Truce of the Sixth Crusade

Date: February 18, 1229 • Location: West Jerusalem, Israel

The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.

The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), also known as the Crusade of Frederick II, was a military expedition to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. It began seven years after the success of the Fifth Crusade and involved very little actual fighting. The diplomatic maneuvering of the Holy Roman emperor and king of Sicily, Frederick II, resulted in the Kingdom of Jerusalem regaining some control over Jerusalem for much of the ensuing fifteen years as well as over other areas of the Holy Land. Frederick II's negotiations and power-sharing agreement and negotiation with envoys from al-Malik Al-Kamil of Egypt, which led to a shared Christian-Muslim governance situation in Jerusalem, made this Crusade different from the others. Frederick II carried out his maneuvers in 1228 while under excommunication from the Church by Pope Gregory IX.