INNOCENT III (1198-1216) AND THE FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL (1215)

Innocent III represents the apex of the medieval papacy and was the pope who made popular the title “Vicar of Christ.” He was an activist pope who claimed for the papacy fullness of power over the Church, which meant not only supervision of the clergy but also of the morals of the laity. Innocent defended the Church against three great external threats: 1) the loss of Jerusalem (held by Muslims Saladin recaptured in 1187), 2) the proliferation of heresy (Cathars and Waldensians, but especially the former), and the political domination of Italy by the Hohenstaufen kings of Germany. The second threat entailed a thorough reform of the clergy and the creation of a pastoral system to instruct and guide the laity. He possessed a sincere love of spiritual simplicity, which led him to embrace the Franciscan and Dominican movements. He also sought the reform of ecclesiastical administration, emphasizing written documents and record keeping, to make it more effective, and sought reform of the lifestyle of the clergy to make it more holy, complementing the emphasis he placed upon the pastoral function of the secular clergy. At the same time, he ruthlessly promoted papal political and ecclesiastical supremacy, and engaged in political machinations to manipulate the election of German kings to protect the pope’s political position in Italy as independent ruler of the “Papal States.”

Innocent’s policies reflect some of the complexity and confusion inherent in the medieval papacy’s position as a spiritual and political entity.

BASIC PROGRAM:

1. Crusade—Innocent III launched three crusades: the Fourth and Fifth to regain Jerusalem, and the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics of southern France. Innocent redefined participation in crusading by allowing individuals to redeem their crusader vows by paying money to fund crusades in lieu of physically undertaking a crusade. This permitted women and the old to become more involved in crusading. Innocent also pioneered use of "crusade" for political purposes, by launching in 1199 a crusade in southern Italy against the Hohenstaufen Markward of Anweiler.

2. Combatting heresy. Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics of southern France; made repression of heresy a responsibility of bishops and princes;

And sponsored orthodox movements of piety as weapons in war against heresy (e.g., the Humiliati, Poor Catholics, Franciscans, Dominicans)

3. Church reform—Innocent III restored the link between the institutional church and popular movements of apostolic poverty; formulated reform policy that was aimed at purifying the behavior of the clergy and increasing the level of education of the clergy; attacked ancient custom and usage of the ordeal as sinful, based on priestly blood taboo; emphasized the sacerdotal and sacramental character of the Church (Fourth Lateran Council 1215)

4. Papal authority over princes in matters of morality and esslesiology—Innocent III forced King Philip II Augustus of France to take back his wife; forced King John of England to accept Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury; accepted kingdoms as gifts from their kings and returned them to their rulers as papal fiefs; quashed Magna Carta

5. Defense of the political powers and authorities of the papacy in Italy. Innocent III fought to preserve political control over the papal territories and in doing so created the PAPAL STATES as a new political unit; was active in imperial elections, pursuing an anti-Hohenstaufen policy; attempted to keep the kingdoms of Germany and Sicily separate so that the Papal States wouldn't be encircled by the Hohenstaufens.

HISTORICAL OPINIONS: Basic trend--German Protestants portray him as ambitious and hypocritical, using the papacy to claim Lordship of the World. Catholic historians have seen him as a great ecclesiastical reformer, who used the powers of the papacy to combat sin and immorality in the clergy and the laity. Modern legal historians have debated the sources of his claimed authority.

Contemporary critics of the papacy:

Walter Map (ca. 1180)--secular cleric and member of Henry II of England's court who served as Henry's ambassador to the papal court of Alexander III in 1178. Walter criticized the papacy for its preference for the 'mark' over Saint Mark and for 'the pastor's seat' having been turned into 'a tribunal.'

He also expressed the resentment of secular clerics about Innocent III's renewed attack on clerical incontinence:

Innocent by name, but not innocent by deed

Who strives to abolish what God has decreed

For the Lord provided a woman for each man

Which our pope has forbidden by his ban.

Walther von der Vogelweide (ca. 1170-ca.1230)--early thirteenth century German poet and partisan of the Empire. Anti-papal and anti-Italian satires.

F. Hurter (1787-1865)--1858. 19th-century conservative Catholic view: Innocent intervened in political matters because he worked for the common good of mankind--higher goal than that of selfish kings. "his concept of duty and the importance of the papal office" is what motivated him.

A. Hauck (1845-1918)--1903. Protestant and German nationalist. Innocent belongs in the procession of political popes. In him we see the ecclesiastical idea of the papacy give way to the idea of political hegemony. I saw himself as the servant who has been put in charge of the whole house, as the successor of Peter, the anointed of the Lord. Innocent saw himself on a lonely pinnacle--his utterances were God's.

