The Threat of France

The excommunication of King John and the Interdict of England by Pope Innocent III was not creating enough pressure on John to allow Stephen Langton to take his rightful place as Archbishop of Canterbury. Innocent prepared letters that are evidence that he might have been asking King Philip II of France to depose John.

Perhaps John knew of this threat. Perhaps it was internal political pressure from the barons of England, but eventually John realized he needed to reconcile with the pope and lift the Interdict and excommunication. This meant, of course, accepting Langton as archbishop.

In May 1213, John accepted the terms of reconciliation with the papal legate Pandulf Verraccio. It was Verraccio who had formally declared the writ of excommunication in John's presence. Now, in 1213, John formally handed all of England to the pope, and the pope returned it to John as a papal fief. (The illustration is by William Blake in 1797, showing John humbling himself before Pandulf.)

There was more, and the arrangement is recorded as the Bulla Aurea ("Golden Bull"; there is more than one agreement referred to by this title). It included annual tribute to the papacy from England of £700 (£500 from England, £200 from Ireland). He also had to compensate the Church for the revenues he had confiscated during the Interdict.

This meant that the pope was John's liege lord to whom he owed obedience. John went further than was probably necessary, but it would benefit him in the future. Now he had the pope behind him to prevent France from attacking. The pope would not allow another country to try to take over a country that was his. John had the pope's support for the rest of his reign (although that did not prevent the Barons' Wars).

But Langton was finally seated. Let's loom at the rest of his career, and whether he and John were able to put aside the past and work together for the good of England. Short answer to that question: yes. Longer answer: well, they may have had different ideas of what "good" for England meant.

King John Excommunicated

King John of England wanted John de Gray for Archbishop of Canterbury, but Pope Innocent III consecrated Stephen Langton after a disputed election by the cathedral chapter of Canterbury. John would not allow Langton to enter Canterbury, and so the pope put the country under Interdict.

The Interdict started March 1208, and meant that priests were not allowed to perform church services. This was devastating to a devout population. It was not a complete shutting down of the sacraments, however. Concerned about people's souls, baptisms and last rites for the dying (confession and being granted absolution) were allowed, lest innocent people go to Hell.

John (shown here with his dogs) treated the Interdict as an act of war and became hostile to priests in England. Some priests were willing to ignore the Interdict and perform services; those who were obedient to the pope had their estates seized. John also arrested priests' concubines, requiring fines to get them released. Some priests fled England, and John confiscated their property.

Pope Innocent threatened John with personal excommunication if he did not stop his assault on priests and his refusal to allow Langton to take his position in Canterbury. John stood his ground and was excommunicated in November 1209.

Although this was considered a powerful weapon wielded by the Church, there was recent evidence that it was not that damaging to a ruler. Emperor Otto IV and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (both allies of John) had been excommunicated by Innocent and survived the process. (Otto had killed a rival; Raymond was considered too lenient about the Cathars.)

John simply continued to absorb the revenue from confiscated church lands. Although his barons would rebel soon and force him to sign the Magna Carta, limiting his executive power, the country did not rebel against him during this time. The Church was losing money, the people were suffering spiritually, and Innocent started making exceptions. Monasteries were allowed to perform Mass. The Eucharist could be offered as part of Last Rites. Burial in Christian ground was taking place anyway.

Then John was threatened from another direction, one he couldn't ignore. It appears the pope was preparing to ask someone else to intervene with England on behalf of the Church.

France.

This was a more serious threat to John's throne. I'll tell you how it turned out tomorrow.

Stephen Langton

Stephen Langton has been mentioned before, ordering English Jews to wear a white band, helping Barons draft what would become the Magna Carta, being asked by Pope Honorius to give a religious position to alchemist Michael Scot, and helping Hubert de Burgh manage the kingdom of England for the child Henry III.

He was born c.1150, the son of a lord of a manor in Lincolnshire. He studied at the University of Paris, staying there for 25 years and becoming known as a great lecturer and theologian. Pope Innocent III summoned him to Rome and made him cardinal-priest (below a cardinal-bishop but higher than a cardinal-deacon) of St. Chrysogonus in Rome.

When Archbishop of Canterbury Hubert Walter died in 1205, there was disagreement over his successor. Two different groups of canons of the cathedral chapter elected different men, but Innocent refused to consecrate either and ordered a new election. Sixteen canons had traveled to Rome to plead their case, and they were given the chance to make a decision on behalf of the whole chapter.

The choice they fell on was Stephen Langton; Innocent consecrated him on 17 June 1207. Possibly he was suggested and supported by Innocent, but he was considered the foremost English theologian. Innocent and King John clashed over this, since John had wanted John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich.

King John banished the monks of Canterbury, seized all their revenue, and refused to allow Langton to enter Canterbury. The pope replied by putting all of England under Interdict in March 1208, meaning no one could administer the sacraments.

