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.

Joachim de Fiore

In a message for the World Day of Creation (27 June, 2024), Pope Francis said of Joachim de Fiore that he  "was able to propose the ideal of a new spirit" and that this was a turning point in history. And Rick Searle, author of the Utopia or Dystopia blog, called him "The Man Who Invented the Future" in a 2015 post. These are extraordinary 21st century statements about a little-known 12th century monk. So who was Joachim de Fiore?

He was born in Calabria c.1135 to a good family who made sure he was educated to become a clerk of the courts and then follow his father's footsteps and become a notary.

On a pilgrimage to the Holy Land c.1159 he experienced a spiritual conversion that made him turn away from a worldly life. On his return to Calabria, he became a hermit, wandering and preaching for several years although he did not join an order. Lay preaching was not always an acceptable practice to church authorities, who pressured him to "form Alize" his actions by joining the monks of the Abbey of Corazzo, where he was ordained c.1168. He began studying Scripture intently, certain that there was meaning hidden there that had not yet been revealed or understood. He was especially concerned with the apostle John's book of Revelation.

Around this time he had become a counselor to Margaret of Navarre, mother and regent for the underage William II of Sicily, where he probably met Peter of Blois.

About 1177 the monks of Corazzo, impressed by his scholarship and piety, made him their abbot, a responsibility and authority which he did not crave. In 1182, after trying and failing to join Corazzo to the Cistercian Order because of Corazzo's poverty, and convincing William II of Sicily to grant Corazzo some lands, he got permission from Pope Lucius III to step down as abbot and find another home. Joachim went to the Abbey of Casamari, which had recently changed from Benedictine to the more strict Cistercian Order. There he wrote three books: The Harmony of the New and Old Testaments, Exposition of Apocalypse, and the Psaltery of Ten Strings.

He was one of those rare people in this era who was writing things people had not said before, but did not get declared heretical. Lucius III and succeeding popes approved of what he was saying, and his fame spread. Constance the Empress of Sicily invited him to hear her confession, and left her raised chair to sit on the ground when he pointed out the need to humble herself. Richard the Lionheart met with him prior to the Third Crusade to get advice. The Spirituals of the Franciscans declared him a prophet (which Joachim denied).

In 1200 he submitted all of his writing to Pope Innocent III for examination and approval. Sadly, he died in 1202 before the results and before he could finish his final book, Tract on the Four Gospels, but his works were copied and distributed widely.

What was it that he wrote that created such an impact that, 800 years later, a pope would call his work a turning point and a scholar would call him the man who invented the future? I'll go. explain that tomorrow, but leave you with this teaser: by "future" Searle did not mean he predicted what things would be like in the future. Searle meant that Joachim invented the concept of the future. Stay tuned.

The Almohads in Iberia

The Almohads were a North African Berber group who founded an empire in the 12th century. By 1159 they had extended their power over the Maghreb (northwest Africa). By 1172, the Muslim parts of the Iberian Peninsula (south and east) were under their rule, taking over from the Almoravid dynasty.

Two of the rulers of the Almohads were Abu Yaqub Yusuf, who ruled from 1163 to 1184, and his son, Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur ("the Victorius"), who ruled from 1184 until 1199). Under their strict Muslim rule, many Christians and Jews migrated to the Christian nations of Aragon, Castile, and Portugal.

In 1195, when al-Mansur was in Africa, Alfonso VIII of Castile decided to mount a reconquista and reclaim the Muslim-controlled lands in Iberia. He united the kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, León, Portugal, and Navarre. When al-Mansur heard of their advance into his territory, he quickly returned from Africa. His major defeat of the Christian army at the Battle of Alarcos was when he took on the epithet "al-Mansur."

In 1212, Pope Innocent III initiated a Crusade against the Muslims in Iberia. Alfonso and his Castilians, Peter II of Aragon, Sancho VII of Navarre (who earlier had helped defend the continental interests of his brother-in-law, Richard Lionheart), and Franks under the vicious Archbishop Arnaud Amalric, united at the pope's request. Their final battle against the forces of the leader Muhammad al-Nasir broke the hold of the Almohad Caliphate in Iberia.

