Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Wonder of the World
The Holy Roman Empire had barely touched southern Italy until Henry, son of the Holy
Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), married Constance de Hauteville, heir to the
Norman throne in Sicily. The Normans had arrived in southern Italy in the 10th century,
initially as pilgrims en route from Jerusalem, later as mercenaries attracted by the money to
be made fighting for rival principalities and against the Arab Muslims in Sicily. Of Henry
and Constance's match was born one of the most colourful figures of medieval Europe,
Frederick II (1194-1250).
Crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1220, Frederick was a German with a difference.
Having grown up in southern Italy, he considered Sicily his natural base and left the Ger-
man states largely to their own devices. A warrior and scholar, Frederick was an en-
lightened ruler with an absolutist vocation. A man who allowed freedom of worship to
Muslims and Jews, he was not to everyone's liking, as his ambition was to finally bring all
of Italy under the imperial yoke.
A poet, linguist, mathematician, philosopher and all-round fine fellow, Frederick foun-
ded a university in Naples and encouraged the spread of learning and translation of Arab
treatises. From his early days at the imperial helm, he was known as Stupor Mundi (the
Wonder of the World) for his extraordinary talents, energy and military prowess.
Having reluctantly carried out a crusade (marked more by negotiation than the clash of
arms) in the Holy Land in 1228 and 1229 on pain of excommunication, Frederick returned
to Italy to find Papal troops invading Neapolitan territory. Frederick soon had them on the
run and turned his attention to gaining control of the complex web of city-states in central
and northern Italy, where he found allies and many enemies, in particular the Lombard
League. Years of inconclusive battles ensued, which even Frederick's death in 1250 did not
end. Several times he had been on the verge of taking Rome and victory had seemed as-
sured more than once. Campaigning continued until 1268 under Frederick's successors,
Manfredi (who fell in the bloody Battle of Benevento in 1266) and Corradino (captured and
executed two years later by French noble Charles of Anjou, who had by then taken over Si-
cily and southern Italy).
The Arabs introduced spaghetti to Sicily, where 'strings of pasta' were documented by the Arab
geographer Al-Idrissi in Palermo in 1150.
