page_title: Pope Innocent III
section_title: Reassertion of papal power
hierarchical_section_title: Pope Innocent III / Biography / Reassertion of papal power
caption_attribution_description: English: A medieval lead Papal bulla of Pope Innocent III, 1198-1216. The obverse of the bulla contains the legend INNOCENTIVS PP III, PP standing for 'Pastor Pastorum' or 'Shepherd of Shepherds'. The obverse has a border of pellets. On the reverse can be seen depictions of Saints Peter and Paul beneath an inscription reading SPASPE (an abbreviation standing for St. Paul and St. Peter). St. Paul is seen on the left of the seal looking right, with a long pointed beard, while St. Peter is on the right facing left and has a rounded face with beard and hair formed of pellets. Both faces are contained within beaded borders and separated from one another by a crozier. Like the obverse type, the reverse has a border of pellets. This example measures 38.86mm in diameter, 6.28mm in thickness, and weighs 52.78g. Papal bullae such as this would have acted as seals on official Papal documents to authenticate their provenance and authority.
context_page_description: Pope Innocent III, born Lotario dei Conti di Segni, held office from 8 January 1198 to his death.
  Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes. He exerted a wide influence over the Christian states of Europe, claiming supremacy over all of Europe's kings. He was central in supporting the Catholic Church's reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and the Fourth Lateran Council. This resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law. He is furthermore notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, although these measures were not uniformly successful.
  Innocent greatly extended the scope of the Crusades, directing crusades against Muslim Spain and the Holy Land as well as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France.
  He organized the Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204, which ended in the sack of Constantinople. Although the attack on Constantinople went against his explicit orders, and the Crusaders were subsequently excommunicated, Innocent reluctantly accepted this result, seeing it as the will of God to reunite the Latin and Orthodox Churches.
context_section_description: As pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority. During Innocent III's reign, the papacy was at the height of its powers. He was considered to be the most powerful person in Europe at the time. In 1198, Innocent wrote to the prefect Acerbius and the nobles of Tuscany expressing his support of the medieval political theory of the sun and the moon. His papacy asserted the absolute spiritual authority of his office, while still respecting the temporal authority of kings.
  The Muslim recapture of Jerusalem in 1187 was to him a divine judgment on the moral lapses of Christian princes. He was also determined to protect what he called "the liberty of the Church" from inroads by secular princes. This determination meant, among other things, that princes should not be involved in the selection of bishops, and it was focused especially on the "patrimonium" of the papacy, the section of central Italy claimed by the popes and later called the Papal States. The patrimonium was routinely threatened by Hohenstaufen German kings who, as Roman emperors, claimed it for themselves. Emperor Henry VI expected his infant son Frederick to bring Germany, Italy, and Sicily under a single ruler, which would leave the Papal States exceedingly vulnerable.
  Henry's early death left his 3-year-old son, Frederick, as king of Sicily. Henry VI's widow, Constance of Sicily, ruled over Sicily for her young son before he reached the age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III. Before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV. The Pope invested the young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198. He also later induced Frederick II to marry Constance of Aragon, the widow of King Emeric of Hungary, in 1209.
caption: Bulla of Innocent III
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