Frederick II

Frederick II was perhaps one of the most influential individuals of the period, both for his open secularity - which was highly unusual for his time - and for his quite blatant moves for change within the Empire and what this achieved. Was he "anti-papal?" It would seem that he indeed was, however history would tell us that this perceived anti church stance was purely a result of its own ambitions for power in the Empire, which placed it directly in the way of Frederick's political and religious reforms which earned him his nickname of Stupor Mundi - The Wonder of The World. However, there is also evidence to suggest that Frederick was deliberately manipulating Western European politics to weaken the position of the Church, as well as a possibility that it was actually Innocent III's mistake to have placed Frederick between the Hammer (Germany) and Anvil (South of Italy, or Two Sicilies) which had caused Frederick to take certain actions and earn himself the "anti-papal" title.…