No More Learning

AND THE EMPIKE.
We have dealt in our last volume with the relations between
the papacy and the empire down to 1177, when Frederick,
in the Peace of Venice, recognised Alexander III. as the
legitimate Pope. The Peace of Venice ended a long chapter
in the history of the relations between the popes and the
emperors, beginning with the deposition of John XTT. by
Otto I. in 963, and ending with Frederick's unsuccessful
attempt to have a disputed election decided by a council
summoned by the emperor.
In the thirteenth century we shall find the empire on the
defensive, except during the last stages of the struggle be-
tween Frederick II. and Innocent IV. The emperors no longer
claimed special powers in relation to the Church, save so
far as their duties as " advocatus " might entitle them to
make demands on inhabitants of the papal states. But we
shall find the papacy pressing ever new claims to superiority
over the empire. On the other hand, it was the acquisition
of Sicily by Henry VI. through his marriage to Constance,
the sister of William I. , and heiress to William II. her
nephew, that forced the papacy into a life and death
struggle with the Hohenstauffen. It was this that compelled
them openly, or secretly, to support the Lombard League
against Frederick II. , and finally to call in the help of a
French prince to oust the Hohenstauffen from the Sicilian
kingdom, and to take their place.
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? 188 TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWERS. [PABT II.
From the time of Gregory VII. popes had sought, directly
or indirectly, to influence the election by the German princes
of their king, and they had on various occasions confirmed
or approved their choice. 1 The papal claims were placed by
Innocent III. on a legal basis, and they were still further
developed by his successors. In the course of the thirteenth
century the papacy claimed the right to forbid the election
of persons they considered unsuitable, to examine the regu-
larity of electoral proceedings, and to decide when there was
a disputed election which candidate was to be preferred. In
one case, at all events (that of Henry Easpe, the Landgrave
of Thuringia), the electors were told by Innocent IV. whom it
was their duty to elect. It was largely owing to papal in-
fluence that, in the course of the century, relationship to the
last ruler was treated as a serious objection. Before the
thirteenth century there were only two cases in which a
successful competitor for the kingdom did not, in part at
all events, owe his selection to his near relationship to
the king he succeeded. 2 Claims were gradually developed
by the popes during this century to a right to exercise
imperial powers during a vacancy in the empire. These
claims were not acceptable to the majority of the German
princes, as will appear in the course of our narrative. It
was also during the thirteenth century that the number
of electors was reduced to seven. The history of the process
is very obscure, but by the end of the century it seems to
have been generally believed that the electoral body, consist-
ing of seven electors, had been established by Gregory V. s
After peace with the papacy had been restored in 1177,
1 As regards Gregory VII. , see vol.
iv. p. 208 for his instructions re-
garding the election of a successor to
Rudolf.
A papal legate was present, and took
part in the proceedings at the time of
Lothair's election.
A papal legate was present at the
very irregular proceedings when Conrad
III. was elected, and assured the
princos that the Pope would accept
him. After the election he crowned
Conrad at Aix.
Eugenius III. wrote Frederick I.
approving him as king, though not
asked for his approval by Frederick.
* The two cases are those of Henry I.
and Lothair.
* Cf. ' De Regimine Principum,'
iii. 19; by Ptolemy of Lucca (see
p. 24).
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? CHAP. II. ]
189
INNOCENT iH. AND THE EMPIRE.
relations between the Pope and the emperor were, on the
whole, friendly ; but the question of the rights of the Church
under Matilda's legacy was not settled, and Frederick failed
in an attempt to get Lucius III. to crown his son Henry,
who was already king, as emperor. The Pope is said to have
objected on the ground that it was not suitable (conveniens)
that there should be two emperors at the same time. 1 Lucius
was succeeded in 1185 by Urban III. , the Archbishop of
Milan, a Milanese, and very hostile to the emperor. A con-
cession refused by Lucius was not to be obtained from Urban,
and in 1186 Frederick sought to obtain his end by declaring
Henry VI. , Csesar, evidently as indicating the future emperor. 2
By the time of Urban's death, the very serious situation in
Palestine was known in Europe, and probably influenced the
cardinals in electing as Pope one known to be a friend of the
emperor's. News of the fall of Jerusalem was received in
Italy soon after Gregory's accession, and Gregory's short
pontificate was spent in an effort to unite Christendom in
a crusade. For this he was prepared to make great con-
cessions, from the papal point of view. In November he wrote
Henry, addressing him as "emperor elect of the Eomans,"
evidently to indicate that the papacy would waive its objec-
tions to his promotion. 3 Gregory died after a few months,
but Clement HI. , following the policy of his predecessor,
agreed in 1189 to the imperial coronation of Henry and his
wife. * Frederick died, however, before this could take place,
? M. G. H. , SS. xvii. Ann. Colon. , 791.
