Church--the
Fourth Lateran Council, 1215--for the purpose of stimulating
a new crusade. "The necessity for succoring the Holy Land,"
said his letters of convocation, "and the hope of conquering
the Saracens, are greater than ever. We renew our cries and
our prayers to you to excite you to this noble enterprise."

The Sixth Crusade, which was inspired by the Pope and
preached in France by his legate, Robert de Courcon, was
divided in the sequel into three maritime expeditions. The
first, 1216, consisted mainly of Hungarians under their
King, Andrew; the second, 1218, was composed of Germans,
Italians, French, and English nobles and their followers;
and the third, 1228, was led by Frederick II in person. The
first two produced no considerable advantage for the
Christians; while Frederick, involved in the Hohenstaufen
struggle with the papacy, evaded his crusading vows made
long before. Innocent III died in 1216; Honorius III, the
next pope, died in 1227; and his successor, Gregory IX,
urged Frederick on to fulfil his promise. The Emperor
embarked in 1227, but when he had been only three days at
sea, by reason of his own illness or the sickness of his
troops--accounts are not agreed--he returned to port. The
Pope, furious at his conduct, excommunicated him. But in the
following year, notwithstanding the ban, Frederick set sail
for Palestine, and the story of this expedition is the
essential history of the Sixth Crusade.

After his excommunication, Frederick appealed not to the Pope, but to
the sovereigns of Christendom. His illness, he said, had been real,
the accusations of the Pope wanton and cruel. "The Christian charity
which should hold all things together is dried up at its source, in
its stem, not in its branches. What had the Pope done in England but
stir up the barons against John, and then abandon them to death or
ruin? The whole world paid tribute to his avarice. His legates were
everywhere, gathering where they had not sown, and reaping where they
had not strawed."

But although he thus dealt in language as furious as that of the Pope,
the thought of breaking definitely with him and of casting aside his
crusading vow as worthless mockery never seems to have entered his
mind. He undertook to bring his armies together again with all speed,
and to set off on his expedition. His promise