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Frederick II, (26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) Holy Roman Emperor and king of Sicily was one of the most remarkable monarchs of the Middle Ages and indeed in the entire history of Europe. He was the ruler of all Germany and all of Southern Italy. He was one of the most powerful men in the Middle ages and he attempted to change the political system of Medieval Europe. He had many ambitious political plans but they all failed. In many ways, Frederick II can be considered a remarkable failure, but he had a decisive influence on the development of the Renaissance.

====Frederick II and Reason====

The Renaissance is often seen as an era where reason prevailed and as a departure from the superstitious Middle Ages. Frederick II was a rationalist and unlike his contemporaries he did not defer to tradition but sought to apply reason to every aspect of his state and his policies.<ref>Abulafia, p. 119</ref> Frederick II used rational principles to create one of Europe’s first centralized states, since the Fall of the Roman Empire. He demonstrated to succeeding generations that reason could be used to build a state and to perfect it. This was to greatly influence Renaissance Rulers who treated the ‘state as a work of art’ and used reason rather than tradition to mould and administer their jurisdictions.<ref>Burkhardt, Jacob, <i>The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy</i> (Penguin, London, 1992), p. 167</ref>