and penalties, to
hold any intercourse with the excommunicated emperor. Thus between them
both, the scheme which they had so much at heart bade fair to be as
effectually ruined as even the Saracens could have wished. Frederic still
continued his zeal in the Crusade, for he was now king of Jerusalem, and
fought for himself, and not for Christendom, or its representative, Pope
Gregory. Hearing that John of Brienne was preparing to leave Europe, he
lost no time in taking his own departure, and arrived safely at Acre. It
was here that he first experienced the evil effects of excommunication.
The Christians of Palestine refused to aid him in any way, and looked with
distrust, if not with abhorrence, upon him. The Templars, Hospitallers,
and other knights, shared at first the general feeling; but they were not
men to yield a blind obedience to a distant potentate, especially when it
compromised their own interests. When, therefore, Frederic prepared to
march upon Jerusalem without them, they joined his banners to a man.

[Illustration: TEMPLAR AND HOSPITALLER.]

It is said that, previous to quitting Europe, the German emperor had
commenced a negotiation with the Sultan Camhel for the restoration of the
Holy Land, and that Camhel, who was jealous of the ambition of his brother
Cohreddin, was willing to stipulate to that effect, on condition of being
secured by Frederic in the possession of the more important territory of
Egypt. But before the Crusaders reached Palestine, Camhel was relieved
from all fears by the death of his brother. He nevertheless did not think
it worth while to contest with the Crusaders the barren corner of the
earth which had already been dyed with so much Christian and Saracen
blood, and proposed a truce of three years, only stipulating, in addition,
that the Moslems should be allowed to worship freely in the temple of
Jerusalem. This happy termination did not satisfy the bigoted Christians
of Palestine. The tolerance they sought for themselves, they were not
willing to extend to others, and they complained bitterly of the privilege
of free worship allowed to their opponents. Unmerited good fortune had
made them insolent, and they contested the right of the emperor to become
a party to any treaty, as long as he remained under the ecclesiastical
ban. Frederic was disgusted with his new subjects; but, as the Templars
and Hospitallers remained true to him, he marched to Jerusalem to be
crowned. All the chur