Hauck sees an element of hypocrisy here. Innocent benefitted his family with the wealth of the Church; shielded cousin in Rome when they assassinated an enemy. "He only knew one rule for politics, that of opportunity and what was opportune." He was willing to deceive. He was more a temporal lord that a pastor.

A. Luchaire (1846-1908)--1905. Innocent tailored his policies to fit political realities rather than doctrinaire positions. Emphasized I's accomplishments in reforming church and formulating doctrine. " recognized that he was obliged to neglect the spiritual for the temporal, and he laid the faulty on the wickedness of men." He begged the monks of Cluny to pray for him so that St. Peter would "prevent me from being plunged, more than necessary, into the vanities of life."

C. H. McIlwain--1932. Rejected political explanation of I's actions and argued that Innocent claimed an almost unlimited jurisdiction based primarily upon the pope's spiritual duty as vicar of God. He acted in temporal affairs only when sin was involved. The limits on papal authority was essentially moral rather than political. He asserted his duty to act as the moral judge and legislator of Christendom.

McIlwain's views extended by M. Maccarrone in 1940--denial of the political element in I's claims.

A. Fliche--1950. I's vision of the unity of Christendom was essentially spiritual. Its purpose was "to ensure in religious unity, the defense and spreading of the Catholic faith and Christian morality." But Fliche did not deny that such goals entailed political as well as moral activities.

J. Haller (German prof. d. 1947) and B. Tierney considered Innocent's claims of jurisdiction. Haller, in a highly critical portrait, portrayed Innocent as the self pronounced lord of the world and prince of the earth. Tierney reconsidered the problem and argued that I saw the TWO SWORDS as being divinely ordained and two hierarchies as necessary, but saw both hierarchies as culminating in himself.

H. Tillmann--1954 (still standard biography) Emphasized personality and character. Sympathetic treatment of Innocent. Didn't always act out of pure motives, sought political ends, but, ultimately was concerned with spiritual good.

BACKGROUND

Lothar of Segni, b. 1160/1161, son of important landowner in Roman Compagna; mother from Scotti family=many political connections with Roman patriciate. Both parents came from powerful and influential Roman aristocracy. His uncle was Pope Clement III.

Educated in Rome; went to PARIS to study theology. He later promoted his teacher Peter of Corbeil to bishopric of Cambrai and archbishop of Sens, and regularly used and advanced University of Paris educated clergy in his service--most notably Stephen Langton. His affection for the University of Paris was such that as pope he freed it from the interference of the bishop of Paris. His theological study at Paris concentrated on practical issues such as preaching and penance, and hence on moral and sacramental theology.

He studied law at Bologna (and was later nicknamed Solomon III as a joke). He was named a cardinal deacon in 1189/1190 by his uncle Clement III. Wrote Mysteries of the Mass (1195) and the Misery of the Human Condition or Concerning contempt for this World (1196), a very popular work that survives in 700 manuscripts. This work emphasized the fallen nature of man. The first part dwells on illnesses and the miseries of man's physical condition. He says, for instance, that infants are 'conceived in filth and blood, made of the vilest matter, whimpering, weak, without defense, inferior even to the animals'--"the vegetables produce flowers and fruits; but you, O man, what do you bring forth? Some worms, some spit, some dung." The second part deals with moral evils (in three principal forms: cupidity, sensuality, and ambition). The third section tells about hell and damnation.

Innocent III's theological writings are unoriginal but revealing. They emphasize that man's fallen nature requires the supernatural intervention of God for man's redemption and the establishment of hierarchies of authority by God to restrain man's wickedness. Innocent III has usually been portrayed as a canon-lawyer pope, but he was much more of a moralist and theologian than lawyer.

In 1198 he was elected pope by the required two thirds majority on the second ballot. He was only 37 years old when he succeeded to the papacy. He was tireless in his activities as pope. His legislative output consists of more than 6,000 extant letters, many of which were decretals (papal letters that include decisions of the pope on issues arising from canon law).

In personality and appearance, he was small in stature, pleasing in appearance, and clear in speech. He had a sense of humor and a liking for scholarly conversation, and was able to find time for leisure. He welcomed reformers and critics (though not heretics) and was instrumental in bringing back many Waldensians into the Church as Humiliati and Poor Catholics. His dealings with St. Francis reveal how perspicacious he was; he was able to recognize in Francis something more than another Peter Waldo and to receive him and his followers into the Church.

