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79-633: The chapel is located in the Tower of Innocent III , in the most ancient part of the Apostolic Palace. The walls were decorated by Fra Angelico with images of two of the earliest Christian martyrs; the upper level has Episodes from the Life of St. Stephen , and the lower one Scenes from the life of St. Laurence . The vault is painted blue, decorated with stars, and features figures of the Four Evangelists in

158-454: A daughter of Alfonso VIII , contrary to the laws of the Church, and effected their separation in 1204. For similar reasons he annulled , in 1208, the marriage of the crown-prince, Afonso II of Portugal , with Urraca , daughter of Alfonso of Castile . From Pedro II of Aragon he received that kingdom in vassalage and crowned him king at Rome in 1204. The Muslim recapture of Jerusalem in 1187

237-571: A description and exegesis of the liturgy . According to Gesta Innocentii III , the works of Innocent were evidence that he surpasses his contemporaries in philosophy and theology. Sack of Constantinople In the Holy Land (1095–1291) Later Crusades (1291–1717) Northern (1147–1410) Against Christians (1209–1588) Popular (1096–1320) The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked

316-530: A dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Basilica of St. John Lateran (the cathedral of Rome, thus the 'home church' of all Christendom), he decided to endorse Francis's order. This occurred, according to tradition, on 16 April 1210, and constituted the official founding of the Franciscan Order . The group, then the "Lesser Brothers" ( Order of Friars Minor also known as the Franciscan Order ), preached on

395-419: A war of conquest. During the siege of Béziers , the leader of the crusader assault famously declared upon being asked how to distinguish Cathars from Catholics at the besieged town " Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius ", which translates as: "Slay them all, God will recognize his own." This statement is often cited as "Kill them all and let God sort them out." The Albigensian Crusade led to

474-611: Is considered a turning point in medieval history . Reports of Crusader looting and brutality horrified the Orthodox world; relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches were wounded for many centuries afterwards. The Massacre of the Latins ( Italian : Massacro dei Latini ; Greek : Σφαγή τῶν Λατίνων ), a massacre of the Roman Catholic or "Latin" inhabitants of Constantinople by

553-464: Is estimated 2,000 were killed. The Crusaders, with poor leadership, also sacked churches , monasteries and convents . The altars of these churches were smashed and torn to pieces for their gold and marble by the warriors. The Venetians stole religious relics and works of art, which they later took to Venice. It was said that the total amount looted from Constantinople was about 900,000 silver marks. The Venetians received 150,000 silver marks that

632-601: Is not only himself devoted to the church, but comes from devout ancestors on both sides, ... therefore we decree that he ought to be accepted and supported as king, and ought to be given the crown of empire, after the rights of the Roman church have been secured. "Papal Decree on the choice of a German King, 1201" The confusion in the Empire allowed Innocent to drive out the imperial feudal lords from Ancona , Spoleto and Perugia , who had been installed by Emperor Henry VI. On 3 July 1201,

711-563: Is tragic that the assailants, who set out to secure free access for Christians to the Holy Land, turned against their brothers in the faith. The fact that they were Latin Christians fills Catholics with deep regret." In 2004, while Bartholomew I , Patriarch of Constantinople , was visiting the Vatican , John Paul II asked, "How can we not share, at a distance of eight centuries, the pain and disgust?" This has been regarded by some as an apology to

790-604: The Cathars in southern France. He organized the Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204, which ended in the sack of Constantinople . Although the attack on Constantinople went against his explicit orders, and the Crusaders were subsequently excommunicated, Innocent reluctantly accepted this result, seeing it as the will of God to reunite the Latin and Eastern Orthodox Churches . In the event,

869-591: The College of Cardinals to elect Giovanni di San Paolo as his successor, but Lotario de' Conti was elected pope in the ruins of the ancient Septizodium , near the Circus Maximus in Rome after only two ballots on the very day on which Celestine III died. He was only thirty-seven years old at the time. He took the name Innocent III, maybe as a reference to his predecessor Innocent II (1130–1143), who had succeeded in asserting

