§ 41. The Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.
§ 41. The Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.
Literature.—Works of Innocent, Migne, 217.—Mansi, xxii.—Labbaeus, xi.—Potthast, Regesta, I. 437 sqq., gives a summary of the canons of the council.—Hefele-Knöpfler, V. 872 sqq.—Hurter, II. 538 sqq.—Lea: Hist. of the Inquisition, passim.
The Fourth Lateran, otherwise
known as the Twelfth Oecumenical Council, was the closing act of Innocent’s
pontificate, and marks the zenith of the papal theocracy. In his letter of
convocation,218 the pope announced its object to be the
reconquest of Palestine and the betterment of the Church. The council was held
in the Lateran and had three sittings, Nov. 11, 20, 30, 1215. It was the most
largely attended of the synods held up to that time in the west. The attendance
included 412 bishops, 800 abbots and priors, and a large number of delegates
representing absent prelates. There were also present representatives of the
emperor Frederick II., the emperor Henry of Constantinople, and the kings of
England, France, Aragon, Hungary, Jerusalem, and other crowned heads.219
The sessions were opened with a sermon by the pope on Luke 22:15, "With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." It was a fanciful interpretation of the word "Passover," to which a threefold sense was given: a physical sense referring to the passage of Jerusalem from a state of captivity to a state of liberty, a spiritual sense referring to the passage of the Church from one state to a better one, and a heavenly sense referring to the transition from the present life to the eternal glory. The deliverances are grouped under seventy beads, and a special decree bearing upon the recovery of Jerusalem. The headings concern matters of doctrine and ecclesiastical and moral practice. The council’s two most notable acts were the definition of the dogma of transubstantiation and the establishment of the institution of the Inquisition against heretics.
The doctrinal decisions, contained in the first two chapters, give a comprehensive statement of the orthodox faith as it concerns the nature of God, the Incarnation, the unity of the Church, and the two greater sacraments. Here transubstantiation is defined as the doctrine of the eucharist in the universal Church, "outside of which there is no possibility of salvation."220
The council expressly condemned the doctrine of Joachim of Flore, that the substance of the Father, Son, and Spirit is not a real entity, but a collective entity in the sense that a collection of men is called one people, and a collection of believers one Church. It approved the view of Peter the Lombard whom Joachim had opposed on the ground that his definition would substitute a quaternity for the trinity in the Godhead.221
Amaury of Bena, a teacher in Paris accused of pantheistic teachings, was also condemned by name. He had been accused and appeared before the pope at Rome in 1204, and recalled his alleged heresy.222 He or his scholars taught that every one in whom the Spirit of God is, becomes united with the body of Christ and cannot sin.
The treatment of heretics received elaborate consideration in the important third decree.223 The ecclesiastical and moral regulations were the subject of sixty-seven decrees. The rank of the patriarchal sees is fixed, Rome having the first place.224 It was an opportune moment for an array of these dignitaries, as Innocent had established a Latin succession in the Eastern patriarchates which had not already been filled by his predecessors. To avoid the confusion arising from the diversity of monastic rules, the establishment of monastic orders was thenceforth forbidden.225
The clergy are warned against intemperance and incontinence and forbidden the chase, hunting dogs and falcons, attendance upon theatrical entertainments, and executions, duelling, and frequenting inns. Prescriptions are given for their dress. Confession is made compulsory at least once a year, and imprisonment fixed as the punishment of priests revealing the secrets of the confessional. The tenure of more than one benefice is forbidden except by the pope’s dispensation. New relics are forbidden as objects of worship, except as they might receive the approbation of the pope. Physicians are bidden, upon threat of excommunication, to urge their patients first of all to summon a priest, as the well-being of the soul is of more value than the health of the body. Jews and Saracens are enjoined to wear a different dress from the Christians, lest unawares carnal intercourse be had between them. The Jews are bidden to keep within doors during passion week and excluded from holding civil office.226
The appointment of a new crusade was the council’s last act, and it was set to start in 1217. Christians were commanded to refrain from all commercial dealings with the Saracens for four years. To all contributing to the crusade, as well as to those participating in it, full indulgence was promised, and added eternal bliss.227 Another important matter which was settled, as it were in a committee room of the council, was the appeal of Raymund VI., count of Toulouse, for redress from the rapacity of Simon de Montfort, the fierce leader of the crusade against the Albigenses in Southern France.
The doctrinal statements and ecclesiastical rules bear witness to the new conditions upon which the Church had entered, the Latin patriarchs being in possession in the East, and heresy threatening its unity in Southern France and other parts of the West.
