Innocent III (redirected from Pope Innocent III)

Innocent III, b. 1160 or 1161, d. 1216, pope (1198–1216), an Italian, b. Anagni, named Lotario di Segni; successor of Celestine III. Innocent III was succeeded by Honorius III.

Papacy

Innocent came from an important family, the counts of Segni, to which belonged also Gregory IX and Alexander IV. He was trained as a theologian and perhaps as a jurist, and under Celestine III (his uncle) he became (1190) a cardinal. At the time of his election as pope, Innocent seems already to have formed his ecclesiastico-political doctrine that since things of the spirit take preeminence over things of the body, and since the church rules the spirit and earthly monarchs rule the body, earthly monarchs must be in all things subject to the pope; the doctrine that the sphere of the church was limited had no real place in Innocent's idea. He set out immediately after his election to realize his ideal of the pope as ecclesiastical ruler of the world with some secular political power.

Political Successes

In imperial affairs he was constantly active. He acknowledged as king of Sicily the future Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II after Frederick's mother, the Empress Constance, had accepted papal suzerainty over Sicily and given up certain ecclesiastical privileges; on Constance's death, Innocent accepted Frederick as his ward, a trust he faithfully executed, as even his enemies admitted. In Germany the dispute between Philip of Swabia and Otto IV was arbitrated by the pope in favor of Otto (1201). Later (1207–8) the pope favored Philip, but after Philip's murder, Innocent crowned Otto (1209) as emperor, only to excommunicate him (1210) and dictate the election of the papal ward, Frederick, as German king (1212). Frederick made elaborate promises (as had Otto) favorable to the Holy See.

Innocent's relations with England proceeded to the same political end, but this was hastened by a purely ecclesiastical quarrel over the election of an archbishop of Canterbury. Innocent set aside the two rival claimants and procured the election of Stephen Langton; King John, enraged at what he felt was unwarrantable interference by the pope and at the obduracy of the clergy in opposing the demands of the king, persecuted the church. As a result the pope laid England under the interdict, excommunicated John (1209), and even considered deposing him. The people and the barons supported the church, and John had to submit; he received England and Ireland in fief from the pope, promising annual tribute to the Holy See. Subsequently the pope stood by John after the barons coerced him into granting the Magna Carta, for Innocent declared it null as a forcibly exacted promise and also as a vassal's promise made without his overlord's knowledge. Pandulf became Innocent's legate in England.

Innocent was also the virtual overlord of Christian Spain, Scandinavia, Hungary, and the Latin East. Philip II of France remained independent of Innocent politically. On the moral question of Philip's divorce, however, Innocent forced the king to bow to the canon law.

Political Failures

The great failures of Innocent's policy were the Fourth Crusade (see Crusades) and the conduct of Italy. That crusade, proclaimed and blessed by Innocent, never went to the Holy Land, but attacked instead Christians on the island of Zara and in the Byzantine Empire. Innocent excommunicated the disobedient crusaders, but later accepted the fait accompli and tried to spread the Latin rite over the Latin Empire of Constantinople; in spite of a new Latin patriarchate, these efforts were futile, and the schism of East and West was only exacerbated.

In Italy, Innocent reclaimed the Patrimony of St. Peter (see Papal States), the duchy of Spoleto, the March of Ancona, and the Ravenna district; he was recognized as temporal overlord by Tuscany, but northern Italian cities were unruly and maintained their independence throughout Innocent's pontificate. Innocent initiated the Albigensian mission and the Albigensian Crusade (see under Albigenses); when he heard of the misbehavior of the crusaders of Simon de Montfort, he protested in vain. He supported the Teutonic Knights in the incursions along the Baltic.

Influence on the Church

Amid all his political activity Innocent was most energetic in the administration of the church. In this direction the triumph of his pontificate was the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), one of the greatest of councils. His was the original impetus behind St. Dominic's mission, and he provided the first approbation of the institute of St. Francis. Innocent's interest in law was ever active; thus as pope he constantly held court, with a good name for impartiality. He wrote extensively; his tract De contemptu mundi [on the contempt of this world] was widely read in the Middle Ages. Innocent's theories of the papal monarchy had a profound effect on the development of the papacy.

Bibliography

See C. E. Smith, Innocent III, Church Defender (1951, repr. 1971); S. R. Packard, Europe and the Church under Innocent III (rev. ed. 1968); H. Tillman, Pope Innocent III (tr. W. Sax, 1980).

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Innocent III

 orig. Lothar of Segni

(born 1160/61, Gavignano Castle, Campagna di Roma, Papal States—died July 16, 1216, Perugia) Pope (1198–1216). Innocent, who was trained in both theology and law, brought the medieval papacy to the height of its prestige and power. He crowned Otto IV as Holy Roman emperor, but Otto's determination to unite Germany and Sicily angered him, and in 1212 he gave his support to the Hohenstaufen candidate, Frederick II. After Innocent excommunicated King John of England for refusing to recognize Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury, John was obliged to submit and to declare England a fief of the Holy See (1213). Innocent launched the Fourth Crusade, which captured Constantinople, and the Albigensian Crusade, which attempted to suppress heresy in southern France. He approved the Mendicant orders founded by St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi, and he convoked the fourth Lateran Council, which promulgated the doctrine of transubstantiation and endorsed annual confession for all Christians.

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Innocent III

original name Giovanni Lotario de' Conti. ?1161--1216, pope (1198--1216), under whom the temporal power of the papacy reached its height. He instituted the Fourth Crusade (1202) and a crusade against the Albigenses (1208), and called the fourth Lateran Council (1215)

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Innocent III 

(secular name, Lotario di Segni). Born 1160 or 1161, in Anagni; died July 16, 1216, in Perugia. Pope from 1198. Son of the wealthy count of Segni.

The time of Innocent Ill’s pontificate was the period of the medieval papacy’s greatest power. Innocent III strove to establish the supremacy of papal authority over secular government. He interfered in the internal affairs of European states. In 1198 he became guardian of Frederick II, the heir to the Sicilian throne, and he temporarily subordinated the Kingdom of Sicily to his own power. By instigating a struggle for the imperial throne between the Welfs and Hohenstaufens in Germany, Innocent weakened its central authority. The kings of England, Aragon, and Portugal, as well as the tsar of Bulgaria, all acknowledged themselves to be vassals of the pope.

Innocent III abolished Rome’s urban autonomy and restored the power of the pope over the entire territory of the papal state. He was the initiator of the Fourth Crusade. In striving to extend the domination of the Catholic Church to all of Eastern Europe he sanctioned the founding of the Order of the Knights of the Sword in 1202; in 1215 he organized the Crusade of the Teutonic knights against the Prussians. In 1209 he called for a crusade against the Albigensians. He persecuted heresy mercilessly and facilitated the organization of the Inquisition. Innocent III converted the mendicant orders that were coming into being at that time (especially the Franciscan Order) into a powerful weapon of papal policy.

REFERENCES

Luchaire, A. Innocent III, vols. 1–6. Paris, 1904–08.
Haller, I. Innozenz III (Meister der Politik), 2nd ed., vol. 1. Stuttgart, 1923.
Tillmann, H. Papst Innozenz III. Bonn, 1954.
Schneider, R. Innozenz der Dritte. Cologne-Olten, 1960.

M. L. ABRAMSON