This week we will go back 20 years and pick up the other strain of our history of the Hohenstaufen. The last three episodes we focused on events in Germany and the struggle between Philipp of Swabia and Otto IV. \nToday we take a closer look at the early years of Frederick II, before he cameup to Germany and took over. Little is known but much has been written about the youth of emperor Frederick II, not only because it was exceedingly turbulent, but also because it forged a man who burst on the European stage aged 14 already displaying many of those personality traits that would make him known as the Stupor Mundi, the Astonishment of the World. How did he become who he became?\nAs always, this episode has a dedicated website with the transcript and maps, pictures and additional comments to read along. It is to be found athttps://historyofthegermans.com/76-2/\nThe music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.\nAs always:\nHomepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com\nFacebook: @HOTGPod \nTwitter: @germanshistory\nInstagram: history_of_the_germans\nReddit: u/historyofthegermans\nPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans