had once more 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
child-bed. 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 the Ninth, 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 faithf