Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/36

 INNOCENT

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INNOCENT

guardian of the young king and that no one ■else could have ruled for him more ably and conscien- tiously. To protect t he inexperienced king against his enemies, he induced him in 1209 to marry Constance, the widow of King Emeric of HungarJ^

Conditions in Germany were extremely favourable for the application of Innocent's idea concerning the relation between the papacy and the empire. After the death of Henry VI a double election had ensued. The Gliibellines had elected Philip of Swabia on 6 March, 1198, while the Guelfs had elected Otto IV, son of Henry the Lion and nephew of King Richard of England, in April of the same year. The former was crowned at Mainz on S September, 1198, the latter at Aachen on 12 July, 119S. Immediately upon his ac- cession to the papal throne Innocent had sent the Bishop of Sutri and the Abbot of Sant' Anastasio as legates to Germany, with instructions to free Philip of Swabia from the ban which he had incurred under Celestine III, on condition that he would bring about the liberation of the impri.soned Queen Sibyl of Sicily and restore the territory which he had taken from the Church when he was Duke of Tuscany. When the leg- ates arrived in Germany, Philip had already been elected king. Yielding to the wishes of Philip, the Bishop of Sutri secretly freed him from the ban upon his mere promise to fulfil the propo.sed conditions. After the coronation Philip sent the legates back to Rome with letters requesting the pope's ratification of his election; but Innocent was dissatisfied with the action of the Bishop of Sutri and refused to ratify the election. Otto IV also sent legates to the pope after his coronation at Aachen, but liefore the pope took any action, the two claimants of the German throne began to assert their claims by force of arms. Though the pope did not openly side with either of them, it was apparent that his sympathy was with Otto IV. Offended at what they considered an unjust interfer- ence on the part of the pope, the adherents of Philip sent a letter to him in which they protested against his interference in the imperial affairs of Germany. In his answer Innocent stated that he had no intention of encroaching upon the rights of the princes, but in- sisted upon the rights of the Church in this matter. He emphasized especially that the conferring of the imperial crown belonged to the pope alone. In 1201 the pope openly espoused the siile of Otto IV. On 3 July, 1201, the papal legate, Cardinal-Bishop Guido of Palestrina, announced to the people, in the cathedral of Cologne, that Otto IV had been approved by the pope as Roman king and threatened with excommuni- cation all those who refused to acknowledge him. Inno- cent III made clear to the German princes by the De- cree ^' Venerabilem " which he addressed to the Duke of Zahringen in May, 1202, in what relation he considered the empire to stand to the papacy. This decretal, which has become famous, was afterwards embodied in the " Corpus Juris Canonici". It is found in Baluze, "Registrum Innocentii III super negotio Romani Im- perii", no. Ixii, and is reprinted in P. L., CCXVI, 1065- 7. The following are the chief points of the decretal: (1) The German princes have the right to elect the king, who is afterwards to become emperor. (2) This right was given them by the Apostolic See when it transferred the imperial dignity from the Greeks to the Germans in the person of Charlemagne. (3) The right to investigate and decide whether a king thus elected is worthy of the imperial dignity belongs to the pope, who.se office it is to anoint, consecrate, and crown him; otherwise it might happen that the pope would be obliged to anoint, consecrate, and crown a king who was excommunicated, a heretic, or a pagan. (4) If the pope finds that the king who has been elected by the pnnces is unworthy of the imperial dignity, the princes must elect a new king or, if they refuse, the pope will confer the imperial dignity upon another king; for the Church stands in need of a patron and defender. (5)

In case of a double election the pope must exhort the princes to come to an agreement. If after a due in- terval they have not reached an agreement they must ask the pope to arbitrate, failing which, he must of his own accord and by virtue of his office decide in favour of one of the claimants. The pope's decision need not be based on the greater or less legality of either elec- tion, but on the qualifications of the claimants.

Innocent's exposition of his theory concerning the relation between the papacy and the empire was ac- cepted by many princes, as is apparent from the sud- den increase of Otto's adherents subsequent to the is- sue of the decretal. If after 1203 the majority of the princes began again to side with Philip, it was the fault of Otto himself, who was very irritable and often offended his best friends. Innocent, reversing his de- cision, declared in favour of Philip in 1207, and sent the Cardinals Ugolino of Ostia and Leo of Santa Croce to Germany with instructions to endeavour to induce Otto to renounce his claims to the throne and with powers to free Philip from the ban. The murder of King Phihp by Otto of Wittelsbach, 21 June, 1208, en- tirely changed conditions in Germany. .4t the Diet of Frankfort, 11 November, 1208, Otto was acknowl- edged as king by all the princes, and the pope invited him to Rome to receive the imperial crown. He was crowned emperor in the Basilica of St. Peter at Rome, 4 October, 1209. Before his coronation he had sol- emnly promised to leave the Church in the peaceful possession of Spoleto, Ancona, and the gift of Countess Matilda; to assist the pope in the exercise of his suzer- ainty over Sicily; to grant freedom of ecclesiastical elections; unlimited right of appeal to the pope and the exclusive competency of the hierarchy in spiritual matters; he had, moreover, renounced the "regalia" and the jus spolii, i. e., the right to the revenues of vacant sees and the seizure of the estates of in- testate ecclesiastics. He also promised to assist the hierarchy in the extirpation of heresy. But scarcely had he been crowned emperor when he seized Ancona, Spoleto, the bequest of Matilda, and other property of the Church, giving it in vassalage to some of his friends. He also united with the enemies of Frederick II and invaded the Kingdom of Sicily with the purpose of wresting it from the youthfid king and from the suzerainty of the pope. \\'hen Otto did not listen to the remonstrances of Innocent, the latter excommuni- cated him, IS November, 1210, and solemnly pro- claimed his excommunication at a Roman synod held on 31 March, 1211. The pope now began to treat with King Philip Augustus of France and with the German princes, with the result that most princes renounced the excommunicated emperor and elected in his place the youthful Frederick II of Sicily, at the Diet of Nuremberg in September, 1211. The election was repeated in presence of a representative of the pope and of Philip Augustus of France at the Diet of Frankfort, 2 December, 1212. After making prac- tically the same promises to the pope which Otto IV had made previously, and, in addition, taking the sol- emn oath never to unite Sicily with the empire, his election was ratified by Innocent and he was crowned at Aachen on 12 July, 1215. The deposed emperor Otto IV hastened to Germany immediately upon the election of Frederick II, but received little .svipport from the princes. In alliance with John of England he made war upon Philip of France, but was defeated in the battle of Bouvines, 27 July, 1214. Then he lost all influence in Germany and died on 19 May, 1218, leaving the pope's creature, Frederick II, the undisputed emperor. When Innocent ascended the papal throne a cruel war was being waged between Philip Augu.stus of I'rance and Richard of England. The pope considered it his duty, as the supn-nie ruler of the Christian world, to Jiut an end to all hostilities among Christian princes. Shortly after his accession he sent Cardinal Peter of Capua to France with in-