nd, the pope and his friends set themselves against him with
all their might, saying that he was not hearty in the cause, and even
that he was not a Christian at all. So that, although Frederick made a
treaty with the Mahometans by which a great deal was gained for the
Christians, it came to little or nothing, because the popes would not
confirm it.

[81] See page 219.

I need not say much more about Frederick II. There was very much in him
that we cannot approve of or excuse; but he met with hard usage from the
popes, and after his death (A.D. 1250) they pursued his family with
constant hatred, until the last heir, a spirited young prince named
Conradin, who boldly attempted to recover the dominions of his family in
Southern Italy, was made prisoner and executed at Naples in 1268.

PART II.

At the same time with Frederick lived a sovereign of a very different
kind, Lewis IX. of France, who is commonly called St. Lewis, and
deserves the name of _saint_ better than very many persons to whom it is
given. There was a great deal in the religion of Lewis that we should
call superstition; but he laboured very earnestly to live up to the
notions of Christian religion which were commonly held in his time. He
attended several services in church every day, and when he was told that
his nobles found fault with this, he answered, that no one would have
blamed him if he had spent twice as much time in hunting or in playing
at dice. He was diligent in all other religious exercises, he refrained
from all worldly sports and pastimes, and, as far as could be, he
shunned the pomp of royalty. He was very careful never to use any words
but such as were fit for a Christian. He paid great respect to clergy
and monks, and said that if he could divide himself into two, he would
give one half to the Dominicans and the other half to the Franciscans.
It is even said that at one time he would himself have turned friar, if
his queen had not persuaded him that he would do better by remaining a
king and studying to govern well and to benefit the Church.

But with all this, Lewis took care that the popes should not get more
power over the French Church than he thought due to them. And if any
bishop had tried to play the same part in France which Becket played in
English history, we may be sure that St. Lewis would have set himself
steadily against him.

In 1244 Jerusalem was taken by the Mongols, a barbarous heathen people,
who had none of t