a king, who had not only the will,
but the power, to enforce his claims. Preparations for the new Crusade
were immediately commenced, and in the course of six months the emperor
was at the head of a well-disciplined army of sixty thousand men. Matthew
Paris informs us, that an army of the same amount was gathered in England;
and most of the writers upon the Crusades adopt his statement. When John
of Brienne was in England, before his daughter's marriage with the emperor
was thought of, praying for the aid of Henry III. and his nobles to
recover his lost kingdom, he did not meet with much encouragement.
Grafton, in his _Chronicle_, says, "he departed again without any great
comfort." But when a man of more influence in European politics appeared
upon the scene, the English nobles were as ready to sacrifice themselves
in the cause as they had been in the time of Coeur de Lion.

The army of Frederic encamped at Brundusium; but a pestilential disease
having made its appearance among them, their departure was delayed for
several months. In the mean time the Empress Violante died in childbed.
John of Brienne, who had already repented of his abdication, and was
besides incensed against Frederic for many acts of neglect and insult, no
sooner saw the only tie which bound them severed by the death of his
daughter, than he began to bestir himself, and make interest with the pope
to undo what he had done, and regain the honorary crown he had renounced.
Pope Gregory IX., a man of a proud, unconciliating, and revengeful
character, owed the emperor a grudge for many an act of disobedience to
his authority, and encouraged the overtures of John of Brienne more than
he should have done. Frederic, however, despised them both, and, as soon
as his army was convalescent, set sail for Acre. He had not been many days
at sea when he was himself attacked with the malady, and obliged to return
to Otranto, the nearest port. Gregory, who had by this time decided in the
interest of John of Brienne, excommunicated the emperor for returning from
so holy an expedition on any pretext whatever. Frederic at first treated
the excommunication with supreme contempt; but when he got well, he gave
his holiness to understand that he was not to be outraged with impunity,
and sent some of his troops to ravage the papal territories. This,
however, only made the matter worse, and Gregory despatched messengers to
Palestine forbidding the faithful, under severe pains