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efuse him aid--a circumstance that condemned the crusade to eventual failure as a
military expedition. Everywhere he met a sullen reception, and practically every
noble declined to participate in any campaign led by an excommunicate. Under
those circumstances Friedrich was drawn even closer to the Teutonic Order than
would have been the case. Because that Order remained loyal and assisted him in
every way, he gave the members special consideration in Jerusalem after that city
was recovered in the peace treaty, and he gave them the toll receipts from Acre. As
long as he remained in the Holy Land with his army, he could do much as he
pleased, but he could not remain there long. Grandmaster Hermann, realizing this,
avoided antagonizing the local nobles or the other crusading orders. In that way he
saved his Order from the reprisals that followed when Friedrich II left Acre in l229
under a shower of rotten fruit and vegetables; and he arranged for a speedy
removal of the excommunication which had been placed on the Order for its
support of Friedrich's crusade. Still, all was not well in the Holy Land: wherever the
imperial garrisons were small or isolated, they were attacked by the Christian
nobles and prelates who were angry about Friedrich’s failure to help them in the
past, about his policies in Sicily, about his quarrel with the Pope, and who
considered him nothing more than an atheistic fortune-hunter.
Hermann von Salza accompanied the unfortunate Emperor back to Italy and
helped to reconcile him with Pope Gregory. He had given up all hope of
establishing his Order permanently and solely in the Holy Land. Quickly he sent off
the first contingent of knights to Prussia. His estimate of the situation in the Holy
Land was correct. By l23l most of the imperial garrisons were expelled, and it was
only a matter of time until Jerusalem was recaptured by the Moslems. The city fell
in l244, and the Holy Land stood on the defensive, awaiting the inevitable attack
that would deprive the Christians of their last footholds there.
The Teutonic Knights did not give up their interest in the Mediterranean--far from
it. Their knights were more necessary for providing a garrison for Acre than ever
before. But Acre was a port city, hot, humid and crowded, not a suitable place to
live year in and year out. Knights flourished in the countryside, where the climate
was healthier and there were opportunities to ride and to hunt, and fields and
fodder for the horses; but also, they needed a dependable supply of locally-grown
food and wine. In l220 they had purchased a run-down castle from the Hindenburg
family, and now they began to repair it, using the tolls from Acre to finance the
work. They named the huge fortress Montfort, probably deriving both the name
and the architecture from a castle in Transylvania. In German it was called
Starkenberg (Strong Mountain), and, indeed, it was sited on a most difficult
location to assault. However, it was not a formidable defensive post, and was
probably more noted for its handsome guest house and remarkable view over the
wooded hills on one side and the Acre plain on the other than for its contributions
The Hohenstaufen Dynasty - Page 104 of 200