Innocent III. survived the great council only a few months and died scarcely fifty-six years old, without having outlived his authority or his fame. He had been fortunate in all his undertakings. The acts of statecraft, which brought Europe to his feet, were crowned in the last scene at the Lateran Council by the pious concern of the priest. To his successors he bequeathed a continent united in allegiance to the Holy See and a Church strengthened in its doctrinal unity. Notwithstanding his great achievements combining mental force and moral purpose, the Church has found no place for Innocent among its canonized saints.
The following are a few testimonies to his greatness:—
Gregorovius declares228 that, although he was
"Not a creative genius like
Gregory I. and Gregory VII., he was one of the most important figures of the
Middle Ages, a man of earnest, sterling, austere intellect, a consummate ruler,
a statesman of penetrating judgment, a high-minded priest filled with religious
fervor, and at the same time with an unbounded ambition and appalling force of
will, a true idealist on the papal throne, yet an entirely practical monarch
and a cool-headed lawyer .... No pope has ever had so lofty and yet so real
consciousness of his power as Innocent III., the creator and destroyer of
emperors and kings."
Ranke says:229 —
"A superstitious reverence such as Friedrich Hurter renders to him in his remarkable book I am not at all able to accord. Thus much, however, is certain. He stands in the foremost rank of popes, having world-wide significance. The task which he placed before himself he was thoroughly equal to. Leaving out a few dialectic subtleties, one will not find in him anything that is really small. In him was fulfilled the transition of the times."
Baur gives this opinion:230 —
"With Innocent III. the papacy reached its height and in no other period of its long history did it enjoy such an undisturbed peace and such a glorious development of its power and splendor. He was distinguished as no other in this high place not only by all the qualities of the ruler but by personal virtues, by high birth and also by mind, culture, and learning."231
Hagenbach:232 —
"Measured by the standard of the papacy, Innocent is beyond controversy the greatest of all the popes. Measured by the eternal law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that which here seems great and mighty in the eyes of the world, seems little in the kingdom of heaven, and amongst those things which call forth wonder and admiration, only that will stand which the Spirit of God, who never wholly withdraws from the Church, wrought in his soul. How far such operation went on, and with what result, who but God can know? He alone is judge."
Like Hildebrand, Innocent may have combined Germanic with Italian blood. Upon the basis of such family names among the Conti as Lothaire and Richard, Gregorovius finds evidence of Lombard origin.
The de contemptu mundi sive de miseria conditionis humanae was first printed at Ulm, 1448, then at Lyons, 1473, Nürnberg, 1477, etc. See Migne’s ed. 217, 701-746.
Mysterium evangelicae legis et sacramentum eucharistiae or de missarum mysteriis.
II. 29.
The Dies Irae has been ascribed to Innocent. Here are the concluding words of this famous treatise. "Ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium (Matthew xiii.),gemitus et ululatus, luctus et cruciatus, stridor et clamor, timor et tremor, dolor et labor, ardor et faetor, obscuritas et anxietas, acerbitas et asperitas, calamitas et egestas, angustia et tristitia, oblivio et confusio, torsiones et punctiones, amaritudines et terrores, fames et sitis, frigus et cauma, sulphur et ignis ardens in saecula saeculorum. Unde liberet nos Deus, qui est benedictus in saecula saeculorum. Amen." III. 17; Migne, 217, 746.
See Gregorovius, V. 7.
Elaborate descriptions of the ceremonies are given by Hurter, I. 92 sqq.,and Gregorovius, V. 7-15.
Statura mediocris, etc. See Gesta, Migne, 214, XVII. The portrait prefixed in Hurter has no historic value. For Innocent’s personal habits and methods of conducting business, see Hurter, II 743 sqq.
Apostolicae sedis primatus quem non homo sed Deus, imo verius Deus homo constituit.
Reg. II. 209; Migne, 214, 758-765.
Cum non humana sed divina fiat auctoritate quod in hac parte per summum pontificem adimpletur, qui non hominis puri sed veri Dei vere vicarius appellatur. I. 326; Migne, 214, 292.
Nam cum aquae multae sint, populi multi, congregationesque aquarum sunt maria, per hoc quod Petrus super aquas maris incessit, super universos populos se potestatem accepisse monstravit. II. 209; Migne, 214, 760; Potthast, 82. In this letter Innocent quotes no less than twenty-five passages of Scripture.