" Unde cum imperator vellet. ut im-
periali benedictione sublimaretur, fer-
tur paps reepondiaso ex consilio quo-
iumdam principum et cardinalium ;
non esse conveniens, duos imperatores
prseesse Romano imperio. " M. G. , Sec.
xxi. Similarly Arnold of Lubeck iii. 11.
Dicebat eoim aplicus, non posse simul
duos imperatores regnare, nec filium
imperialibus insigneri, nisi ea ipse
prius deposuisset.
>> See on the subject Toeche, ' Hem-
rich VI. ,' Erste Beilage II.
>> M. G. H. , Const. I. 411, 29th
November 1187. Gregory addressed
a letter to Henry, " Gregorius . . .
filio Heinrico illustri regi, electo Ro-
manorum imperatori. "
* M. G. H. , Const. I. , No. 323,
10th April 1189. Letter of Frederick
I. to Clement IH. , " Ex litteris
per fideles nuntios nostros . . . a
sanctitate vestra nobis transmissis,
et ex verbis que ab ore vestro audie-
runt intelleximus, para tam et promptam
Unimo vestro consistere voluntatem,
predilecto filio nostra H. illustri
Romanorum regi augusto sueque nobi-
lisaime consorti, kariaaime videlicet
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? 190
[PABT II.
TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWERS.
and Henry was sole emperor when crowned by Ccelestine in
1191.
Before Henry's coronation as emperor, William II. of
Sicily had died on the 18th November 1189. Homage had
been given to Constance about fifteen years before this in
case of William II. leaving no direct heirs,1 and after his
death some of the barons, including Tancred, a grandson of
Eoger II. , but not by legitimate descent, held a meeting at
Troy and offered the crown to Constance and Henry. 2 Mainly
owing to the opposition of the chancellor, Tancred himself
was induced to accept the throne, and was crowned in January
1190 at Palermo. Clement appears to have favoured Tancred,
but did not actually invest him with the kingdom.
Clement died in March 1191, and was succeeded by Coeles-
tine III. Henry was at this time close to Eome on his way
to be crowned before asserting his claims to Sicily, both as
husband of Constance and as emperor. His coronation was
delayed by Clement's death, but finally took place on the
15th April, after he had made over Tusculum to the Pope,
as required by Coelestine. 3 Immediately after the coronation,
Henry proceeded to invade the Sicilian kingdom, notwith-
standing the Pope's opposition. The expedition finally broke
down over the siege of Naples. Henry had to return to
Germany owing to troubles there, and Clement at last in
June 1192 invested Tancred with the Sicilian kingdom.
Tancred died in 1194, leaving an infant son as his heir,
and by the end of the year the whole kingdom was in Henry's
possession, and he and Constance were crowned at Palermo
on Christmas Day.
A few days later Henry accused Tancred's family, the
filie nostro Constantio Komanorum
regine auguste, nullo mediante dubio
vel impedimento, coronam imponendi. "
Similarly in a letter of Henry's, dated
18th April (No. 324).
1 See on the subject of the right of
inheritance to William, Haller in his
* Heinrich VI. u. die r6mische Kirche,'
M. I. O. G. , vol. xxxv. p. 425 f.
>> See 1. e. , p. 547 f.
3 The surrender of Tusculum had
been promised in 1189, and we do not
know why a German garrison was
in occupation. The Pope, himself
a Roman, handed it over to the
Romans, who at once destroyed it,
and treated the inhabitants with bar-
barous cruelty.
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? chap, n. ]
191
INNOCENT m. AND THE EMPIRE.
Archbishop of Salerno, and others of conspiring against him,
and they were sent in custody first to Apulia, and later on
to Germany. There was a second and very serious conspiracy
about February 1197, which was put down with great severity
and cruelty, even persons imprisoned in Germany in con-
nection with the first rising suffering for a second rising in
which they could not have been implicated.
