The crowd was dumbfounded when they saw the long line traveling with the emperor. There is no doubt that they are looking at the greatest king in the Middle Ages. Europeans have never seen the emperor patrol in such an extraordinary way. Leading the way is the cavalry guard composed of Saracens, riding Arabian horses and wearing oriental costumes. In the eyes of those watching Italians and Germans, it must be praised as exotic. The emperor's concubines behind the guards were all stunning beauties wearing fine gauze, swinging up and down in tall horse-drawn sedan chairs, guarded by tall black eunuchs. After concubines, there were court officials, knights and courtiers in bright clothes. The emperor is quite short, with red hair, high above him and imposing. The emperor was followed by several rows of attendants, wearing the emperor's pet on his wrist. Then there were the herds raised by the emperor, including leopards and cheetahs, camels and giraffes, which were first seen in Europe at that time and presented by the Sultan of Egypt. Behind the line are dusty chefs and shop assistants. Mothers will tell their children at this time that they just saw Frederick II.

Frederick II was the king of Sicily, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and the king of Jerusalem and Cyprus. In his life 1 194 ~ 1250, in the eyes of his subordinates and supporters, he was a truly extraordinary man, the second king David, and even the savior. He came to this world to restore the golden age of Rome, clean up corrupt churches and establish world peace. But in the eyes of many of his enemies (including the Pope), he opposed Christ, mocked the Orthodox Church and made friends with pagans and Jews. So, did Frederick II openly doubt the immortality of the soul and claim that Moses and Jesus were the biggest liars ever? Did he talk to Arab philosophers and raise a large number of wives? He took part in the Crusades. When they arrived at the holy land, they did not slaughter Muslims as usual, but signed a peace treaty with each other and rented the Christian holy land back from Islam. If so, it is no wonder that the Pope excommunicated him twice and encouraged his people to rebel against his rule.

But what was Frederick II like? Since he has provoked such vicious criticism, why do people have different opinions about him? Frederick II's grandfather was Frederick Barbarossa, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Germany, who died during the Crusade in 1 190. Grandfather was the king of William II, Sicily and southern Italy. The above two were the greatest monarchs at that time. Henry II's father, Emperor Henry, married constance, the heir to the Sicilian king. Henry 1 197 died, and Frederick was only 3 years old. The young son grew up in Palermo and no one protected him. Sicily was occupied by Greeks, Arabs and Normans, so the cities of Sicily in the Middle Ages were a melting pot of all ethnic groups. Frederick's elders put orphans in Palermo to compete for power and interests. Frederick's daily contact with Jewish businessmen or Arab and Greek craftsmen is naturally quite different from the education received by most young princes in those days.

Frederick became king in 12 12. He is only 18 years old, and he is already a very unusual person. At that time, the so-called orthodox religion dominated personal thoughts everywhere, and the church strictly controlled everyone's words and deeds. Frederick is an enthusiastic and even skeptical Christian, ready to integrate the advantages of Islam and Judaism. He hired Jewish doctors and Arab soldiers, eager to absorb the pagan cultural knowledge of Arab and Hebrew philosophers and scholars.

Although the legend of Frederick's meeting with Francis the Five Wounded is not reliable, it generally shows that Frederick has an exploratory attitude towards religion and other affairs. 122 1 autumn, Francis, a wounded man in the holy five, made a pilgrimage to the holy city and returned to Bali in southern Italy. At that time, Frederick was holding a pilgrimage ceremony in an old castle in Bali, and invited Francis, the wounded of Saint Five, to spend the night in the castle. Frederick sent a beautiful woman to five wounded Francis' bedroom in an attempt to seduce him, while he peeped through a small gap in the wall. But when Francis woke up, he immediately took out some red charcoal from the stove, sprinkled it on the ground, then lay down and invited his beautiful woman to lie down with him. The beauty had to leave, and Frederick went in, and they chatted all night. Francis pursues asceticism and is a mystic. He is very different from the suspicious and indulgent emperor, but they also have a lot in common: they want to live in peace with Islam and are interested in reforming the corrupt church. Unfortunately, what they talked about that night was not recorded.

The emperor often spends his time on worldly affairs. His court is a gathering place for poets and artists, and there are also beautiful women to add charm, among which Pronice's bard is more like a duck to water. Frederick himself is not a poor poet. His poems written in Italian had a great influence on Dante, the great poet in Florence. The buildings he designed heralded the revival of Greek and Roman styles. Today, the destroyed Gapuya Arch was built according to Roman architectural style, while Frederick's statues and gold coins were designed in classical style, and the emperor in the image wore a laurel crown on his head.

Frederick's laws, especially those concerning women, are extremely humane. For example, women not only have the right to inherit property, but also are protected by anti-rape laws. Frederick's governance is quite advanced, and the water pipe system installed in the palace is also perfect, because Frederick likes to take a bath frequently. Many natural science experiments he did were also ahead of the times. But this reputation can't help solve his long-term argument with the Pope, who hates his innovation and doesn't trust his intentions. Several popes incited nervous residents in northern Italy to revolt. The real reason why the Pope attacked Frederick II has nothing to do with religion, but to protect his jurisdiction in central Italy from royal interference. As a result, politics and religion have been opposed for a long time, and both sides blame each other and spread rumors, making it difficult to distinguish right from wrong.

Frederick was by no means the "antichrist" as slanderers said, but at that time, people didn't appreciate that kind of personality, and therefore, he became a mysterious figure, not a famous person. His behavior seems to be ahead of the times. In the darkest age of the Middle Ages, he was a pioneer of the Renaissance, and in the age of blind religious belief, he was a skeptic. Frederick died suddenly in 1250. His life is so colorful and brilliant that many people don't believe that he is really dead. Someone is an impostor, claiming to be the only thrill, the savior Frederick. Although he was invincible before his death, after his death, his descendants continued to fight for power and profit with the Vatican and became victims. Twenty-five years later, all the descendants died, and the strange dynasty perished.

In the Middle Ages, many monarchs liked to go hunting with falcons and put them in the air to catch their prey. But usually after the falcon is closed, you don't look at it anymore. Frederick II not only loved hunting, but also was interested in all aspects of bird life. He also wrote a famous book on bird ecology: hunting with falcons. This is a veritable scientific work, and it is still an authoritative reading until the18th century. This book was probably written by Frederick in his later years. At that time, Aristotle's zoology was considered infallible. Although Frederick also said that he benefited a lot, he wrote in his book: "Many examples told by Greek philosophers seem to be inconsistent with the facts." Frederick was able to point out Aristotle's mistakes because he had stayed in hunting stations all over the country for a long time to observe birds. This book is divided into six volumes, the last four volumes discuss specialized techniques, and the first two volumes are very interesting, which shows that Frederick deserves to be a zoologist. He noticed that there was a bird digging for food on the ground, so it had serrated tissues on its inner toes. He also took a chicken home and observed its growth process, thus discovering the nesting habits of cuckoo. He also observed the migration of migratory birds over southern Italy, and tried to artificially hatch bird eggs by using solar heat.

However, Frederick was most interested in falcons and falcon hunting, and he was the most outstanding expert at that time. He got the falcon from a rather cold island called Ilandia between Norway and Greenland, and the details are recorded in the book. This shows how much he loves this thing and spares no effort to transport the falcon back to Sicily. Today, even with all kinds of ingenious methods, it is not easy to transport a falcon.