The Teutonic Knights were invited to Poland by Konrad of Masovia to Christianise the Prussians in 1226. The German princes grew in strength and began a successful colonisation of West Slavic lands, extending the Empire’s influence east. The Empire’s increasing population, along with the need to concentrate their economic power at strategic locations, pushed the Empire to found new cities and expand their power base. This new class of people formed the basis for what has become an imperial power base, the knights. No longer able to use the church as a way to maintain power, the Empire began to lend land to ministerialia, formerly unfree service men. Many see Frederick as a great hero, but others, including the Pope, call him the Antichrist. Frederick’s success in claiming Jerusalem for the cross brought him great prestige throughout Europe, but provoked further hostility from the Pope, for crusading while excommunicate. He embarked on a Crusade to the Holy Land, despite being excommunicate, and was crowned the King of Jerusalem in 1228. Frederick II, speaking nine languages and an avid patron of the arts and sciences, is known as Stupor Mundi, or “wonder of the world”. The current emperor, Frederick II, crowned in 1220, renewed the Empire’s conflict with the Pope. The Hohenstaufen dynasty ascended to the throne of the Roman Empire in 1138, prepared to restore the former glory of the Empire.
