inst him, and he could not even
find a priest to officiate at his coronation. He had despised the Papal
authority too long to quail at it now, when it was so unjustifiably
exerted, and, as there was nobody to crown him, he very wisely crowned
himself. He took the royal diadem from the altar with his own hands,
and boldly and proudly placed it on his brow. No shouts of an
applauding populace made the welkin ring, no hymns of praise and
triumph resounded from the ministers of religion; but a thousand swords
started from their scabbards, to testify that their owners would defend
the new monarch to the death.

It was hardly to be expected that he would renounce for any long period
the dominion of his native land for the uneasy crown and barren soil of
Palestine. He had seen quite enough of his new subjects before he was
six months among them, and more important interests called him home.
John of Brienne, openly leagued with Pope Gregory against him, was
actually employed in ravaging his territories at the head of a papal
army. This intelligence decided his return. As a preliminary step, he
made those who had contemned his authority feel, to their sorrow, that
he was their master. He then set sail, loaded with the curses of
Palestine. And thus ended the seventh Crusade, which, in spite of every
obstacle and disadvantage, had been productive of more real service to
the Holy Land than any that had gone before; a result solely
attributable to the bravery of Frederic and the generosity of the
Sultan Camhel.

Soon after the Emperor's departure a new claimant started for the
throne of Jerusalem, in the person of Alice, Queen of Cyprus, and
half-sister of the Mary who, by her marriage, had transferred her right
to John of Brienne. The grand military orders, however, clung to
Frederic, and Alice was obliged to withdraw.

So peaceful a termination to the Crusade did not give unmixed pleasure
in Europe. The chivalry of France and England were unable to rest, and
long before the conclusion of the truce, were collecting their armies
for an eighth expedition. In Palestine, also, the contentment was far
from universal. Many petty Mahomedan states in the immediate vicinity
were not parties to the truce, and harassed the frontier towns
incessantly. The Templars, ever turbulent, waged bitter war with the
Sultan of Aleppo, and in the end were almost exterminated. So great was
the slaughter among them that Europe resounded with the sad stor