Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/99

Rh up between him and the Pope culminated in open hostilities. A sentence of excommunication was launched against the emperor, ostensibly on account of the delays which had interfered with his Crusade, and he in his turn invaded and ravaged the papal dominions. Undeterred by these ecclesiastical thunders, and whilst still lying under the anathema of his Holiness, Frederic proceeded to Palestine in the year 1228, accompanied by a considerable force, and prepared to march into the interior of the country.

A difficulty at first arose with the military Orders, who were unwilling to render aid to a prince who had been placed outside the pale of the church, and to whom the Pope had forbidden that they should render any assistance whatever. Eventually, however, matters were amicably arranged, and the army proceeded on its march to Jerusalem, meeting with no opposition on the part of the Saracens. Camel, the sultan of Egypt, dreading the ambition of his brother Coradinus, thought it advisable to make overtures of peace to the emperor, and thus, without striking a blow, Frederic was enabled to conclude an advantageous treaty on behalf of the Christians. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jaffa, were restored to the Latins, and pilgrims were to be permitted to traverse the land freely on their way to the Holy Sepulchre, the only proviso made being that the Mahometans were also to be allowed free access to the sacred spot which they had converted into the mosque of Omar. Whilst at Jerusalem Frederic caused himself to be crowned in this church. Owing to the ecclesiastical ban under which he lay none of the clerical dignitaries nor of the military Orders assisted at the ceremonial, with the exception of the Teutonic knights. These preferred their temporal to their ecclesiastical allegiance, and supported the emperor throughout, their Grand-Master pronouncing a laudatory oration at the close of the coronation ceremony.

The latter Order, ever since its first formation during the siege of Acre, had rendered the most vital assistance to the feeble state. Acting, as it always did, in harmony with the other fraternities, it was justly entitled to share with them the glory of maintaining the defence of the relies of the kingdom. From the date, however, of Frederic’s return to Europe, its assistance