Frederick II crowns himself in Jerusalem

1229

Under a treaty with al-Kamil, the emperor entered Jerusalem and placed a crown on his own head in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. No bishop would officiate for an excommunicate. Christian pilgrims regained the holy city without a swordstroke. The papacy fumed. The spectacle of an excommunicated emperor crowning himself in the holiest church in Christendom scandalized popes and delighted cynics for a generation.