1:15 Wow emperor Henry sure did live for a long time, I had no idea. I could have sworn he actually died in 1197, but nope, the man lived right up through German Reunification. Wild. -B
When they say reality is much stranger than fiction tell them about Fredrick the 2nd. Excommunicated 4 times, peacefully won a crusade, and basically did all of this just so he could get back to his Falconing.
The mans got priorities. He a fellow homebody. And if I were in his shoes I would do the same thing while rolling my eyes at every excommunication I get. I could see Frederick look at the letters of excommunication and say, "Any way... what were we talking about again?"
@@seraphi3387 The first one was shocking. The second would be confusing. Eye rolls would begin after the 3rd. Also you gotta remember that in this era the church was more of a corrupt political power than a religious authority.
And while Rome had the last laugh...on paper, anyway, Emperor Birb at least scored a concrete personal win in that entire fiasco, causing the Pope to yeet himself from life. Oh, and his pro gamer move in his Crusade. That too.
Frederick II: Any news? Courtier: The pope has sent another strongly worded letter. Frederick II: Another excommunication? Courtier: No, your majesty. He has declared you an ancestor of the antichrist. Frederick: Ah, he's been feeling creative.
You'd think if the Pope could identify who the ancestors of the Antichrist were, they'd either kill them or give them a very generous bribe never to have kids. End of the world averted!
Freddy could have solved his problems with excommunications and Catholic popes by converting to Orthodox Christianity and recognising the Patriarch of Constantinople as the head of the Christian world. It would be interesting to see the fallout from that.
Man, imagine disappointing your dad so much that he puts you in forever-timeout. Mood. Also I'm pretty sure Fredrick won this one. Marched his army right up to Rome (in the Great Roman emperor tradition) and then scared a pope to death.
Little „fun“ fact. Frederick‘s son Henry was grounded so hard that he was thrown into a cell for 7 years. On top of that he contracted Leprosy (y’know, the sickness where you basically start rotting while you are still alive) and died when he accidentally fell of his horse into a chasm when they changed prisons (allegedly, some say it was suicide, others say it was murder)
And that's the big problem. Frederick was HOLY Roman Emperor, not an Emperor of Pre-Christian Rome. And there is no place in Christendom for an Emperor who does not practice Christianity, makes war on the pope and all good Christians, and tries to establish a pagan tyranny over his people.
@@charleslarrivee2908 The Holy Roman Empire isn't actually Rome, it's modern day Germany (not sure how it got its name). Also you say Christianity, but speaking as someone from the Balkans eastern orthodox Christians really don't like the pope, and isn't the whole point of Protestantism renouncing the pope and the catholic church's system? Also this series is called Pope Fights, it's about popes doing very unchristian tings like waging WAR, usually against each other. I just don't think we should be using his relationship to the pope to gauge weather or not he was a good Christian.
Honestly, I'd say that Frederick won. Yeah, he lost the Holy Roman Empire, but let's just admit that most Holy Roman Emperors have only had very limited control of the Empire. Through it all Frederick managed to hold on to his core territory: the Kingdom of Sicily.
that and he was a good king that fixed a good chunk that was the mess hes predesuccor left, reclaim the holly land thru words only and had good taste in animenals, jumpstart peotry and the like and at the end he no longer was bothered by the pope able to live out his life in his fav place and died a peacefull life then be called a wonder of the world while the popes were left with a kingdom that it hid by thin strings, have the smear of excumcating the most holy of churches and had many failed crusades. on paper fedrick def won most he didn't really care about the stuff he lost he had what he wanted at the end while the two popes who fought him didn't really left uncath and was left for worst than fedrick so at the end fedrick was the one who got the last luaph
His dynasty was wiped out, the Hohenstaufens were pretty powerfull before him and he caused their downfall so yeah Frederick was pretty much a disaster
The guy went on a *successful* Crusade--which he won PEACEFULLY--and *then* he went back and pwned the Pope so hard he made him the dead. Fredrick II was a BOSS.
It seems that Fredrick II was actually one of those rulers that were genuinely decent, and only got involved in things like wars and such because others dragged them into it. Also, contrary to their names, those popes weren't really all that innocent.
Yeah, it's wacky how a shockingly decent medieval emperor (all things considered) was literally crusaded against and labelled an anti-christ T W I C E.
