Innocent III
• A full century later, we meet another super-pope, Innocent III
(1160–1216; r. 1198–1216), who displayed an even more aggressive
assertion of papal authority in matters both secular and religious.
• Born in the papal states of Italy of a noble family that over time
produced nine popes, Lotario di Segni was educated in Rome,
Paris, and Bologna, with a specific concentration on canon law. He
took on a number of roles in the papal service, became a cardinal
in 1190, and was elected pope by the College of Cardinals in 1198.• As pope, Innocent III was obsessed with the plenitudo potestatis
(“fullness of power”) of the papacy; he was the first pope to
designate himself as “vicar of Christ” and spoke of himself as
“between God and man; lower than God but higher than man.” He
demanded absolute obedience from both bishops and kings.
o In his encyclical letter “Venerabilem” (1202), Innocent asserted
the right to examine those chosen by the imperial electors and
then to appoint them; thus, he made Frederick II king of Sicily
when the ruler recognized fealty to the pope.o Similarly, when King John of England was willing to recognize
Innocent as his feudal overlord, the pope helped establish him
in his reign.o Innocent called for the Fourth Crusade to liberate the Holy
Land and saw its disastrous turn that led to the sacking of
Constantinople and the establishment of Latin rule there.o He then declared a crusade against the heretics called the
Albigensians—the “Cathars,” located in southern France, who
represented a version of Gnostic Christianity. Innocent called
for the armed crusade when a series of preaching missions
against them failed. The resulting war extended for decades.