eaction that burst out
all over Italy against the oppressive ministers of Henry VI was
allowed to run its full course. The danger was not so much of
despotism as of anarchy, and Innocent, like Hildebrand, knew how to
turn confusion to the advantage of hierarchy.

No real effort was made to obtain for the little Frederick the crowns
of both Germany and Sicily, While Philip of Swabia, her
brother-in-law, hurried to Germany to maintain, if he could, the unity
of the Hohenstaufen empire, Constance was quite content to secure her
son's succession in Naples and Sicily by renewing the homage due to
the Pope.

Having thus obtained the indispensable papal confirmation, Constance
ruled in Naples as a national queen in the name of the little
Frederick. She drove away the German bandits, who had made the name of
her husband a terror to her subjects. Markwald of Anweiler left his
Apulian fiefs[54] for Romagna. But the Pope joined with Constance in
hostility to the Germans. Without Innocent's strong and constant
support she could hardly have carried out her policy. Recognizing in
the renewal of the old papal protection the best hopes for the
independence of Sicily, Constance, on her death in 1198, called on
Innocent III to act as the guardian of her son. Innocent loyally took
up her work, and struggled with all his might to preserve the kingdom
of Frederick against his many enemies. But the contest was a long and
a fierce one.

No sooner was Constance dead than the Germans came back to their prey.
The fierce Markwald, driven from Romagna by the papal triumph, claimed
the regency and the custody of the King. The Saracens and Greeks of
Sicily, still numerous and active, joined the Germans. Walter, Bishop
of Troja, Chancellor of Sicily, weaved deep plots against his master
and his overlord. But the general support of the Church gave Innocent
a strong weapon. Roffrid, Abbot of Monte Casino, a tried friend of
Henry VI, declared for Innocent against Markwald, who in revenge
besieged the great monastery, until a summer storm drove him baffled
from its walls. But the purchased support of Pisa gave Markwald the
command of the sea, and Innocent had too many schemes on foot and too
little military power at his command to be able to make easy headway
against him.

At last Innocent had reluctant recourse to Count Walter of Brienne,
the French husband of Tancred's daughter Albina, and now a claimant
for the hereditary fiefs of Tancred, Lecce