Page 612

 612 A HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES II 
the castles of Cyprus surrendered to liegemen selected by Frederick. John
promised to accompany him on his crusade. On September 3, 1228, Frederick,
taking king Henry with him, sailed for Syria. 
 After he had concluded the treaty of Jaffa with the sultan al Kamil on February
18, 1229, and had crowned himself king of Jerusalem in the church of the
Holy Sepulcher, Frederick was eager to start home. He sold the bailliage
of Cyprus to the anti—Ibelin Amalric Barlais and four colleagues. The
revenues of Cyprus were farmed to them for three years for 10,000 marks.
The Ibelin case was still undecided when, on May 1, the emperor sailed from
Acre. 
 From 1229 to 1233 Cyprus was torn by Frederick's war with the Ibelins. While
the imperial bailies in Syria were gaining adherents by their wise rule,
the reverse was true in Cyprus. To raise funds to pay the emperor, the five
bailies imposed heavy taxes, and despoiled the estates of the Ibelins and
their supporters. In June 1229 John of Ibelin crossed from Syria, raised
the countryside and, after a battle near Nicosia on July 14, drove the bailies
to take refuge in the northern castles. Kantara and Kyrenia were quickly
taken. Besieged in Dieudamour, the surviving bailies finally sur rendered
after Easter in 1230, gave up the person of king Henry, and relinquished
all claims to the bailliage. 
 By then Frederick, successful against the papal armies in Italy, and, after
the treaty of San Germano in July 1230, once again restored to the bosom
of the church, was ready to turn his attention eastward. He sent out an army
under Richard Filangieri, the imperial marshal. The first contingent under
the bishop of Melfi arrived off Cape Gata near Limassol in September 1231.
Envoys dispatched to king Henry at Kiti demanded in the name of the emperor
that Henry banish John of Ibelin and all his relatives from Cyprus. Henry
replied that he could not banish Ibelin since he was his liegeman and so
deserving of his protection, and that, since he himself was Ibelin's nephew,
he could not banish all the relatives of the house of Ibelin from the island.
The "old lord" had disposed a force at Limassol to prevent a landing; so
the imperial fleet sailed on to capture the town of Beirut, and lay siege
to its castle. When Filangieri arrived in Syria, he summoned the high court,
which accepted his credentials as bailie of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Yet,
as we have seen,35 when the barons realized that he was not going to submit
to them the case of the seizure of Beirut, the majority turned against him.
 John of Ibelin, having assembled the Cypriote host at Famagusta 
 See above, chapter xv, pp. 548—549.