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Pope Innocent III (c. 1161 – June 16, 1216 in Perugia), born Lotario de' Conti di Segni, was Pope from January 8, 1198 until his death. As Pope, Innocent III represents the height of the medieval papacy. His papacy asserted the absolute spiritual authority of his office, while still respecting the temporal authority of Kings.
Early life and election to pope Lotario de' Conti di Segni was born in Gavignano, near Anagni. His father was Count Trasimund of Segni and was a member of a famous house that produced nine Popes, including Pope Gregory IX (1227–41), Pope Alexander IV (1254–61) and Pope Innocent XIII (1721–24). His uncle was Pope Clement III (1187–91), and his mother, Claricia, belonged to the noble Roman family of Scotti. Lotario studio in Rome, Paris (theology, under Peter of Corbeil), and Bologna (canon law, under Huguccio). The latter's moderate doctrine on the relationship between spiritual and lay authorities were a constant influence in the future work of Innocent. He was considered an intellectual and one of the greatest canon lawyers of his time. After the death of Pope Alexander III (1159–81), Lotario returned to Rome and held office during the short reigns of Lucius III (1181–85), Urban III (1185–87), Gregory VIII (1187), and Clement III (1187–91, possibily a relative of the Segni), reaching the rank of Cardinal Deacon of St. Sergius and Bacchus in 1190. During the reign of Pope Celestine III (1191–98), a member of the House of Orsini, who were enemies of his family, Lotario left Rome to live in Anagni. During this period he wrote a series of theological works, including On the Miserable Condition of Man and On the Mysteries of the Mass, both showing the ascetic-liturgical inspiration animating him. On January 8, 1198, the day late Celestine III was buried, Lotario was unanimously elected Pope after only two ballots. He took the name of Innocent III. He was just thirty-seven years of age, and although a deacon, not yet a priest. He was ordained on February 21 and consecrated bishop of Rome the following day (this is considered by some scholars as the first conclave). His election was held in the ruins of the ancient Septizodium (near the Circus Maximus in Rome). Reassertion of Papal power An energic personality, throughout all his career as Pope Innocent III sought to reassert and extend the prestige and plenitudo potestatis (the secular power) of the Holy See, following the path of the process started by Gregory VII in the late 11th century, and which had gone largely lost during the reign of his predecessors. Even before his incoronation, he thwarted the power of the aristocracy of Rome by obliging the Senator of the city to swear allegiance to the Popes. The Prefect of Rome, who reigned over the city as the Emperor's representative, had to do the same. He reigned in Rome with the support of the oligarchic class, until a popular uprise in 1203, backed by the Orsini, forced him to move to Palestrina. He returned in the pacified city the following year. On the foreign side, the throne of the Holy Roman Empire had become vacant by the death of Henry VI in 1197, and no successor had yet been elected. Innocent III took advantage of the confusion to lessen imperial (German) influence in Italy. The Pope demanded the restoration to the Church of the Romagna, the March of Ancona and the Duchy of Spoleto from imperial vicar Markward of Anweiler; he used papal troops to bring this about, but failed to regain Romagna. In a similar way, the Duchies of Spoleto, Assisi and the Sora were taken from the German Conrad von Uerslingen. He however cannot regain the former possessions of Mathilda of Canossa in Tuscany. The Pope also made use of the weakness of Henry's son, King Frederick II of Sicily (who was only four years old), to reassert papal power in Sicily; taking advantage of the last will of Frederick's mother, Constance, who had named him as tutor of the young king, Innocent acknowledged Frederick as King only after the surrender of the privileges of the Four Chapters, which William I of Sicily had previously extorted from Pope Adrian IV (1154–59). The Pope then invested the young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November, 1198. He also later induced Frederick II to marry the widow of King Emeric of Hungary in 1209. Encroachment in Empires affairs After the death of the Holy Roman emperor Henry VI in 1197, two princely parties had elected competing Kings: Philip of Swabia of the Hohenstaufen family, and Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor of the Welf family. Since Philip had been excommunicated by Celestine III and not regulamentarly crowned in Aachen, in 1201 the Pope openly supported Otto IV; he threated with excommunication all those who refused to acknowledge him. By the decree Venerabilem in May 1202 Innocent III made clear to the German princes his view of the relationship between the Empire and the Papacy (this decree was afterwards embodied in the Corpus Juris Canonici). The decree asserted the papal rights to decide whether a King is worthy of the imperial crown and to arbitrate or pronounce in favour of one of the claimants in case of a double election, as was the current situation with the Empire. He argued this bull on the grounds that the transition of the Roman Empire from Byzantium to the Holy Roman Emperor had taken place only under papal blessing, and therefore all blessing, coronation, and investiture of the Emperor was dependent upon the Pope. However, Philip gained increasingly steam at the expenses of Otto, and in 1205 received a more regular incoronation at Aachen from the archbishop of Cologne, Germany's main religious authority. Considering Otto the losing party, in 1207 Innocent III changed his mind and declared in favour of Philip, sending cardinals to Germany to induce Otto to renounce his claims to the throne. But Philip was murdered on June 21, 1208 (probably by Otto's agents): at the Diet of Frankfurt of November 11, 1208, Otto IV was acknowledged as King. The Pope invited him to Rome and the two met at Viterbo, Otto swearing to renounce to any claim to the Mathilda's heritage and the former exarchate of Ravenna (Romagna). He was then