Innocent Ⅲ And The Crusades

Papacy is one of the oldest traditions in Europe. Its history dates back to the age of RomanEmpire. After the perish of the Western Roman Empire, the entire Christian Church began toattach itself to secular lords. Its tendency of secularization deepened, and spiritual charismadeclines. Till the early10thcentury, the Cluniac Reforms began to take shape, and theChristian Church gradually became independent from local power. As the persistentperfection of the church system and continuous development of Scholasticism, the Churchgradually took back its spiritual charisma, which burst out in the form of the First Crusade in1095. The First Crusade marks the beginning of the Crusading Era and the awakening of theecclesiastical power——from dependence to independence of secular power, and finally,dominance. Along with the perfection of the church system and philosophy, the ecclesiasticalpower peaks at the pontificate of Pope Innocent III in13thcentury.Pope Innocent III, whose birth name is Lothar of Segni, was elected as Pope in1198,when he was only37years old. After that, Innocent III took the use of crusade to its extreme.Not only did he inherited the Holy Land Crusade, Iberia Crusade and Baltic Crusade, whichwas initiated or accepted by former popes, he initiated “Political Crusade” and “HereticCrusade”, namely Sicily Crusade and Albigensian Crusade. The later ones greatly extendedthe target range of crusade——from those on the frontiers to those in the central area of theChristendom. Such crusading wars with vigour and vitality might have temporally defeatedthe enemies of the Papal State, but they dramatically consumed the resources of theChristendom and the prestige of the papacy, which foreshadowed the decline of the papacy.The study subject of this thesis is the relationship between Pope Innocent III and theCrusades. Innocent III’s attitude and influence over each of the crusading wars in hispontificate is specially focused. The historical materials mainly used in this thesis as referenceare contemporary sources which were translated into English. This paper is divided into threesections: the first introduces the general development situation of Crusading Movement andInnocent III’s major experience before elected as pope, and mainly elucidate crusade’sinfluence towards him. The second introduces Innocent III’s attitude and influence towardsthe Holy Land Crusade, Iberia Crusade and Baltic Crusade which he inherited from former popes. The last introduces the Sicily Crusade and the Albigensian Crusade he initiated, andspecially emphasized his attitude and influence.