Page 444

 444 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES II 
enjoyed. Although at first he left Odo of Montbéliard unmolested in
his duties as bailie, Frederick later replaced him with Thomas of Acerra,
whose conduct, as the emperor's representative in Syria, suggests that he
had been charged especially with the duty of curbing the power of the Templars.51
 Frederick's position as king of Jerusalem also influenced the strategy of
the new expedition. In 1224 plans for the crusade had still contemplated
a return to Egypt, and the ships constructed for the expedition were therefore
designed to meet the requirements of a campaign in the delta of the Nile.52
After Frederick's coronation, however, Jerusalem became his immediate goal,
and it was in creasingly apparent that, as in most of his imperial projects,
"Sicily would supply the money and Germany the men" for the expedi tion.53
He looked hopefully also to the Frisians as potential cru saders, recalling
their signal successes in the assault on the chain tower, but his call, to
them evoked only a mild response, since the spiritual impulse from the scholasticus
Oliver was no longer effective.54 In northern Germany only the most earnest
appeals of the emperor, combined with offers of fiefs and money, restored
some degree of peace among the warring factions. Commissioned by the pope
as crusading preacher, bishop Conrad of Hildesheim also won support for Frederick,
who later rewarded him richly.55 Landgrave Louis of Thuringia and duke Wairam
of Limburg, stimulated by the visit of Hermann of Salza, succeeded in rallying
some 700 Thuringian and Austrian knights as well as many prelates and ministeriales
to the crusade, which also drew forces from Cologne, Worms, and Lubeck. Despite
the somewhat dis appointing initial outlook, the number and prowess of the
crusaders from Germany inspired hope for the success of the expedition.56
 Crusading preachers, actively engaged in England during 1 22 6— 1227,
persuaded large numbers to take the cross, although we may well doubt the
assertion of Roger of Wendover "that 40,000 tried men marched from England
alone". The English were inspired by the apparition in the sky of a shining
cross upon which was "the body of Our Lord pierced with nails and with a
lance", which 
51 Kestner, Kreuz. Fried., p. 24. 
 52 Chronica regia Coloniensis, p. 253: "et, si opus fuerit, erectis velis
intrare possint flumen Damiate vel aliud aliquod flumen." Cf. also MGH, SS.,
XVII, 837. 
  K. Nitsch, "Staufische Studien," Hist. Zeitschr., III (1860), 391. 
 "Huillard-Bréholles, II, part I, 540 ff. See also H. Hoogeweg, "Die
Kreuzpredigt des Jahres 1224 in Deutschland . . . ," Deutsche Zeitschrift
für Geschichtswissenschaft, IV (1890), 74. 
  Huillard-Bréholles, III, 20, no. I. 
 56 Röhricht, Beitrâge, I, 18-19.