In connection with Henry's coronation as emperor in 1191,
it is worth noticing that Innocent III. in his ' Deliberatio,'1
drawn up in 1201, makes a somewhat obscure reference to
the behaviour of Henry "VT. at the time of his coronation,
seeming to imply that Henry asked Ccelestine to invest him
with the empire. According to Innocent, Henry VI. , having
at his coronation received the crown, withdrew, and after
going a short way (aliquantulum abscessisset), returned (re-
diens tandem ad se) and sought to be invested by Coelestine
with the empire by the golden palla (per pallam auream). 2
Henry made a serious attempt, which at one time seemed
on the point of succeeding, to make the succession hereditary
in the Hohenstauffen family. He got the consent of a number
of the German princes, but was strongly opposed by Adolf,
1 The Deliberatio (Reg. d. N. 29)
was a document drawn up by Innocent
HI. in 1201, in which he considered
the claims of Philip of Swabia, of
Otto of Brunswick, and of Frederick
II. to the empire, and finally decided
to support Otto.
? Reg. d. N. 29, col. 1025.
" In-
terest apostolicse sedis diligenter et
prudenter de imperii Romani provi-
sion** tractare, cum imperium noscatur
ad eam principaliter et finalitor perti-
nere : principaliter, cum per ipsam et
propter ipsam de Gracia sit translatum,
per ipsam translationis actricem, prop-
ter ipsam melius defendendam ; fina-
liter, quoniam imperator a summo
pontifice finalem sive ultimam manus
impositionem promotionis proprie ac-
cipit, dum ab eo benedicitur, coronatur,
et de unperio investitur. Quod Hen-
ricu9 optime recognoscens, a bonse
memorise Coelestine papa prsedecessore
nostro, post suseeptam ab eo coro-
nam, cum aliquantulum abscessisset,
rediens tandem ad se, ab ipso de
imperio per pallam auream petiit
investiri. "
The correct interpretation of the
passage has been hotly disputed be-
tween Haller (vide especially vol. u.
of the ' Historische Viertel Jahrschrift,"
p. 23 f. ) and Tangl (' Sitzungs berichte
der Preussischen Academic,' 1919, No.
63). We have adopted in the text
Tangl's interpretation. Whichever is
correct, the important point for our
purposes is that Innocent seems to
treat the empire as rightfully a fief,
and it is unnecessary for us to discuss
Haller's interpretation of Henry's
? ? conduct.
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? 192
TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWERS. [PABT II.
the Archbishop of Cologne. 1 Henry endeavoured to secure
his object against any German opposition by requesting the
Pope to crown his son as king. He was defeated by the
Pope's refusal to lend himself to the scheme, and finally
Henry had to be satisfied with the election by the princes in
1197 of his infant son Frederick as king. Finally, even Adolf,
the Archbishop of Cologne, accepted the election. 2 Henry's
1 By the end of the twelfth century
the right to crown the king was recog-
nised as belonging to him, and the
commencement of the king's reign was
generally dated from the time of the
coronation. The importance of the
part played by the archbishop would
obviously have greatly decreased had
the kingdom become hereditary, even
if it had been retained.
2 The principal source is the Ann.
Marbacenses, p. 68, in Bloch's edition.
"Anno domini mcxcvi. Imperator habuit
curiam Herbipolis circa mediam quad-
ragesimam, . . . Ad eandem curiam
imperator novum et inauditum decre-
tum Romano regno voluit cum prin-
cipibus confirmare, ut in Romanum
regnum, sicut in Francio vel ceteris
regnis, hire hereditario reges sibi succe-
derent; in quo principes qui aderant,
assensum ei prebuerunt, et sigillis suis
confirmaverunt . . . Interim, missis-
legatis suis, imperator cepit cum apos-
tolico de concordia agere volens quod
filium suum baptizaret--nondum enim
baptizatus erat--et quod in regem
ungeret. . . . cum res, ut imperator voluit,
effectum habere non potuit, iter cum
magna indignatione versus Sicilian
movit. Interea in Theutonicis parti -
bus, mediantibus Cuonrado Maguntino
archiepiscopo et duce Suevie Philippo,
omnes fere principes prestito iuramento
filium imperatoris in regem eligerunt. "
Innocent refers to this attempt in a
letter to the German princes (Reg. d. N.
