a very real threat. A new outbreak of hostilities led to a fresh excommunication of the emperor in 1239 and to a prolonged war. Gregory denounced Frederick II as a heretic and summoned a council at Rome to give point to his anathema. Frederick responded by trying to capture or sink as many ships carrying prelates to the synod as he could. Eberhard II von Truchsees, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, in 1241 at the Council of Regensburg declared that Gregory IX was "that man of perdition, whom they call Antichrist, who in his extravagant boasting says, 'I am God, I cannot err'." He argued that the Pope was the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8: A little horn has grown up with eyes and mouth speaking great things, which is reducing three of these kingdoms – i.e. Sicily, Italy, and Germany – to subserviency, is persecuting the people of Christ and the saints of God with intolerable opposition, is confounding things human and divine, and is attempting things unutterable, execrable. The struggle only ended with of Gregory IX's death on 22 August 1241. The pope died before events could reach their climax; it was his successor, Innocent IV, who in 1245 declared a crusade that would finish the Hohenstaufen threat. See also Regulæ Juris Vox in Rama Cardinals created by Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX and Judaism References External links Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Gregory IX Further studies Pietro Balan, Storia di Gregorio IX e suoi tempi 3 volumes (Modena 1873). Kathleen Brady, Francis and Clare The Struggles of the Saints of Assisi. (New York: Lodwin Press, 2021). . Joseph Felten, Papst Gregor IX. (Freiburg i.B. 1886). Guido Levi, Registri dei Cardinali Ugolino d' Ostia e Ottaviano degli Ubaldini (Roma 1890). Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt, The Popes and the Baltic Crusades 1147–1254 (Leiden, Brill. 2007) (The Northern World, 26). Wayno, Jeffrey M. (2022). "Governing through influence at the thirteenth-century papal court". Journal of Medieval History. 12th-century births 1241 deaths People from Anagni Ugolino Italian popes Conti, Ugolino Cardinals created by Pope Innocent III Christians of the Sixth Crusade People of the Stedinger Crusade People of the Northern Crusades Christians of the Prussian Crusade 13th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops Conti, Ugolino Conti, Ugolino Popes 13th-century popes Burials at St. Peter's Basilica