outline of the events that did most to form the mental atmosphere of the age.
The central figure at the beginning of the century is Pope Innocent III ( 1198-1216), a shrewd
politician, a man of infinite vigour, a firm believer in the most extreme claims of the papacy, but
not endowed with Christian humility. At his consecration, he preached from the text: "See, I have
this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to
destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." He called himself "king of kings, lord of lords, a
priest for ever and ever according to the order of Melchizedek." In enforcing this view of himself,
he took advantage of every favourable circumstance. In Sicily, which had been conquered by the
Emperor Henry VI (d. 1197), who had married Constance, heiress of the Norman kings, the new
king was Frederick, only three years old at the time of Innocent's accession. The kingdom was
turbulent, and Constance needed the Pope's help. She made him guardian of the infant Frederick,
and secured his recognition of her son's rights in Sicily by acknowledging papal superiority.
Portugal and Aragon made similar acknowledgements. In England, King John, after vehement
resistance, was compelled to yield his kingdom to Innocent and receive it back as a papal fief.
To some degree, the Venetians got the better of him in the matter of the fourth Crusade. The
soldiers of the Cross were to embark at Venice, but there were difficulties in procuring enough
ships. No one had enough except the Venetians, and they maintained (for purely commercial
reasons) that it would be much better to conquer Constantinople than Jerusalem--in any case, it
would be a useful stepping-stone, and the Eastern Empire had never been very friendly to
Crusaders. It was found necessary to give way to Venice; Constantinople was captured, and a
Latin Emperor established. At first Innocent was annoyed; but he reflected that it might now be
possible to re-unite the Eastern and Western Churches. (This hope proved vain.) Except in this
instance, I do not know of anybody who ever in any degree got the better of Innocent III. He
ordered the great Crusade against the Albigenses, which rooted out heresy, happiness, prosperity,
and culture from southern France. He deposed Raymond, Count of Toulouse, for lukewarmness
about the Crusade, and secured most of the region of the Albigenses for its leader, Simon de