Pope Innocent III - Biography - Crusades and Suppression of Heresy

Crusades and Suppression of Heresy

Innocent III was a vigorous opponent of heresy, and undertook campaigns against it.

At the beginning of his pontificate, he focused on the Albigenses, also known as the Cathars, a sect that had become widespread in the area that is now southernwestern France, but which at that time was under the control of local princes, such as the Counts of Toulouse. The Cathars rejected the authority and the teachings of the Catholic Church, and what they viewed in it as corrupt.

In 1199, Innocent III condemned the public preaching of heretical teachers. Two Cistercian monks were sent to dispute the teachings of the Cathars and to reassert papal authority.

The 1208 murder of Pierre de Castelnau, a papal representative in Albigensian territory, changed Innocent's focus from words to weapons. Innocent called upon King Philip II Augustus of France to suppress the Albigenses. Under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, a campaign was launched. The Albigensian Crusade, which led to the brutal slaughter of approximately 20,000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike essentially destroyed the previously flourishing civilization of Occitania and brought the region firmly under the control of the king of France. It was directed not only against heretical Christians, but also the nobility of Toulouse and vassals of the Crown of Aragon. King Peter II of Aragon, "the Catholic," was directly involved in the conflict, and was killed in the course of the Battle of Muret in 1213. The conflict largely ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1229, in which the integration of the Occitan territory in the French crown was agreed to. Military action ceased in 1255.

Innocent also decreed the Fourth Crusade of 1198, intended to recapture the Holy Land.

Pope Innocent III spent a majority of his tenure as Pope (1198-1216) preparing for a great crusade on the Holy Land. His first attempt was the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) which he decreed in 1198. Unlike past popes, Innocent III displayed interest in leading the crusade himself, rather than simply instigating it and allowing secular leaders to organize the expedition.

Innocent III’s first order of business in preaching the crusade was to send missionaries to every Western Orthodox state to endorse the campaign. Innocent III sent Peter of Capua to the kings France and England with specific instructions to convince them to settle their differences. As a result, in 1199, Innocent III was successful in forging a truce of five years between the two nations. The intent of the truce between the kings was not to allow them to lead the crusade, but rather to improve the likelihood that they would provide assistance. For the army’s leadership, Innocent aimed his pleas at the knights and nobles of Europe. The pleadings were successful in France, where many lords answered the pope’s call, including the army’s two eventual leaders, Theobald of Champagne and Boniface, marquis of Montferrat. Innocent III’s calls to action were not received with as much enthusiasm in England or Germany. For this reason, the Fourth Crusade became mainly a French affair.

The Fourth Crusade was an expensive endeavor. Innocent III chose to raise funds by doing something previously unheard of in popes. He forced the entire clergy under his leadership to give one fortieth of their income in support of the Crusade. This marked the first time a pope ever imposed a direct tax on his clerical subjects. The pope faced many difficulties with collecting this tax, including corruption of his own officials and disregard of his subjects in England. He continued in his attempt to garner funds for his crusade by sending envoys to King John of England and King Philip of France. Both men pledged to contribute one fortieth of their own salaries to the campaign. John also declared that the tax would be collected throughout England as well. The other source of funds for the crusade was the crusaders themselves. Innocent III declared that those who took the vow to become crusaders but could no longer perform the tasks that they had promised to complete, they could be released of their oaths by a contribution of funds to the original cause. The pope put Archbishop Hubert Walter in charge of collecting these dues.

At the onset of the crusade, the intended destination was Egypt, as the Christians and Muslims were under a truce at the time. An agreement was made between the French Crusaders and the Venetians. The Venetians would supply vessels and supplies for the crusaders and in return, the crusaders would pay 85,000 marks (£200,000). Innocent gave his approval of this agreement under two conditions: a representative of the pope must accompany the crusade, and the attack of any other Christians was strictly forbidden. The French failed to raise sufficient funds for payment of the Venetians. As a result, they diverted the crusade to the Christian city of Zara at the will of the Venetians to subsidize the debt. This diversion was adopted without the consent of Innocent III, who threatened excommunication to any who took part in the attack. A majority of the French ignored the threat and attacked Zara. They were excommunicated by Innocent III, but soon were forgiven so as to continue the crusade. A second diversion of the course then occurred when the crusaders decided to conquer Constantinople, the capitol of the Byzantine Empire. This course was taken without any knowledge by Innocent III, and he did not learn of it until after the city had been captured.

Innocent viewed the capture of Constantinople as a way to reunite the schismatic Western and Eastern Orthodox Churches. His goal was to install the Latin (Western) ideals into the main center of the Greek (Eastern) Church. He saw the invasion as a way of making the Greek Church submit to the views of those that occupied their city. His tactics ultimately failed due to the significant differences between the two divisions. The crusade did lead to the start of the Latin Empire’s rule of Constantinople, which lasted for the next sixty years.