Pope Innocent IV
Gregory IX | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Sinibaldo Fieschi c. 1195 |
Died | 7 December 1254 Naples, Kingdom of Sicily | (aged 58–59)
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Pope Innocent IV (
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universities of Parma and Bologna. He was considered in his own day and by posterity as a fine canonist. On the strength of this reputation, he was called to the Roman Curia by Pope Honorius III. Pope Gregory IX made him a cardinal and appointed him governor of the Ancona in 1235. Fieschi was elected pope in 1243 and took the name Innocent IV. He inherited an ongoing dispute over lands seized by the Holy Roman Emperor, and the following year he traveled to France to escape imperial plots against him in Rome. He returned to Rome in 1250 after the death of the Emperor Frederick II.
Early life
Born in
Cardinal
While vice-Chancellor, Fieschi was soon created
Sources from the 17th century onwards reported that he became
Innocent's immediate predecessor was
New pope, same emperor
After a year and a half of contentious debate and coercion, the
Following the election, the witty Frederick remarked that he had lost the friendship of a cardinal but gained the enmity of a pope.
His jest notwithstanding, Frederick's letter to the new pontiff was respectful, offering congratulations to the new Pope and wishing him success. It also expressed hope for an amicable settlement of the differences between the empire and the papacy. Negotiations began shortly afterwards but were not successful. Innocent refused to back down from his demands and Frederick refused to acquiesce. The dispute continued mostly about the restitution of
The Emperor's machinations aroused a good deal of anti-papal feelings in Italy, particularly in the Papal States, and imperial agents encouraged plots against papal rule. Realizing to be increasingly unsafe in Rome, Innocent IV secretly and hurriedly withdrew, fleeing Rome on 7 June 1244.[14] Traveling in disguise, he made his way to Sutri and then to the port of Civitavecchia, and from there to Genoa, his birthplace, where he arrived on 7 July. On 5 October, he fled from there to France, where he was joyously welcomed. Making his way to Lyon, where he arrived on 29 November 1244, Innocent was greeted cordially by the magistrates of the city.
Innocent was now safe and out of the reach of Frederick II. In a sermon on 27 December 1244, he summoned as many bishops as could get to Lyon (140 bishops eventually came) to attend what became the 13th General (Ecumenical) Council of the Church, the first to be held in Lyon.[15] The bishops met for three public sessions: 28 June, 5 July, and 17 July 1245. Their principal purpose was to win over the Emperor Frederick II.
First Council of Lyon
The
During the session, Frederick II's position was defended by
After Lyon
The council's acts inflamed the political conflict across Europe. The tension subsided only with Frederick's death in December 1250: this removed the threat to Innocent's life and allowed his return to Italy. He departed Lyon on 19 April 1251 and arrived in Genoa on 18 May. On 1 July, he was in Milan, accompanied by only three cardinals and the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He stayed there until mid-September, when he began an inspection tour of Lombardy, heading for Bologna. On 5 November he reached Perugia. From 1251–53 the Pope stayed at Perugia until it was safe for him to bring the papal court back to Rome. He finally saw Rome again in the first week of October, 1253. He left Rome on 27 April 1254, for Assisi and then Anagni. He immediately dealt with the succession to the possessions of Frederick II, both as German Emperor and as King of Sicily. In both instances, Innocent continued Pope Gregory IX's policy of opposition to the Hohenstaufen, supporting whatever opposing party could be found. This policy embroiled Italy in one conflict after another for the next three decades. Innocent IV himself, following the papal army which was seeking to destroy Frederick's son Manfred, died in Naples on 7 December 1254.
