Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1972 Pope Innocent IV and Church-State Relations, 1243-1254 Mary Robert Reis Loyola University Chicago Recommended Citation Reis, Mary Robert, "Pope Innocent IV and Church-State Relations, 1243-1254" (1972). Dissertations. Paper 1224. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1224 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1972 Mary Robert Reis \ POPE INNOCENT IV AND CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS, 1243-1254 by Sister Mary Robert Reis, c. D. P. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requircn~ents for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 1972 Sister Mary Robert Reis, C. D. P. Loyola University POPE INNOCENT IV AND CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS, 1243-1254 The history of the church under the leadership of Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254) is not only controversial but also is open to much misunderstanding. He ruled the church when the ideal of a Christian commonwealth had reached the plateau period and would gradually decline to be superseded by a more political concept of the state. It was impossible for Inno- cent IV to escape being drawn into political controversy. The policy of Innocent III (1198-1216) had committed the papacy to the triple task of directing the empire, securing the feudal overlordship of the great European kingdoms, and building a powerful state in Italy. In the peculiar historic circumstances of the middle decades of the thirteenth century, Innocent IV merely insisted on the traditional principles governing church- state relations. Nevertheless his many critics overlook the fundamental issues which were at stake and profess to find in the actions of Innocent nothing but a desire for universal domi- nation. Sinibald Fi.es chi, the future Pope Innocent IV, was a member of the noble Genoese family, of the counts of Lavagna. The date of nis birth was not recorded and little is known of his e.::i.rly life. Although the Fieschi family was Genoese, they had been closely connected with Parma. Sinibald's uncle, the bishop of 2 Parma, fostered _his education and appointed him at an early age as a canon of his cathedral. After his departure from the University of Bologna, his rise in the church under the popes, Honorius III and Gregory IX, was rapid. Pope Innocent IV was not only the greatest canon lawyer that ever lived but was interested in organizing schools of law and theology at the papal court and in furthering and bettering the university system. He was also a skilled administrator, who realized the importance of putting the church on a firm financial basis. His use of papal taxation and papal provisions brought him into trouble with the church and state in the Holy Roman Empire, England, and France. Despite the fact that his Apparatus or commentary on the five books of the decretals and the decrees of the First Council of Lyons have made him famous, the Hohenstaufen quarrel and its aftermath have stigmatized him. No doubt during the great struggle with the Emperor Frederick II Innocent made use of every opportunity for increasing papal power, but it is at least very doubtful that he formed a deliberate policy of supremacy. Although he seemed to be ruthless and vindictive, he was fearful for the church and impelled·by the contingencies in which he was placed. He took the church at her highest and best in the climax of the thirteenth century and represented her worthily and adequately, if not always prudently. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION • • • • • • • • ·• • • 1 II. THE CHURCH DURING THE PONTIFICATE OF INNOCENT IV • . • • • • • • • • 27 III. THE THEORY GOVERNING CHURCH- STATE RELATIONS • • • • • • • • • • 57 IV. CONFLICT WITH THE EMPEROR FREDERICK II • • • • • • • . 93 v. CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND AND FRANCE 137 VI. CONCLUSION 179 BIBLIOGRl\PHY 194 J\.bbreviations Used in Footnotes Apparatus Innocentius IV, Apparatus super libros · Decretalium Bliss Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland Caspar Register Gregors VII Curbio · Vi ta Innocentii Papae IV Denifle Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis Emerton Correspondence of Pope Gregory VII Grosseteste _ Roberti Grosseteste, Epistolae Hefele-Leclercq Histoire des Conciles Hermann XIIIth Century Chron:icles Huillard-Breholles Historia Diplomatica Friderici Secundi Mansi Sacrorum conciliorum Matthew Paris Chronica Majera Monumenta Germaniae MGH H1stor1ca Potthast Regesta Pontificum Romanorum "·· Reg. Registres d'Innocent IV Reges ta Bohmer-Ficker, Regesta Imperii Rodenberg Epistolae Saeculi XIII Rymer Rymer' s Foedera Salimbene Cronica Fratris Salimbene de Adam Salisbury Ioannis Saresberiensis, Policratici Teulet Layettes du Tresor