nt and Fredrick and united with the enemies of Fredrick II, leading to the excommunication of Otto on March 31, 1211. This turned out to be a crucial move in the long battle between the Pope and the feuding Germans. It was like a checkmate in chess, as the with the excommunication of Otto, the German princes along with King Phillip of France renounced Otto as king, and put in Fredrick II, whom Innocent had cared for when Fredrick was young and made sure that Fredrick II would sustain himself. Fredrick II was elected in front of a representative of a pope and a representative of King Phillip, on December 2, 1212. After making the same promises with the Pope that Otto had done twice, and under solemn vow never to unite Sicily to the empire his election was ratified by Innocent III, and was crowned at Aachen on July 12, 1215. Immediately after the ratification the deposed emperor Otto IV hastened to Germany quickly but had little support from the princes. In alliance with King John of England he made war with King Phillip of France and was defeated in the Battle of Bouvines on July 27, 1214. After this Otto lost all support in Germany and died on May 19, 1218. Fredericks sole desire was for peace in Germany after all that had happened before his kingship. Fredrick would finally bring peace after 21 years of craziness Fredrick II would rule until 1250, and be one of the better emperors. However his wanting of peace may have been a little much as he was willing to sacrifice much to make peace. Because of this he gave the ecclesiastical and temporal lords a series of privileges which subsequently developed into independent soveirgnty of these princes. Fredericks policy was that without Sicily the possession of Italy would always be insecure, and that a king could not maintain himself without at the same time being emperor. Although Fredrick II wanted to make Sicily a part of the Empire, some of his sacrifices for freedom made him not able to...