Innocent died in 1216 soon after the Fourth Lateran had ended. He took ill while on a trip to Pisa and Genoa in an attempt to patch up differences between these two cities in order to facilitate the new crusade.

INNOCENT'S CAESAROPAPIST IDEOLOGY:

Letter to the Nobles of Tuscany (1198) defines Innocent's conception of papal authority:

Just as the founder of the universe established two great lights in the firmament of heaven, a greater one to preside over the day and a lesser to preside over the night, so too in the firmament of the universal church, which is signified by the word heaven, he instituted two great dignities, a greater one [i.e. the pope] to preside over souls as if over day and a lesser one to preside over bodies as if over night [i.e. the emperor]. These are the pontifical authority and the royal power. Now just as the moon derives its light from the sun and is indeed lower than it in quantity and quality, in position and in power, so too the royal power derives the splendor of its dignity from the pontifical authority.

The LANGUAGE IS ABSOLUTIST, but here RHETORIC OUTSTRIPPED REALITY. As compared with Gregory VII, Innocent was blessed with the mechanisms with which to exert royal authority: a well-organized COLLEGE OF CARDINALS and central administration, a systematic code of CANON LAW that emphasized the supremacy of the pope, a developing system of judicial APPEALS TO THE PAPAL COURTS from local ecclesiastical courts, acknowledged SUPREMACY OF THE POPE OVER LOCAL BISHOPS BOLSTERED BY INSTITUTION OF PAPAL LEGATES, GREATER REVENUES, the emergence of INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS ORDERS under the pope, concept of the CRUSADES, the emergence of papal licensed UNIVERSITIES. Innocent III had far greater resources than had Gregory VII and, consequently, had more power than his predecessor. Gregory proceeded by propaganda, exhortation, and threat of excommunication, because he had no system of control over the clergy, let alone the laity. Innocent III enjoyed some mechanisms of control and created others.

BUT WE MUST BE CAREFUL THAT WE DO NOT EXAGGERATE INNOCENT'S POWER AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS. HIS POLITICAL SUCCESS WAS AS MUCH A MATTER OF CIRCUMSTANCE AS IT WAS A REFLECTION OF PAPAL AUTHORITY AND HIS OWN ABILITIES: IN 1198 THE EMPIRE WAS IN THE GRIPS OF A VIRTUAL CIVIL WAR (1197 HVI died, leaving child heir; led to struggle between Philip of Hohenstaufen, H's brother, and Otto of Welf), IMPERIAL POWER HAD COLLAPSED IN ITALY, SICILY WAS RULED BY A CHILD. INNOCENT'S VICTORIES OVER EMPEROR OTTO IV, PHILIP AUGUSTUS, AND JOHN REFLECT AS MUCH HIS ABILITY TO PLAY POLITICS AND EXPLOIT THE RIVALRIES OF PRINCES AS IT DOES THE POWER AND INFLUENCE OF THE PAPACY. EXCOMMUNICATION AND INTERDICT WERE POWERFUL WEAPONS, BUT THEY BECAME MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN BACKED UP BY THE SUPPORT OF LAY POWER AND THE THREAT OF FORCE.

INNOCENT AND LAY POWER

Pope as feudal overlord.

Special relationships between papacy and kingdoms: Hungary, Poland, Aragon, Sicily all acknowledged pope as feudal overlord. After 1213 England joined this group.

Pope enjoyed a titular overlordship and received with it the payment of an annual tribute of recognition. This relationship could be beneficial to kings, as John discovered in 1215 when Innocent quashed Magna Carta.

Innocent's conception of kingship

Best illustrated by oath of office taken to him by King Peter II of Aragon:

"I will defend the catholic faith; I will persecute heresy; I will respect the liberties and immunities of the churches and protect their rights. Throughout all of the territory submitted to my power I will strive to maintain peace and justice."

The focus here is on the royal duty to maintain peace and the defense of the faith (including the privileges of the churches).

Innocent III actions in his disputes with King Philip Augustus of France and King John of England are indicative of Innocent III’s view of the pope as head of the international church and as the moral guardian of Christendom. It also reveals his political skills and the reality underlying “Caesaropapism: the pope’s authority over kings waxed and waned in proportion to political conditions. If a king felt himself secure in his control of his kingdom and was personally in good health, he could effectively ignore the pope’s orders, and even interdict or excommunication. But if a king was faced with foreign invasion or internal rebellion and required the legitimacy that only the Church could give, then the power of the papacy came more in line with its claimed authority.

