Pope Innocent III
- LAST REVIEWED: 26 June 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 June 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396584-0041
- LAST REVIEWED: 26 June 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 June 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396584-0041
Introduction
Pope Innocent III (b. 1160 or 1161––d. 1216) is widely regarded as the most powerful pope of the Middle Ages. Serving as pope from 1198 to 1216, he was the man who realized the implications of Pope Gregory VII’s vision of papal power, who vindicated the papal claim to arbitrate in the succession to the Holy Roman Empire, who forced the king of France to bow to his will, and who received the submission of the king of England as a vassal of the Holy See. He was the pope who founded the papal states; realized, albeit temporarily, the unification of the Latin and Greek churches; who brought to completion the reforms of the previous two centuries; and who instituted such long-standing practices as annual confession at Easter. In reality, Innocent was not as powerful as his rhetoric would suggest, and his interest for modern scholars does not lie in his political program as much as in his pastoral concern, formed in the schools of Paris and fitting perfectly with a new generation of evangelical enthusiasts. Note that there are two resources that are particularly useful for students of the papacy in general and of Innocent in particular. The first is the series of bibliographies, arranged by theme and by pope, published annually in Archivum Historiae Pontificiae. The second is International Medieval Bibliography, published by Brepols and available electronically in institutions that subscribe.
Introductory Works
The pontificate of Pope Innocent III was relatively long; for eighteen years, he occupied the most venerable office in the Western world, which placed him at the forefront of political as well as religious developments. In order to gain a rapid appreciation of the importance of the man and his policies, it is advisable to begin with a short overview by an expert in the field, such as Maleczek 2000 or, for a more succinct evaluation, Guyotjeannin 2002. Ullmann 2003 summarizes an earlier historiography of Innocent that portrays him as a politically powerful pope. Morris 1989 gives a broad survey of the pope’s pontificate and heralds a wider appreciation among English-speaking scholars of Innocent’s important innovations in pastoral policies. Paravicini Bagliani 1996 provides a detailed account of the papal court in Innocent’s period and explains the localized world of the papal curia and its significance in international politics. The year 1998 marked the eighth centenary of Innocent’s election, which was recognized by a number of international conferences. Out of these conferences arose two collections of essays, Moore, et al. 1999 and Sommerlechner 2003, which demonstrate the enduring significance of Innocent and his pontificate and the wide array of scholars who have been enticed to study them in detail. A further volume should be added to these studies, published to honor the sixty-fifth birthday of Brenda M. Bolton, Andrews, et al. 2004, which contains many articles of interest to scholars who work on Pope Innocent III, the papacy, and the city of Rome, as well as a full bibliography of Bolton’s contributions to the study of the pope.
Andrews, Frances, Christoph Egger, and Constance M. Rousseau, eds. Pope, Church, and City: Essays in Honour of Brenda M. Bolton. Medieval Mediterranean 56. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2004.
Contains useful articles as well as a bibliography of the works of Brenda M. Bolton (pp. xxxi–xxxvii) to 2005. Invaluable to anybody embarking on a study of Pope Innocent III, and an indication of Bolton’s contribution in attracting young minds to her favorite pope. (See Sommerlechner 2004, cited under Gesta Innocentii Papae III; Egger 2004, cited under Sermons; and Doran 2004, cited under De quadripartita specie nuptiarum.)
Guyotjeannin, Olivier. “Innocent III.” In The Papacy: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Edited by Philippe Levillain, 785–790. Translated by Deborah Blaz. New York and London: Routledge, 2002.
A useful overview and a good introductory bibliography.
Maleczek, Werner. “Innocenzo III.” In Enciclopedia dei papi. Vol. 2. Edited by Massimo Bray and Girolamo Arnaldi, 326–350. Rome: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, 2000.
A comprehensive summary of the pontificate and its main developments, from a leading scholar in the field.
Moore, John C., Brenda M. Bolton, James M. Powell, and Constance M. Rousseau, eds. Pope Innocent III and His World. Papers presented at a conference held at Hofstra University in May 1997. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1999.
