While Pope Innocent's crusading efforts are a major aspect of his reign, there is much else concerning his administration that is valuable to a study of the middle ages. His activities and influence concerning various church councils, church reforms, the place of secular rulers in relation to the papacy, the extension of his political authority in Italy, and the extension of his spiritual authority over Latin Christendom are all other important aspects of his reign. Yet the focus of this entry is the Pope's relationship to the crusading movement. Please refer to the external links provided below for introductions to Innocent's papacy that incorporate a broader approach.
From the time Lotario di Segni was born, who would later become Pope Innocent III, until shortly before he became a cardinal in 1190, the Holy Land and its most important cities had been in the hands of the crusaders. In 1187, at the age of 26 or 27, Innocent III learned of the shocking conquest of Jerusalem by the forces of Islam. Like other Christians, he spent the next four years monitoring the ultimately unsuccessful efforts of the Third Crusade to regain what they had lost. As a result, Innocent III effectively spent the first half his life comfortable in the knowledge that the Holy City was in the hands of western Christians and much of the other half of his life trying to regain it.
When Innocent III became Pope in 1198, he succeeded his uncle Pope Celestine III. Like his predecessors, Innocent demonstrated an immediate desire to regain the Holy Land and worked for the launching of another crusade during the first year of his reign. His efforts ultimately proved successful when a crusader army began to assemble in Venice in 1202. They intended to set out for the Holy Land on ships, by way of Egypt, on what would become known as the Fourth Crusade. Although Innocent initially hoped to maintain control over the crusaders, his hopes were quickly dashed.
Financial problems led the crusaders astray from their original goal of Egypt and resulted in the notorious conquest of the Catholic city of Zara in 1203 and the even more shocking conquest of the Orthodox Christian city of Constantinople in 1204. The crusader never made it to Egypt nor did battle with Muslims, only other Christians. Innocent III was furious upon hearing of the conquest of both cities, and at one point excommunicated the crusaders, but he then made the best of the situation and worked to strengthen Latin rule in Constantinople.
Throughout his reign Innocent III also paid careful attention to events in the south of France, mainly in the region of Languedoc. Since at least the middle of the twelfth-century, preachers, including the reknown St. Bernard of Clairvaux, had been going there to combat the Cathar heresy. In 1208, after the murder of the Papal Legate Pierre of Castelnau, Innocent III proclaimed what became known as the Albigensian crusade. The goal of the crusade was to take control of the region from rebellious Catholic nobility and to enforce Catholic orthodoxy on their Cathar subjects. Ultimately, from Innocent's point of view, the crusade must be deemed a success as most of the region was brought under the control of the King of France over the next twenty years. A few Cathar outposts remained as late as 1255 when Queribus, the last of the Cathar castles, fell to French knights.
As the Fourth Crusade never reached its goal of reconquering Jerusalem in 1204, this issue continued to linger as a major concern for Innocent throughout his papacy. As a result, in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council, he called for another crusade, later known as the Fifth Crusade, to win back the Holy City and other areas lost to the forces of Islam. Innocent did not live long enough to see the successful launching of the Fifth Crusade, as he died in 1216 and the first expeditions of the crusaders did not embark until 1217. Pope Honorius III continued Innocent's prepatory efforts and the crusaders had some success in the conquest of Damietta under forces led by Cardinal Pelagius, but nothing else of significance was accomplished.
Pope Innocent III also took a keen interest in crusading efforts in Spain and lived to hear of the decisive victory of Christians over Muslims at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212.
Throughout his long and influencial career Innocent never hesitated to use Christian force, but only when he believed diplomacy had been exhausted. Innocent's abilities as a diplomat were second to none as was often demonstrated by his ability to accomplish his goals through forceful negotiation with various rulers in Christendom. He often effectively resorted to excommunication, or the threat of excommication, as a means of adding force to his demands of secular rulers. When such threats were uneffective, the Pope demonstrated an excellent ability for alliance building, whether politically or militarily, to thwart the various efforts of his enemies. As might seem fitting in light of his efforts while he lived, Pope Innocent III died on June 16, 1216 at Perugia while traveling through Italy promoting the Fifth Crusade. Thus he both began and ended his eighteen year papacy seeking crusades to the Holy Land.
Pope Innocent III- Reprimand of a Papal Legate, 1204 Internet History Sourcebooks
Fourth Crusade- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Venice- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Sack of Constantinople- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Albigensian Crusade- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Cathars- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Pierre of Castelnau- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Queribus- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Fifth Crusade-Crusades-Encyclopedia
Lateran Council IV- Catholic Encyclopedia
Cardinal Pelagius- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Primary Sources of the Fourth Crusade- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Primary Sources of the Albigensian Crusade- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Primary Sources of the Fifth Crusade- Crusades-Encyclopedia
The Crusader Popes- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Pope Innocent III- Columbia Encyclopedia
Pope Innocent III- Catholic Encyclopedia
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