when this shit started."

@shrimpisdelicious 4 years ago

Frederick II: "Crusading. A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

@thetacoman9657 4 years ago (edited)

I have now decided that replacing all the intricate little borders of the HRE with a paragraph explaining why one isn't drawing all the intricate little borders of the HRE is the definitive way to create an accurate map of medieval Europe

@matthewtrujillo7228 4 years ago

Blue: "The Pope excommunicated him again but, who cares?"

The Pope: "Oh no, apathy, my one weakness!"

@quartzintherough 4 years ago (edited)

I love that Frederick II's plan to have the Pope stop bothering him was to make a huge commitment to something he didn't want to do, and bring up excommunication as a punishment for failure, which is a pretty big deal when you're the new ruler of Jerusalem. The funniest part is that he almost immediately got tired of it, went back to Italy, was promptly excommunicated and prevented from going to his new kingdom.
Like, I ain't one to judge, but there was a very easy solution, and I feel like it involved not putting excommunication on the table yourself in the first place.

EDIT: Oh my god, I forgot the part where he said "fuck it" and got Jerusalem without fighting while being Excommunicated², pissing off everyone in the process. He literally won a Holy War without the Holy or the war part. What an icon, a true Meme Emperor

@jrodriguez1374 4 years ago (edited)

Pope: "get ~~-in the robot-~~ on the throne, Frederick!"
Frederick: "Father! Don't make me do this"

@jamesharding3459 4 years ago

Pope fights sounds like something out of a comedy sketch, and I’m loving it.

@Oculunus 4 years ago

It seems that Fredrick II was actually one of those rulers that were genuinely decent, and only got involved in things like wars and such because others dragged them into it. Also, contrary to their names, those popes weren't really all that innocent.