While in Perugia, on 15 May 1252, Innocent IV issued the papal bull Ad extirpanda, composed of thirty-eight 'laws'. He advised civil authorities in Italy to treat heretics as criminals, and imposed limits on the use of torture to compel disclosures "as thieves and robbers of material goods are made to accuse their accomplices and confess the crimes they have committed."[17]
Ruler of princes and kings
As Innocent III had before him, Innocent IV saw himself as the Vicar of Christ, whose power was above earthly kings. Innocent, therefore, had no objection to intervening in purely secular matters. He appointed
In the case of the Mongols, too, Innocent maintained that he, as Vicar of Christ, could make non-Christians accept his dominion and even exact punishment should they violate the non-God centred commands of the Ten Commandments. This policy was held more in theory than in practice and was eventually repudiated centuries later.[citation needed]
Northern Crusades
Shortly after Innocent IV's election to the papacy, the Teutonic Order sought his consent for the suppression of the Prussian rebellion and for their struggle against the Lithuanians. In response the Pope issued on 23 September 1243 the papal bull Qui iustis causis, authorizing crusades in Livonia and Prussia. The bull was reissued by Innocent and his successors in October 1243, March 1256, August 1256 and August 1257.[19]
Vicar of Christ
The papal preoccupation with imperial matters and secular princes caused other matters to suffer. On the one hand, the internal governance of the
Canonizations
In 1246
The new Orders
In August 1253, after much worry about the order's insistence on absolute poverty, Innocent finally approved the rule of the Second Order of the Franciscans, the Poor Clares nuns, founded by St. Clare of Assisi, the friend of St Francis.[22]
The concept of Persona ficta
In a development which undoubtedly had a considerable impact on the emerging religious orders, Innocent IV is often credited with helping to create the idea of
Compromise on the Talmud
Possibly prompted by the persistence of heretical movements such as the
Initially, Innocent IV continued Gregory IX's policy. In a letter of 9 May 1244, he wrote to King Louis IX, ordering the Talmud and any books with Talmudic glosses to be examined by the Regent Doctors of the University of Paris, and if condemned by them, to be burned.[28] However, an argument was presented that this policy was a negation of the Church's traditional stance of tolerance toward Judaism. On 5 July 1247, Pope Innocent wrote to the Bishops of France and of Germany to say that because both ecclesiastics and lay persons were lawlessly plundering the property of the Jews, and falsely stating that at Eastertime they sacrificed and ate the hearts of little children, the bishops should see to it that the Jews not be attacked or molested for these or other reasons.[29] That same year 1247, in a letter of 2 August to Louis IX,[30] the Pope reversed his stance on the Talmud, ordering that the Talmud should be censored rather than burned. Despite opposition from figures such as Odo of Châteauroux,[31] Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum and former Chancellor of the University of Paris, Innocent IV's policy was nonetheless continued by subsequent popes.[32]
Relations with the Jews
In April 1250 (5 Iyar[33]), Innocent IV ordered the Bishop of Córdoba to take action against the Jews who were building a synagogue whose height was not acceptable to the local clergy. Documents from the reign of Pope Innocent IV recorded resentment toward a prominent new congregational synagogue:[34]
The Jews of Cordoba are rashly presuming to build a new synagogue of unnecessary height thereby scandalizing faithful Christians, wherefore ... we command [you] ... to enforce the authority of your office against the Jews in this regard....[35]
Diplomatic relations
Relations with the Portuguese
Innocent IV was responsible for the eventual deposition of King Sancho II of Portugal at the request of his brother Afonso (later King Afonso III of Portugal). One of the arguments he used against Sancho II in the Bull Grandi non immerito was Sancho's status as a minor upon inheriting the throne from his father Afonso II.[36]
Contacts with the Mongols
The warlike tendencies of the Mongols also concerned the Pope, and in 1245, he issued bulls and sent a papal
In 1245 Innocent had sent another mission, through another route, led by
Innocent IV would also send other missions to the Mongols in 1245, including that of
Later politics
Despite other concerns, the later years of Innocent's life were largely directed to political schemes for encompassing the overthrow of
In the same year, Innocent excommunicated Frederick II's other son,
Manfred had not lost his nerve,[42] and organized resistance to papal aggression. Supported by his faithful Saracen troops, he began using military force to make rebellious barons and towns submit to his authority as Regent for his nephew.
The Final conflict
Realizing that Manfred had no intention of submitting to the Papacy or to anyone else, Innocent and his papal army headed south from his summer residence at Anagni on 8 October, intending to confront Manfred's forces. On 27 October 1254 the Pope entered the city of Naples. It was there, on a sick bed, that Innocent heard of Manfred's victory at Foggia on 2 December against the Papal forces, led by the new Papal Legate, Cardinal Guglielmo Fieschi, the Pope's nephew.[43] The tidings are said to have precipitated Pope Innocent's death on 7 December 1254 in Naples. From triumph to disaster had taken only a few months.
Shortly after Innocent's election as pope, his nephew
Upon his death, Innocent IV was succeeded by Pope Alexander IV (Rinaldo de' Conti).
See also
- Fieschi family
- List of popes
- Cardinals created by Innocent IV
- The clash between the Church and the Empire
References
Citations
- ^ Eubel, p. 7. Butler, Alban and Paul Burns, Butler's lives of the Saints, (Liturgical Press, 2000), 131.
- ^ Romeo Pavoni, "L'ascesa dei Fieschi tra Genova e Federico II," in D. Calcagno (editor), I Fieschi tra Papato e Impero, Atti del convegno (Lavagna, 18 dicembre 1994) (Lavagna 1997), pp. 3–44.
