Authors: Giombattista e Antonino

1. Stupor Mundi
FEDERICO II DI SVEVIA
For the magnificence of his
court, for tolerance towards the
Jews and Muslims, for the
modern conception of the State,
for his extraordinary linguistic
culture (he knew six languages)
Federico II was called "the
wonder of the world" “stupor
mundi”.

2. Birth and coronation
Frederick II was born in Jesi
in 1194. He was crowned just
4 years. When his father
died, his mother placed it
under the protection of the
pope.

3. Rise to power
In 1212 he was elected
Duke of Sweden and King
of Germany by German
princes in Mainz
Cathedral.
In 1215 Federico II became
Emperor of the Romans

4. Palermo
He had spent his
childhood in Palermo
between many ethnic
groups. This
influenced very much
his life as emperor, so
he built his own
headquarters in
Palermo.

5. In the Kingdom
of Sicily
In the Kingdom of Sicily
Frederick built a
centralized monarchy, all
power was concentrated in
his hands . To control the
territory Frederick built
many castles and he
created some salaried
officials.

6. Frederick wanted to unify his Kingdom and for this
reason he struggled with the Popes and the Italian
municipalities. He never managed to unify all the
territory under his power. In February 1248 Federico
suffered a severe defeat at the battle of Parma.

7. The Sicilian school
He founded the
Sicilian school, the
first Italian poetic
school, where a
group of poets wrote
in southern
vernacular.

8. University
of Naples
He inaugurated
the University of
Naples, which has
his name, still
active today as
College of
medicine. It is
currently one of
the best
universities.

9. The Constitution
of Melfi
In 1231, Frederick
promulgated the
Constitution of Melfi
where he stated that
“all the power of the
Empire would have
been the Emperor.”

10. The death of Frederick II
About the death of
Frederick II, in 1250,
there are two theories:
Maybe his son Manfredi
killed him choking him
with a pillow or he was
the victim of a conspiracy
by the Pope.

11. Gela, our city, has Federician origins. It was founded by
Frederick II in 1233 and he called it “Terranova”. There
are many signs of this, like a castle and the ancient walls.

12. Federician Ruins in Gela