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| 1226 |
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| The conversion of Prussia undertaken by the Teutonic Order (See 1229). | 1 |
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| 1226–32 |
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| Renewal of the ancient imperial claims in Lombardy, formation of the Second Lombard League, and appearance of the First League of the Rhineland; town leagues in central Italy; Pope Gregory alienated. | 2 |
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| 1227–29 |
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| Frederick's crusade (See 1228–29): return of Frederick due to illness; first excommunication (1227); resumption of crusade (1228); violent papal and imperial propaganda and recrimination; the Teutonic Knights under Hermann of Salza remained faithful to Frederick. Aware of the commercial value of Muslim friendship, Frederick negotiated a ten-year truce (1229) with El-Kamil, sultan of Egypt, which restored Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem to Christian hands. Frederick crowned himself king of Jerusalem. Papal war (1228–29) of devastation in Apulia (first known papal mercenaries, the soldiers of the keys); Frederick on his return expelled the papal forces and threatened the Patrimonium Petri with invasion. | 3 |
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| 1230 |
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| Hollow Peace of San Germano with Pope Gregory IX: Frederick promised to protect the papal domains, confirmed papal rights over Sicily, and was absolved. In preparation for the next struggle, Frederick concentrated on Italy, especially Sicily. Frederick's son Henry, on his majority (1228), devoted himself to Germany and favored the towns. Frederick, like Barbarossa, had leaned heavily on the German episcopate, especially Engelbert of Cologne, and had increased the independence of the lay princes and ministeriales; administrative offices tended to become hereditary, and after Engelbert's death (1225), the administration had become less efficient. Settlement of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia: union (1237) with the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and eastward expansion: foundation of Thorn (1231), Kulm (1232), and Marienwerder (1233). | 4 |
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| 1231 |
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| Privilege of Worms. Hoping for German support for his Italian policy, Frederick extended to the lay princes his generous grants of 1220 to the clergy, giving them control over local justice, minting rights, roads, streams, and so on. Territorial sovereignty of both lay and clerical princes strengthened. The Decree of Ravenna (1232) allowed expansion of the power of the princes at the expense of the towns. Henry objected, revolted (1234), and tried to win the German and Italian towns to his side. | 5 |
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| 1231 |
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| Completion of the reorganization of Sicily: clean sweep of private titles and royal privileges in the Norman manner; resumption of royal domain; destruction of private garrisons and feudal castles; ban on private war; criminal jurisdiction transferred from feudal to royal courts; towns deprived of magistrates and put under royal officers; clergy taxed and excluded from civil office; heavy influence of Muslim bureaucratic techniques, such as diwan, or financial office. Sicily reduced to order (1221–25): feudal revolts put down, towns brought to heel; large Saracen garrison-colonies (loyal to Frederick and indifferent to papal threats) established at Lucera and Nocera. Recognizing in Sicily the true source of his strength in money and men, Frederick aimed to unify Sicily and Italy into a kingdom of the empire. Local risings (1228–30 and 1232) in Apulia and Sicily; unrest (1234) in southern Italy. | 6 |
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| 1231 |
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| Constitutions of Melfi, officially Lex Augustalis. Based on Roman jurisprudence, not customary law, the Constitutions attempted to subordinate churchmen, nobility, and towns to royal control: feudal and ecclesiastical courts subordinated to royal courts; royal judges to visit all parts of the kingdom annually, and “supreme court” at Capua to hear appeals from lesser courts; careful financial organization. The Constitutions represent the first systematic legal code in western Europe. | 7 |
| The University of Naples (the first European university on a royal charter) founded (1224) to train state officials, and given a monopoly on higher education; Salerno revived as a school of medicine. | 8 |
| Advanced economic policy in Sicily based on Muslim practice: abolition of internal tolls; mercantilistic regulation, state monopolies. Replacement of feudal dues by fixed payments; direct taxation in crises, efficient customs collection, and internal prosperity. | 9 |
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| 1235–37 |
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| Frederick's last visit to Germany. Deposition, arrest, and imprisonment of Henry, who committed suicide in prison (1242) and was succeeded by his brother Conrad (1237); conciliation and peace with the Welfs strengthened Frederick in Germany. Great reform Diet of Mainz (the German Melfi, 1235); issue of the model Landfrieden, ordinances for the reestablishment of peace. Frederick was unable to stem the steady progress of towns (resulting from expanding commerce) in Germany or Italy. | 10 |
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| 1237 |
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| At Cortenuova, Frederick smashed the Second Lombard League and humiliated Milan. | 11 |
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| 1239 |
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| Pope Gregory's second excommunication of Frederick, followed by battle of pamphlets and preaching: Frederick painted as a heretic, rake, anti-Christ. He retorted with a demand for reform of the Church and an appeal to the princes of Europe, proposing a league of monarchs against the papacy. | 12 |
| Beginning of the amalgamation of northern and central Italy with the imperial administration on Sicilian lines: a system of general vicariates under imperial vicars, each city with an imperial podestà (generally Apulians, and often relatives of Frederick). | 13 |
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| 1241 |
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| Gregory's call for a synod at Rome to depose Frederick. Frederick ravaged papal territory, almost took Rome, and his fleet captured a large delegation of prelates off Genoa on their way to the synod; annexation of papal Tuscany to the empire. Gregory's death (1241), Celestine IV (1241). During the two-year interregnum in the papacy, Frederick intrigued for a friendly pope. | 14 |
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| 1243 |
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| Frederick welcomed the election of Innocent IV, who turned out to be the architect of his ruin. | 15 |
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