A collection of essays addressing the following themes: Pope Innocent III and his milieu, shepherding the flock, defining and using papal power, and encountering the Muslim world. (See Bolton 1999, cited under Gesta Innocentii Papae III; Egger 1999, cited under De missarum mysteriis; Kay 1999, cited under De quadripartita specie nuptiarum; Peters 1999, cited under Election; Clarke 1999, cited under England; Bird 1999 and Maier 1999, cited under Crusades; Andrews 1999b, cited under Popular Religion; and Goodich 1999, cited under Canonization Policy.)
Morris, Colin. “The Pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216).” In The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250. By Colin Morris, 417–451. Oxford History of the Christian Church. Oxford: Clarendon, 1989.
An excellent introduction to the pontificate, signaling a change in how the pontificate was viewed and placing greater emphasis on the pastoral importance of Innocent’s activities.
Paravicini Bagliani, Agostino. La vita quotidiana alla corte dei papi nel Duecento. Translated by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Lorenzo Paravicini Bagliani. Rome and Bari, Italy: Laterza, 1996.
A thorough and accessible introduction to the functioning of the papal court in the 13th century. An essential introduction to the pontificate of Innocent.
Sommerlechner, Andrea, ed. Innocenzo III: Urbs et orbis; Atti del congresso internazionale: Roma, 9–15 settembre 1998. 2 vols. Rome: Società Romana di Storia Patria and Istituto Italiano per il Medio Evo, 2003.
A large collection of essays covering a wide variety of factors related to the papacy of Innocent, including reappraisals of some of the pope’s writings; his understanding of himself and his role; crusading, especially the Fourth Crusade; the Fourth Lateran Council; legal judgments; relations with states; art; architecture; patronage; and even papal clothing. (See Zutshi 2003, cited under The Registers of Pope Innocent III; Engammare 2003, cited under De quadripartita specie nuptiarum; Gatto 2003, cited under Family and Education; Landau 2003, cited under Election; Baldwin 2003, cited under France; Fryde 2003, cited under England; Bird 2003, cited under Crusades; Andrea and Moore 2003, cited under the Fourth Crusade; Graham-Leigh 2003, cited under Heresy and the Albigensian Crusade; Allegrezza 2003 and Montaubin 2003, cited under Papal-Episcopal Reform; Cariboni 2003, cited under Monastic Reform; and Vauchez 2003, cited under Canonization Policy.)
Ullmann, Walter. A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages. 2d ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
Reprinted with an introduction by George Garnett. See especially chapter 9, “The Zenith of the Medieval Papacy” (pp. 131–147). A brief, controversial, and stimulating overview of the history of the papacy in the Middle Ages. Ullmann was a champion of the hierocratic theory of papal authority and did much to cement the idea of Pope Innocent III’s pontificate as the apogee of papal power.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Aelred of Rievaulx
- Alcuin of York
- Alexander the Great
- Alfonso X
- Alfred the Great
- Alighieri, Dante
- Alliterative Verse in Middle English
- Ancrene Wisse
- Angevin Dynasty
- Anglo-Norman Realm
- Anglo-Saxon Art
- Anglo-Saxon Law
- Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Illumination
- Anglo-Saxon Metalwork
- Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture
- Apocalypticism, Millennialism, and Messianism
- Archaeology of Southampton
- Armenian Art
- Art and Pilgrimage
- Art in Italy
- Art in the Visigothic Period
- Art of East Anglia
- Art of London and South-East England, Post-Conquest to Mon...
- Arthurian Romance
- Attila And The Huns
- Auchinleck Manuscript, The
- Audelay, John
- Augustodunensis, Honorius
- Bartholomaeus Anglicus
- Benedictines After 1100
- Benoît de Sainte Maure [113]
- Beowulf
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Bernardus Silvestris
- Biblical Apocrypha
- Birgitta of Sweden and the Birgittine Order
- Boccaccio, Giovanni
- Boethius
- Bokenham, Osbern
- Book of Durrow
- Book of Kells
- Bozon, Nicholas
- Byzantine Art
- Byzantine Empire, Eunuchs in the
- Byzantine Empire, Rural Landscapes, Rural Communities, and...