Innocent and King Philip Augustus II of France

In 1193 Philip married Ingeborg, receiving a dowry of 10,000 silver marks, and immediately repudiated the marriage, securing an annulment from French bishops. The problem seems to have been personal (perhaps sexual); Philip refused to see Ingeborg for the next seven years, and even after he was forced to reconcile with her, refused to resume conjugal relations. He married Agnes of Meran in 1196 (Ingeborg was sequestered in a royal monastery).

Innocent refused to recognize the annulment (because Philip could not prove consanguinity) and demanded that Philip take Ingeborg back, put Agnes aside, and begin annulment proceedings in the papal court. He refused and Innocent ordered the papal legate in France, Peter of Capua, to place the royal demesne under interdict in 1200. Philip responded by acceding to Innocent's demands, entered into a formal reconciliation with Ingeborg with the intention of beginning a new trial in the court of the papal legate. Innocent lifted the interdict.

Agnes's death after delivering a son in 1201 eased the problem a bit. Philip wanted his children by Agnes legitimized and Innocent wanted Philip's support for Otto the Welf's candidacy for the kingship of Germany. So Innocent gave into Philip's request and declared Agnes's two children to be legitimate.

The matter dragged on from 1201 to 1212, with Philip changing his tactic from claiming consanguinity to non-consummation due to Ingeborg's sorcery. In 1207, following the Hohenstaufen Philip of Swabia's election as king of Germany over Otto, Innocent on his own initiative suggested that non-consummation due to sorcery would be acceptable grounds for annulment. With the assassination of Philip of Swabia in the following year, Innoent returned to a hardline.

The final reconciliation came about in early 1213. Innocent needed Philip's for the crusade against the heretics in the south and wanted his support against Otto IV, now king of Germany and emperor; Philip, facing hostilities from England and its allies, Flanders and Germany, planned an invasion of England. Innocent wished to support this invasion, since John was an excommunicant since 1209 because of the Langton affair, but pope and French king needed to resolve the problem of the marriage for this alliance to be consummated. In April 1213 at Soissons, where Philip had summoned a council of his barons to plan an expedition against England, Philip agreed to receive Ingeborg back. He now had two full grown sons and with the succession secure he deemed it prudent to give way on the question of the marriage. Innocent had finally won.

Innocent and King John of England

The dispute between Innocent and John occurred over a disputed election to the archbishopric of Canterbury, 1205-1207. The canons wanted to elect one of their own; John ordered them to elect his favorite, John de Gray, bishop of Norwich; and the whole affair ended up at Rome before Innocent. Innocent rejected both candidates, and the delegation of monks elected Stephen Langton, an English scholar who had taught at Paris and had been made a cardinal priest by Innocent. Innocent consecrated Stephen in 1207.

John refused to accept the new archbishop, whom he suspected because of his long stay in Paris, and closed the English ports to him. He compounded matters by expelling the monks of Canterbury. I responded in March 1208 with an interdict upon England, and John answered with the confiscation of all clergy who refused to perform divine services. I then excommunicated John (1209), who seems to have shrugged it off and continued to pocket the revenues of the Church in England.

The discovery of a baronial plot in 1212 and the prospect of an invasion from France forced John to reconsider. When Philip reconciled with I in April 1203 and announced that he would lead a crusade against England (with the support of Stephen Langton), John capitulated to I. He met with the papal legate Pandulf at Dover on 15 May 1213 and accepted I's terms: SL would be accepted as archbishop and John would make financial restitution to the church. John, on his own initiative, declared to the legate that he wished to surrender the Crowns of England and Ireland into the hands of the pope and to hold his kingdoms as fiefs of St. Peter, for which he would do liege homage and pay a tribute of 1,000 marks sterling a year. John also asked for a resident papal legate in England. In 1214 John granted to all cathedrals and monasteries the right of free election, and on 4 March 1215, took the cross.

What John got out of all of this was a papal protector, and I did protect him. During the baronial revolt of 1214-16, I came to John's aid by suspending Stephen Langton and by annulling Magna Carta (Aug 1215) as the work of treacherous vassals who had overthrown their oaths of fealty and forced the king "by violence and fear" "to accept an agreement which is not only shameful and demeaning but also illegal and unjust."

FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL

The Fourth Lateran Council was an ecumenical council held in the pope’s Lateran palace in Rome in 1215. It represents Innocent III's most lasting contribution to ecclesiastical reform.

Attended by over 400 bishops, 800 abbots, thousands of lesser clergy and laity, and representatives of all the great princes. Even Byzantium was represented (because of Latin kingdom created in 1204 [lasted until 1261] result of 4th Crusade). The mass of people in the Lateran was so great that an eyewitness commented that he could hear very little of the sermon over the 'tumult of the people.'

