Innocent III Is Pope (1198)

Lotario di Segni became Pope of the Catholic Church in 1198 at the age of 37, taking the name "Innocent III." He believed that just as things of the spirit take preeminence over things of the body, so should earthly monarchs be subject to the pope, and he set out immediately to realize this ideal. He was the virtual overlord of Christian Spain, Scandinavia, Hungary, and the Latin East and launched the Fourth Crusade, which went awry when the crusaders did what instead of going to the Holy Land? More...

Innocent being a rather ironic Papal name given his legacy.

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"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong". (Knight's Oath, Kingdom of Heaven)

There is much that can be said about this papel reign.

There is another another thread running that wants current events cited to prove points. I don't think that is what the poster really wants. I say this because what this pope set forth started a ball that still caused/changed much of history. So it although what he started centuries ago some is still current today.

That said. I have some questions about this pope and his knowledge.

Another tool Innocent III used to attempt to gain universal authority and have more involvement in Imperial elections was letters he wrote to power brokers in the region. While the content of the letters was subtle in their inferred goal of securing his authority, when read in total, his goal becomes more obvious:

Papal Authority: Letter to the prefect Acerbius and the nobles of Tuscany, 1198,

Just as the founder of the universe established two great lights in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, so too He set two great dignities in the firmament of the universal church..., the greater on to rule the day, that is, souls, and the lesser to rule the night, that is, bodies. These dignities are the papal authority and the royal power. Now just as the moon derives its light from the sun and is indeed lower than it in quantity and quality, in position and in power, so too the royal power derives the splendor of its dignity from the pontifical authority.....


The underlined part above just stuck out to me. This pope was born lived from 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216. From where did he obtain his knowledge about the moon? They were still coming out of the Dark Ages which ran from about 500 AD to 1000 AD. Most knowledge was learnt then was considered witchcraft and pagan.

I looked up information on the moon and that information goes back to the Babylonian and Greeks perhaps before. So I am assuming *(which could be tricky)* that this pope used pagan knowledge to further his cause in the above quote. I just found it interesting.

You may say yuck or whatever but what this pope set out to do affected the Crusades and what they needed to do. He affected Germany as he didn't want them around, he affected the Jews as he wanted them branded for easy identification. He created many edicts that lasted for centuries, centuries. He ruled with great power and he is part of history and can not be so easily dismissed.

He was born a few years after they announced popes or clergy could no longer be married. It is interesting the power this man wielded and used to crush those who believed differently then himself.

I have more thoughts and need to make sure I read it all correctly, but I must shut down.


peace out, >^,,^<

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The poor object to being governed badly, whilst the rich object to being governed at all. G.K. Chesterton

There could be no innocence in religious organizations.

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven Weinberg