In Purgatorio III, Dante meets Manfred, the excommunicated king of Sicily. Manfred was the illegitimate son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and became king of Sicily in 1258. Dante encounters his soul on the lower slopes of Mount Purgatory, among those who died while excommunicated.
Manfred tells Dante that he repented at the moment of death, despite having been condemned by the Church. He was killed at the Battle of Benevento in 1266 while fighting Charles of Anjou. Dante presents his last-minute repentance as sufficient for divine mercy, though Manfred must wait before entering Purgatory proper.
The episode also highlights a recurring tension in the poem: ecclesiastical punishment does not have the final word over God's judgment. Manfred asks Dante to tell his daughter Constance that he is saved and to request prayers for him. He is not Frederick II, another prominent Sicilian ruler, nor Charles Martel, whom Dante meets later in Paradiso.