INNOCENT ITI. (Lotnrio de' Conti). Pope 1198 1216. This was by far the greatest Pope of the name, and under him the power of the Papacy was more widely extended than ever before. Ile was born at Anagni in 1161 and made cardinal by his uncle, Clement III., after a distinguished career in Paris, Bologna, and Rome. His election to the Papacy at the age of thirty-seven was looked upon with misgiving, which finds expres sion in a poem by the famous Walther von der Vogelweide: we, der biibest ist ze june: hilf, h•rre. diner kristenheit" (Alas, the Pope is too young: help, Lord, thy Christendom!). But the combined strength and wisdom of his rule soon allayed these fears. His first success was the restoration of the Papal authority in Rome and the States of the Church; but lie soon extended his influence to every part of Europe. In Ger many he adjudicated with authority upon the rival Maims of Otho, son of Henry the Lion, and Philip of Swabia; and a second time he inter posed effectually in behalf of his ward, Fred erick II. In France lie espoused the cause of the injured Ingeborg, whom Philip Augustus had attempted to repudiate in order to marry Agnes of Meran. Another interposition in favor of the sanctity of the marriage tie was that by which he disciplined Alfonso IX. of Leon, who had married within the prohibited degrees. His legates crowned the Prince of the Bulgarians and the King of Bohemia, and even the King of Ar menia received the investiture of his kingdom from them. The history of his relations with England (see Jons1; LANGTON, STEPHEN) is no less noteworthy as an exhibition of the extent of his supremacy. That nothing might be want ing to the completeness of his authority through out the then known world, the Latin conquest of Constantinople put an end to the shadowy pretensions of the Eastern rivals of his power, spiritual as well as temporal. As an ecclesias
tical administrator Innocent ITT. holds a high place. Ile was a vigorous guardian of public and private morality, a steady protector of the weak against oppression, and zealous in conflict with simony and other abuses of the time. He prohibited the multiplication of religions orders by private authority. but he lent all his influence to the furtherance of the remarkable spiritual movement in which the two great mendicant orders (see FRANCISCANS; DOMINICANS) had their origin. The celebrated fourth Lateran Council (q.v.). held in 1215, marked the zenith of his remarkable reign. In the following year, while busily engaged in promoting peace among the Italian cities, so as to remove obstacles to the Crusade, Innocent was seized with a fever and died at Perugia in his tifty-sixth year. Con sult: Von Hurter, Gesehichte des Popsies Juno eenz ill, und seiner Zeitgenossen (4 vols., 3d ed. Hamburg, 1841-43) ; Barry. The Papal Mon archy (New York, 1903) ; llrisehar, innocent, Ill. and seine Zcit (Freiburg, 1883) ; Delisle, Minwire Sun les artes d'Innocent 111., sum de l'itinerairc de cc pantile (Paris, 1857) ; Linde maim, Krilische Darstellung der Vcrhandlungcn billOCC11.71 iII. wit den di utsehen Gegenkanigcn (Magdeburg, 1835) ; Innocent (Paris, 1373) ; Deutsch, Pepsi Innocenz Ill. and sein Einfiuss auf die Kirehe (Breslau, 1877).