Langton sailed to Dover to try to meet with John in October 1209, but John would not travel the whole way to meet him, and Langton went back to the continent after waiting a week. He stayed at Pontigny Abbey in Burgundy, where Thomas Becket had also stayed on his exile from England under King John's father, Henry II. Edmund of Abingdon also stayed there in his way to Rome.

In November 1209, John was excommunicated for his denial of Langton. This was serious. We'll continue tomorrow.

The Men Helping the Jews, Part 3

That title is not meant to justify or praise the men of whom I'm speaking. At the time it was thought by Christians that the best approach to dealing with the "problem" of Jews was to kill them or force them to be Christian.

Yesterday I discussed Walter Mauclerc, bishop of Carlisle and first warden of the Domus Conversorum. Today is about Peter des Roches, a soldier and diplomat from Poitou who served King John and then Henry III. He also spent time on the Sixth Crusade (1228 - 1229).

In 1205 he was named bishop of Winchester by John, though he seemed unsuitable. Pope Innocent III confirmed him for John's sake. Peter stayed loyal to John when Innocent placed England under interdict because John did not want to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Peter's loyalty prompted John to name him Chief Justiciar (equivalent to prime minister), but by 1215 he was replaced with Hubert de Burgh, one of the other witnesses to the charter establishing the Domus Conversorum. des Roches also led opposition to de Burgh on behalf of the barons.

He founded several monasteries, and when Dominicans first came to England in 1221 he supported them.

Peter des Roches (like Hubert de Burgh and Walter Mauclerc) eventually fell out of favor with Henry, in his case in 1234. He died in 1238.

There is an odd legend about des Roches in the Lanercost Chronicle, a history covering 1201 to 1346. It records that des Roches was out hunting and came upon King Arthur. The two dined together, and des Roches asked for a token from Arthur so that he could prove that they had met. Arthur told him to close his hand and open it again. When he did so, a butterfly appeared. The Chronicle says that des Roches could repeat this trick for the rest of his life.

As for the issue with John and Stephen Langton, I should explain that more next time.

The Men Helping the Jews, Part 2

Yesterday's post mentioned three witnesses to King Henry III's charter that established the Domus Conversorum. Hubert de Burgh has been discussed before, but Mauclerc and des Roches have not. All three served in positions under Henry's father, King John.

Thirty years before this 1232 charter, Mauclerc showed up as a clerk in Normandy, then having his own church. A year later, however, he is in England and holding a prebend (a portion of the revenue of a church) in Exeter.

He collected taxes for John, who also sent him to Rome as an envoy to Pope Innocent III. Loyal to John, one of his jobs in Rome was to make sure Innocent did not give support to any English barons who might turn to the pope for help against the king. In 1223 he was elevated to be bishop of Carlisle.

As bishop of Carlisle, he came into a very handsome property, Rose Castle (the illustration is recent, but at the time it was likely wooden). Henry's grandfather, Henry II, had confiscated Rose Castle from a man who irritated him. It was still a royal possession, and Henry III handed it off to Mauclerc in 1230.

Mauclerc was part of the embassy in 1225 to arrange marriage between Henry and the daughter of the Duke of Austria. (That marriage did not happen.) In 1228 he was named the royal Treasurer for life, but in 1233 he was expelled from that office and replaced with Peter des Rivaux, the nephew of Peter des Roches. He was the first warden of the Domus Conversorum.

Peter des Roches' influence on the king that caused Mauclerc's removal from office would be reversed when des Roches himself fell from grace, and Mauclerc returned to the king's court. In June 1246 he resigned the bishopric and retired to Oxford, joining a Dominican community there. He died in October 1248 in Oxford, His will left his personal property to Carlisle and to the Dominicans.

Tomorrow we'll look at the other witness to the Domus Conversorum charter, Peter des Roches.

The Second Council of Braga

There were several religious councils held at Braga, the 11th of which took place as late as 1566. (The illustration is Braga at the time of the last Council.) We talked about the First yesterday. The Second Council, held in 572 only 11 years after the first, wanted not only to formalize some of the practices of the clergy, it addressed behaviors of the clergy and bishops.

There were ten decrees from the Second Council, and they laid out some things that seem so appropriate that one wonders that they were necessary.

The first says simply that bishops need to make sure that priests are performing the rituals and sacraments properly. Makes sense. Number two is quite simple: a bishop must not be tyrannical towards his priests. Well, that was unexpected.

Then the council addressed matters beneficial to the clergy and preventing the bishop from taking advantage of them. There should be no fee charged for entering Holy Orders, no fee for distributing holy chrism, no fee for consecrating a church. It sounds like some bishops were making money from their duties.

No church was to be consecrated unless the bishop determined that those managing it were appropriate. And a church built on private property was okay, unless it was set up so that the landowner could receive payment from those using it.

A priest who accused someone of "unchastity" needed evidence of two or three witnesses; otherwise, that priest should be excommunicated.

