Innocent, at the beginning of his pontificate, wrote a long epistle (200 of B. II) to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and other lettere to the Emperor Alexius, with the view of inducing the former to acknow ledge the supremacy of the see of Rome; and although be failed in this, be had soon after, by an unexpected turn of events, the satis faction of consecrating a prelate of the Western Church as patriarch of Constantinople.
The Crusaders, whom Innocent had sent forth, as he thought, fur the re-conquest of the Holy Land, after taking Zara from the King of Hungary, for which they were severely censured by the pope, pro ceeded to attack Constantinople, and overthrow the Greek empire.
[Ilentevre L, Emperor.) All this was done without Innocent's sanction; but when Baldwin wrote to him acquainting him with the full success of the expedition, Innocent, iu his answer to the Marquia of liontfermt, forgave the Crusaders in consideration of their having brought about the triumph of the holy church over the Eastern empire. Innocent sent also legates to Cale Johannes, prince of the Bulgarian; who acknowledged his allegiance to the Roman see. (' lunocontii IIL, Epistolte..) Leo, king of Armenia, received likewise Innocent's legatee, who bestowed upon him the investiture of his kingdom. Innocent also excommunicated Svercum, who had usurped the kingdom of Norway.
Innocent was very strict and uncompromising in his notions of morality and discipline. He repressed venality and irregularity where ever he discovered them. He excommunicated Philippe Auguste of France because he had repudiated his wife Ingerburga of Denmark and had married Agnes de Merauie, and after a long controversy the pope obliged the king to dismiss Agnes and to take Ingerburga back.
The King of Leon, having married his cousin, the daughter of the King of Portugal, was likewise excommunicated; and as he would not submit, and was supported in his resolution by his father-in-law, Innocent, by means of his legates, laid both kingdoms under au interdict.
John of England having appointed John de Gray, bishop of Nor wich, to the vacant ace of Canterbury, Innocent would not approve of Lim, and bestowed the canonical investiture upon Stephen Langton, and the monks of Canterbury would receive no other archbishop. In a fit of rage John drove away the monks and seized their property, for which the whole kingdom was laid under an interdict ; and as John continued refractory, the pope pronounced his deposition, released Ilia vassals from their oath of allegiance, and called upon all Christian princes and barons to invade England and dethrone the impious tyrant, promising them the remission of their sins. The consequent preparation of Philippe Auguste to carry out the pope's invitation, and John's dastardly submission, will be found related at length under Joax. The king, as will be remembered, not only
agreed to submit to the pope's will in all things for Which he had been excommunicated, and pay damages to the banished clergy, but took an oath of fealty to the pope, and at the lame time delivered to the papal cuvoy a charter testifying that he surrendered to Pope lunoceut and his successors for ever the kingdom of England and lordship of Ireland, to be held as flefa of the Holy See by John and his successors, on condition of their paying an annual tribute of 700 marks of silver for England and 300 for Ireland. Pendulph, the papal legate, then undertook to forbid Philippe of France attempting anything against a faithful vassal of the Church.
Against those who separated themselves from the body of the Roman Church, Innocent was stern and uncompromising. He con sidered heresy as the deadliest of sins, and its extirpation as the first of his duties. Ile sent two legate, with the title of inquisitore,to extirpate heresy in France. One of them, Casteluau, having become odious by his severities, was murdered near Toulouse, upon which Innocent prescribed a crusade against the Albigenses, excommunicated Raymond count of Toulouse for abetting them, and bestowed his domains on Simon count of Montfort. lie addressed himself to nil the faithful, exhorting thein "to fight strenuously against the miuistera of the old serpent," and promising them the kingdom of Heaven in reward. Ile sent two legates to attend the crusade, and their letters or reports to him are contained in the collection of his ' Epistles,' especially 'Epistola ]03 of 13. ea., in which the legate Arnaldus relates the taking of Beziers and the massacre of 30,000 individuals of every age, sex, and condition. Innocent however did not live to see the end of the conflagration ho had kindled. Ile held a general council at the Lateran in 1216, in which he Inculcated the necessity of a new crusade, launched fresh anathemas against heretics, determined several points of doctrine and discipline, especially concerning the auricular confession, and sanctioned the establishment of the two great mendicant monastic orders, the Dominicans and Franciscans, the former to extirpate heresy, and the latter to preach sound doc trines and to assist the parochial clergy in the execution of their duties. In the same year he caused his legate in Germany to crown Frederick II. at Aix-la-Chapelle. In the following year Innocent fell ill at Perugia, and died in the month of July, at the early age of fifty-six. He was an extraordinary character, and in several respects the most illustrious, as he was certainly one of the most ambitious, among the many distinguished men who have filled the papal chair. His pontificate must be considered as the period of the highest power of the Roman See.