@@AegixDrakan Not really, given how many decent people actually get called anticrist not, i believe it. Or how some catholic bishops diswn the pope because he is very moderately not a bigot. Its not that wacky.
@@JaelinBezel Well according to Dante, Frederick got tossed in a burning coffin for all of eternity for Heresy, which is in the Circles of Malice, so...I guess that's Super Hell?
I have now decided that replacing all the intricate little borders of the HRE with a paragraph explaining why one isn't drawing all the intricate little borders of the HRE is the definitive way to create an accurate map of medieval Europe
@@jamesharding3459 In 897, the newly elected Pope Stephen put his predecessor, Formosus, on trial for violation of canon law, perjury and becoming a bishop under false pretences. Not that remarkable, except that Formosus had died the previous year, so Stephen dug up his corpse and put it on trial.
I like to think Frederick II’s royal guard is just an absolute cloud of falcons, and anyone who attempts to hurt him just gets picked up into the air and seconds later their bones just fall from the sky
As someone who tried writing a thesis on Henry (VII.) a year ago, I was cackling for the last 10 minutes. Also deeply appreciated your note about the HRE map, you're absolutely right in not bothering to show the single territories, german historian approves fully 😉
@@segevstormlord3713 There is a reason why the German sense of Honor and the Japanese one parallel so much. Both went through hundreds of years of quite pure Feudalism, Warrior Codes and Politicking. Right now Germany is a Federal State of 16 smaller nations, but people tend to forget this. Not only this, but the local german in one village can differ a lot from the next one. But for a D&D campaign; Ever heard of the 30 Years War?
@@profezzordarke4362 "Heard of" is about the extent of it. I know the 100 Year War was France/England; was the 30 Years War a German affair? Interesting insight on the "pure feudalism" and the notion of "warrior honor" arising naturally from that rather than being coincident part of it. I wonder what it is about such a micronation dynamic and the constant warfare that makes "warrior honor" evolve convergently rather than it being an unusual response with dishonorable dirty tricks warfare being more the norm.
@@segevstormlord3713 gut instinct says it’s because everything’s at such a small scale. You can’t pull dirty tricks and get away with ‘em when everybody knows everybody because their world is so small, and, since the scale is so tiny, being honourable/generally competent pays good dividends since it builds you a reputation
@@segevstormlord3713 The 30 Years War is what happened after the Reformation. Protestant Countries and Catholic Countries starting a Confessional War which ended up in basically all of Europe finding an Excuse to mess with the German Countries and get a piece of cake. This lead to 30 years of marauding mercenary armies laying waste to whole cities. The most terrible was probably The Siege of Magdeburg. Had some great tactical leaders,Tilly and Wallenstein to name two. Think WW2 just in Renaissance. About Warrior Honor: Feudalism needs to have at least two Castes: Warriors and Farmers. Knights and Peasants / Bushi and idk what Non-Bushi were called. The Warriros have more rights, because they promise to fight for the safety of the peasants and/or organise it all, do the politics etc. So they develop their own rituals spending time among each other. Depending on the Religion the Culture is based on they will develop a Sense of "right" Behaviour, a social norm, "Honour". People that belong to a Caste and act outside of their Norms lose that status, thus their honour. In a Feudalist Society you would be able to prove you're a warrior by a duel and thus keep your honour. (which lead to the extremely long lasting dueling tradition in Europe) If too many little Warlords arise, able to reign on their own, warring each other, this Caste will grow ever more important, gain more influence and as such will have certain standards enforced. To serve your liege will become a crucial part of the larger social construct and this will need rules to keep things working. It should also be noted that Samurai did all kinds of dirty warfare in contrast to Knights, because Christendom imposes some certain rules against Skulduggery and Underhandedness which made War in Medieval Europe a bit more civil in contrast to Feudal Japan.
The more I learn about the HRE, the more I'm convinced it only existed as a thing students of the Wars of the Roses can look to and say "At least I don't need to deal with that hot mess".