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948-770: The Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus . The sack weakened the Byzantine Empire, which allowed neighbouring groups such as the Sultanate of Rum , and later the Ottoman Turks , to gain influence (see the Byzantine–Ottoman wars ). Eight hundred years after the Fourth Crusade , Pope John Paul II twice expressed sorrow for how the events transpired. In 2001, he wrote to Christodoulos , Archbishop of Athens , saying, "It

1027-650: The Fourth Lateran Council . This resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law . He is furthermore notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, although these measures were not uniformly successful. Innocent greatly extended the scope of the Crusades , directing crusades against Muslim Iberia and the Holy Land as well as the Albigensian Crusade against

1106-474: The Gesta (between 1187 and 1189). As pope, Lotario was to play a major role in the shaping of canon law through conciliar canons and decretal letters. Shortly after the death of Alexander III (30 August 1181) Lotario returned to Rome and held various ecclesiastical offices during the short reigns of Lucius III , Urban III , Gregory VIII , and Clement III, being ordained a Subdeacon by Gregory VIII and reaching

1185-588: The Hippodrome were sent back to adorn the façade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, where they remain. As well as being seized, works of considerable artistic value were destroyed for their material value. One of the most precious works to suffer such a fate was a large bronze statue of Hercules , created by the legendary Lysippos , court sculptor of Alexander the Great . Like so many other considerable artworks made of bronze,

1264-718: The Kingdom of Thessalonica , a vassal state of the new Latin Empire. The Venetians also founded the Duchy of the Archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Most of the Byzantine aristocracy fled the city. Amongst the ordinary people of the former empire there was no sympathy for the Byzantine elite, who were seen as having ruled the empire with increasing incompetence. The contemporary Byzantine historian and eyewitness Nicetas Choniates closed his account of

1343-503: The 23 historical figures depicted in marble relief portraits above the gallery doors of the U.S. House of Representatives in honor of their influence on the development of American law. Polish–American sculptor Joseph Kiselewski created the likeness of Innocent in the House in 1951. His Latin works include De miseria humanae conditionis , a tract on asceticism that Innocent III wrote before becoming pope, and De sacro altaris mysterio ,

1422-605: The Biblical account in the Acts of the Apostles, while those of St. Laurence are patterned after the older cycles in the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura , where he is buried. Stephen was a Greek-speaking Jew, one of the first deacons named in Jerusalem by St. Peter – Ordination of St Stephen with St Stephen distributing Alms (lunette). His prayers ( The Prayer of St. Stephen ) earned him

1501-454: The Byzantine Empire's territories were divided up among the Crusaders. Byzantine aristocrats also established a number of small independent splinter states—one of them being the Empire of Nicaea , which would eventually recapture Constantinople in 1261 and proclaim the reinstatement of the Empire. However, the restored Empire never managed to reclaim all its former territory or attain its earlier economic strength, and it gradually succumbed to

1580-585: The Greek Orthodox Church for the slaughter perpetrated by the warriors of the Fourth Crusade. In April 2004, in a speech on the 800th anniversary of the capture of the city, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I formally accepted the apology. "The spirit of reconciliation is stronger than hatred," he said during a liturgy attended by Roman Catholic Archbishop Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France. "We receive with gratitude and respect your cordial gesture for

1659-643: The Kingdom of Sicily. Given the papal interest to keep Germany and Sicily apart, Innocent now supported his ward, King Frederick of Sicily, to resist Otto's advances and restore the Staufen dynasty to the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick was duly elected by the Staufen partisans. The conflict was decided by the Battle of Bouvines on 27 July 1214, which pitted Otto, allied to King John of England against Philip II Augustus. Otto

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1738-449: The age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III. Before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV . The Pope invested

1817-428: The capital of the Byzantine Empire, at the behest of the exiled Byzantine prince Alexios IV . This diversion was taken without any knowledge by Innocent III, and he did not learn of it until after the city had been plundered. Innocent III was heavily opposed to the attack on Constantinople and sent many letters warning the crusaders to not sack the city. He excommunicated the crusaders who attacked Byzantine cities, but