Sicut luna lumen suum a sole sortitur, quae re vera minor est isto quantitate simul et qualitate, situ pariter et effectu, sic regalis potestas ab auctoritate pontificali suae sortitur dignitatis splendorem, etc. See Mirbt, Quellen, 130.
Minor est qui unguitur quam qui ungit, et dignior est unguens quam unctus. Migne, 216, 1012, 1179; Potthast, 98.
Sacerdotium per ordinationem divinam, regnum autem per extorsionem humanam. He also speaks of the unity of the Church as the product of grace and the divisions of the empire as the product of or judgment of sin. Ecclesia per Dei gratiam in unitate consistit, et imperium peccatis exigentibus est divisum. Migne, 216, 1179; Potthast, 98.
Migne, 217, 922. Gregorovius pronounces this "probably the most imperious document of the papal power." V. 104.
Hauck, IV. 743, acknowledging the genius of Innocent, expresses the somewhat disparaging judgment that "he was more of a rhetorician than a theologian, and more of a jurist and administrator than a statesman." Many Protestant writers of Germany show their national feeling by a disposition to disparage Gregory VII. and Innocent III.
Weltgeschichte, VIII. 274. Matthews, 105 sq. gives Henry VI.’s Testament.
One of Frederick’s first acts was to release a portion of his patrimony to the pope’s brother, Count Richard. At a later period, under Honorius, Frederick recalled his gift.
Imperium principaliter et finaliter dignoscitur pertinere, principaliter quia ipsa transtulit imperium ab Oriente ad Occidentem; finaliter quia ipsa concedit coronam imperii. Migne, 216, 1182; Potthast, 98; also Migne, 216, 1048; Potthast, 119.
The very archbishop of Cologne who had crowned Otto now put the crown on Philip’s head.
Otto had sought to join the fortunes of the two houses by marrying Philip’s daughter, Beatrice, who died soon after the nuptials.
This was the so-called Golden Bull of Eger, July 12, 1213. Frederick calls himself in it, "King of the Romans and of Sicily." He promised to defend Sicily for the Roman Church as a "devoted son and Catholic prince,"devotus filius et Catholicus princeps. Mirbt, Quellen, 131 sqq.; Matthews, 115 sqq.
Migne, 215, 1493, etc.
The pope legitimatized the children of Agnes, who died in 1201.
The contemporary annalists know no words too black to describe John’s character. Lingard says, "John stands before us polluted with meanness, cruelty, perjury, murder, and unbridled licentiousness." Green, after quoting the words "foul as hell is, hell itself is defiled with the foul presence of John," says, "In his inner soul John was the worst outcome of the Angevins ... . But with the wickedness of his race he inherited its profound abilities." III. chap. I. Hunt, in Dict. of Nat’l. Biog., XXIX. 406, uses these words, "He was mean, false, vindictive, abominably cruel, and scandalously immoral."
He had before come into collision with John over the harsh treatment of the archbishop of Dublin. Works of Innocent III., Reg., VI. 63; Migne, 215, 61; Potthast, 167.
His scholarly tastes are attested by his sermons, poems, and comments on books of the Bible which still exist in manuscript in the libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Lambeth, and of France. He is falsely credited by some with having been the first to divide the entire Bible into chapters. See Hook, Archbishops of Canterbury, II. 678.
Innocent, in his letter to John of May 26, 1207, declared he would turn neither to the right nor to the left in confirming the election. Potthast, 264.
This and the expression "by God’s feet" were John’s favorite forms of objurgation.
See Migne, 217, 190; Potthast, 286.
Potthast, 316.
A favorite expression of Matthew Paris.
Another example of John’s unspeakable cruelty was his treatment of a rich Jew of Bristol upon whom he had made a demand for 10,000 marks. On his refusing, John ordered ten teeth to be taken out, one each day. The executioner dentist began with the molars. The sufferer held out till he had been served this way seven times. He then yielded, giving up the money, which, as Matthew Paris says, he might have done seven days before, thus saving himself all his agony. Luard’s ed., II. 528.
Shakespeare is responsible for the popular mistake which makes Pandulf a cardinal. King John, Act III. Sc. 1. He served as legate in England, 1217-1221. The official documents call him "subdeacon and familiar to our lord the pope Innocent."
Potthast, 416. The Latin in Matthew Paris, Luard’s ed. II. 541-546; a translation is given by Gee and Hardy, 75-79.
IV. 479, carta detestabilis quam lacrimabilis memoriae Johannes infeliciter confecit
Henry II. had become the feudatory of Alexander III., and Richard I., after resigning his crown to the emperor, had held it for the payment of a yearly rent. Lingard offers extenuating considerations for John’s surrender, which, however, he denominates "certainly a disgraceful act."
