WI: Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire simply remains Frederick I of Sicily?

inspired by this thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-i-of-sicily-dies-before-becoming-hre.392305/

What if instead of succeeding Otto of Brunswick as Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick had just remained King of Sicily. According to some commenters in that thread, he was criticized for focusing too much on Sicily, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch for him to not even seek the imperial crown, preferring instead to focus on the land he called home.
 
There is a TL here about it: it's called Basilicus Sicilia and uses, but I don't remember the author unfortunately.

Honestly, I doubt that he would ever willingly forsake the Imperial crown and getting defeated seriously enough to have him forced to renounce his ambitions in Germany and Northern Italy will make his position in Sicily and Apulia quite difficult.

Not squandering the Kingdom's resources in the endless fight against the papacy would certainly be a bonus. I think that, if barred from central and Northern Italy he would very likely set his eyes on the mess that was the confrontation between the Latin Empire and the various Byzantine rump states. With what success, I cannot really say...

The problem is that not getting involved in the papal-imperial squabble seems very tough for a Hohenstaufen monarch who also happens to be (at least formally) a papal vassal.
 
Frederick might not have gone for the Imperial Throne, if his uncle Philip of Swabia would have survived. Or at least, he would have done so at a later date. Frederick claiming the Imperial Throne, also had to do with his Hohenstaufen (Staufer) Heritage.

And even with the Imperial Throne, his focus was pretty much on Sicily, not the Empire. His various concessions to German princes eroded to authority the monarch had in the Empire, which up to that point had been stronger than the authority of their French counterpart. The Empire always had difficulties balancing between the interests north and south of the Alps, but Frederick II's focus clearly laid south of the Alps.
 
There is a TL here about it: it's called Basilicus Sicilia and uses, but I don't remember the author unfortunately.

Honestly, I doubt that he would ever willingly forsake the Imperial crown and getting defeated seriously enough to have him forced to renounce his ambitions in Germany and Northern Italy will make his position in Sicily and Apulia quite difficult.

Not squandering the Kingdom's resources in the endless fight against the papacy would certainly be a bonus. I think that, if barred from central and Northern Italy he would very likely set his eyes on the mess that was the confrontation between the Latin Empire and the various Byzantine rump states. With what success, I cannot really say...

The problem is that not getting involved in the papal-imperial squabble seems very tough for a Hohenstaufen monarch who also happens to be (at least formally) a papal vassal.

Hey! I remember my old TL by that name. I'll throw in some of my ideas about the continuation of Hohenstaufen Sicily when I've got some more time.
 
The easiest way is to have Philip of Swabia not get assassinated. Even if he diesomehow later without make heirs Frederick would be in a much stronger position.... Staufer Sicily could end up uniting Italy (or at least everything up to the Appenines) eventually. He is also exceedingly likely to invade Greece given the utter mess the Latin Empire is, and is quite likely to succeed IMHO. Pretty much every king of Naples/Sicily from the Hautevilles on to the Catalans looked covetously to Greece, and often to Provence as well....
 
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