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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

Elizabeth Kennan*
Affiliation:
The Catholic University of America

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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Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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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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18 ‘… fraternitatem vestram rogamus … quantamcunque pecuniam poteritis tanto negotio necessariam per discretos, fideles et providos nuntios transmittatis in stipendia exercitus et alia quae instantis necessitatis articulus postulat, convertendam’: ibid. 804-05. Google Scholar

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23 ‘… regnum iterum est ingressus et prioribus peiora committit, pessima commissurus, si — quod absit — potuerit prevalere …. Debent enim homines regni ad memoriam revocare, qualiter quidam eorum in exsilium ducti membrorum facti sunt mutilatione deformes, qualiter quidam igniti sagiminis liquore perusti, quidam flammis traditi, quidam in maris precipitati profundum, ad colla eorum molari lapide alligato… ’: ibid. 812. Google Scholar

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25 ‘Cum autem iam pridem propter suos excessus cum universis fautoribus et partici-pibus suis a nobis excommunicationis vinculo fuerit innodatus, volumus nichilominus et sub eadem districtione mandamus, ut ipsum et universos complices eius singulis diebus Do-minicis et festivis, pulsatis campanis et candelis exstinctis, excommunicatos publice nuncietis’: ibid. 811. Google Scholar

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29 'Ille vero non solum viribus, sed et fraudibus insistebat, ut praeconceptam malitiam duceret ad effectum; et, licet quosdam viribus superasset, alios vero fraudibus decepisset…’: ibid. Google Scholar

30 Inn. Gesta loc. cit.; the accuracy of this account has been questioned. See note 10 above.Google Scholar

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

36 Ibid. 21.Google Scholar

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) 3435.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

40 Ibid. Google Scholar

41 See below p. 247.Google Scholar

42 Inn. Reg. 2.167 (PL 214.716-18); 168 (718, 719).Google Scholar

43 ‘Misit etiam litteras, non solum intra regnum, sed extra, significans quod ipse recon-ciliatus erat summo pontifici, tantamque gratiam in oculis ejus invenerat, quod concesserat ei ut balium regni gereret, et duos ei deputaverat cardinales, qui ad intendendum sibi compellerent universos’: Inn. Gesta 24 (PL 214.xlv). Google Scholar

44 Van Cleve, , op. cit. (n. 8 above) 126.Google Scholar

45 Inn. Gesta 29 (PL 214.liii).Google Scholar

46 Walter of Palear had been dismissed and imprisoned by Constance after the death of her husband. He was released on papal intercession. See Van Cleve, , op. cit. 124.Google Scholar

47 Inn. Reg. 2.187 (PL 214.736-37).Google Scholar

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

49 In the first propaganda letter to the Capuans he mentions that he has sent money to Peter of Celano and Robert of Chieti ‘et alios comites et barones eiusdem provinciae … qui non solum in regni subsidium et fidelium eiusdem regis et devotorum ecclesiae Romanae, succursum, sed in exterminium Mar(coaldi) validum exercitum coadunent; et in proximo dante Domino convenient cum exercitu qui est in Apulia congregatus, et ad debellandum eumdem M(arcoaldum) et exercitum eius in nomine Domini exercituum in manu forti et brachio extento procedent': Inn. Reg. 1.555 (558) (Hageneder and Haidacher 808). Google Scholar

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

51 Inn. Reg. 2.192 (PL 214.740).Google Scholar

52 Richard of San Germano, op. cit. (n. 13 above) 23: ‘Petrus de Celano qui comes dicebatur Civitatensis.’Google Scholar

53 Inn. Gesta 24 (PL 214.xlvi).Google Scholar

54 Inn. Reg. 2.280 (PL 214.848); 3.23 (902); also Inn. Gesta 27 (PL 214.lii, liii).Google Scholar

55 Inn. Gesta 24 (PL 214.xlvi).Google Scholar

56 Inn. Gesta 28 (PL 214.lii): ‘Quia vero familiares regis necessarias sibi et suis denegabant expensas, et propter nimium aestatis ardorem milites sui jam inceperant graviter infirmari, compulsus est ad propria remeare.’Google Scholar

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) 3839.Google Scholar

61 ‘Nos igitur huiusmodi precaventes, ad defensionem vestram potenter intendimus et, siquidem opus esset, eandem peccatorum remissionem concederemus omnibus, qui Mar-(coal)di et suorum violentiam expugnaret, quam concedimus omnibus, qui contra Sarra-cenorum perfidiam ad defensionem orientalis provincie accinguntur, quin per eum impe-diatur terre sancte succursus’: Inn. Reg. 1.555 (558) (Hageneder and Haidacher 809). Google Scholar

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

63 Alexander III to Eberhard of Salzburg, 20 Jan. 1161 (JL 10645; PL 200.101-03). Google Scholar

64 Alexander III to the same, 16 March 1162 (JL 10702; PL 200.133-34). Google Scholar

65 Inn. Reg. 2.226 (PL 214.786-88).Google Scholar

66 '… nos ad eorum rebellionem et superbiam edomandam constantius accingemus, et Principes etiam Christianos, qui ad subsidium terrae sanctae festinant, in eorum confusionem, auctore Domino, potenter assurgere faciemus …’: Inn. Gesta 31 (PL 214.lv). Google Scholar

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68 Inn. Gesta 34 (PL 214.lxii).Google Scholar