Innocent III

I

Introduction

Innocent III (1160?-1216), pope (1198-1216), who is generally considered the most capable and effective of the medieval popes.

Born Lotario de' Conti di Segni in the castle of Gravignano, he came from an ancient noble family with powerful connections. He studied theology at the University of Paris and canon law at the University of Bologna, thus receiving the best education his age offered. Although not yet a priest, he was, at the age of 37, unanimously elected pope by the College of Cardinals on the day of his predecessor's death. Innocent's pontificate fulfilled the promise that his electors discerned in him.

II

Aims and Accomplishments

Hardly an area of public life was untouched by Innocent's influence. Faithful to the spirit of his office, he often preached in public and tried to keep the life-style of his Curia within modest bounds. Although fully conscious of his authority as pontiff (he was particularly fond of the title Vicar of Christ), he tried to strengthen the episcopacy by restricting the cases that could be appealed to Rome. His diplomacy made papal government a reality in some of the restless territories around Rome, and he is therefore sometimes considered the real founder of the Papal States.

When Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI died in 1197, Innocent used the opportunity to assert the pope's right to examine candidates to the throne and to arbitrate between rivals. He showed remarkable prudence and patience in dealing with willful Philip II of France, especially in view of the king's persistent and scandalous repudiation of his wife. In the controversy with King John of England over the appointment of Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury, Innocent won a clear victory for the church's independence and, besides, received from the king the whole kingdom as a fief.

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III

Crusades

Innocent's most controversial ventures were the two Crusades that he declared. In southern France in the county of Toulouse, a dualist heresy called Albigensianism (see Albigenses) had sprung up. The members of the sect not only held heretical doctrines but their practices also threatened traditional social institutions. After the failure of the preachers he had sent to them, Innocent in 1208 declared a Crusade against them, which caused much bloodshed but did not bring the heresy under control during the pope's lifetime.

Genuinely concerned about the Holy Land, Innocent promoted the Fourth Crusade to recover it. In 1204 a group of Crusaders were diverted to the Christian city of Constantinople (now İstanbul, Turkey), which they sacked. This tragic event, although deplored by the pope, poisoned relations between the Greek and Latin churches for centuries to come; and it provided the occasion for a short-lived and ill-conceived Latin kingdom in Constantinople.

IV

Fourth Lateran Council

Near the end of his life, in 1215, Innocent convoked in Rome the Fourth Lateran Council (see Lateran Councils). Besides dealing with some political and doctrinal issues, the council issued regulations governing the rights and duties of almost every class of society. Among the most famous of the council's decrees is Omnis Utriusque Sexus, requiring of all adult Christians the annual reception of the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist. The council assembled in Rome some 400 bishops and 800 abbots and superiors, along with many secular princes or their envoys—the largest such gathering in the Middle Ages. Along with his encouragement of St. Dominic and St. Francis in their efforts to found their new orders, the council must be remembered among Innocent's most impressive achievements. Innocent died suddenly on July 16, 1216, in Perugia, while on a trip to northern Italy.