- ^ Maurus Fattorini, De claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis professoribus Tomus I pars I (Bologna 1769), pp. 344–348.
- ^ Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani, "Innocent IV," in Philippe Levillain (editor), The Papacy: An Encyclopedia Volume 2 (NY 2002), pp. 790.
- ^ Pavoni, p. 6.
- ^ V. Piergiovanni, "Sinibaldo dei Fieschi decretalista. Ricerche sulla vita," Studia Gratiana 14 (1967), 125–154.
- ^ Pavoni, p. 6. Emmanuele Cerchiari, Capellani papae et Apostolicae Sedis Auditores causarum sacri palatii apostolici Volumen II (Roma 1920), p. 9.
- ^ Pavoni, p. 6. Cerchiari, p. 10. Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), no. 8039 (23 September 1227). As Vice-Chancellor he used the title Magister. A successor appears in the records on 9 December 1227: Potthast, p. 939.
- ^ Conradus Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi I editio altera (Monasterii 1913), p. 6.
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum Volume I (Berlin 1874), no. 10032.
- ^ Cf. Conradus Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi I editio altera (Monasterii 1913), p. 81.
- incomplete short citation] pp. 64–65.
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum II (Berlin 1875), p. 943.
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum II (Berlin 1875), p. 969.
- ^ Ioannes Dominicus Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio Tomus 23 (Venice 1779), pp. 606–686.
- ^ Ioannes Dominicus Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio Tomus 23 (Venice 1779), pp. 613–619 (17 July 1245).
- ^ A. Tomassetti (editor), Bullarum, Diplomatum, et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum Taurensis editio Tomus III (Turin 1858), pp. 552–558, no. XXVII.
- ISBN 978-2-7084-0520-2.
- ^ Cf. Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt, The Popes and the Baltic Crusades: 1147–1254, Brill, Leiden, 2007, p. 225.
- ^ This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Butler, Alban. “Saint Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, Confessor”. Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints, 1866. CatholicSaints.Info. 18 November 2013
- ^ Nichols, Bridget (2008). "Women and Liturgical Reform: The Case of Queen Margaret of Scotland". Priscilla Papers. 22 (1): 23–27. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: O'Hara, Edwin (1911). "Poor Clares". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ John Dewey, “The Historic Background of Corporate Legal Personality,” Yale Law Journal, Vol. XXXV, April 1926, pp. 655–673.
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), no. 10759.
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), no. 10760.
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), no. 10767–10768.
- ^ Isidore Loeb, La controverse sur le Talmud sous saint Louis (Paris: Baer 1881).
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), no. 11376.
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), no. 12596.
- ^ Loeb, p. 61.
- ^ Jacques Échard, Sancti Thomae Summa suo auctori vindicata (Paris 1708), pp. 592–600. Loeb, p. 60.
- ^ Rabbi Yair Hoffman, "The Pope who saved the Talmud" Archived 22 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Robert Chazan, Church, State, and Jew in the Middle Ages (New York : Behrman House 1979), 231–238. J.E. Rembaum, "The Talmud and the Popes: Reflections on the Talmud Trials of the 1240s," Viator 13 (1982), 203–223.
- ^ "This Month in Jewish History – Iyar". Torah Tots. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
- ISBN 978-965-524-0160.
- ISSN 0792-0660.
- incomplete short citation] 82.
- ^ Roux, pp. 312–313
- ^ a b Wilkinson, David. "Studying the History of Intercivilizational Dialogues". International Conference on the Dialogue of Civilizations 31 July 2001. Tokyo. Archived from the original on 9 January 2005.
- ^ de Rachewiltz, Igor (1993). "Some Reflections on Chinggis Qan's Jasagh" (PDF). East Asian History. 6: 91–104. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ Potthast, p. 1268.
- ^ Bartholomaeus Capasso, Historia diplomatica Regni Siciliae inde ab anno 1250 ad annum 1266 (Neapoli 1874), p. 82.
- ^ Giuseppe di Cesare, Storia di Manfredi, re di Sicilia e di Puglia I (Napoli: Raffaele di Stefano 1837), pp. 49–101.
- ^ Biography of Cardinal Guglielmo Fieschi (in Italian) Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine: il F(ieschi). già nella notte tra il 2 e il 3 dicembre con una ritirata precipitosa (tutte le salmerie furono abbandonate a Troia) ripiegò su Ariano, dove le sue truppe si dispersero. La legazione si risolse così in una catastrofica disfatta.
- ^ Eubel I, pp. 7, 48.
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External links
- Media related to Innocentius IV at Wikimedia Commons