FREDERICK II., Emperor of Germany. On the death of Frede rick L he was succeeded by his son Henry, who reigned only eight years, leaving his son Frederick, a child of four years of age, who bad been created king of the Romans when in his cradle. He was very carefully educated by his mother, Constance of Sicily, and acquired a degree of learning very extraordinary at that age. His hereditary dominions consisted of the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the duchy of Suable, and other territories in Germany. In 1210, the emperor Otho being excommunicated by the pope, Frederick, then fourteen years of age, was declared emperor by a considerable number of the German princes, but it was not till some years afterwards, on the retreat and death of Otho, that he became peaceable possessor of the imperial throne, and was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1215. Scarcely another prince in the middle ages, Charlemagne excepted, has made so distinguished a figure; the most remarkable period of those ages is connected with his name and his long reign. It was the time in which Innocent HI., Gregory IX., and Innocent IV. carried Gregory's VIL's policy to an extent that had been considered as impossible ; when, by the origin of the orders of knighthood, the foundation of the Mendicant orders, and the Inquisition, were formed powerful supporters of the spiritual edifice; when the nations of Europe were for the first time impressed by the Crusades with one general idea, represented by the symbol of the Cross, and drawn closer together; when, after many single voices had died away unheeded or forgotten, a Protestantism of the middle ages was proclaimed by the Waldenses and a kind of Manichmanism by the Albigenses; when chivalry attained a more elevated position, ennobled by religion and n regular orgaoisation; when the class of free citizens gradually rose in estimation and importance, and favoured in Germany by Frederick against the aristocracy, and opposed by him in Upper Italy as - instruments of the pope; acquired, by means of great confederations of many cities, and, by the institution of corporate bodies, respect abroad and internal strength ; when, in opposition to the club-law, a law for ensuring public peace and security was first proclaimed in the German language; when the Secret Tribunal began to act in its first, scarcely perceptible commencement; when the first universities excited a spirit of inquiry and research; and when the poetry of the Troubadours found a home in Germany and Italy, and was honoured and cultivated by emperors and kings.
Frederick, though not tall, was well made; he had a fine open forehead, and a mild and pleasing expression of the eye and mouth. The heir of all the best qualities of all the members of his dis tinguished race, enterprising, brave, liberal, with excellent natural talents, full of knowledge; he understood all the languages of his subjects, Greek, Latin, Italian, German, French, and Arabic ; he was austere, passionate, mild, and generous, as the occasion prompted, cheerful, magnificent, and fond of pleasure. And as his body had gained strength and elasticity by skill in all chivalrous exercises, so his mind and character, early formed in the school of adversity and trial, had acquired a degree of flexibility which those who are born to power but seldom know, ana an energy which strengthened and raised hlm in times of difficulty. But such a body and such a mind were necessary for a man who was to combat in Germany, already divided into parties, a preponderating aristocracy ; in Upper Italy a powerful democracy ; in Central Italy an arrogant hierarchy; and in his own southern hereditary dominions, to reconcile, and unite by internal ties, the hostile elements of six nations ; who, opposed by temporal and spiritual arms, by rival kings, by excommunication and interdict, persevered, conquering and conquered, for forty years, sur vived the rebellion of a son, the treachery and poison of his most valued friend, the loss of his favourite child, and did not resign the sceptre, which he bad held so firmly, till the last moment of his life.