condition of the evacuation of Egypt. With a blindness almost
incredible these terms were refused, and a last attack made on the
walls of Damietta. The besieged made but slight resistance, and the
Christians entered the city, to find out of seventy thousand but three
thousand remaining, so fearful had been the scourge of plague and
famine. Several months were spent in Damietta. The climate either
weakened the frames or obscured the understandings of the Christians,
for after their conquest they remained inactive until the Moslems
recuperated their army and were able to recapture Damietta and expel
the Crusaders from Egypt.

64. With a view to the recovery of the Holy Land, Frederick II, of
Germany, had been married to Iolante, the heiress of the kingdom of
Jerusalem. His early life was spent in Sicily, in familiar intercourse
with Jews and Arabs, and Sicily was to the last the favored portion of
his dominion. The emperor's court was given up to unpardonable
frivolities in the eyes of Pope Gregory IX, one of whose first
pontifical acts was to summon Frederick to a new crusade. The emperor
paid little heed to the aged Pope's exhortations and commands,
postponing from time to time the period of his departure. He embarked
at last, but in ten days returned. The Pope was not to be trifled
with, and pronounced his excommunication. Frederick treated it with
contempt, and appealed to Christendom to sustain him. For this be
underwent a more tremendous excommunication, but his partisans in Rome
raised an insurrection and expelled the Pope.

65. And now Frederick set sail of his own accord on his crusading
expedition. On reaching the Holy Land he was received with joy by the
knights and pilgrims, but the clergy held aloof from him as under the
ban of the Church. He negotiated privately with the Sultan of Egypt.