Glimpses of Church History

8.    Period 1200 – 1300 CE

 

Pope Innocent III

Cardinal Lothaire (or Lotario de Conti) was unanimously elected Pope in January 1198, taking the name Innocent III. Like the boy-Pope Benedict IX, Innocent was from the Alberics family of Tusculum which in time was to boast 13 popes, 3 anti-popes and 40 cardinals. At his consecration at St Peter’s, the Cardinal Archdeacon placed a jewelled tiara on his head and intoned: “Know that thou are Father of princes and kings, Ruler of the World, the Vicar on earth of our Saviour Jesus Christ…”

 

Innocent dressed and acted like the old Emperor Constantine. His garments shining with gold and jewels, he rode on a scarlet covered horse in a cavalcade, making its way under the old imperial arches through the garlanded city. At the Lateran palace, he received the oath of allegiance from the Roman Senate and his foot kissed by prelates and princes alike. He affirmed: “We are the successors of Peter but not his vicar… We are the Vicar of Christ before whom every knee shall bow”.

He went about restoring his temporal domains and within two years, he and not the emperor was virtual ruler of Rome and Italy.

 

Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was launched around 1201 and got bogged down in the more profitable venture of sacking the Eastern capital, Constantinople. The tombs of old emperors at St Sophia cathedral were desecrated, relics stolen and women including nuns raped. (Edward Said in his Culture & Imperialism reminded that the Crusader chronicles openly refer to the cannibalism practised by the Frankish knights - incidents that 19th century historians suppressed as they re-constructed the roots of European civilisation).

The Pope could do little as a Roman uprising had forced him to flee to Palestrina. He only returned to Rome in 1205, a year after the Crusade ended.

 

England under Interdict

John Lackland became King of England when Richard the Lionheart died in 1199. Within a year of becoming king, he discarded his wife, Isabel of Gloucester, and married the young and beautiful Isabel of Angouleme. Pope Innocent was not pleased but seemed placated when King John sent 1000 men to the Crusades and built an abbey. John began taxing the clergy to help fund his wars and appointed his own man to the See of Canterbury. The Pope appointed another but John refused to recognise him. The pope responded by placing the whole of England under an interdict in 1208. A year later, he excommunicated John.

 

John retaliates

John promptly confiscated church property with the help of his greedy barons. Churches were bolted, all services banned, the bells were silenced. With 8000 churches closed, thousands of priests and assistants were jobless. The dead were wrapped in shrouds and buried like dogs.

 

In 1209, Innocent met with 27-year old Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) who had become known for his preaching. He had earlier thrown him out of the Lateran palace. Three years later the pope asked Philip of France to invade England. As Philip made preparations, King John gave in. He not only promised to return church funds and lands but give away England itself ‘to God and Our Lord Pope Innocent and his successors’.

Henceforth English rulers would have to pay 1000 marks as annual rent  to the pope in addition to Peter’s Pence. Only after John had paid all dues in June 1214 that the interdict was revoked and church doors re-opened.

 

Children’s Crusade

Meanwhile in 1212 thousands of French boys and girls, inspired by a shepherd boy, Stephen, defied their parents and left home without guides or food for Marseilles, saying they were heading for Jerusalem. Many were invited on boats to make the trip but ended up as slaves of the Saracens. In Germany, another 20,000 children were enlisted by a boy called Nicholas. They started for the Holy Land via the Alps. Many dropped dead on the way while a few returned to tell the tale - becoming the basis for the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

 

Massacre of Heretics

Having dealt with King John, the pope authorised a special crusade in 1209 against the Albigensians, a group considered heretical. This crusade against fellow Christians turned out to be the bloodiest episode of the Middle Ages. When the King of France refused to lead this crusade; the pope appointed Arnald, Cistercian head of Citeaux instead. In response to the pope’s special offer of an indulgence for a 40-day service, a vast mob of knights, clergy, peasants, etc joined in. The cavalry alone numbered  some 20,000. The crusaders marched to Bezier, the Albigensian stronghold, looting and killing along the way. The townsfolk had locked themselves into the churches of St Jude and St Mary Magdalene. 7000 women, children and elderly were crammed into Mary Magdalene's. Bells tolled and while priests in black chanted at the requiem mass, the doors were being hammered down by axes and soon gave way. The invaders singing Come Ye Holy Spirit spared none at all, not even babies. The last to go were the two celebrants holding a crucifix and the chalice.

 

The mercenaries then set fire to the town and all that remained of Beziers were smouldering heaps of ashes. The monk in charge, Arnald, wrote to the pope: “Today, your holiness, 20,000 citizens were put to the sword, regardless of age or sex.”

