§ 44. THE FIRST COUNCIL OF LYONS. 195
One of the interesting figures at the council vvas Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, who protested against eccle siastical abuses in England, such as the appointment of un worthy foreigners to benefices, and the exorbitant exactions for the papal exchequer. The pope gave no relief, and the English bishops were commanded to affix their seals con firming King John's charter of tribute.1 The only notable achievement of the council of Lyons was the defeat of Frederick. Innocent followed it up with vigorous measures. Frederick's manifesto he answered with the reassertion of the most extravagant claims. The bishop of Rome was intrusted with authority to judge kings. If, in the Old Testament, priests deposed unworthy monarchs, how much more right had the vicar of Christ so to do. Innocent stirred up the flames of rebellion in Sicily and through the mendi cant orders fanned the fires of discontent in Germany. Papal legates practically usurped the government of the German Church from 1246 to 1254. In the conflict over the election of bishops to German dioceses, Innocent usually gained his point, and in the year 1247-1248 thirteen of his nominees were elected.2 At the pope's instigation Henry Raspe, land grave of Thuringia, was chosen emperor, 1246, to replace Frederick, and at his death, a year later, William of Holland.
In Italy civil war broke out. Here the mendicant orders were also against him. He met the elements of revolt in the South and subdued them. Turning to the North, success was at first on his side but soon left him. One fatality followed another. Thaddeus of Suessa fell, 1248. Peter de Vinea, another shrewd counsellor, had abandoned his master. Enzio, the emperor's favorite son, was in prison.3 Utter defeat fell upon him before Parma and forced him to abandon all Lombardy. As if there had not been curs-
1 M. Paris, Luard's ed., IV. 478. 2 See Aldinger.
3 The tragic career of this gifted man and consummate flower of chivalry is deeply engraven in the romance and architecture of Bologna.
196 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1216-1294.
ings enougn, Innocent, in 1247, had once more launched the anathema against him. Frederick's career was at an end. He retired to Southern Italy, a broken man, and died near Lucera, an old Samnite town, Dec. 13, 1250. His tomb is at the side of the tomb of his parents in the cathedral of Palermo. He died absolved by the archbishop of Palermo and clothed in the garb of the Cistercians.1
Stupor mundi, the Wonder of the World — this is the title which Matthew Paris applies to Frederick II.2 Europe had not seen his equal as a ruler since the days of Charle magne. For his wide outlook, the diversity of his gifts, and the vigor and versatility of his statecraft he is justly com pared to the great rulers.3 Morally the inferior of his grandfather, Barbarossa, Frederick surpassed him in intel lectual breadth and culture. He is the most conspicuous political figure of his own age and the most cosmopolitan of the Middle Ages. He was warrior, legislator, statesman, man of letters. He won concessions in the East and was the last Christian king of Jerusalem to enter his realm. He brought order out of confusion in Sicily and Southern Italy and substituted the uniform legislation of the Sicilian Con stitutions for the irresponsible jurisdiction of ecclesiastical court and baron. It has been said he founded the system of centralized government 4 and prepared the way for the monarchies of later times. He struck out a new path
1 This is the more credible narrative. Villani, an. 1250, tells the story that Manfred bribed Frederick's chamberlain, and stifled the dying man with a wet cloth.
2 Principum mundi maximus, stupor quoque mundi et immutator mirabi- Zi's, "greatest of the princes of the earth, the wonder of the world and the marvellous regulating genius [innovator] in its affairs." Luard's M. Paris, V. 190, 196. In his letters Frederick styled himself Fredericus Dei gratia Romanorum imperator et semper augustus, Jerusalem et Sicilice rex.
3 Kington, I. 475 sqq.
4 Gregorovius, V. 271. This view is not discredited by the decentralizing charters Frederick gave to German cities on which Fisher, Mediceval Em pire, lays so much stress. See his good chapter on "Imperial Legislation in Italy" (XI).