ly increased in estate by the favour of the
kings of France and of England, and of William, king of Sicily, sought
to reconcile himself with the Church and with the Pope, to the end he
might not wholly lose the honour of the Empire, and he sent a solemn
embassy to Venice to Pope Alexander to ask for peace, promising to
make all amends to Holy Church, and the Pope graciously hearkened to
him, wherefore the said Frederick went to Venice and threw himself at
the feet of the said Pope, and asked for mercy. Then the said Pope set
his foot upon his neck, and said the verse of the psalter: "_Super
aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis, et conculcabis leonem et draconem_"
[Ps. xci. 13]; and the Emperor answered, "_Non tibi sed Petro_" [Not
to you, but to Peter, was it said], and the Pope answered, "_Ego sum
vicarius Petri_" [I am in the place of Peter]; and then he forgave him
every offence which he had committed against Holy Church, causing him
to restore that which he held from Holy Church; and this he promised
and did, under compact that whatsoever should be found held in
possession by the Church on that day throughout the Kingdom, should
pertain for ever to Holy Church; and it was found that Benivento was
so held; and this was the cause why the Church holds as hers the city
of Benivento. And this done, he reconciled him with the Romans, and
with Manuel, emperor of Constantinople, and with William, king of
Sicily, and with the Lombards; and as amends and penance he imposed
upon him, and he promised, to go over seas to the succour of the Holy
Land, forasmuch as Saladin, the soldan of Babylon, had retaken
Jerusalem and many other fortresses held by the Christians; and this
he did. Then the said Frederick, having taken the cross in the year of
Christ 1188, departed from Germany with an immense host, and went by
land through Hungary to Constantinople as far as Armenia [Pisidia];
but when the said Frederick was come into Armenia, it being summer and
very hot, as he was bathing for his solace in a little river called
the river of Ferro [Iron], he was miserably drowned. And this, it is
believed, was the judgment of God by reason of the many persecutions
which he had brought upon Holy Church: and he left a son, which was
named Henry, whom he had caused to be elected king of the Romans
before he passed over seas in the year of Christ 1186; and when the
said Frederick was dead, his wife, with her son and with their
followers, albeit many of