The metropolitan (highest-ranking bishop, determined by the First Council as the earliest ordained bishop), would declare the date of Easter. This would be shared after Christmas, so that people could prepare for Lent. (This was years before the Synod of Whitby and the official debate to determine the proper date for Easter.)

Number ten said that fasting was mandatory for a priest before saying Mass, lest he be deprived of his office. Lack of fasting was a Priscillian practice, and stamping out that heresy was important.

Years later, Pope Innocent III (c.1160 – 16 July 1216) gave his approval to the Second Council's declarations.

The Third Council of Braga took place a little more than a century later, and this time the king of the Visigoths was very interested in reforming the church. 'll tell you about the council and King Wamba next time.

Race and Ethnicity: Canon 67

Today we look specifically at the institutional racism against Jews established by Pope Innocent III in the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. Of the 70 canons of the council proceedings, the final four were about Jews. It is worth looking at these in their entirety.

Canon 67 blames Jews for the poor planning of the Gentiles who became indebted to Jewish money-lenders and could not repay the debt. This is blamed on the ability of Jews to charge interest, called usury by the Church and considered sinful and un-Christian.

The more the Christians are restrained from the practice of usury, the more are they oppressed in this matter by the treachery of the Jews, so that in a short time they exhaust the resources of the Christians. Wishing, therefore, in this matter to protect the Christians against cruel oppression by the Jews, we ordain in this decree that if in the future under any pretext Jews extort from Christians oppressive and immoderate interest, the partnership of the Christians shall be denied them till they have made suitable satisfaction for their excesses. The Christians also, every appeal being set aside, shall, if necessary, be compelled by ecclesiastical censure to abstain from all commercial intercourse with them. We command the princes not to be hostile to the Christians on this account, but rather to strive to hinder the Jews from practicing such excesses. Lastly, we decree that the Jews be compelled by the same punishment (avoidance of commercial intercourse) to make satisfaction for the tithes and offerings due to the churches, which the Christians were accustomed to supply from their houses and other possessions before these properties, under whatever title, fell into the hands of the Jews, that thus the churches may be safeguarded against loss.

There were several reasons why usury was condemned in the Middle Ages.

Aristotle and Aquinas thought of money as "sterile" in that it was just a thing that did not reproduce or grow. Making money "grow" by charging a fee was considered unnatural and inappropriate.

A loan was not something one did to buy a car or get a mortgage: it was used in time of serious need. In this situation, making the desperate person pay back more when they are financially disadvantaged was considered to be taking advantage of someone at a vulnerable time in their life.

Paying interest was all about tying money to time, making money "worth more" simply because time has passed. Your money does not expand just because time goes by. Usury was seen as "selling time" or taking advantage of time, which was created by and managed by and belonged to God.

Also, quite simply, asking for more money back showed the sin of Avarice, and gaining more money than loaned out could lead to not needing to work, and therefore promote idleness/sloth.

We'll continue with the other canons tomorrow.

The Children of Priests

Pope Gregory VII (c.1015 - 1085) tried to establish many reforms in the Church, they did not all "stick." One of his reforms was to prevent priests keeping families in the vicarage, and appointing their children to benefices. This problem remained, and Innocent III tried to tackle it in the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215.

Canon 31 was on the sons of parish canons:

In order to abolish a very bad practice that has grown up in many churches, we strictly forbid the sons of canons, especially if they are illegitimate, to become canons in the secular churches in which their fathers hold office. If the contrary is attempted, we declare it to be invalid. Those who attempt to make such persons canons are to be suspended from their benefices.

Illegitimate children were not the stigma that they have become in modern times. A father might acknowledge an illegitimate child because it was a son and all he was having with his wife were daughters. The father would care for them and try to find careers for them. We saw this in noble families all the time. See here and here for examples.

In The Manly Priest, author Jennifer Thibodeaux discusses the difficult attempts to impose clerical celibacy during the period 1066 to 1300. Archbishop Anselm tried twice to prevent priests from having sex with women. One attempt was simply to say priests could not have wives living with them. The priests simply moved their wives to a nearby house.

Innocent's attempt at the Lateran Council was about as effective as Gregory's. His attempts at establishing clerical guidelines regarding dress and morality was one thing, but getting them to give up sex completely was doomed to failure. Thibodeaux calls this "an all-inclusive attempt to formally monasticize the priesthood and to separate them from the laity, while elevating them in status." [link]

In the canons of the Fourth Lateran, number 31 about sons follows number 30, which states:

It is very serious and absurd that prelates of churches, when they can promote suitable men to ecclesiastical benefices, are not afraid to choose unworthy men who lack both learning and honesty of behavior and who follow the urgings of the flesh rather than the judgment of reason. Nobody of a sound mind is ignorant of how much damage to churches arises from this.

