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Lombard League in 1239, the possibility that he might dominate all of Italy,
surrounding the Papal States, became a very real threat. A new outbreak of
hostilities led to a fresh excommunication of the emperor in 1239 and to a
prolonged war.
Gregory IX denounced Frederick II as a heretic and summoned a council at Rome
to give point to his anathema. Frederick responded by trying to capture or sink as
many ships carrying prelates to the synod as he could. Eberhard II von Truchsees,
Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, in 1241 at the Council of Regensburg declared that
Gregory IX was "that man of perdition, whom they call Antichrist, who in his
extravagant boasting says, 'I am God, I cannot err'." He argued that the Pope was
the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8”
Frederick II was "... the beast that rises from the sea full of blasphemous names,
and raging with the paw of the bear and the lion's mouth, informed in the
remaining limbs like a leopard opens his mouth to insult the Holy Name without
ceasing to hurl the same spear upon the tabernacle of God and Saints who dwell
in Heaven on ... "as he wanted to Pope Gregory IX or" the savior sent by God, the
Prince of Peace, the Messiah-emperor "as he wanted to Pier delle Vigne his great
avenger, initiated into the mysteries of the East?
The struggle was only terminated by the death of Gregory IX on 22 August 1241. He
died before events could reach their climax; it was his successor Pope Innocent IV
who declared a crusade in 1245 that would finish the Hohenstaufen threat.
Innocent IV
Innocent IV (Latin: Innocentius PP. IV, Italian: Innocenzo IV;
c. 1195 – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi of Genoa,
was Pope from 25 June 1243 until his death in 1254 whose
clash with Holy Roman emperor Frederick II formed an
important chapter in the conflict between papacy and empire.
His belief in universal responsibility of the papacy led him to
attempt the evangelization of the East and the unification of the
Christian churches.
Frederick II was encouraged by the election of Cardinal Fieschi on June 25, 1243,
after the see of Rome had been vacant for 18 months following the brief reign of
Celestine IV. He immediately entered into negotiations with the new pope, who
took the name Innocent IV, to have the excommunication imposed on him by
Gregory IX lifted. The Pope, however, did not trust Frederick, despite an agreement
reached on March 31, 1244. He felt unsafe in Rome and secretly fled the city,
interrupting the negotiations with the Emperor. Genoese galleys prepared by his
The Hohenstaufen Dynasty - Page 74 of 200