Frederick repaired in great state to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for his coronation (March 18, 1229). No priest ventured to celebrate the mass or pronounce a blessing upon the accursed of the church; the silence was unbroken except by the clang of armor; the images of the apostles were veiled that they might not look upon the reprobate. Frederick took the crown from the altar with his own hands and placed it upon his head; then was read in his name a formal exculpation of the Pope for his persecution, on the ground of the Holy Father’s ignorance of his motives and conduct; he also announced his humiliation before God and His vicar for his crown. With more catholicity he visited the same day the mosque of Omar. A muezzin, whose station was near the emperor’s house, by order of the kadi omitted the usual call to prayer, lest it should give offence to his Christian Majesty. Frederick gently rebuked the Moslem official: “You are wrong to neglect, on my account, your duty, your law, and your religion. If you should visit my realm, you would find no such respectful deference.” A priest had brought into the mosque a copy of the Gospels. Frederick rebuked this as an insult to his allies, saying, “Here we are all the servants of the sultan; it is he that has restored to us our churches.” The emperor then retired to Acre. The papal interdict upon all people among whom he should find abode followed him. The churches of Acre were unopened; the sick were refused consolation in their homes, and the dead were buried, without funeral service, in the fields. At this juncture news from Europe urged the emperor’s return home. John of Brienne, his father-in-law, was ravaging the kingdom of Naples. The Pope was filling all Christendom with denunciations, and plotting that the imperial crown itself might be taken from the head of the man who, by the treaty with the Moslems, had effected “reconciliation of Christ and Belial.” The Moslem world simultaneously rang with as bitter denunciation of the act of Malek-Kamel in surrendering the sacred city. Thus, amid the universal confusion produced by his aim to establish peace, Frederick returned to the West. With a popularity which the ban of Rome could not destroy, after crushing his enemies in the field he engaged in the work of giving to his people better laws, and stimulating the new civilization which was everywhere appearing as the Dark Ages were wearing away. With the retirement of Frederick from Palestine the Christians were reduced to utmost extremity. Notwithstanding the treaty, constant collisions occurred between the Moslem and Christian bigots. The great bell of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre often rang its alarm. The pilgrims generally sought safety in the fortress of David, or in more obscure retreats in the neighborhood of Jerusalem; their cries again afflicted their brethren in Europe.