The Almohads were still strong in North Africa, but eventually they were supplanted by the growing Berber Marinid Sultanate.

Although fierce when it came to protecting his territory and religion, al-Mansur softened over time, and although the Koran was the only allowed source of law, he allowed philosophers to theorize without punishment. Averroes' radical statements made him despised by some, but al-Mansur kept him safe at court. al-Mansur was a complex individual who supported the arts and architecture and, well, let's take a closer look at him tomorrow.

Alfonso's Marriage Blues

King Alfonso IX of León (1171 - 1230) may be noted for calling the Three Estates together to advise him—the first such gathering in Western Europe—but not everything could be resolved in that manner.

Every ruler desires an heir, and therefore needs a spouse. Alfonso found his in 1191 in Theresa of Portugal. Theresa was 15 at the time, daughter of the king of Portugal, Sancho I. They had three children: Sancha, Dulce, and Ferdinand. Elsewhere I have mentioned how, in 1224, Alfonso tried to marry Sancha to John of Brienne. John chose a younger daughter by a later wife of Alfonso, but it might not have been just Sancha's age that disqualified her in John's eyes (he was, after all, a good many years older).

In fact, Sancha's "status" might have been a problem for John. Theresa of Portugal was Alfonso's cousin, and Pope Celestine III condemned the marriage on the grounds of consanguinity. Celestine had his papal legate declare the marriage nullified, placing both León and Portugal under Interdict. John might have avoided the match because Sancha could be considered illegitimate and therefore not eligible to inherit León.

Only a year later, Celestine excommunicated Alfonso for "consorting with the enemy." Alfonso clashed with his cousin, Alfonso VIII of Castile. Prior wars had seen territorial boundaries shifting, and León wanted some of their land back. Alfonso invaded Castile with the aid of Muslims, which was a strong offense in Celestine's eyes. (Alfonso VIII had proven an enemy to Muslims, mentioned here.) To create peace between Castile and León, they did what many warring nations did at the time: arranged a marriage between representatives of the two. In this case, the marriage was between Alfonso IX and Berengaria of Castile in 1197.

The problem was that Berengaria was Alfonso VIII's daughter, and therefore her husband's first cousin once removed. (Her paternal grandfather and Alfonso's father were brothers.) León was placed under Interdict once again due to consanguinity. In 1198, Pope Innocent III declared this second marriage annulled, but the couple decided to stay together until 1204, when Alfonso decided he should attack Castile again. (A series of treaties ultimately resolved the borders and the hostilities.)

As for the Interdiction, the pope realized that, if the people went years without the benefits of the mass and sacraments, they would have no reason to support the church financially. He lifted the Interdict on the country, but kept it on the king.

Another strike against Alfonso (but helped make him historically memorable) was his numerous affairs and subsequent numerous illegitimate children. That family tree had many branches, which I'll lay out tomorrow.

John of Brienne and the Queen of Jerusalem

John of Brienne never expected to be a king, or even a lord. He was born about 1170 to Count Erard II of Brienne and Agnes of Montfaucon, a fourth son destined for a career in the priesthood. The deaths of some of his older siblings, however, put him in a position where he became a knight with some estates in Champagne. Then his brother, Walter III, who succeeded Erard in June 1205, was killed, and John became regent to his nephew, Walter IV. (A 13th century anonymous minstrel left a tale claiming that John never wanted the clerical life and became a knight on his own, distinguishing himself in tournaments. This cannot be verified, and contains some untruths that may have been literary license.)

That same year, 1205, saw the death of Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem, and saw the crown pass to her daughter, Maria of Montferrat. Maria, 13, needed a regent to guide the kingdom during her minority. That was her mother's half-brother, John of Ibelin, also called the Old Lord of Beirut (a later nickname, surely: he was only 26 when he became regent). John ruled for three years, and then the search for a husband started.

Also in 1205, King Peter II of Aragon was crowned, and he was considered an option. In 1208 he was 30 and a successful king of a large Christian nation, but he had recently married. The bishop of Acre visited King Philip II of France and asked for help finding a suitable candidate. Philip and Pope Innocent III approved the choice of John of Brienne.

