Legacy and Precedent
As Frederick had matters to attend to at home, he left Jerusalem in May. It took a defeat in battle later in 1229 for the Pope to lift the excommunication, but by now Frederick had demonstrated that a crusade could be successful even without military superiority or papal support. The truce, hugely unpopular from its inception, expired in 1239; and Jerusalem was taken following a siege by the Khwarezmian Turks in 1244.
Frederick had set a precedent, in having achieved success on crusade without papal involvement. Further crusades would be launched by individual kings, such as Louis IX of France (the Seventh and Eighth Crusades) and Edward I of England (the Ninth Crusade), effectively demonstrating an erosion of papal authority.
Cecelia Holland's novel Antichrist presents a heavily fictionalized account of the Sixth Crusade from Frederick II's perspective.
Read more about this topic: Sixth Crusade
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