The crusaders next marched to Carcassone and then Lavaur, led by the Norman knight, Simon de Montfort. Numbers were fewer as soldiers left after completing their 40 day tour of duty, happy in the knowledge that all their sins had been forgiven. ‘Heretics’ were captured in their hundreds, some had their eyes gouged out and noses lopped off but most were burnt on mass pyres. The pope was kept informed at every stage.

                                                                                                        Francis of Assisi meets the Pope

Pope condemns Magna Carta

Meanwhile in England, the barons, tired of John’s autocratic ways, forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, guaranteeing people’s rights and making the king himself subject to the law. John, now a good Catholic, complained to Rome. In a Bull, Innocent annulled the charter ‘from the plenitude of his unlimited power which God has given him to bind and destroy kingdoms’. Anyone who subscribed to the charter stood excommunicated. Pope”. Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, thought the pope went too far and refused to carry out the order. He was suspended from office.

 

Fourth Lateran Council

Pope Innocent passed more laws than the preceding 50 popes. 6000 of his letters have been published - deposing abbots and bishops, imposing penances, etc. At the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, all his decrees were passed by the assembly of 1500 prelates without debate. One of the rules (still in force) enjoined Catholics to confess and receive communion at least once a year. Innocent died in 1216.

 

Hunt for Heretics

Table of Popes    (175 - 191 )

175)  Innocent III    1198-1216

176)   Honorius III  1216-27

177)  Gregory IX     1227-41

178)   Celestine IV   1241

179)  Innocent IV    1243-54

180)   Alexander IV  1254-61

181) Urban IV         1261-64           

182)   Clement IV     1265-68

183) Gregory X       1271-76

184)   Innocent V       1276

185) Adrian V           1276

186)   John XX1       1276-77

187) Nicholas III      1277-80

188)   Martin IV         1281-85

189) Honorius IV     1285-87

190)  Nicholas IV      1288-92

191) Celestine V       1294

 

The Albigensians Crusade continued with the next pope, Honorius III, until 1226. Hundreds of thousands perished. He approved the Dominicans (1216), Franciscans (1223) and the Carmelites (1226).

His successor, Gregory IX, began to hound heretics in earnest. In 1229, he declared at the Council of Toulouse: “It is the duty of every Catholic to persecute heretics”. In 1232, he published a Bull setting up the Inquisition, whereby heretics were to handed over to civil authorities for punishment. He approved Emperor Frederick's law that decreed death by fire for unrepentant heretics. In 1233, two full time inquisitors were appointed - Peter Siela and William Arnald, the first in a long line of persecutors. In 1237, Frederick invaded the Papal States and pope Gregory excommunicated him a second time, the first for not launching a crusade in 1227.

In 1239, Bishop Moranis of Champagne was accused of allowing heretics in his diocese. He and 180 others were burnt at the stake.

 

Innocent IV allows torture

As early as 384, a synod in Rome had condemned the use of torture. Pope Nicholas I (858-67) had ruled that torture was a violation of divine law. But Pope Innocent IV thought otherwise. In his Bull Ad Extirpanda, he allowed the Inquisition to use torture. He further decreed that any disobedience even in thought was punishable.

 

Manual for Inquisitors

The Dominican Inquisitors, being the pope’s appointees, were subject to no one but His Holiness. They were a law unto themselves, acting both as prosecutors and judges. They operated in total secrecy and they could not err. By papal command, they were explicitly forbidden to show mercy to their victims. There was a manual called Libro Nero (Black Book) for the guidance of inquisitors. Excerpts:

“If a person confesses the whole of what he is accused of, he is unquestionably guilty of the whole; but if he confesses only a part, he ought still be regarded as guilty of the whole… Bodily torture has ever been found the most efficient means of leading to spiritual repentance… If the unfortunate wretch still denies his guilt, he is to be considered a victim of the devil… Let him perish among the damned.”

Inquisitors were forbidden to maim or kill but of course accidents occurred. A victim who did not confess was left in solitary confinement, manacled, cold and dark in his own filth. Entire families were tortured when a member informed on them. Sentences were also passed on the dead and their property confiscated.

 

Fifth to ninth Crusades

The fifth and longest crusade (1218-21) under Honorius III advanced on Cairo, were trapped in the Nile Valley and had to surrender. The Sixth Crusade (1228-29) eschewed arms. It was led by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II who managed to negotiate a degree of Christian control over the holy sites.

France's Louis IX led the next two crusades, the seventh (1248-50) and eight (1270) with no noticeable gains. Louis died in North Africa and the 8th was called off. The English launched the Ninth Crusade (1271-72) under Prince Edward with no success.

 

REFERENCES

1. Vicars of Christ, Peter de Rosa (Corgi 1994)

2. Papal Monarchy: Western Church (1050-1250), Oxford History of the Christian Church (OUP 1991)