The struggle between these two im= portant figures is one of the most dramatic passages in European his tory. It led eventually to Frederick being excommunicated and, so far as Gregory IX was concerned, deprived of his crown, But it is indicative of the man that when the news of his excommunication and deposition as emperor reached him he took' the imperial crown and placed it upon his head, recrowning himself, and Ullering as superbly arrogant a' reply of human pride to human pride. as; ever has been made by man: ant Retthe? ing Pope Sorte, Bevis for the. Council, shalt "rend it from tne, 'Bees he. in "his, vulgar' pr Wine" that "he, hall ni "me "ire the Chief" Prince ofall Sing" World, Miho im' without am equal?
It'is, perhaps, indicative of the man's whole charader, Frederick was not jealous man, he was. far too fastidious, too cultured and too in-{ellectual to find any attraction in the Gross indulgences of the senses. A Sumptuous provider of feasts himself, hho Was sparing in his food and temperate in his drink, nor did his festivals and banquets ever degenerate into orgies and displays of mere licence and proiligacy.. Gregory him= self was an ascetic, due more to a frozen nature, a gloomy disposition, and extreme old age than to any
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