Dictionary and Thesaurus
1. Innocent III was perhaps the best qualified man to have held the papacy in medieval
times. Not only was he intelligent and learned but he was energetic and intent of
initiating reforms that would renew the respect with which the Church has once been held in
medieval society. Nevertheless, historians have found him and his actions difficult to
evaluate. Although most would agree that he was the greatest medieval pope (some would hold
out for Gregory the Great), they would argue as to whether he had saved the Church or set
the stage for its later decline.
2. The Church faced many challenges at the close of the twelfth century, challenges that
threatened its dissolution. Innocent assumed the papacy and set to work meeting those
challenges. He managed to meet them all but, many would hold, did so by means that cost the
Church dearly in the long run.
A. POPULAR HERESIES
1. THE PROBLEM
The Church was unable to solve the social and economic problems caused by the
growth of commerce and manufacture. It had evolved over many centuries to meet the special
conditions of a rural society and it was ill-prepared to operate
effectively in the urban environment of the towns and to communicate meaningfully with the
members of the new, better-educated and more critical, middle classes. In the first place,
it lacked the dedicated and educated personnel to meet the challenge of ministering to the
needs of the urban classes. For centuries the Church had supported an ideal of spirituality
that led the best and brightest of the men and women of the Church to enter monasteries and
convents and so isolate themselves from society. As the members of the middle class looked
at ecclesiastical practices, they perceived a great difference between what the Church
preached and what it in fact practiced. This led to a questioning of the moral and ethical
standards of the Church that often developed into anti-clericalism, sometimes quite
violent. But not all attacks upon the Church were the fault of the clergy. Changing
economic and social conditions caused a great deal of discontent, and this content was
often expressed in popular heresies such as the Albigensian and
Waldensian movements. One must remember how dangerous heretics were considered to
be to fully appreciate concern caused by the rise of these movements.
2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION
Innocent first tried to meet the challenge by sending missionaries to confront the leaders
of the dissident movements, confound them in debate, and so win back those who had strayed
from the fold. The policy collapsed when the dissidents confounded Innocent's missionaries
in debate and so attracted increased numbers to their movements. Innocent lost any sense of
moderation when a papal emissary to the South of France was murdered. He dealt out
excommunications and interdicts liberally, and called upon the nobles of northern France to
mount a crusade against the heretics of southern France. By this act, he gave papal
blessings to what was essential a war of aggression in which the nobles of the North gained
rich estates in the South, and in which the brilliant culture that had evolved in the South
of France during the twelfth century was virtually destroyed.
When moral suasion and rational discourse failed to achieve his goals, Innocent was
quick to turn to naked force.
B. THE HAMMER AND ANVIL
1. PROBLEM
The popes had always feared that, if a single power controlled both Germany and southern
Italy, they would threaten the Papal States so effectively that the popes would be under
their control. Emperor Henry VI (+1197) had accomplished this feat for the Hohenstaufen
family of German rulers.
2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION
Since two people were claiming the right to succeed Henry VI, Innocent quickly used his
influence on behalf of one of the contenders, thus almost ensuring a civil war. He struck a
political alliance with King John of England to provide English support for his favorite,
Otto of Brunswick. Otto won the civil war but when he decided to take control not only of
Germany but also southern Italy and the Papal States as well, Innocent quickly forged a new
alliance with King Philip of France and the new allies defeated Otto and the English in the
Battle of Bouvines.
In order to achieve his ends, Innocent deeply involved the Church in secular
politics and used warfare to reach the his political goals.
C. DECLINE OF THE CRUSADES
1. THE PROBLEM
Innocent very much wanted a crusade to restore in the European nobility a sense of the
moral leadership of the Church, but he found it very difficult to get a crusading movement
started. Such expeditions had become much too expensive for any but the kings and great
nobles, and these people were generally too involved in their own affairs to risk their
lives and fortunes in altruistic demonstrations in a foreign land where they might lose
their lives and would surely sacrifice much of their fortune. The secular leaders were
aware of a fact that Innocent seemed willing to ignore: the Muslims had become far too
strong to expect easy victories such as the first crusaders had gained.
2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION
Unable to mount an effective crusade against the Muslims of the Levant, Innocent showed
himself willing to use the idea of the crusade to achieve other ends. He called the
Albigensian Crusade to combat heresy, tolerated the Children's Crusade for its propaganda
value, sent Walter of Brienne into southern Italy to establish papal political influence in
the region, blessed the efforts of the Teutonic Knights in eastern Germany as an example to
promote the military orders generally, and finally accepted the under-financed Fourth
Crusade's conquest of Christian Constantinople as a step toward reestablishing the unity of
the Eastern and Western Churches.
Innocent used to crusades to gain his ends, but cheapened the crusading ideal by making
the crusade a tool to be used for political purposes and to enhance public
relations.
D. CHURCH CORRUPTION
1. THE PROBLEM
The Church had not been able during the twelfth Century to meet the rising costs of caring
for the poor and ill. Even while it was failing in that regard, it was using Church
revenues for political purposes. As we have noted, the best clergy usually entered a
cloistered life; the rest were under-paid, under-educated, lacking in zeal, and not very
effective. The Church was unable to meet the expectations of a new middle class who were
not satisfied with words and ceremony, but expected performance.
2. INNOCENT'S SOLUTION
THE FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL.
The Fourth Lateran Council took a number of dramatic steps to attack the bases of the
sad situation in which the Church found itself.
A. It called for Jews to wear distinctive clothing and badges. This might seem a bit like
the Nazi treatment of Jews in Europe in the Second World War, but the participants at the
Council seemed to feel that 1) Jews were a special people recognized as such by Scripture;
2) as such, only the Church had authority to regulate their activities; and 3) it could not
exercise this authority unless Jews were easily identifiable and their special status
protected. Although individual churchmen from the middle ages to the present have given
their lives to protect Jews, the regulation that made the Jews instantly identifiable was
not an advantage to them.
B. The Council moved to raise the moral level of the clergy by condemning simony and
requiring that priests be celibate - rules that, unfortunately were too often given only
lip-service.
C. The Council established the Inquisition to establish the principle of the supremacy of
the religious doctrine embodied in the Church and to make this principle a reality by
suasion, teaching and, if these failed, by force applied (at the order of the Church) by
secular authorities. The twelfth century had seen a great deal of flexibility in the
presentation and discussion of theological matters. The Forth Lateran Council clearly
intended that this flexibility and toleration should be ended.
D. The Council also, at Innocent's recommendation, gave official
recognition to the Dominicans and Franciscans and so began the movements
we discuss in The Rise of the Mendicant Orders.
The actions of the Fourth Lateran Council were Innocent's most
successful attempts to solve the Church's problems. Even here, however,
the long-term effect of his actions was less than one might have expected.
His reforms of the clergy were directed at symptoms and not at causes, and
the Inquisition came to be used by secular leaders as a kind of thought
police to eliminate dissidents of all sorts.
At least on the surface, though, Innocent was successful. He managed to
guide the Church successfully through a series of crisis but his
management carried a high price. The Church had now become relatively
rigid in its though and policies. It was no longer able to accommodate
differences of opinion or to accept honest criticism. It could no longer
aspire to be "The Moral Arbiter of European Affairs," because its moral
stature had been greatly diminished by its deep involvement in secular
politics.
It did not seem so at the time, however. The Dominicans formed a new
and educated force within the Church and the Franciscans provided society
with an example of a wild and joyous spirituality that corresponded
remarkably well with the needs of the time. Although the Church was now
characterized by a new degree of conformity, there was a clear resurgence
of religious sentiment. The "Gothic Age" had begun.
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