M. Paris, Luard’s ed. II. 611.
Aug. 24, 1215, Potthast, 435.
Compositionen hujusmodi reprobamus penitus et damnamus compositio non solum sit vilis et turpis, verum etiam illicita et iniqua ut merito sit abomnibus reprobanda. M. Paris, Luard’s ed., II. 619 sq. Another ground given by Innocent for annulling the document was that he as England’s overlord had not been consulted before the king’s signature was attached.
The language is the strongest: tam cartam quam obligationes irritantes penitus et cassantes, ut nullo unquam tempore aliquam habeant firmitatem. M. Paris, Luard’s ed. II. 619. See Hurter, II. 656 sq. Some excuse has been found by advocates of papal infallibility for this fierce sentence upon the ground that Innocent was condemning the mode by which the king’s consent was obtained. Innocent adduces three considerations, the conspiracy of the barons to force the king, their disregard of his Crusading vow, and the neglect of all parties to consult the pope as overlord. He condemns, it is true, the document as a document, and it has been said the contents were not aimed at Innocent’s mistake and official offence were that, passing by entirely, the merits of the Charter, he should have espoused the despotism of the iniquitous king.
Potthast, 437; M. Paris, in Luard, II. 627. About the same time at John’s request, Innocent annulled the election of Simon Langton, Stephen’s brother, to the see of York.
Thomas Fuller remarks that "the commonness of these curses caused them to be contemned, so that they were a fright to few, a mock to many, and a hurt to none."
Roger of Wendover says he surfeited himself with peaches and new cider. M. Paris, Luard’s ed., II. 667. Shakespeare, following a later tradition, represents him as dying of poison administered by a monk:—
"The king, I fear is poisoned by a monk,
* * * * * * * *
It is too late; the life of all his blood
Is touched corruptibly; and his pure brain
Which some suppose the soul’s frail dwelling-house)
Doth, by the idle comments that it makes,
Foretell the ending of mortality."
—King John, Act V. Sc. 6 sq.
218 April 19, 1213.
219 The invitation included the prelates of the East and West, Christian emperors and kings, the grand-masters of the Military Orders, and the heads of monastic establishments.
220 In qua idem ipse sacerdos et sacrificium Jesus Christus, cujus corpus et sanguis in sacramento altaris sub speciebus panis et vini veraciter continentur, transubstantiatis pane in corpus, et vino in sanguinem, etc. Mansi, XXII. 982; Mirbt, Quellen. 133.
221 The Lombard had defined the substance of the three persons as a real entity, quaedam summa res.
222 See Hauck, art. Amalrich, in Herzog, I. 432 sq.
223 See chapters on the Inquisition and the Cathari.
224 The patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople, of the Latin succession, were conspicuous at the council, and also Antioch by a representative, the Melchisite patriarch of Alexandria, and the Maronite patriarch.
225 Chapter XIII.
226 A repetition of the decrees of the synod of Toledo, 681.
227 Plenam suorum peccaminum de quibus fuerint corde contriti et ore confessi veniam indulgemus et in retributione justorum salutis eternae pollicemur augmentum.
228 V: 102 sq. Gibbon, ch. LIX, after acknowledging Innocent’s talents and virtues, has this criticism of two of the most far-reaching acts of his reign: "Innocent may boast of the two most signal triumphs over sense and humanity, the establishment of transubstantiation, and the origin of the Inquisition."
229 Weltgeschichte, viii: 334.
230 Geschichte des Mittelalters, p. 220.
231 For judgments of mediaeval authors, see Potthast, Regesta, 461. The contemporaneous author of the Gesta Innocentii, Migne, 214, p. xviii., thus describes Innocent: "Fuit vir perspicacis ingenii et tenacis memoriae, in divinis et humanis litteris eruditus, sermone tam vulgari quam litterali disertus, exercitatus in cantilena et psalmodia, statura mediocris et decorus aspectu, medius inter prodigalitatem et avaritiam, sed in eleemosynis et victualibus magis largus, et in aliis magis parcus, nisi cum necessitatis articulus exigebat severus contra rebelles et contumaces, sed benignus erga humiles et devotos; fortis et stabilis, magnanimus et astutus; fidei defensor, et haeresis expugnator; in justitia rigidus, sed in misericordia pius; humilis in prosperis, et patiens in adversis; naturae tamen aliquantulum indignantis, sed facile ignoscentis."
232 Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, ch. XIX.