It is clear that the two are connected because of the priest's desire to find a career for his son and the only career that the priest knows that he could educate his son about is managing a parish. The opportunity to place one's son in a position for which he was not suited was too great a potential problem.

Tomorrow we'll take a more detailed look at the idea of clerical celibacy and its origins.

The Canons on Responsibility, Part 2

The Fourth Lateran Council called in 1215 by Pope Innocent III had three chief objectives: Church reform, freeing the Holy Land, and eliminating heresy. Part of Church reform was making clear the duties of the clergy to their calling and to their congregation, which you can see in Part 1.

Innocent was not just worried about his clergy being educated and committed to helping their congregation; he also concentrated on their personal behavior. Canon 14 was on clerical incontinence, "incontinence" in the sense of lack of self-restraint:

In order that the morals and conduct of clerics may be reformed for the better, let all of them strive to live in a continent and chaste way, ... Let them beware of every vice involving lust, ... so that they may be worthy to minister in the sight of almighty God with a pure heart and an unsullied body.

Canon 15 became more specific:

All clerics should carefully abstain from gluttony and drunkenness. They should temper the wine to themselves and themselves to the wine. Let no one be urged to drink, since drunkenness obscures the intellect and stirs up lust.

Especially abhorrent were those who engaged in drinking games or competitions:

... abuse is to be entirely abolished whereby in some places drinkers bind themselves to drink equal amounts, and that man is most praised who makes the most people drunk and himself drains the deepest cups.

Clerics were not to indulge in "callings or business of a secular nature" or to "watch mimes, entertainers and actors," nor should they dress ostentatiously, wth gold buckles, for example (Canon 16). Clerics should not spend the night feasting and talking so that they cannot rise early in the morning to begin their duties (Canon 17). They should not store things in their churches that are not church-related; do not store furniture, for instance, and do not allow church vessels or vestments to get soiled (Canon 19).

The next canons involve managing a parish, with rules such not leaving a church without a pastor for more than three months (Canon 23), or keeping Chrism under lock and key (Canon 20), and how to choose a pastor for a particular parish (Canon 24).

Then it gets into the improper election of candidates, and the potential problem with choosing one's son to be a canon (holder of an office) where their father is pastor. Let's take a more careful look at that topic tomorrow.

The Canons on Responsibility, Part 1

The Fourth Lateran Council called in 1215 by Pope Innocent III had three chief objectives: Church reform, freeing the Holy Land, and eliminating heresy. Part of Church reform was making clear the duties of the clergy to their calling and to their congregation.

Canon 6 was about making sure the decisions coming from the Fourth Lateran were followed. It decreed yearly provincial councils:

...in which they consider diligently and in the fear of God the correction of excesses and the reform of morals, especially among the clergy. Let them recite the canonical rules, especially those which have been laid down by this general council, so as to secure their observance, inflicting on transgressors the punishment due.

Clerics themselves were not exempt from examination and correction. Canon 7 decreed:

...that prelates of churches [bishops] should prudently and diligently attend to the correction of their subjects’ offenses especially of clerics, and to the reform of morals.

Of course, this would not be a problem if the clergy are acting appropriately, and Canon 10 tells the bishops:

...are to appoint suitable men to carry out with profit this duty of sacred preaching, men who are powerful in word and deed and who will visit with care the peoples entrusted to them in place of the bishops, since these by themselves are unable to do it, and will build them up by word and example.

And bishops themselves are supposed to be "suitable men." The above is important because bishops might not be able to be everywhere they are needed because of infirmity or war or the size of the diocese:

...or for other reasons-let us not say for lack of knowledge, which in bishops is to be altogether condemned and is not to be tolerated in the future.

Speaking of knowledge, Canon 11 establishes parochial schools for all, including those who could not afford tuition:

Zeal for learning and the opportunity to make progress is denied to some through lack of means. The Lateran council therefore dutifully decreed that in each cathedral church there should be provided a suitable benefice for a master who shall instruct without charge the clerics of the cathedral church and other poor scholars.

Innocent was not only concerned with clergy who lacked knowledge, but more specific grievances. I'll tell you some of those tomorrow.

The Canons on Heresy

The Fourth Lateran Council called in 1215 by Pope Innocent III had three chief objectives: Church reform, freeing the Holy Land, and eliminating heresy. The first Canons addressed the subject of those whose beliefs did not conform to official Church doctrine.

Canon 1 made clear there was only:

...one universal church of the faithful, outside of which nobody at all is saved, in which Jesus Christ is both priest and sacrifice. His body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the forms of bread and wine, the bread and wine having been changed in substance, by God’s power, into his body and blood, ...

The doctrine of transubstantiation was made official.