Pageantry: Innocent III's consecration of the church of St Mary of the Flowing Oil was described by an eyewitness: 'The greatest Roman noblemen, swathed in silk and purple, preceded him to the accompaniment of drum and chorus, strings and organ, and the resounding harmonies of trumpets, and an infinite multitude of clerics and people followed. Roman boys, raising olive branches, met the lord pope with shouts and, as is their custom, kept saying Kyrieleyson and Christeleyson without interruption. Right away, at the other end of the bridge across which one approaches the church, uncounted lanterns, suspended on ropes throughout the streets and alleys, strove to make the brightness of that day succumb to the brilliance of their own light. The number of banners and pieces of purple cloth, which were unfolded on the houses and high towers of the Romans cannot be estimated at all.'

Issues: The council dealt with a variety of issues, ecclesiastical, doctrinal, and even political. The deposed emperor Otto IV sent ambassadors to seek reconciliation with the pope, the rebel English barons fighting against King John were excommunicated, a Latin patriarch of Constantinople was established, and quarrels among bishops (Compostella and Toledo) over precedence were sorted out. THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES, HOWEVER, WERE THOSE OF

1. A PLANNED NEW CRUSADE (INNOCENT III'S MOST FERVENT DESIRE),

2. PURIFICATION OF THE CLERGY AND INSTRUCTION OF CLERGY IN MATTERS OF FAITH AND RELIGIOUS RITES (clergy is to abstain from drunkenness and shall be celibate, canon 15; shall not visit taverns or play games of chance, or dress unsuitably, canon 16; and SHALL NOT PARTICIPATE IN JUDICIAL ORDEALS AND TESTS--a revolutionary canon, no. 18, that altered the whole judicial system of Christian Europe, led increasingly to use of jury trials in England and Inquisitorial procedure on continent; no. 6, that provincial synods are to be held annually to ensure enforcement of canonical enactments for the correction of abuses; no. 27--only those prepared and instructed in the faith are to be elevated to the priesthood: 'it is better to have a few good ministers than many who are no good'; no. 11 all diocese are to have masters to teach gratis priests and poor students),

3. SUPPRESSION OF HERESY (to which end a lengthy profession of orthodox faith was issued, canon 1; and an order that bishops and rulers suppress heresy in their domains, canon 3)

4. CLARIFICATION OF DOCTRINE (transubstantiation; annual confession and communion; priestly monopoly on confection of eucharist)

In all 68 canons were issued. The most important of these dealt with:

no. 1: declaration that during Holy Communion the bread becomes the actual body and the wine the actual blood of Christ (TRANSUBSTANTIATION); and that 'NO ONE CAN EFFECT THIS SACRAMENT EXCEPT THE PRIEST WHO HAS BEEN DULY ORDAINED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE KEYS OF THE CHURCH.

no. 13: NO NEW MONASTIC ORDERS PERMITTED

no. 18: prohibition on clergy's partic. in judicial ORDEALS

nos 15-18: SOBER & CELIBATE CLERGY--clergy shall be celibate, sober, and refrain from gambling, hunting, commerce, and other inappropriate behavior and dress.

no. 27--only those prepared and instructed in the faith are to be elevated to the priesthood: 'it is better to have a few good ministers than many who are no good').

no. 11--in every cathedral church and other churches that have sufficient means, a master is to be appointed to instruct gratis the clerics and poor students. The metropolitan church ought to have a theologian who shall teach the clergy whatever pertains to the care of souls.

no. 29: Clergy was to hold only one benefice

no. 21: EVERYONE WHO HAS ATTAINED AGE OF REASON IS BOUND TO CONFESS HIS SINS AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR TO HIS OWN PARISH PRIEST OR WITH HIS PERMISSION TO ANOTHER, AND TO RECEIVE THE EUCHARIST AT LEAST AT EASTER. A PRIEST WHO REVEALS A SIN CONFIDED TO HIM IN CONFESSION IS TO BE DEFROCKED AND RELEGATED TO A MONASTERY FOR THE REMAINDER OF HIS LIFE.

no. 68: JEWS AND MOSLEMS SHALL DRESS IN WAY THAT WILL DISTINGUISH THEM FROM CHRISTIANS; THEY WILL BE FORBIDDEN TO GO OUT IN PUBLIC DURING EASTER AND ESPECIALLY GOOD FRIDAY; THEY SHALL BE PUNISHED BY THE SECULAR AUTHORITIES FOR BLASPHEMING CHRIST.