William II of Sicily
At the Strasbourg assembly in December 1187, Bishop Godfrey of Würzburg urged Frederick to sail his army to the Holy Land rather than proceed overland. Frederick declined and Pope Clement III even ordered Godfrey not to discuss it further. Ultimately, many Germans ignored the rendezvous at Regensburg and went to the Kingdom of Sicily, hoping to sail to the Holy Land on their own. Frederick wrote to King William II of Sicily asking him to bar such sailings. The emperor and the pope may have feared that Saladin would soon seize all the crusader ports.