Canon 2 addressed the "error of abbot Joachim." Joachim de Fiore (1135 - 1202), called by one modern scholar "The Man Who Invented the Future" (post) was the founder of a monastic order based on St. John, and he wrote on the apocalypse and the Book of Revelation.  His theory was that the ages of the world mirror the Trinity, and that only in a future third age of the Holy Spirit would humankind truly understand Christianity and become spiritual. He submitted his works to Innocent in 1200, but died two years later before Innocent could reflect on them. Innocent since had decided the works were misguided. Joachim had contradicted Peter Lombard, calling Peter a heretic. Aquinas later condemned Joachim. Dante, on the other hand, placed Joachim in Paradise.

We therefore condemn and reprove that small book or treatise which abbot Joachim published against master Peter Lombard concerning the unity or essence of the Trinity, in which he calls Peter Lombard a heretic and a madman because he said in his Sentences, “For there is a certain supreme reality which is the Father and the Son and the holy Spirit, and it neither begets nor is begotten nor does it proceed”.

Joachim's idea of a progression through history and a lack of understanding of God until some future time did not suit Innocent. A French theologian, Amalric of Bena (see illustration), was likewise condemned in this Canon with a single sentence after about 1000 words against Joachim.

Canon 3 listed what to do about heretics. Suspicion of heresy should lead to excommunication. If a year went by without the person recanting, then they would be called a heretic. Princes were to swear that anyone the Church deemed heretics would be banished from their lands. This Canon was shorter than the one on Joachim.

Tomorrow we will look at more.

The Start of the Fourth Lateran

After years of being pope and asserting his will on the world, Innocent III decided to bring together all the church leaders and establish a new set of rules and policies for unifying the Church's stand on several different matters. To give everyone time to travel to Rome, he announced it in April 1213, to be formally opened on 11 November 1215. It met at the Lateran Palace, and was the fourth such meeting.

The first day began with a Mass, then a plenary session at which Innocent led the song of Veni Creator Spiritus ("Come Holy Spirit"). He also delivered sermons on the need to reclaim the Holy Land and the need to deal with heresy.

Trouble erupted among the bishops because of political issues. Supporters of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, and those of Raymond VI of Toulouse (whose lands had been granted to Simon by Philip Augustus of France, clashed over the recent hostility between the two nobles. Raymond and his son were there to argue for the return of his lands; Simon's brother Guy and Bishop Foulques objected. Fighting broke out and needed to be suppressed. The outcome was not good for Raymond, who had all his remaining lands confiscated to be held in trust until his death, when they would be granted to his son, Raymond VII.

Innocent also had prepared for the council by refurbishing St. Peter's Basilica, and the fourth day of the Council was to be a celebration of the anniversary of the basilica. It drew so many people that, when Innocent arrived to lead the celebration, he could barely get into the building.

On 20 November, the fifth day, Innocent's sermon about church reform was disrupted by bishops who objected to Frederick II holding the title of King of the Romans (and several other titles).

The Fourth Council of the Lateran finished on the 30th of November. In only two weeks there had been many meetings that produced 71 canons that would be considered law going forward. Tomorrow we'll start looking at some of them.

Innocent Meddling

Pope Innocent III believed in the absolute power of the pope over secular authorities, and he did what he could to assert that power wherever he could.

A couple months after Innocent became pope, in March 1198 Philip Duke of Swabia was elected King of Germany. Another claimant, Otto Duke of Brunswick, was preferred by several princes. Philip was the brother of his predecessor, Henry VI, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. Because Henry had married Constance of Sicily, Innocent was concerned that either Philip or (potentially) Henry's son Frederick would make a claim to not only Sicily, but the Italian Peninsula (Sicily controlled a large part of southern Italy called The Regno). In 1201 Innocent officially supported Otto:

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; 

..., since three persons have lately been elected king by different parties, namely the youth [Frederick], Philip, and Otto, so also three things must be taken into account in regard to each one... 

...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. ... since Otto 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.

After Magna Carta was imposed upon King John, he appealed to Innocent. John had declared himself a papal vassal (which, of course, pleased Innocent), and pledged to go on Crusade (which gave him and his property papal protection), and John wrote to Innocent to claim that Magna Carta took away some of John's necessary rights as the man working in England on the pope's behalf. Innocent declared Magna Carta annulled, precipitating war with the barons.

The Fourth Crusade, which turned out to be disastrous, was Innocent's idea, and the first time a pope ever forced the clergy across Europe to donate 1/40th of their income to the endeavor.

He called for other crusades. The Albigensian Crusade (leading to the first "mass murder") was at his request (see illustration of him calling for it and knights attacking heretics). He was behind the Livonian Crusade (into modern Latvia and Estonia), which he called for in October 1199.

His inducement for Crusading was to offer indulgences, a forgiveness of sins and a quicker path to heaven upon death. 

In 1204, while the crusade was attacking Constantinople, Innocent excommunicated King Alfonso IX of León for marrying someone who was too close to him according the rules of consanguinity.

In 1210 he formally recognized the Order of Franciscans. He had informally done so when Francis and 12 followers met him in Rome a year earlier, but wanted them to have more followers before he gave his blessing. He had them tonsured, which gave them legitimacy as a Church-approved order. He approved other new orders as well.

