In 1198, when the people of Assisi revolted against the Emperor who had ruled over them since 1173 and plundered the city’s fortress, Saint Francis was sixteen years old and Frederick II was only four. At that moment, the future emperor – who would be crowned in Rome by Pope Honorius III in 1220 – lived in Assisi with his mother Constance, Queen of Sicily and empress by marriage to Henry VI.

She had baptized him Frederick-Roger (after his grandparents) in the Cathedral of San Rufino, at the presence of his father. Obviously, once people sided with Innocent III’s Guelphs, the little Stupor Mundi had to quickly leave Assisi with the Imperial legate protecting him.