des chartes Von Beham Regesten P. Innocenz IV CHAPTER I Introduction The history of the church under the leadership of Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254) is not only controversial but also is open to much misunderstanding.l He ruled the church when the ideal of a Christian commonwealth had reached the plateau period and would gradually decline to be superseded by a more political concept of the state. The resistless current of history gradually dissolved the feudal mass transforming it into a number of centralized monarchies which could develop only by means of a proud self-assertion. During this time, in addition to the customary insistence on unhindered super- vision over the clergy everywhere, certain popes made a valiant attempt to attain peace and justice in Christendom by fostering the universal recognition of papal political leader- ship. This concept implied a kind of union of European states under papal supervision. Accordingly, although the popes claimed no direct temporal authority outside the papal states, they did attempt to form a sort of federation of kingdoms 1For background material I am mainly indebted to: Cambridge Medieval History, Vols. V and VI; A. C. Flick, The Rise of the Medieval Church; Hubert Jedin and John Dolan (ed.), Handbook of C~urch H~stoE.Y_, Vol. IV; Horace K. Mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Middle Ages; Vol. XIV; The NeWCiitholic Encyclouedia. 2 under papal sov~reignty. The primary purpose of .this union was a peaceful Christendom conducive to the spiritual and moral welfare of all. The old issue between an ecclesiastical and a lay organiza­ tion of society was slowly reaching a crisis. In the time of Innocent IV the clerical power had reached its peak and soon would be on the decline. During the first half of the thir­ teenth century the old medieval hierarchy of gov.ernments broke down in many regions. In each region affected by these changes one government became dominant and gained control of political activities. Whether king, court, or conunune came out on top the result was the same. Although the monopoly of power secured by the dominant government was, of course, not complete, it became strong enough to inspire loyalty. Then as certain governments obtained a de facto monopoly of political power they began to do more work. Their courts met more frequently; they heard more cases; they began to tax and to legislate. In order to perform this increased amount of work they multiplied the number of their officials. It was not only that the offi­ cials formed a large group which would support the actions of their government, but more important was the fact that·every official, consciously or unconsciously was a propagandist for his own government. Innocent IV had the misfortune of ruling the church during the transition to this more political concept of the state. From the days of Gregory VI! in the latter part of the eleventh P' 3 century until a plateau was reached at the time of Innocent IV, the papacy had grown in both internal and external pretension and power; after that period its authority waned. The first three decades of the thirteenth century were an apogee of the prestige of the medieval church and of its influence on the kings and people of Europe. However, in this century of startling advances in theology, philosophy, law, architecture, and education Innocent IV had to face the first serious dis­ cordant note in the general harmony of Christendom. The church was not only deeply involved in the world of practical politics but also in the realm of po~itical and philosophical ideas. The pope was the ruler of Rome and the papal states. He had the support of centuries of tradition, the code of canon law, and the proclamations of his predeces­ sors. All European churches were part of this legal organism dominated by the doctrine of the papal plenitude of power. This was only one aspect of the church which in the mid­ thirteenth century exercised spiritual dominion together with great political, social, and economic influence. It was a united and universal institution with awesome jurisdiction over all Christendom. The ancient order based on the dual authority of pope and emperor was ending, but before it was replaced it was given a final exalted summation and test by Innocent IV. There were weighty reasons for maintaining that the papacy had reached its peak. There was the awesome picture in 1243 of the church asserting unity throughout western Europe where a .. 4 dreaded papal interdict could suspend religious services, where an excommunicated person became a religious outlaw, where the clergy still exercised much of what we now think of as lay government, and where in continual disputes as to the respective roles played by ruler and pope the church frequently won.