Innocent III
Pope in whose name the Fourth Crusade was preached and who condemned its sack of Constantinople. He approved the way of life of Francis of Assisi, heard Dominic’s request for an order of preachers and presided over the Fourth Lateran Council.
Innocent appears in several of the turning points of the early thirteenth century. The Fourth Crusade attacked the Christian city of Zara against a prohibition given in his name, and he afterwards absolved the barons (Villehardouin, Conquest of Constantinople pp. 20–21, 26); when it had sacked Constantinople, he wrote to his legate that the crusaders’ swords were dripping with Christian blood (Innocent III, Letters, to the legate Peter, 12 July 1205). Thomas of Celano, who calls him learned and zealous for justice, tells how he blessed Francis of Assisi and his first brothers and sent them to preach repentance (Thomas of Celano, First Life of Francis 32–33). Jordan of Saxony says that he told Dominic to go home and choose an approved rule (Jordan of Saxony, Libellus 40–41).
Roger of Wendover records that in November 1215, in the eighteenth year of his pontificate, he presided over the general council at the Lateran (Roger of Wendover, Flowers of History pp. 343–344), and that he died on 16 July after a pontificate of eighteen years, five months and four days (Roger of Wendover, Flowers of History p. 398); that reckoning puts his death in 1216 and his accession early in 1198. See the Fourth Crusade Sacks Constantinople, Francis of Assisi and the Friars Minor, the Fourth Lateran Council and Dominic Founds the Order of Preachers.
In the timeline
- April 1204, firm dateThe Fourth Crusade Sacks Constantinople
A crusading army, carried by a Venetian fleet it cannot pay for, turns on Constantinople, storms it and plunders its churches. Pope Innocent III condemns the sack, but a Latin emperor is installed and the conquest stands.
- about 1209, estimated dateFrancis of Assisi and the Friars Minor
Francis of Assisi gives up his property to live by the Gospel in poverty, gathers brothers and wins the approval of Pope Innocent III. Clare founds a sister community, and in 1223 Honorius III confirms the Rule of the Friars Minor.
- 1209 to 1229, firm dateThe Albigensian Crusade
After a papal legate is murdered, Innocent III calls for arms against the count of Toulouse and the heretics of his lands. Crusaders sack Béziers in 1209, and twenty years of war end with the count’s heir submitting to the church and the French crown.
- November 1215, firm dateThe Fourth Lateran Council
Innocent III gathers more than four hundred bishops in Rome. The council issues a creed that speaks of bread and wine “transubstantiated”, orders measures against heresy and yearly confession, and requires Jews and Muslims to wear distinguishing dress.
- 22 December 1216, firm dateDominic Founds the Order of Preachers
Dominic, a Spanish canon who had spent nearly ten years preaching against heresy in southern France, gathers a community at Toulouse. Pope Honorius III confirms it in December 1216, and within five years its friars are in Paris, Bologna and Spain.