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Innocent III and the First Political Crusade: A Comment on the Limitations of Papal Power
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Extract
On November 24, 1199, Innocent III sent an extraordinary letter to the Sicilian people announcing the appearance of another Saladin in the German adventurer Markward of Anweiler. By his alliance with the Saracens of Sicily and his atrocities against Christians, Markward had set himself against the Cross and opened a way for the conquest of Italy by the Infidel. So desperate was the situation that the Holy Land itself would best be relieved by defense of the Regno, for if southern Italy should fall to the Saracens, who could believe in Christian power to restore Jerusalem? The pope, therefore, granted to all who would resist Markward the same indulgences won hitherto only by Crusaders in Palestine.
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References
1 Innocentii III Regesta 2.221 (PI 214.780-82): ‘Quod futura sint novissima Marcowaldi, quantum in eo fuerit, pejora prioribus, quod non solum contra regnum Siciliae sed universum fere conjuraverit populum Christianum, quod factus sit contra vos alius Saladinus, nequitia ejus testimonium perhibet veritati. Licet nulla veritas sit in eo… Nos enim attendentes perfidiam Marcowaldi, qui cum non potuerit cum Christianis hactenus praeva-lere, cum Saracenis, ut praelibavimus, nititur opprimere Christianos, universis proceden-tibus contra eos in hac nequitia perdurantes illam concedimus veniam peccatorum quam in defensionem terrae orientalis transfretantibus indulgemus. Per Siciliam enim subvenire poterit facilius terrae sanctae: quae si, quod absit, in Saracenorum potentiam deveniret, nulla de caetero recuperationi Hierosolymitanae provinciae fiducia remaneret.’ Google Scholar
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31 He once had been tempted by an emissary of Markward's who promised an astounding range of liberties and rewards for the Church in the March of Ancona in return for recognition. When the time came to sign the agreement, however, Markward refused, claiming that neither he nor his secretary could write! Inn. Gesta 8 (PL 214.xxiii). Google Scholar
32 Inn. Gesta 23 (PL 214.xliii).Google Scholar
33 In a letter announcing the absolution of Markward to the Sicilians, he admits that as pope he could hardly refuse an enemy's plea for absolution. ‘Exoptata regni tran-quilitas et debitum officii pastoralis, quo tenemur singulos ad viam rectitudinis revocare, nos ad Marcowaldi receptionem induxit: ne si poenitentem, sicut videbatur et exponentem se mandatis nostris super omnibus pro quibus fuerat excommunicatione notatus, recipere negeremus, non Christi vicarii videremur vel successores apostolorum Principis, sed inexora-biles potius nostrarum injuriam ultores': Inn. Reg. 2.179 (PL 214.729). Google Scholar
34 ‘Sed cum fuisset illi responsum quod oporteret eum juramento firmare, ut super omnibus, pro quibus excommunicatus erat, mandatis apostolicis obediret, respondit quod in spiritualibus absolute pareret, in temporalibus autem justis mandatis parendi praestaret jura-toriam cautionem’: Inn. Gesta 23 (PL 214.xliii). Google Scholar
35 The account in Richard of San Germano repeatedly attributes the flight at San Germano to fear. He concludes ‘sicque die ipso … relictam ab incolis civitatem Marcualdus intravit, bonis propriis spoliavit et quos in ea invenit penis addixit variisque tormentis, quibus pietatis causa non profuit, nisi redimi profuisset…’: Richard of San Germano, op. cit. (n. 13 above) 20. Google Scholar
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37 Annales Marbacenses qui dicuntur (MGH Script rer. Germ. in us. schol. 9; 1909) 69ff; Ottonis de Blasio, S. Chronica (ibid. 40; 1912) 60; Arnoldi Chronica Slavorum (ibid. 14; 1868) 197ff.Google Scholar
38 Luchaire, Luchaire, Innocent III, III: La Papauté et l'Empire (Paris 1906) 34–35.Google Scholar
39 'Qui cum venisset, post multas altercationes, praedicto modo juravit, rogans episcopum et cardinales praedictos, ut ad faciendum mandatum descenderent ad monasterium Casemarii, dictae civitati vicinum, ut coram sociis suis, quorum illic remanserat multitudo, audiret, usus hac fraude, ut, cum a loco munito ad locum descenderet immunitum, non auderent ei grave proferre mandatum. Acquievit Ostiensis episcopus, seductus consilio nobilis viri, Leonis de Monumento, consobrini sui, qui reconciliationis hujusmodi fuerat mediator. Acquieverunt et alii, licet improvide ipsius Ostiensis episcopi persuasione seducti. Cumque ad praefatum monasterium descendissent, paratum est illis convivium, in quo praefatus Marcualdus eis accuratissime deservivit, et, sub finem convivii, submurmuratum est quod capi deberent, ut sic territi, mandatum quod displiceret illi facere non auderent. Vehementer ergo confusi, quid facerent ignorabant. Sed praefatus Hugolinus, sancti Eustachii diaconis cardinalis, resumpto spiritu fortitudinis, coram omnibus … protulit scriptum bulla domini papae … et ait: ‘Ecce mandatum domini papae. Nos aliud facere non valemus”’: Inn. Gesta 23 (PL 214.xliv). Google Scholar
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45 Inn. Gesta 29 (PL 214.liii).Google Scholar
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48 Innocent had taken Count Robert of Lecce under his special protection in 1199. Reg. 2.182 (PL 214.733). For an account of Robert's part in papal politics in the South, see Van Cleve, op. cit. 145-46. Google Scholar
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50 ‘… misit Jordanum … et Octavianum … cum unciis auri mille quingentis, ad Petrum, comitem Celanensem, ut cum eo, prout melius possent, efficerent, quatenus obsessis saltem in victualibus subvenirent. Ipse vero aurum recepit, et distribuit illud militibus suis, propriam magis utilitatem quam obsessorum necessitatem attendens. Nam vix tandem fecit illuc intromitti aliquas summas farinae’: Inn. Gesta 23(PL 214.xlii). Google Scholar
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57 Inn. Gesta 25 (PL 214.xlvi-xlix).Google Scholar
58 Ibid. Google Scholar
59 ‘Porro dominus papa, cognoscens, quod ipse tam paucis militibus, absque strage suorum et sua, regnum ingredi non valeret, tum quia longe major erat cum adversariis multitudo, tum qui ipsi, scilicet adversarii, munitiones in ingressu regni tenebant, misertus ipsius, quingentas auri uncias concessit eidem, ex quibus colligeret sibi milites quorum suffragio regnum intraret… ’: Inn. Gesta 30 (PL 214.liii-liv). Google Scholar
60 Baronius, Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici 20 (continuation by Rainaldus; ed. Theiner, Augustin, Bar-le-Duc 1870) 38–39.Google Scholar
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62 ‘In ipso namque ingressu suo quibusdam Saracenis confoederatus, eorum sibi contra regem et Christianos convocavit auxilium; et ut eorum animos ad stragem nostrorum amplius excitaret et sitim augeret eorum, jam ipsorum fauces Christiano sanguine cruentavit et mulieres Christianas captas per violentiam eorum exposuit voluntati. Quem igitur, etsi non pueri regis, Regis regum causa non moveat et non tangat injuria Crucifixi? Quis non insurgat in illum qui contra omnes insurgit et inimicis crucis se jungit ut fidem crucis evacuet, et factus infideli deteriori infidelibus nititur subjugare fideles?’ Inn. Reg. 2.221 (PL 214. 781). Google Scholar
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