1896-587: The city in the northwest and used it as a base to attack the rest of the city, but while attempting to defend themselves with a wall of fire they ended up burning down even more of the city. Emperor Alexios V fled from the city that night through the Polyandriou (Rhegium) Gate and escaped into the countryside to the west. The Crusaders looted , pillaged, and vandalized Constantinople for three days, during which many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek works were either seized or destroyed. The famous bronze horses from

1975-557: The city. By the first week of April, the Crusaders had begun their siege from their encampment in the town of Galata across the Golden Horn from Constantinople. On 9 April 1204, the Crusader and Venetian forces began an assault on the Golden Horn fortifications by crossing the waterway to the northwest wall of the city, but, because of bad weather, the assault forces were driven back when

2054-481: The corners. The pilasters are decorated with the eight Doctors of the Church . The chapel is not included in the usual tourist visit, but can be seen by special pre-booked groups. Fra Angelico depicted a Deposition of Christ (the removal of Christ from the Cross) on the wall behind the altar, but it has been destroyed. However, his other works in the lunettes are well preserved. The scenes of St. Stephen follow

2133-545: The council reviewed the nature of the Holy Eucharist , the ordered annual confession of sins, and prescribed detailed procedures for the election of bishops. The council also mandated a strict lifestyle for clergy. Canon 68 states: Jews and Muslims shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians so that no Christian shall come to marry them ignorant of who they are. Canon 69 forbade "that Jews be given preferment in public office since this offers them

2212-538: The crusader's vow, but could no longer fulfill it, could be released by a contribution of funds. The pope put Archbishop Hubert Walter in charge of collecting these dues. At the onset of the crusade, the intended destination was Egypt, as the Christians and Muslims were under a truce at the time. An agreement was made between the French Crusaders and the Venetians. The Venetians would supply vessels and supplies for

2291-502: The crusaders and in return the crusaders would pay 85,000 marks (£200,000). Innocent gave his approval of this agreement under two conditions: a representative of the pope must accompany the crusade, and the attack on any other Christians was strictly forbidden. The French failed to raise sufficient funds for payment of the Venetians. As a result, the Crusaders diverted the crusade to the Christian Dalmatian city of Zadar in 1202 at

2370-726: The culmination of the Fourth Crusade . Crusaders sacked and destroyed most of Constantinople , the capital of the Byzantine Empire . After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire (known to the Byzantines as the Frankokratia , or the Latin occupation ) was established and Baldwin of Flanders crowned as Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople in Hagia Sophia . After the city's sacking, most of

2449-668: The death of Emperor Henry VI , who had recently also conquered the Kingdom of Sicily , the succession became disputed : as Henry's son Frederick was still a small child, the partisans of the Staufen dynasty elected Henry's brother, Philip, Duke of Swabia , king in March 1198, whereas the princes opposed to the Staufen dynasty elected Otto, Duke of Brunswick , of the House of Welf . King Philip II of France supported Philip's claim, whereas King Richard I of England supported his nephew Otto. In 1201,

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2528-506: The deaths of approximately 20,000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike, decimating the number of practising Cathars and diminishing the region's distinct culture. The conflict took on a political flavor, directed not only against the heretics, but also the nobility of Toulouse and vassals of the Crown of Aragon , and finally brought the region firmly under the control of the king of France. King Peter II of Aragon , Count of Barcelona,

2607-662: The decree Venerabilem , addressed to the Duke of Zähringen , in which he explained his thinking on the relation between the papacy and the Empire. This decree was afterwards embodied in the Corpus Juris Canonici and contained the following items: Despite papal support, Otto could not oust his rival Philip before the latter was murdered in a private feud. His rule now undisputed, Otto reneged on his earlier promises and set his sights on reestablishing Imperial power in Italy and claiming even

2686-461: The emperor is raised to his position by the pope who blesses him, crowns him and invests him with the empire. ...Therefore, since three persons have lately been elected king by different parties, namely the youth [Frederick, son of Henry VI], Philip [of Hohenstaufen, brother of Henry VI], and Otto [of Brunswick, of the Welf family], so also three things must be taken into account in regard to each one, namely:

2765-540: The fall of the city with the following description of a column of aristocratic refugees, including the Patriarch, making their way to Selymbria : The peasants and common riff-raff jeered at those of us from Byzantium and were thick-headed enough to call our miserable poverty and nakedness equality...Many were only too happy to accept this outrage, saying "Blessed be the Lord that we have grown rich", and buying up for next to nothing

2844-488: The first time a pope ever imposed a direct tax on the clergy. He faced many difficulties in collecting this tax, including corrupt tax collectors and disregard in England. He also sent envoys to King John of England and King Philip of France, who pledged to contribute to the campaign, and John also declared his support for the clerical tax in his kingdom. The crusaders too contributed funds: Innocent declared that those who took

2923-478: The hostility of his opponents in the city, who eventually stoned him to death in front of the city gate. Laurence was a deacon ( Ordination of St Laurence ) to whom Pope Sixtus II had entrusted the Church's treasure in order to give it to the Roman emperor Valerian ( St. Lawrence Receiving the Treasures of the Church ). Lawrence instead divided it among the poor ( St Laurence distributing Alms ), an act for which he

3002-554: The kings of France and England with specific instructions to convince them to settle their differences, resulting in a truce of five years between the two nations, beginning in 1199. The intent of the truce was not to allow the two kings to lead the crusade, but rather to free their resources to assist the Crusade. For the army's leadership, Innocent aimed his pleas at the knights and nobles of Europe, succeeding in France, where many lords answered

3081-410: The legality, the suitability and the expediency of his election. ...Far be it from us that we should defer to man rather than to God, or that we should fear the countenance of the powerful. ...On the foregoing grounds, then, we decide that the youth should not at present be given the empire; we utterly reject Philip for his manifest unfitness and we order his usurpation to be resisted by all ... since Otto

3160-541: The maritime cities of Pisa and Genoa by removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III and concluding a pact with Genoa. Innocent III, however, died suddenly at Perugia on 16 July 1216. He was buried in the cathedral of Perugia , where his body remained until Pope Leo XIII had it transferred to the Lateran in December 1891. Innocent is one of two popes (the other being Gregory IX ) among

3239-465: The medieval political theory of the sun and the moon . His papacy asserted the absolute spiritual authority of his office, while still respecting the temporal authority of kings. There was scarcely a country in Europe over which Innocent III did not in some way or other assert the supremacy which he claimed for the papacy. He excommunicated Alfonso IX of Leon , for marrying a near relative, Berengaria ,

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3318-426: The money that was promised. In March 1204, the Crusader and Venetian leadership decided on the outright conquest of Constantinople in order to settle debts, and drew up a formal agreement to divide the Byzantine Empire between them. By the end of March, the combined Crusader armies were besieging Constantinople as Emperor Alexios V began to strengthen the city's defences while conducting more active operations outside

3397-536: The murdered legate and whom the pope suspected as the instigator of the murder. The count protested his innocence and submitted to the pope but the pope placed no further trust in him. He called upon the King of France, Philip II to raise an army for the suppression of the Albigenses. Under the leadership of Simon of Montfort a cruel campaign ensued against the Albigenses which, despite the protest of Innocent, soon turned into

3476-770: The new capital city of Christianity. The large walls in the Martyrdom of St. Stephen hint at the rebuilding of Rome's walls. Further, the schism in the Jewish community in Jerusalem can be compared to the Christian schism witnessed by Nicholas (who is portrayed in the frescoes as Pope Sixtus II). 41°54′12.24″N 012°27′16.63″E  /  41.9034000°N 12.4546194°E  / 41.9034000; 12.4546194 Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( Latin : Innocentius III ; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni ),

3555-435: The papacy's authority over the emperor (in contrast with Celestine III 's recent policy). As pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority. During Innocent III's reign, the papacy was at the height of its powers. He was considered to be the most powerful person in Europe at the time. In 1198, Innocent wrote to the prefect Acerbius and the nobles of Tuscany expressing his support of

