INTRODUCTION the Expansion of Latin Christendom Into North-East

INTRODUCTION

The expansion of Latin Christendom into north-east Europe entered a new phase when in 1147 Pope Eugenius III proclaimed a crusade against the pagan Slavs living in the lands along the western part of the Baltic Sea. In the following decades the peoples living further east, in Livonia, Estonia, Finland and Prussia, were targeted in a series of new missions and campaigns undertaken by the archbish- ops, bishops and princes of the neighbouring lands which were them- selves often only recently converted to Christianity. Although the conquest and conversion of the Baltic lands often met with consid- erable local resistance, these ventures eventually succeeded in incor- porating the eastern Baltic region into the Latin Christian Church and western European society. This study shows how papal crusading policy in the Baltic region was formed and how it developed in its first century, from Eugenius III’s proclamation of the crusade against the pagan Slavs in 1147 to the end of Pope Innocent IV’s pontificate in 1254. Highlighting the interplay between canon law and theology, politics and the Church’s pastoral concerns, it analyses the papal stand and the causes and impetus behind the changes that occurred. It examines the papacy’s perception of the campaigns, the intentions stated, the rewards granted as well as the extent of papal involvement in the organization and implementation of the campaigns. It also dis- cusses the character and importance the popes ascribed to the Baltic expeditions and whether the various popes considered them to be on a par with the crusades undertaken in aid of the Holy Land. The formation of papal policy on the Baltic crusades was strongly influenced by the curia’s interaction with the princes and bishops of north-eastern Europe who were involved in the expansion of Latin Christendom. The extension of the crusade concept from the Holy Land to the Baltic region was a result of pressure from these local ecclesiastical and secular leaders. At first the pressure came from members of the Church hierarchy, but from the early thirteenth century the Christian princes often approached the curia to obtain autho- rization of their campaigns in the region. 2 introduction

The period from the middle of the twelfth century to the middle of the thirteenth saw not only a geographical expansion of Christendom, but also developments in papal authority supported by a gradually evolving theory of papal monarchy. From the late eleventh century onwards the papacy began to assert its right to exercise jurisdiction throughout Christendom and to assert itself as an independent power by excluding secular influence and enforcing ecclesiastical authority. It claimed jurisdiction in both spiritual and temporal affairs, but while it claimed full jurisdiction over the ecclesiastical world, it did not do so over the secular world. Arguing that the Roman Church had responsibility for the souls of all men, the papacy maintained that it had a right to intervene in the temporal order in circum- stances, which, although defined, could be interpreted widely.1 The papal monarchy reached its height in the first half of the thirteenth century, when the popes exercised an unprecedented degree of control over European society, politics and institutions.2 Gradually secular rulers came to recognize papal intervention in an increasing number of affairs and acknowledged it by actively seeking papal involvement and support although matters such as ecclesiastical appointments, jurisdiction and eventually papal taxation could lead to conflict.3 The communication between the papacy and the secular rulers from the north-eastern periphery of Latin Christendom which influenced the formation of papal policy on the Baltic campaigns was part of this development of firmer ties between Rome and the Christian princes. The greater role played by the papacy in European society meant that the popes were required to formulate policies on new issues and led to an increased amount of business being presented to the curia. The college of cardinals, led by the cardinal bishop of Ostia, became

1 I. S. Robinson, The Papacy 1073–1198. Continuity and Innovation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. ix–x; C. Morris, The Papal Monarchy. The Western Church from 1050 to 1250 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), pp. 1–2 and pp. 568–9; J. Riley-Smith, What Were the Crusades? 3rd edition (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), p. 33; J. A. Watt, “The Papacy”, in The New Cambridge Medieval History. Volume V: c. 1198–c. 1300, ed. D. Abulaﬁa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 107. 2 Watt, “The Papacy”, p. 127. 3 Morris, The Papal Monarchy, pp. 198–9, p. 230, p. 233 and pp. 556–9. The German emperors, however, repeatedly clashed with the papacy on a variety of issues, including the papal role in imperial elections, control of the German Church, Sicily and territorial claims in central Italy.