Frederick the Second

'This new edition returns a mercurial, bravura work to the bookshelves, from which it has been absent too long' Dan Jones, author of The Templars.

Dubbed the 'stupor mundi' – the wonder of the world – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, led a life of extraordinary drama and ambition. Born in 1194, Frederick was the son of Emperor Henry II and Constance, Queen of Sicily. He inherited the Sicilian throne when he was only four years old and, in adulthood, the charismatic Frederick fought for control over the lands he considered his birthright to become King of the Germans and Holy Roman Emperor. At the zenith of his power, he crowned himself King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, thereby securing an empire which embraced vast areas of Western Europe and the Holy Land.

Frederick was a towering figure of his age, but he was a man full of contradictions. For some he was a Messiah, an enlightened monarch and bringer of justice and...