33, col. 1039 D, March 1901) announ-
cing that he had decided to recognise
Otto as king, and had rejected Philip.
Among other reasons he urged was
" Quod pater et frater ejus (>>. <<. ,
Frederick I. and Henry VI. , the
father and brother respectively of
Philip of Swabia) vobis imposuerint
grave jugum, vos ipsi perhibete testi-
monium veritati. Nam ut csetera
taceamus, hoc solum quod vobis in
substitutione imperatoris eligendi vol-
uerint adimere facultatem, libertati
et honori vestro non modicum dero-
garant. Unde si, sicut olim patri
Alius (>>. e. , Henry VI. to Frederick I. ),
sic nunc immediate succederet frater
fratri (i. <<. , Philip to Henry VI. ),
videretur imperium non ex electione
conferri, sed ex successione deberi. "
From the Ann. Colon. (M. G. , SS. xvii.
p. 804) it appears that the Archbishop
of Cologne finally also accepted the
? ? election of Frederick. It is not quite
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? chap. n].
193
INNOCENT iH. AND THE EMPIRE.
youngest brother, Philip, was on his way to bring the
child to Germany to be crowned, when news reached
him at Montefiascone in Central Italy of Henry's death.
There followed a general rising against the Germans, and
Philip had to retire hastily to Germany without his
nephew.
Henry's death put an end to the attempt to make the
empire hereditary. It was unquestionably a revolutionary
scheme, as elections had not in Germany become a merely
formal matter.
Henry left at his death a widow, Constance, Queen of Sicily
in her own right, and a son not four years old, the future
Emperor Frederick II. The curia was evidently on the watch
for an opportunity to press its territorial claims. The Bishop
of Fermo, after Henry's death, took measures in the March
of Ancona to secure the cities and castles to the Church of
Eome. Coelestine wrote approving what he had done, and
directed him to extend his action to the whole of the March
and Eimini, which he claimed as belonging to the papal
" patrimony. " 1 Legates were also sent at once to Tuscany
to stir up the cities in Imperial Tuscany against the empire,
and with the assent of the legates a Tuscan league was formed
for mutual defence and common action in dealing with em-
perors, kings, and other potentates. Help was also to be given
the Pope to recover or to defend his territories, excepting
in cases where the lands in dispute were claimed by members
of the league. The members of the league also undertook
not to acknowledge any one as emperor or king except with
the consent of the Church. 2
Whether Haller's solution is correct
or not, there can be no doubt that
Henry did attempt to make the suc-
cession hereditary.
1 Bciehmer, ' Acta Imperii Selecta,'
905. Pope Coelestine III. to the Bishop
of Fermo, 1197. "volentes, ut quod
per vos inceptum est, optatum tinem
nostro studio sortiatur, discretioni
veetre per apostolica scripta mandamus,
VOL. V.
quatenus cum dilecto filio magistro
R . . . ab universis civitatibus et
castellis Marchie et Ariminensibus
etiam fidelitatis vobis faciatis nomine
ecclesie Romano iuramenta prestari,
ut . . . tota Marchia ad patrimonium
nostrum ad (quod) de iure pertinet
revocetur. "
1 Santini (P. ) Documenti dell antica
constitutione del commune de Firenze
N
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? 194
[PABT n.
TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWERS.
Ccelestine died on the 8th January 1198, and Innocent III.
was immediately elected to succeed him. 1 In his view, as we
have seen, matters were best regulated where the Church
was not only in spiritual but also in temporal control. 2 In
his efforts to recover or to seize the lands he claimed in Italy,
Innocent did not hesitate to appeal to Italian dislike of
Germans. 3 Immediately after his election he sent legates
to compel Markwald of Anweiler to give up the March of
Ancona and the Eomagna. He also forced Conrad of Urslingen
to give up the duchy of Spoleto and other territories held by
him. In the case of Imperial Tuscany he was very indignant
with the legates because the league had not acknowledged
the supremacy of the Pope. 4 Ficker has shown in his ' For-
schungen zur Eeichs und Eechtsgeschichte Italiens ' how
XXI. , llth November 1197. Legs
tra le citta e signori di Toscana. With
regard to the emperor and other au-
thorities, it provides, " Et non reci-
piemus aliquem imperatorem vel pro
imperatore vel rege sou principe duee
vel marchione seu nuncium vel alium
quemlibet, qui pro eis vel aliquo eorum
debeat dominari vel administrare sine
assensu et speciali mandato Romane
ecclesie. "
1 Gesta VIL and Reg. I. 1.
* Vide p. 158, note 5 above.
