Pope Innocent III was arguably the most powerful
Pope in history. He was the peak of the
Medieval Papacy, ruling from 1198 to 1216. He was the first Pope to claim the "plentitude of power", or universal power over the kings of
Europe.
Successes
Innocent voided King John of England's candidate for
Archbishop of Canterbury. John disagreed with the monks' choice for Archbishop and made his own candidate Archbishop (this is known as lay investiture). Innocent chose another candidate over John's and the monks', and when John refused to
submit, Innocent placed
England under
interdict. John responded by persecuting the
clergy and seizing church property, and Innocent asked King
Philip Augustus of France to invade. John backed down and agreed to become the Pope's
vassal.
Innocent also forced
Philip Augustus to back down. When Philip left his wife,
Ingeborg, because of her bad breath, Innocent placed
France under
interdict, and Philip agreed to go back to
Ingeborg.
Innocent even got his own candidate to be the
Holy Roman Emperor. He backed Otto, a
Welf who guaranteed to existence of the Papal States. Other nobles vying for the position of
Emperor threatened the existence of the States. Innocent crowned Otto in 1209, and Otto failed to keep his promise. Innocent turned to Frederick II, the grandson of Frederick Barbarossa. Frederick defeated Otto and King John at the Battle of Bouvines, and consequently ascended to the
throne.
Policies
One of Innocent's most influential decisions was to approve the
mendicant orders. He gave
St. Francis of Assisi approval to organize the Order of Friars Minor, or
Franciscans, in 1210. In 1215, he approved the
Dominican Order. The mendicant friars were dedicated to poverty and owned no personal
property. Many
clergymen felt threatened by their
poverty; it was seen as an attack on the material wealth that many
Bishops and
Abbots had accumulated over the years. Innocent's approval of the orders was a strong statement in their favor.
Innocent called the Fourth Lateran
Council in November of 1215. Among other things, the Council defined
transubstantiation as an article of
faith, called for the
Eastern Orthodox Church to submit to the
Papacy, attempted to
reform corrupt clergymen, and prescribed that all good
Catholics should
confess and take
Eucharist at least once a year.
Failures
In spite of all of his successes, Innocent III also had some failures. He lacked the means to
control all of Europe, so his claim to have "plentitude of power" was not very effective. He couldn't even effectively control the Papal States, and gave control of them to Azzo VI of Este. His attempts to reform the
chancery changed nothing.
Perhaps his biggest
failure was the Fourth
Crusade. He called the
faithful of Europe to bring the
Holy Land back under
Christian control, and many noblemen responded. However, the
Venetians who were supposed to ferry them across the
Mediterranean Sea diverted them to sack the Christian town of Zara, and even
Constantinople, which never recovered from the looting and pillaging. None of the Crusaders ever reached the Holy Land.
In short, Pope Innocent III managed to do many good things during his
tenure as Pope. However, his focus on
politics caused major problems for the
Church in the future.