chapter two

Keeping Kings in Check

A

remarkable scene took place in the city of Lyon, in France, on July
17, 1245. A council of the Catholic Church was in session, at which
Pope Innocent IV recited a lengthy cata logue of charges of misconduct
against Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire. Th ey included
heresy, the seizure of papal lands in Sicily, various acts of oppression against
the church, and the employment of Muslims as soldiers— as well as keeping
a harem of Muslim concubines, guarded by eunuchs. Pope Innocent then
immediately proclaimed Frederick’s deposition as emperor. He was declared
to be stripped of all of his titles and dignities, and his erstwhile subjects in
his various realms (Sicily, Italy, and Germany) were absolved of all alle-
giance to him. It was a dramatic demonstration of how even the most
prominent rulers— Frederick II was renowned as stupor mundi, “the wonder
of the world”— could be subjected to punishment for misconduct.
Behind the scenes, however, the position of the pope was far from secure.
Although Frederick himself was not present, he was represented by very
able legal counsel (his chancellor Th addeus of Suessa), who insisted that
there could be no condemnation without a public hearing before a judicial
panel, where the accused party would have an opportunity to answer the
accusations. Innocent— a prominent lawyer himself in addition to being
supreme pontiff — agreed to this, but only reluctantly. He knew that Freder-
ick was en route to Lyon. And he feared (on good grounds) that, when the
emperor arrived, he would turn the tables by taking a conciliatory stance
and thereby secure an acquittal from the council. To forestall this impend-
ing threat, Innocent hastened to pronounce the sentence before his enemy
could arrive.