3 Reg. I. 413. A letter to the clergy
of Sicily, November 1198. " Persecu-
tionis olim olla succensa, dum flantis
rabies aquilonis Calabros montes novo
dejiceret terrse motu, et per plana
jacentis Apulise pulverem in transeun-
tium et habitantium oculos suo tur-
bine suscitaret, dum etiam Tauro-
minitana Charybdis sanguinem, quem
tempore pacato sitiverat, evomeret
csedibus satiate, usque adeo fuit
iter maris et terrse praclusum, ut
interjacentis impetus tempostatis mu-
tuum matris ad filios et filiorum
ad matrem impediret affectum et
naturalis affectum interciperet chari-
tatis. "
See also Reg. I. 356, probably
July 1198. To the Podesta and others
in Spoleto.
Reg. II. 4, 17th March 1199. To
the consuls and people of Yeei.
Reg. I. 658, col. 614 A, January 1199.
To the clergy, &c. , of Capua. He exhorts
them to resist the enemies of the church
" persecutoribus regni (i. e. , of Sicily),
qui vos, si cut hactenus, servituti sup-
ponere moliuntur, bona diripere, muti-
lare personas et coram viris uxores
et patribus filias et fratribus dehones-
tare sorore," and whom the people
of the kingdom could easily have
resisted " nisi homines regni mens
effeminet muliebris. "
* Reg. I. 15. To his legate regarding
the Tuscan league, February 1198.
" non modica sumus admiratione
commoti ; cum forma colligationis
hujusmodi (i. e. , the Tuscan league)
? ? in plerisque capitibus nec utilitatem
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? CHAP. II. ]
195
INNOCENT iH. AND THE EMPIRE.
largely Innocent revived old claims long in abeyance 1 It
is not necessary for our purposes to discuss these claims, nor
to inquire how far Innocent succeeded. It is enough to point
out that by these claims, more or less successfully asserted
(in the case of Imperial Tuscany we hear no more of them
from Innocent after 1198), he was the founder of the enlarged
papal states stretching from sea to sea, which survived, with
comparatively few alterations, to 1861. 2 While the papal
patrimony, properly so called, had grown up round Eome
many centuries before Innocent's time, all claims to lands
outside this territory seem to have been based by him on
old imperial grants, or on Mathilda's bequest. 3 We have
dealt with Innocent's reference to Constantine's donation,
which he treated as conveying to the Pope the whole of the
western empire, but he never refers to it in any specific case
in which papal claims on the empire are involved. *
In Sicily, Constance sent for Frederick after the death of
1 Ficker, ' Forschungen z. Hatch* u.
Rechtsgesch. Italians,' vol. ii. par.
328 f.
2 It was in 1861 that the papal
states were reduced to the old patri-
mony of Peter, and in 1870 that they
were entirely absorbed in the kingdom
of Italy. A convenient summary of
the history of the papal states will
be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
3 M. G. H. , Const. II. 23, oath of
Otto at Neuss, 8th June 1201. The
lands Otto is to give up to the Roman
church, or to help it to recover, are
" tota terra que est a Radicofano
usque Ce peranum, exarchatus Ra-
uenne, Pentapolis, Marchia, ducatus
Spoletanus, terra comitisse Matildis,
comitatus Brittenorii cum aliis ad-
iacentibus tenia expresses in multis
privileges imperatorum a tempore
Lodouici. "
Similarly in his engagement at
Speyer, Reg. d. N. 189, 22nd April
1209, where it is lands as stated
"in multis privileges imperatorum et
regum a tempore Ludovici, ut eas
habeat Romana Ecclasia in perpetuum,
cum omni jurisdictione, districtu, et
honore suo. "
A similar form is used in the first
and second of the " privilegia " drawn
up in connection with the Eger promise
given by Frederick on the 12th July
1213 and 6th October 1214. M. G. H. ,
Const.