Frederick II, known as Stupor Mundi (wonder of the world) by some contempories, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily until his death in 1250. Born in Jesi in Southern Italy in 1194, he was crowned King of Sicily in 1198. He is known for his conflicts with the papacy, particularly Gregory XI and Innocent IV, and for his patronage of an eclectic court, which mixed influences from west and east. Some biographers have given him heroic status as the first renaissance prince, a man of culture born out of time. His disputes with the papacy add colour to such claims, particularly when papal propagandists labeled him an athiest or anti-christ. However, modern biographers such as David Abulafia, put Frederick more properly in the context of typical Medieval kingship.
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