[German Version]

(Dec 26, 1194, Jesi, Italy – Dec 13, 1250, Castelfiorentino, Italy) was one of the most prominent and controversial rulers of the European Middle Ages. The son of Emperor Henry VI and Constance of Hauteville, he grew up as an orphan in Palermo under the wardship of Pope Innocent III. From 1208, he ruled over the kingdom of Sicily; in 1212, he followed the call of the Hohenstaufen party to Germany, where he prevailed over Emperor Otto IV. In 1215, he was crowned king of the Germans in Aachen, and, in 1220, Holy Roman emperor in Rome. Charged with delaying the crusade to which he h…