3634-423: The papal bull Post miserabile in 1198. Unlike past popes, Innocent III displayed interest in leading the crusade himself, rather than simply instigating it and allowing secular leaders to organize the expedition according to their own aspirations. Innocent III's first order of business in preaching the crusade was to send missionaries to every Catholic state to endorse the campaign. He sent Peter of Capua to

3713-590: The papal legate, Cardinal-Bishop Guido of Palestrina, announced to the people, in the cathedral of Cologne, that Otto IV had been approved by the pope as Roman king and threatened with excommunication all those who refused to acknowledge him. At the same time, Innocent encouraged the cities in Tuscany to form a league called the League of San Genesio against German imperial interests in Italy, and they placed themselves under Innocent's protection. In May 1202, Innocent issued

3792-423: The people deposed Alexios IV . He turned to the Crusaders for help, but was imprisoned by the imperial chamberlain, Alexios Doukas , who declared himself Emperor on 5 February before executing Alexios IV on 8 February by strangulation. Emperor Alexios V then attempted to negotiate with the Crusaders for a withdrawal from Byzantine territory without payment, but they refused in order to avenge Alexios IV and receive

3871-496: The politics of Norway, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Spain and England. At the request of England's King John, Pope Innocent III declared Magna Carta annulled, which resulted in a rebellion by the English barons who rejected the disenfranchisement. Pope Innocent III spent a majority of his tenure as Pope (1198–1216) preparing for a great crusade on the Holy Land . His first attempt was the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) which he decreed by

3950-476: The pope agreed to admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official admittance. The group was tonsured . This was important in part because it recognized Church authority and protected his followers from possible accusations of heresy, as had happened to the Waldensians decades earlier. Though Pope Innocent initially had his doubts, following

4029-403: The pope openly espoused the side of Otto IV, whose family had always been opposed to the house of Hohenstaufen . It is the business of the pope to look after the interests of the Roman empire, since the empire derives its origin and its final authority from the papacy; its origin, because it was originally transferred from Greece by and for the sake of the papacy; ... its final authority, because

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4108-439: The pope's call, including the army's two eventual leaders, Theobald of Champagne and Boniface , marquis of Montferrat. The pope's calls to action were not received with as much enthusiasm in England or Germany, and the expedition became mainly a French affair. The Fourth Crusade was an expensive endeavor. Innocent III chose to raise funds with a new approach: requiring all clergy to donate one fortieth of their income. This marked

4187-623: The popes and later called the Papal States . The patrimonium was routinely threatened by Hohenstaufen German kings who, as Roman emperors, claimed it for themselves. Emperor Henry VI expected his infant son Frederick to bring Germany, Italy, and Sicily under a single ruler, which would leave the Papal States exceedingly vulnerable. Henry's early death left his 3-year-old son, Frederick, as king of Sicily. Henry VI's widow, Constance of Sicily , ruled over Sicily for her young son before he reached

4266-568: The pretext to vent their wrath against the Christians." It assumes that Jews blaspheme Christ, and therefore, as it would be "too absurd for a blasphemer of Christ to exercise power over Christians", Jews should not be appointed to public offices. The Council had set the beginning of the Fifth Crusade for 1217, under the direct leadership of the Church. After the Council, in the spring of 1216, Innocent moved to northern Italy in an attempt to reconcile

4345-408: The pro-Crusader Alexios Angelos was crowned Emperor Alexios IV of the Byzantine Empire. He attempted to pacify the city, but riots between anti-Crusader Greeks and pro-Crusader Latins broke out later that month and lasted until November, during which time most of the populace began to turn against him. On 25 January 1204, the death of co-Emperor Isaac II set off rioting in Constantinople in which

4424-469: The property that their fellow-countrymen were forced to offer for sale, for they had not yet had much to do with the beef-eating Latins and they did not know that they served a wine as pure and unmixed as unadulterated bile, nor that they would treat the Byzantines with utter contempt. Byzantine aristocratic refugees founded their own successor states , the most notable of these being the Empire of Nicaea under Theodore Laskaris (a relative of Alexius III),