John sailed to the Holy Land from France and married Maria; they were jointly crowned (her regency being ended) in 1210. Maria's uncle was not confident in John of Brienne's ability to handle the kingdom's affairs, but the pope supported the new king. John of Ibelin left to live on Cyprus

After Maria's death in 1212, John was regent for their infant daughter, Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem.

John led the Fifth Crusade, which did not end well. He himself traveled to several countries (Castile, England, France, Germany, Italy) to request support for the Holy Land. He married Isabella to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, who then ended not only John's regency but also his other privileges. John shortly after became commander of Pope Gregory IX's army against Frederick while Frederick was on the Sixth Crusade.

Meanwhile, was John of Ibelin stirring up hostility against the new King of Jerusalem? King Hugh I of Cyprus (who also came to power in 1205 at the age of 10) imprisoned supporters of the new king. But then, he had other reasons: Hugh felt that his regent, Walter of Montbéliard, had kept him in a state of deprivation during his minority, and demanded 240,000 bezants of restitution. Walter fled Cyprus and found shelter with John of Brienne. The pope forced Hugh to free John's supporters.

There was much more to come in John's life, including a couple more wives and a new title. More on those tomorrow.

Francis the Leader

Francis of Assisi, prior to his episode on the Fifth Crusade, traveled to Rome with his followers to request of the pope permission to found a new order. This was in 1209, a couple years after he started preaching in his home town. Although we call this order the Franciscans, the actual name is the Ordo Fratrum Minorum ("Order of Lesser Brothers"). They were also referred to as Friars Minor.

The catalyst for this was a Mass in February 1208 at the chapel of St. Mary of the Angels. The Gospel lesson from Matthew was about the Apostles going out to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He began preaching and collected 11 followers who lived with him in an abandoned leper colony near Assisi called Rivo Porto.

The original rules of the order that Francis presented to Pope Innocent III are not now known, but according to his biographer and friend, Thomas of Celano, it was some passages from the Gospels. It was revised and expanded over time, but its basis was a rejection of personal property, as well as obedience and chastity. Francis and his followers were also tonsured while in Rome as a sign of their formal endorsement by the pope. Official recognition as an order and their fervent preaching helped the order to grow quickly.

The Rule of the order was revised each year, according to Jacques de Vitry in a letter he wrote in 1216. Amendments were proposed, and Francis would berate them for errors in behavior. While Francis was traveling in the East because of the Crusade, he had to leave the Order in others' hands. First was Brother Peter Catani, but he died within months. Then it went to Brother Elias. Some times, those left in charge of the Order in Italy were making changes that Francis did not want. One was a prohibition against eating meat, but Francis pointed out (on his return) that Acts 10:15 says "What God has made clean, you are not to call profane."

A final re-formulation of the Rule came in 1223, and it is what is followed today.

The most familiar image of Francis was not writing rules or traveling in the East, it is him among animals. Let's look at that facet of his life and beliefs tomorrow.

The Barnacle Goose Myth

One piece of evidence that supported the idea of Spontaneous Generation in the Middle Ages was the case of the barnacle goose. (See the third part of the triptych to the left.)

The barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis*) is a diving bird that flourishes in England and Northern Europe. It weighs from about three to five pounds, and is quite edible. The "myth" part springs from a riddle in the Exeter Book.

My nose was in a tight spot, and I beneath the water,

underflowed by the flood, sunk deep

into the ocean-waves, and in the sea grew

covered with waves from above, my body

touching a floating piece of wood.

I had living spirit, when I came out of the embrace

of water and wood in a black garment,

some of my trappings were white,

then the air lifted me, living, up,

wind from the water, then carried me far

over the seal's bath. Say what I am called.

The answer is, of course, the barnacle goose.

The belief was that the goose, observed coming out of the water after a dive for food, was actually being birthed from the barnacle (see the middle illustration above) which was attached to the "floating piece of wood" of the riddle and whose coloring seemed to be a precursor to the markings of the goose. Barnacles were formed on pilings of docks that were underwater, and no one saw anything creating them, so they must have arisen spontaneously from the rot experienced by wood exposed to water. This matched the theories about Spontaneous Generation.