crowned Emperor as Otto IV, in St. Peter's Basilica, on October 4, 1209. Otto IV had also promised to leave the Church in possession of Spoleto and Ancona and to grant the freedom of ecclesiastical elections; unlimited right of appeal to the Pope; and the exclusive competency of the hierarchy in spiritual matters. He had also promised to assist in the destruction of heresy (the stipulation of Neuss, which promise he repeated at Speyer in 1209). But soon after being crowned, Otto IV seized Ancona, Spoleto and other territories claimed by the Church, giving them to certain of his vassals. He also invaded the Kingdom of Sicily. As a result, Otto IV was excommunicated on November 18, 1210. At the Diet of Nuremberg in September 1211, the Pope convinced some imperial princes to renounce the excommunicated Emperor and to elect Frederick II of Sicily. Frederick II made the same promises as Otto IV had done; he was reelected by most of the princes on December 5, 1212 and, his election being ratified by Innocent III, he was crowned at Aachen on July 12, 1215. Feudal power over Europe Innocent's personal strength and personality imposed him as the most prominent political figure in Europe: he had John "Lackland" of England declare himself vassal of the Church (1213); received the feudal homage of Peter II of Aragon, Otto of Bohemia, Alfonso IX of Leon and Sancho I of Portugal; and forced Philip II Augustus of France (1180–1223) to be reconciled with his wife, Ingeborg of Denmark. Philip II became, thereby, Innocent III's ally in the struggle over Otto IV. The Emperor allied himself with England (he was nephew of John "Lackland") to fight Philip II Augustus, but he was defeated in the Battle of Bouvines in what is now Belgium, on July 27, 1214. Thereafter Otto IV lost all influence and died on May 19, 1218, leaving Frederick II the undisputed Emperor. Innocent III played further roles in the politics of France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Spain and especially England. In England, there was controversy over the appointment of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury which had been made in Rome without consultation by Innocent himself and which was opposed by King John and by the majority of the monks of Christ Church Canterbury. The King was eventually forced to acknowledge the Pope as his feudal lord and accept Langton, after Innocent stirred up his former enemy the French King to invade England. Innocent III also declared the Magna Carta invalid at King John's request, on the ground that it had been obtained by force. This papal tampering in the internal affairs of a sovereign state was to have significant consequences later in English history at the time of the Henrician reformation in the early sixteenth century this case was cited by the King's men of law as evidence of unwarranted papal interference in English affairs and helped to bolster the popular case for casting off Rome. Suppression of heresies and crusades Innocent III was considered as a strenuous opponent of heresy, and had campaigns to force the heretics to convert, or be executed. Under his authority, massacres were committed throughout the Papal States, first against the Manichean heretics and under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, against the Albigenses (Cathars), the Albigensian Crusade (1209–29). The latter, strongly supported by Innocent, was one of the most controversial moves of the medieval church, being mostly directed against other Christians and soon turning into a mere conquest campaign of the northern French barons against the more tolerant Midi. This was a prelude to the legitimisation of the Inquisition in 1233, wherein heresy was said to be punished for the spiritual good of the individual as well as for the preservation of the Church. The Pope supported two new holy orders: the Franciscans and the Dominicans. Innocent III had also decreed the Fourth Crusade in 1198, which was intended to recapture the Holy Land. The Pope directed his call towards the knights and nobles of Europe rather than to the Kings; he wished that neither Richard I of England (1189–99) nor Philip II of France, who were still engaged in war, not to mention his German enemies, should participate in the crusade. Innocent III's call was generally ignored until 1200, when a crusade was finally organized in Champagne. The Venetians then re-directed it into the sacking of Zara in 1202 and of Constantinople in 1204. Innocent III was horrified by the attack on the Byzantines. Prior to the launching of the Crusade he had insisted that no Christian cities be attacked. He sharply denounced Boniface of Montferrat, commander of the so-called "Fourth Crusade" (1202–04) for his actions: (quoted by Warren Carroll in The Glory of Christendom) Innocent III also summoned the Fourth Lateran Council (12th ecumenical council), which opened on 11 November 1215. It decided on another crusade to the Holy Land (the Fifth Crusade) and issued some seventy reformatory decrees. Among other things, it encouraged creating schools and holding clergy to a higher standard than the laity. Death and legacy The Council had set the beginning of another Crusade for 1217, under the direct leadership of the church. After its, in the Spring of 1216 Innocent moved to northern Italy in an attempt to reconciliate the mariner cities of Pisa and Genoa, whose ships were necessary to new enterprise, but also to imbue them of more religious and commercial motivations. Innocent III, however, died at Perugia in the July of that year, from one of his frequent attacks of fever, probably due to malaria. He was buried in the cathedral there, where his body remained until Pope Leo XIII had it transferred to the Lateran in December 1890. Although the papal power over Kings that Innocent III established would be short-lived, he sincerely attempted to turn theological principles into actual powers. Two of his Latin works are still widely read: De Miseria Humanae Conditionis, a tract on asceticism that Innocent III wrote before becoming Pope, and De Sacro Altaris Mysterio, which is a description and exegesis of the liturgy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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