4503-527: The rank of Cardinal-Priest under Clement III in 1191. As a cardinal, Lotario wrote De miseria humanae conditionis (On the Misery of the Human Condition). The work was very popular for centuries, surviving in more than 700 manuscripts . Although he never returned to the complementary work he intended to write, On the Dignity of Human Nature , Bartolomeo Facio (1400–1457) took up the task writing De excellentia ac praestantia hominis . Celestine III died on 8 January 1198. Before his death he had urged

4582-425: The rising Ottoman Empire over the following two centuries. The Byzantine Empire was left poorer, smaller, and ultimately less able to defend itself against the Seljuk and Ottoman conquests that followed. The actions of the Crusaders, therefore, accelerated the collapse of Christendom in the east, and in the long run helped facilitate the later Ottoman conquests of southeastern Europe. The sack of Constantinople

4661-488: The sack of Constantinople and the subsequent period of Frankokratia heightened the hostility between the Latin and Greek churches; the Byzantine Empire was restored in 1261 , albeit in a much weaker state. Lotario de' Conti was born in Gavignano , Italy, near Anagni . His father, Count Trasimondo of Segni, was a member of a famous house, the Counts of Segni , which produced nine cardinals and four popes, including Gregory IX , Alexander IV and Innocent XIII . Lotario

4740-443: The statue was melted down for its content by the Crusaders for surplus profit. Despite their oaths and the threat of excommunication, the Crusaders systematically assaulted the city's holy sanctuaries, destroying or seizing all that was deemed remotely of value; little was spared, and the tombs of the emperors inside the Church of the Holy Apostles fell victim to such looting as well. Of the civilian population of Constantinople, it

4819-417: The streets and had no possessions. They were centered in Porziuncola and preached first in Umbria, before expanding throughout Italy. The lesser religious orders which Pope Innocent III approved are the Hospitallers of the Holy Ghost on 23 April 1198, the Trinitarians on 17 December 1198, and the Humiliati , in June 1201. On 15 November 1215, Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Lateran Council which

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4898-413: The towers along the wall. After a short battle approximately 70 Crusaders managed to enter the city. Some Crusaders were eventually able to knock holes in the walls large enough for a few knights at a time to crawl through; the Venetians were also successful at scaling the walls from the sea, although there was extremely bloody fighting with the Varangians . The Crusaders captured the Blachernae section of

4977-400: The troops that landed came under heavy archery fire in open ground between Constantinople's fortifications and the shore. On 12 April 1204 weather conditions finally favoured the Crusaders as the weather cleared and a second assault on the city was ordered. A strong north wind aided the Venetian ships near the Golden Horn to come close to the city wall, which enabled attackers to seize some of

5056-468: The two papal legates, Peter of Castelnau and Raoul. When, however, these missionaries were ridiculed and despised by the Albigenses, and the papal legate Castelnau was assassinated in 1208, Innocent resorted to force. He ordered the bishops of Southern France to put under interdict the participants in the murder and all the towns that gave shelter to them. He was especially incensed against Count Raymond of Toulouse who had previously been excommunicated by

5135-403: The usurper Andronikos Komnenos and his supporters in May 1182, affected political relations between Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire and led to the sack of Thessalonica by Normans. Although regular trade agreements were soon resumed between Byzantine and Latin States, some Westerners sought some form of revenge. Following the siege of Constantinople in 1203 , on 1 August 1203

5214-442: The will of the Venetian Enrico Dandolo , to subsidize the debt. This diversion was adopted without the consent of Innocent III, who threatened excommunication to any who took part in the attack. A majority of the French ignored the threat and attacked Zadar, and were excommunicated by Innocent III, but soon were forgiven so as to continue the crusade. A second diversion then occurred when the crusaders decided to conquer Constantinople,

5293-411: The young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198. He also later induced Frederick II to marry Constance of Aragon , the widow of King Emeric of Hungary , in 1209. Innocent was concerned that the marriage of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily gave the Hohenstaufens a claim to all the Italian peninsula with the exception of the Papal States, which would be surrounded by Imperial territory. After