I alluded in yesterday's post that a pope got involved in a case of Spontaneous Generation. Because the barnacle goose was thought to come from a barnacle that generated underwater, they were fair game (ha!) during Lent. Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) recorded:

Bishops and religious men (viri religiosi) in some parts of Ireland do not scruple to dine off these birds at the time of fasting, because they are not flesh nor born of flesh... But in so doing they are led into sin. For if anyone were to eat of the leg of our first parent (Adam) although he was not born of flesh, that person could not be adjudged innocent of eating meat.

At the Fourth Lateran Council, Pope Innocent III forbade the eating of these geese during Lent, claiming that despite their generation they lived and fed like ducks and so were to be treated as other birds during Lent. (Was this the start of the phrase "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck..."?)

There was also an idea that they could be born on trees (see the first part of the illustration). In Judaism, Rabbeinu Tam (1100 - 1171) declared that, even if born from trees, they were kosher and should be slaughtered properly like other animals.

I find that I have mentioned and quoted Gerald of Wales many times without giving him his due. We know a lot about his time period (late 12th - early 13th centuries) because of his reporting, which I'll talk about tomorrow. See you soon.

*Quick side note on the scientific name: branta is Latinized from the Old Norse Brandgás, "burnt (black) goose"; the Latin leucopsis = "white" + "faced."

The Waldensian Movement

The Waldensians are a Christian protestant group that originated in the Middle Ages and still exists, having survived—sometimes through severe persecution—for 800 years.

There was a time when they claimed to be older, claiming that they were established when St. Paul traveled to Spain. (Romans 15:15:23-28: “But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions , and since I have been longing for many years to visit you,  I plan to do so when I go to Spain.") Some Waldensian groups believed they were founded in the tome of Constantine. Others claimed their origin with certain known reformers such as Claudius of Turin (a Carolingian reformer and iconoclast) or Berengarius of Tours, an intellectual at the cathedral school of Chartres in the 11th century. These have been debunked in favor of the real founder, Peter Waldes (although there are questions about him, as well).

Waldensians started in the 1170s in Lyon in France, supposedly when Waldes, a wealthy merchant, had a personal conversion moment and decided to give away all his personal property and started preaching "apostolic poverty" as the true way to perfection in Christianity. The Church agreed with their choice of poverty, but did not like that Waldensians rejected the authority of local bishops. Nor did Waldensians care for the Church's opinion on who was fit to preach. They also rejected many of the trappings of the Church not found in the Bible: indulgences, the Mass, purgatory, and the papacy.

The Waldensians were declared heretical by 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council (Canon 3 of the Council was about them and the Albigensians and Cathars). Persecution had already: more than 80 of the sect had been burned in Strasbourg. Pope Innocent III offered them (and the Cathars) to return to the Church's good graces by giving up some of their more radical ideas; those who did were renamed "Poor Catholics." Those who did not were subject to persecution, along with any other reform-based movement that did not conform.

1251 saw Waldensians in Toulouse massacred and the town burned down. Twenty-two villages in Provence were massacred when King Francis I of France decided to punish religious dissenters.

Later centuries saw worse treatment of the Waldensians. Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull for their extermination in 1487. The archdeacon of Cremona organized a crusade in the Piedmont that devastated the area and caused many to flee, until the Duke of Savoy intervened to prevent the further turmoil in his lands.

Besides persecution, however, they also embodied perseverance. These "proto-Protestants" are distinguished from the Protestant movements o the Renaissance because they did not record formal arguments against established Church doctrine, choosing to keep their practices simple and Bible-based. They persisted, and the 16th century found them most closely aligned with Calvinism.

Even after that, in January 1655, a less-admirable Duke of Savoy tortured and killed hundreds of Waldensians in what is called the Piedmont Easter. Twenty years later Louis XIV of France began a campaign to force Waldensians to become Catholics. A few years later, three days of combat resulted in 8000 surviving Waldensians (2000 were killed) thrown into prison.

It was not until 1848 that the Edict of Emancipation gave the Waldensian Church legal and political freedom. Pope Francis visited the Waldensian Church in Turin, Italy and apologized for the past actions of the Church.

Their logo (shown here) has a Latin motto that means "a light shining in darkness."

Tomorrow I want to tell you more about their origin, and their founder.