One of his biggest accomplishments was the Fourth Lateran Council, which has been mentioned almost as many times in this blog as Innocent himself. Tomorrow we'll start looking at the widespread influence of the Fourth Lateran.

The Sun and Moon Allegory

Pope Innocent III was determined to assert papal authority over every area possible. He made sure that kings, although they had their "local" political power, were still under the spiritual authority of the pope. Elected in January 1198, in November of that year he wrote a letter laying out something called the "Sun and Moon allegory":

Just as God, founder of the universe, has constituted two large luminaries in the firmament of Heaven, a major one to dominate the day and a minor one to dominate the night, so he has established in the firmament of the Universal Church, which is signified by the name of Heaven, two great dignities, a major one to preside—so to speak—over the days of the souls, and a minor one to preside over the nights of the bodies. They are the Pontifical authority and the royal power. Thus, as the moon receives its light from the sun and for this very reason is minor both in quantity and in quality, in its size and in its effect, so the royal power derives from the Pontifical authority the splendour of its dignity...

In the Fourth Lateran Council, called by Innocent in 1215, this philosophy was enshrined in Canon 3:

... if a temporal ruler, after having been requested and admonished by the Church, should neglect to cleanse his territory of this heretical foulness, let him be excommunicated by the metropolitan and the other bishops of the province. If he refuses to make satisfaction within a year, let the matter be made known to the supreme pontiff, that he may declare the ruler's vassals absolved from their allegiance and may offer the territory to be ruled by Catholics, who on the extermination of the heretics may possess it without hindrance and preserve it in the purity of faith; the right, however, of the chief ruler is to be respected as long as he offers no obstacle in this matter and permits freedom of action.

The Church was perfectly happy to leave the temporal authorities to do whatever they liked, so long as nothing they did contradicts or offended the laws of the Church.

Pope Boniface VIII (1294 - 1303) issued the papal bull Unam Sanctam ("One Faith") reinforcing this approach to the two estates. Dante argued against this, stating that emperor and pope each has supreme authority in their sphere, but neither is allowed to influence the other. By the end of the 14th century, belief in the pope's authority to meddle in secular matters was waning.

But in Innocent's time, he used it frequently. We'll get into specifics tomorrow.

Pope Innocent III

Finally, the pope mentioned more than any other in this blog gets his time in the spotlight. He was named Lothario at birth, and his father, Trasimondo, was a count in the city of Segni in central Italy, so his Italian name was Lotario de' Conti di Segni. His mother, Clarissa Scotti, may have been related to Pope Clement III (not the antipope of the same name).

Lothario studied in Rome and then Paris. After the death of Pope Alexander III, Lothario returned to Rome and worked for the papacy during the terms of Lucius III, Urban III, Gregory VIII (who made him a subdeacon), and Clement III (who made him a cardinal-priest).

He showed his education and value by writing a work (completed by April 1195) that became very popular for several centuries. De Miseria Condicionis Humane "On the Misery of the Human Condition" survived in over 700 manuscripts, an extraordinary number. It addresses the hardships of the human body, the futility of man's ambitions, and the consequences of death and decay and the Day of Judgment. Geoffrey Chaucer made his own translation of it (now lost). Lothario stated his intention to write a companion piece, On the Dignity of Human Nature, but he never got around to it.

Pope Celestine III succeeded Clement III in 1191. He later wished to resign the position in favor of Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo—Celestine was in his 90s—but the cardinals would not allow it. Celestine died 8 January 1198, and the cardinals chose Lothario that same day after only two ballots. He was only 37, and took the regnal name Innocent III.

Although he only reigned until July 1216, in those 18 years he accomplished much and was considered the most powerful man in Europe. He used the weapons of interdiction and Crusades and official letters to expand the Church and bring Roman Catholics into line with his policies and preferences.

Next time, we'll examine his attempts to bring the whole world under Catholic dominion.

The Finnish Crusades

Pope Alexander III decided that it was time to tackle the pagans on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea (the Baltic is between the peninsula that holds the Scandinavian countries and the mainland). His papal bull in 1171, Non parum animus noster (Our mind is deeply [troubled]), inspired several Christian countries and Christian military orders to take up the Cross.

Some of the peoples that were targets of these Crusades after the bull (and earlier, to be honest) were the Wends, the Finns, Livonians, Estonians, the Old Prussians, and the Lithuanians. I want to talk specifically about the Finns.

The earliest evidence of a Crusade against the Finns by Denmark comes from a speech given at Christmas 1187 by Esbern the Resolute (1127 - 1204), a chieftain, royal chancellor, and great-grandson of King Canute IV. At the age of 60 he encouraged young people to take up the Cross on behalf of Jerusalem, and mentioned a recent victory over the Finns.