5372-399: Was considered to be the most important Church council of the Middle Ages . By its conclusion, it issued seventy reformatory decrees. Among other things, it encouraged creating schools and holding clergy to a higher standard than the laity. Canon 18 forbade clergymen to participate in the practice of the judicial ordeal , effectively banning its use. In order to define fundamental doctrines,

5451-410: Was defeated by the French and thereafter lost all influence. He died on 19 May 1218, leaving Frederick II the undisputed emperor. Meanwhile, King John was forced to acknowledge the Pope as his feudal lord and accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury . In his turn, Frederick II would later become a bitter opponent of the papacy once his empire was secure. Innocent III played further roles in

5530-402: Was directly involved in the conflict, and was killed in the course of the Battle of Muret in 1213. The conflict largely ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1229 , in which the integration of the Occitan territory in the French crown was agreed upon. In 1209, Francis of Assisi led his first eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order which

5609-414: Was martyred. The frescoes underline the similarities in the lives of the two figures: both were ordained deacons, both gave alms to the poor and both were martyred after a courageous declaration of faith. The choice of the two saints also shows the connection between the Churches of Jerusalem and the Rome. The frescoes, full of fine architectural details, allude also to Nicholas V's desire to rebuild Rome as

5688-464: Was not elected as the new emperor, although the citizens seemed to consider him as such; the Venetians thought he had too many connections with the former empire because of his brother, Renier of Montferrat , who had been married to Maria Comnena , daughter and for a time heir-apparent of Manuel I. Instead they placed Baldwin of Flanders on the throne. He was crowned Emperor in the Hagia Sophia as Baldwin I of Constantinople. Boniface went on to found

5767-490: Was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes. He exerted a wide influence over the Christian states of Europe, claiming supremacy over all of Europe's kings. He was central in supporting the Catholic Church 's reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and

5846-620: Was the nephew of Pope Clement III ; his mother, Clarissa Scotti (Romani de Scotti), was from the same noble Roman family. Lotario received his early education in Rome , probably at the Benedictine abbey of St Andrea al Celio, under Peter Ismael; he studied theology in Paris under the theologians Peter of Poitiers , Melior of Pisa, and Peter of Corbeil , and (possibly) jurisprudence in Bologna , according to

5925-410: Was their due and the Crusaders received 50,000 silver marks. A further 100,000 silver marks were divided evenly between the Crusaders and Venetians. The remaining 500,000 silver marks were secretly kept back by many Crusader knights. According to a prearranged treaty the empire was apportioned between Venice and the crusade's leaders, and the Latin Empire of Constantinople was established. Boniface

6004-403: Was to him a divine judgment on the moral lapses of Christian princes. He was also determined to protect what he called "the liberty of the Church" from inroads by secular princes. This determination meant, among other things, that princes should not be involved in the selection of bishops , and it was focused especially on the " patrimonium " of the papacy, the section of central Italy claimed by

6083-631: Was turned against the Albigenses whose expansion he viewed as a mortal threat to Catholicism. They were especially numerous in a few cities of Northern and Southern France. During the first year of his pontificate, Innocent sent the two Cistercian monks Rainer and Guido to the Albigenses in France to preach to them the true doctrines of the Catholic faith and dispute with them on controverted topics of religion. The two Cistercian missionaries were soon followed by Diego, Bishop of Osma , then by Saint Dominic and

6162-481: Was ultimately granted. Upon entry to Rome, the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi , who had in his company Giovanni di San Paolo , the Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina . The cardinal, who was the confessor of Pope Innocent III, was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to the pope. Reluctantly, Pope Innocent agreed to meet with Francis and the brothers the next day. After several days,

6241-446: Was unable to physically halt or overturn their actions. One of the pope's goals had been to persuade Alexios III , uncle of the exiled prince Alexios IV, to participate in the crusade. The attack on Constantinople led to the start of the Latin Empire 's rule of Constantinople, which lasted for the next sixty years. Pope Innocent III was also a zealous protector of the Catholic faith and a strenuous opponent of heresy. His chief activity

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