Apulia and threatening Sicily. One
task only remained for him in the East. He must pay his vows at the
Holy Sepulchre. But here also the hand of the Pope lay heavy upon him.
Not merely Jerusalem, but the Sepulchre itself, passed under the
interdict as he entered the gates of the city, and the infidel Moslem
saw the churches closed and all worship suspended at the approach of
the Christian Emperor.

On Sunday, in his imperial robes and attended by a magnificent
retinue, Frederick went to his coronation, as king of Jerusalem, in
the Church of the Sepulchre. Not a single ecclesiastic was there to
take part in the ceremony. The archbishops of Capua and Palermo stood
aloof, while Frederick, taking the crown from the high altar, placed
it on his own head. By his orders his friend Herman de Salza read an
address, in which the Emperor acquitted the Pope for his hard judgment
of him and for his excommunication, and added that a real knowledge of
the facts would have led him to speak not against him, but in his
favor. He confessed his desire to put to shame the false friends of
Christ, his accusers and slanderers, by the restoration of peace and
unity, and to humble himself before God and before his vicar upon
earth.

From the Saracens he won golden opinions. The cadi silenced a muezzin
who had to proclaim the hour of prayer from a minaret near the house
in which the Emperor lodged, because he added to his call the
question, "How is it possible that God had for his son Jesus the son
of Mary?" Frederick marked the silence of the crier when the hour of
prayer came round. On learning the cause he rebuked the cadi for
neglecting, on his account, his duty and his religion, and warned him
that if he should visit him in his kingdom he would find no such
ill-judged deference. He showed no dissatisfaction, it is said, with
the inscription which declared that Saladin had purified the city from
those who worshipped many gods, or any displeasure when the Mahometans
in his train fell on their knees at the times for prayer. His thoughts
about the Christians were shown, it was supposed, when, seeing the
windows of the Holy Chapel barred to keep out the birds which might
defile it, he asked: "You may keep out the birds; but how will you
keep out the swine?"

In glowing terms Frederick wrote to the sovereigns of Europe,
announcing the splendid success which he had achieved rather by the
pen than by the sword. He scarcely knew what a rock of