Denmark had conquered at least part of Finland in its quest to increase its Christian population and gain more independent standing in the Church (Denmark was controlled by German archbishops, which Sweyn II tried to change). The Church was happy with Denmark making moves (as early as 1165) against Finns and Estonians.

Evidence is scarce, but it appears there was a Crusade by Danes against Finns in 1191 by King Canute VI (reigned 1182 - 1202); it gets mentioned several times, although details are lacking. A Crusade against the Finns in 1202 may have taken place, led by Bishop Anders Sunesen. Another possible Crusade has been mentioned for 1209.

Sweden also wanted to claim Finland as its own, and the two countries fought over the right to control Finland until 1216 when Pope Innocent III (1161 - 1216) declared that Finnish areas should be under the jurisdiction of Sweden rather than Denmark. Finland stayed part of Sweden until 1809, when the Finnish War was fought between Sweden and Russia, resulting in Finland becoming a grand duchy as part of Russia. Finland gained independence from Russia during the Russian Revolution of 1917, and joined the European Union in 1995 and NATO in 2023.

As for Pope Innocent III: he has more mentions in this blog than any other pope—he was, after all, one of the most powerful popes of the Middle Ages—but no entry of his own. Let's find out more about the man behind the influential Fourth Lateran Council tomorrow.

Walter and King John

Walter de Coutances was a courtier and then Archbishop of Rouen whose life was tied up in the careers of three kings of England: Henry II, Richard I, and lastly John.

When Richard died and the throne passed to his younger brother, the Archbishop of Rouen had the privilege of investing him as the new Duke of Normandy (on 25 April 1199). John initially pledged to protect and support the Norman church, and he confirmed Rouen's possession of the important seaport of Dieppe (granted by Richard in recompense for appropriating Andeli against Walter's wishes). On the other hand, John took issue with some of Walter's other rights over Rouen's territory, and forced Walter to pay money to retain some of those rights.

In May 1200, Walter was asked to mediate between John and Philip II of France. Although the two men had worked in concert while Richard was king, as king in his own right John became Philip's rival, starting hostilities that would go very badly for John and England. (The illustration is of a clash between Philip and Richard from a 14th century chronicle.)

Walter had a later problem over an issue that numerous kings and prelates clashed over: the election of clergy. A bishop in Normandy died and the cathedral chapter elected their own successor. Walter wanted a different man to get the position (with John's agreement), since it was a bishop under his jurisdiction. There were two sides to the ensuing conflict, and Pope Innocent III stepped in to make a choice, but did not go with the choice of Walter and John, instead choosing an archdeacon named Silvester. Walter refused to consecrate him. Innocent chose another archbishop to perform the ceremony, but John prevented Silvester from assuming his role. In a typical move, Innocent pronounced an Interdict for Normandy, so no religious services or sacraments could be performed. This move always horrified the Christian populace, so John finally relented.

Innocent did not always clash with Walter and John. In 1202 he authorized Walter to use his role as archbishop to punish those in Normandy who would rebel against John's commandments. John lost Normandy to Philip in 1204, and Walter simply shifted his loyalty to Philip, who supported Walter.

Walter de Coutances died on 16 November 1207, and was buried in Rouen Cathedral. He was possibly not even 50 years old at the time. His desire for wealth meant he left behind a large library or religious and legal books, as well as classical authors. He also had a large number of jewels and vestments.

I want to talk more about the clash between Walter and Richard over Andeli, and the glorious fortress built by Richard on the site. Tomorrow we will visit the Château Gaillard!

Attacking Zara

As we saw in yesterday's post, Venice was able to coerce the members of the Fourth Crusade to winter over in Zara (a Dalmatian city now called Zadar and part of Croatia), on the east coast of the Adriatic. Probably unknown to the Crusaders at the time, Venice had an ulterior motive: to lead the Crusaders as an army against Zara. The reason for this requires us to dig into the past.

Zara had asked Venice for help in 998CE; they were being menaced by Narentine pirates, a south Slavic tribe. Venice took advantage of the request by sending a fleet that defeated the pirates and then landed on some of the islands in the Adriatic and took them over. Dalmatia offered little resistance.

The Zaran anti-Venice resistance led to them becoming part of the Byzantine Empire. Meanwhile, the trading power of Venice grew until they became a powerful force in the Adriatic and continued to attack Zara several times during the 1100s. Now, in November 1202, Doge Enrico Dandolo had a large army that owed him a lot of money and accepted his leadership. It was time to strike and subjugate Zara once and for all time.

As Geoffrey de Villehardouin wrote in his account of the Crusade:

On the eve of the feast of Saint Martin, they arrived before Zara in Sclavonia and saw the city fortified with lofty walls and tall towers; you would have sought a finer, stronger, more impressive city in vain. And when the pilgrims saw it they were greatly astounded and said to one another, "How could such a city be taken by force, unless God Himself brought it about?"