The HRE was at least a functional political unit up until the death of Henry III in 1056. After that, anybody who can afford to build a castle can win total independence. Nobody had the technology to blow up castles so the more castles that were built the more new countries became independent etc. Honestly, the HRE should have ended with the invention of modern gunpowder capable of blowing up castle walls (See the Gunpowder empires of France, Sweden, Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, etc). Think the Ottomans blowing up the walls of Byzantium in 1453 or the French winning the Hundred years war (also 1453) by blowing up English castles. However, for some bizarre reason the HRE continues for another 300 years after it had no right to.
Armies of the time generally traveled with some sort of treasury in tow - it's not like they had credit cards to pay for all of the provisions an army on the march needs. Soldiers generally appreciate being paid as well. Traveling with the ENTIRE royal treasury is super odd, though. I guess it could happen if one was paranoid and unwilling to let all of that money out of their sight. Which, given the ongoing revolts in Sicily... maybe I could see that happening. Still, I find it unlikely that Frederick lost literally his entire royal treasury at Parma. His kingdom would have been utterly ruined if that had happened, and he may well have been overthrown. Money is important, yo Far more likely that he simply lost the army's treasury, and the historical accounts used vague language referring to "a" treasury, not necessarily "the" treasury.
Imagine being so good at your hobby that you literally WROTE THE BOOK ON IT, and that's NOT EVEN the thing that history remembers you for. Absolute legend.
Whenever he isn't in Sicily and he doesn't have a falcon, he just looks tired and bored. Excomminucated? Meh. Fighting invading armies? Yawn. Retaking the Holy Land without spilling a drop of blood? Zzzzz. Birb catches rabbit in front of Frederick and his multi-ethnic entourage? Now we're talking!
Pope: Excommunicates Fred... Again... Fred: Is it still excommunication if I was never recommunicated? Also, Freddy got excommunicated more times the Monkey's been immortal! Pardon the pun, but holy shit dude!
I'm Italian, and my Sicilian school teacher *LOVED* Freddy Two. In fact, I remember pretty much everything about him, and nothing else from middle school. That's how much she bombarded us with his story.
They were probably worried about upsetting the Christians, honestly. Probably would have happened at some point if the Church hadn’t made such a big deal about Life of Brian.
@@drilltotheheavens1695 oh of course. Most people didn’t take the whole thing seriously but enough did, and were loud enough, that Life of Brian got the Pythons in fairly hot water until they made a fool out of that one catholic talking head on late night tv.
@@thesquishedelf1301 If no one complained about the ominous God in The Holy Grail then nobody would complain about portraying the pope either. And I think the anger was more about turning the Nativity and Easter into a parody more than anything else.
There is no and never has been a single decent sovereign ruler. It is simply too much power for one person alone. I'd imagine anyone would start abusing it from mere boredom if nothing else. In case you want to learn about Freddy II's mind for science or his insatiable curiosity google ''Frederick II's Experiments.'' That said I'm willing to admit he was far from the worst.
I majored in medieval history and did well. I would have learned more if I was watching these, I keep thinking how much this cartoon resembles history. I think you'd make a great professor.
Fredrick II is a whole mood. Like yes, I will take care of my responsibilities even if I don’t really wanna do them, but I would just rather spend time in my favorite place on the planet and enjoy myself. Is it simply not enough to do a good enough job and make things less of a hassle so I can write about birds in peace???
POPE FIGHTS!!!!!!! For the next one, you should do that time when one pope exhumed an old pope to put the dead pope on trial! If that isn’t pontifical memery, idk what is. Great work on this, btw!
Pope Fights Chronology so far: Pope Fights I: Benedict IX arc 1032-1048 Pope Fights 4: Fredrick II 1198-1250 Pope Fights 1: Avignon Arc 1294-1418 Pope Fights 3: the Italian wars 1494-1559 Pope Fights 2: Reformation 1520-1648
I relate to this guy: Love physic Love natural world Love language Love birb “Hey here’s a fuck ton of responsibility” “ :( “ Except I would probably make things worse instead of better with reforms to the nobility, so he’s me but better
Man I can't get enough of Medieval Popes becoming Blues' Punching bag. Just look at those right hooks and upper jars! Man those would defectively let scars. Also Frederick you are official my favorite Emperor in history, tie with Constantine and King Cyrus.
This guy is probably one of my favorite figures in history, on account of basically being the first secular ruler of Europe in the middle ages and the fact he used diplomacy instead of raw military power to achieve his goal of retaking Jerusalem.
