A religious sceptic, excommunicated thrice, the ‘predecessor to the Antichrist, and confined to Dante’s sixth region of Hell (where he supposedly burns in a tomb), Frederick II was ever the controversial figure — Quarrels between kings, emperors, and popes are tales as old as time itself — at least for as long as Christianity has existed in case of the latter subject. It is a problem only recently resolved, and it could happen only because both kings, emperors (which disappeared in Europe, admittedly)…