Excerpt from Stupor Mundi: The Life and Times of Frederick II, Emperor of the Romans King of Sicily and Jerusalem, 1194-1250 Amid the countless examples which History furnishes of this subjection Of kings to circumstance, there is none more striking than the career of the Emperor Frederick the Second. This magnificent prince, whom his own contemporaries regarded with amazement and hailed as the Wonder of the World, and whom a historian Of our own age has signalised as the most gifted Of the sons of man; by nature the more than peer Of Alexander, Of Constantine and Of Charles, 1 is denied by posterity the title of Great which has been frequently bestowed upon lesser men. His enlightened mind, his energy, his strength and his genius, Should have resulted in a reign Of a glory rarely paralleled in the history Of mankind. Yet through the heritage Of strife to which he succeeded, through the formidable power, the overweening ambition and the implacable hatred Of the Papacy, he was denied the part of a Builder and compelled to do the work Of an architect who seeks to maintain a crumbling edifice and uphold it against the assaults Of time. Throughout his life he was occupied in defending the rights Of the Empire against the power that assailed it, and thus he was prevented from that work Of construction which History demands of those whom she will honour with the verdict Of greatness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.