Man, Federick is unironically one of the best monarchs in history, Love that I'm learning about him, sounds like a pretty interesting life- I bet theres still plenty more to learn about him.
Oh I know this one. This is about the guy who got excommunicated four times and declared the literal Antichrist! Also, Jack Rackham (the RU-vidr, not the pirate) did a video on the guy.
When I saw "Frederick II" I thought "The Great", but in the end I wasn't even disappointed bc I didn't know this Other Frederick but he's pretty damn cool.
Blue: (Wants to just do a video on Frederick II) Frederick II: (proceeds to do multiple no-nos against the Pope, unknowingly making this a Pope Fights video) *You didn’t see that coming?*
You gotta do a history makers episode on Bede. The famous Northumbrian monk who gave us The Ecclesiastical History of England. I wrote a paper on him for my historiography class and he was so much fun to research. Give it a shot if you can and want to
@@OverlySarcasticProductions By any chance, would you mind taking a look at the Russian/Japanese northern borderlands, and the war(s) that resulted in the late 1800s/ early 1900s? I've always been curious as to how those two empires interacted with half a continent's worth of semi-permafrost in between.
Ah, Baby Fritz, the birdwatcher king! One of my favorite historical characters, built my favorite castle, the not-really-a-castle Castel Del Monte, the inspiration for the Aedificum in Eco's The Name of the Rose. Fractally octagonal and full of proportions determined through mystical numerology... all so he could have a place to watch migratory birds.
Blue, since you asked, going to war with your treasury was not unusual, since you had to pay troops, mercenaries, transports, and bribes. You may then add the loot, e.g. accumulated from the region surrounding a city under siege.
Frederick II is basically the Chad meme character that everyone else is just so envious of that they keep doing stuff just to spite him and he just keeps one uping everyone else until Parma. Some one get Dovahatty on this I think we have an Unbiased History episode for him.
Imagine if Frederick II just said: "Screw that noise, Sicily is independant again, and I´ll back whoever leaves me alone afterwards to become the next emperor"
I actually titled my lessons about this topic and of the multiple pope craziness as “Pope Fights” years ago. It would be so cool for former students to watch this and maybe think of me getting excited about talking about it. 😊 Hopefully they kept their notebooks!
Something similar happened to me once in high school. I was forced to come out of my room by my parents because company was coming over and they wanted me to be social. They then got annoyed because I snarked at one of the bratty kids that I was being forced to socialize with and as a "punishment" I was sent back to my room. Best punishment ever.
I know y’all have covered lots of stuff about South America, Africa, Oceania but I would love even more. I know rather little about these regions, American education system am I right, and find your content amazing. This channel is wonderful so do whatever you want
As an avid rise of Kingdoms player I can appreciate this because I was just reading about Fredies mom Constance today so what a coincidence that this video shows in my recommendations
I just gotta say, when I first started watching OSP's channel, I made sure to stay away from Blue like the plague. I *_HATED_* history, despised it. Then, with nothing better to do, and a solid vid to pique my interest, I said, "Fuck it, I can handle one vid." Thank goodness I did. I realized that I didn't hate _history,_ I hated _history CLASS._
*_Ladies and Gentlemen welcome back to the greatest political, religious smack down this side of the Mediterranean! You know it, you love it, I'm talking about the one, the only, POPE FIGHTS!!!!_* And make sure you grab some limited edition refreshments while you're here, our custom made POPEcorn is just flying off the shelves!
I would advocate against calling the HRE Germany. In contrast to France, England and so on the HRE lacked cohesion (ethnical, cultural, governmental) which prevented a (relatively) straight forward transition to becoming a nation state. Possibly one contributing factor to particular form of nationalism in the German Empire (the 2871 one) is that there was no real German "nation" bevorehand. (However as a german I might just be overly sensitive in that regard)
This is a problem with a lot of ancient history. Much of what we think of as nations today were just alliances of various vassal states united (somewhat) under the most powerful family that they had all agreed to call their king or emperor depending on which they thought sounded more impressive or less pretentious.
I spent $110 buying all the pins I was missing after this announcement! I would like to thank the OSP team and the people I met on Reddit for helping to make my dreams come true!