The ships landed; siege engines intended to be used against Saracens were unloaded, and Zara was attacked and taken. This was an appalling act: an attack by a Christian Crusading army on a Christian city. It was universally condemned. Pope Innocent III excommunicated all involved and wrote:

Behold your gold has turned into base metal and your silver has almost completely rusted since, departing from the purity of your plan and turning aside from the path onto the impassable road, you have, so to speak, withdrawn your hand from the plough [...] for when [...] you should have hastened to the land flowing with milk and honey, you turned away, going astray in the direction of the desert.

In 1203, however, Innocent undid the excommunication of the non-Venetians in the Crusading army, urging them to complete their mission. Unfortunately, the siege of Zara was simply a foreshadowing of a larger transgression. We will start leading up to that tomorrow.

Geoffrey de Villehardouin

The influence of Byzantine art and culture on Italy (especially in the 13th century) was discussed yesterday, and I referred obliquely to a reason for it. The reason for it was the Fourth Crusade. Before we dig further into why the Fourth Crusade produced those influences, however, I want to mention a chief historical source of what happened on that crusade.

His name was Geoffrey de Villehardouin (his seal is to the left), and he lived from about 1150 until c.1213, not too many years after the Fourth Crusade ended. He was a literate French knight, who was made Marshal of Champagne in 1185. In 1199 the Crusade had been called by Pope Innocent III. On 28 November, Count Thibaud III of Champagne called a tournament for his nobles. Also present was Fulk of Neuilly, a preacher who fervently supported the Fourth Crusade.

Thibaud urged all present to "take up the Cross" and join Innocent's Crusade. They did, and chose Thibaud to lead their contingent. Thibaud died in 1201, a few years before the Crusade started; before he died, however, he had appointed Geoffrey and some others to go to Venice and make arrangements for ships to ferry the armies of Western Europe to the Holy Land.

In Venice, Geoffrey and the other envoys made arrangements for hundreds of ships, and predicted when (a few years hence) the armies would arrive over the Alps and reach Venice. He had to deal with the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, who at the time was well into his 80s but still a shrewd leader. Dandolo was eager for the revenue that would come from the armies of France, etc., bringing their money to pay for their passage.

What Geoffrey could not have known, however, is that all the different groups of armed men and supporters would not follow the same plan. Instead of meeting up in Venice, some chose a different approach. Several of the collected groups that chose to join this Crusade went to Marseilles and commissioned ships there. When The French group of which Geoffrey was a part arrived in Venice, there were too few Crusaders to be able to pay for the three years of ship-building costs incurred by the Venetians.

For Venice and the Crusaders, this seemed like a disaster. For Dandolo, however, it was an opportunity, and he knew just how to exploit it. Step one was to effectively incarcerate the entire army of thousands, and he had a way to do that.

Tomorrow we'll see how the well-intentioned Fourth Crusade went "off the rails."

The Vallombrosians

Giovanni Gualberto (c. 985 – 12 July 1073) was not the sort of person you would expect to found a monastic order. A nobleman born in a castle, he hunted down the man who killed his brother in order to get revenge. Finding the man in Florence, he was about to exact his revenge when the man threw himself on the ground with arms outstretched in the form of a cross and begged for mercy in the name of Christ.

Giovanni had a change of heart and forgave the man. On his way home, he stopped at the church at San Miniato to pray. Legend says that the figure of Christ on the crucifix bowed its head to him, supposedly in recognition of his act of mercy. This is the subject of the 19th century artist Burne-Jones' painting of "The Merciful Knight" (shown here).

Giovanni decided to cut his hair and start wearing a borrowed monk's habit. He joined the monastery at San Miniato, but felt he needed a more ascetic life. He spent some time with the monks at Camaldoli, but eventually founded his own monastery at Vallombrosa in 1036.

The Vallombrosian Congregation is now part of the Benedictine Confederation and has nine houses and a few dozen monks, but for it to have nine locations suggests great popularity in the past (see below). Giovanni adopted the Rule of St. Benedict, but stressed more austerity than the Rule. Poverty is strictly enforced, silence is mandatory and constant, cloistering is essential: the monks did not leave the premises even to help others. While the Rule of St. Benedict requires work, Giovanni's system required lay brothers to do any essential work, while the monks themselves spent their entire day in silence and contemplation. They wore habits originally of gray or ash-colored, but now wear the traditional Benedictine garb.

After Giovanni's death, the order spread, especially after a bull by Pope Urban II in 1090 gave the Vallombrosians papal support and protection. A bull by Pope Paschal II in 1115 mentions 12 Vallombrosian houses, and one by Pope Anastasius IV mentions 24. In Pope Innocent III's time there were more than 60 houses.

Giovanni was canonized in 1193 by Pope Celestine III.

The Benedictine Confederation has members all over the world, many founded in the 19th century. There were two other groups founded in the 13th century, the Silvestrines and the English. We will talk about the Silvestrine Congregation next.