Still, for a time, the treaty which had cost so much trouble continued in force, notwithstanding that one of the two governors in the Holy Land, in whom the Emperor had reposed so much trust, Walter d’Allemand, joined the party of his mortal enemies, and himself became a Templar. Frederick, meanwhile, had scarcely set foot in Italy, than he fell like a thunderstorm upon the Papal soldiers, and fairly swept them from his territories. He then began to diminish somewhat the possessions of the Templars, who had multiplied in Italy with a rapidity almost incredible. In truth, wherever a chapter of the order was established, the country around was immediately put under contribution, and so many farms, mills, castles, and woods were taken possession of, either by way of purchase or exchange, or seized upon as donations, that their power increased wonderfully. From the Templars, more especially, a cry soon rose that Frederick intended to make the kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus portions of his empire, so that they would both belong exclusively to the Germans, a cry which was incessantly repeated by the Jerusalem patriarch. It was also said that, seeing that the kingdom of Jerusalem would be inherited by Frederick’s little son, Conrad, his proper guardian would be the nearest relative of the last wearer of that crown, they, therefore, wished to put him under the care of the Queen Alice, and in this way prolong the duration of the regency. It now became evident that the rule of the emperor in the Holy Land would not be of long duration, and his enemies next resolved to endeavour to wrest from him the kingdom of Cyprus. Still, the regency of five retained supreme command in that island, and acted altogether in accordance with the emperor’s instructions. The young king wrote to his imperial guardian to say how delighted he was at the advantages obtained over his enemies, but that he was grieved to find that the emperor did not write to him more frequently concerning his views and projects, and still more so, that he could not explain matters to him _in propriâ persona_. The Ibelins, in the meanwhile, were in want of some pretext for raising an insurrection in Cyprus. About the spring of 1230, there was a call for an extraordinary tax of about three thousand marks, which the emperor had directed to be sent to the Holy Land. The knights, who were of Ibelin’s party, declared against this, assigning as a reason that, not having been assented to by the feudal court, the imposition of a new tax was unlawful. As their stewards refused payment, their goods were seized, and the amount taken from them in corn and cattle.