The Medieval Mediterranean

Frederick II was called Stupor Mundi — the Wonder of the World — and he earned it. He spoke six languages, kept a menagerie of exotic animals, corresponded with Arab philosophers, wrote a treatise on falconry, and negotiated the return of Jerusalem through diplomacy when every crusade before him had used swords. He was also Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily, and King of Jerusalem simultaneously, which made him the most powerful ruler in Europe and a permanent problem for the papacy.

Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory IX excommunicated him — twice. He kept ruling anyway. Around him orbited astrologers, Arab scholars like Ibn Sab'in, Scottish magicians like Michael Scot, and his English bride Isabella. This is the strangest, most cosmopolitan court of the Middle Ages.