- Byzantine Empire, Women in the
- Byzantine Manuscript Illumination
- Byzantine Monasticism
- Byzantine Science
- Calendars and Time (Christian)
- Cambridge Songs
- Canon Law
- Capgrave, John
- Carolingian Architecture
- Carolingian Era
- Carolingian Manuscript Illumination
- Carolingian Metalwork
- Carthusians and Eremitic Orders
- Cecco d’Ascoli (Francesco Stabili)
- Charlemagne
- Charles d’Orléans
- Charters of the British Isles
- Chaucer, Geoffrey
- Childhood
- Christian Mysticism
- Christianity and the Church in Post-Conquest England
- Christianity and the Church in Pre-Conquest England
- Christina of Markyate
- Chronicles (East Norse, Rhymed Chronicles)
- Chronicles of England and the British Isles
- Church of the Holy Sepulchre, The
- Cistercian Architecture
- Cistercians, The
- Clanvowe, John
- Classics in the Middle Ages
- Cloud of Unknowing and Related Texts, The
- Coins
- Constantinople and Byzantine Cities
- Contemporary Sagas (Bishops’ sagas and Sturlunga saga)
- Coptic Art
- Corpus Christi
- Councils and Synods of the Medieval Church
- Crusades, The
- Crusading Warfare
- Cynewulf
- da Barberino, Francesco
- da Lentini, Giacomo
- da Tempo, Antonio and da Sommacampagna, Gidino
- da Todi, Iacopone
- Dance
- Dance of Death
- d’Arezzo, Ristoro
- de la Sale, Antoine
- de’ Rossi, Nicolò
- de Santa Maria, Cantigas
- Death and Dying in England
- Decorative Arts
- delle Vigne, Pier
- Drama in Britain
- Dress
- Dutch Theater and Drama
- Early Italian Humanists
- Economic History
- Eddic Poetry
- El Cid
- England, Pre-Conquest
- England, Towns and Cities Medieval
- English Prosody
- Exeter Book, The
- Falconry
- Family Letters in 15th Century England
- Family Life in the Middle Ages
- Feast of Fools
- Female Monasticism to 1100
- Feudalism
- Findern Manuscript (CUL Ff.i.6), The
- Florence
- Folk Custom and Entertainment
- Food, Drink, and Diet
- Fornaldarsögur
- France
- French Drama
- French Monarchy, The
- French of England, The
- Friars
- Froissart, Jean
- Games and Recreations
- Gawain Poet, The
- German Drama
- Gerson, Jean
- Glass, Stained
- Gothic Art
- Gower, John
- Gregory VII
- Guilds
- Hagiography in the Byzantine Empire
- Handbooks for Confessors
- Hardyng, John
- Harley 2253 Manuscript, The
- Hiberno-Latin Literature
- High Crosses
- Hilton, Walter
- Historical Literature (Íslendingabók, Landnámabók)
- Hoccleve, Thomas
- Hood, Robin
- Hospitals in the Middle Ages
- Hundred Years War
- Hungary
- Hungary, Latin Literacy in Medieval
- Hungary, Libraries in Medieval
- Hymns
- Icons
- Illuminated Manuscripts
- Illustrated Beatus Manuscripts
- Insular Art
- Insular Manuscript Illumination
- Islamic Architecture (622–1500)
- Italian Cantari
- Italian Chronicles
- Italian Drama
- Italian Mural Decoration
- Italian Novella, The
- Italian Religious Writers of the Trecento
- Italian Rhetoricians
- Jewish Manuscript Illumination
- Jews and Judaism in Medieval Europe
- Julian of Norwich
- Junius Manuscript, The
- King Arthur
- Kings and Monarchy, 1066-1485, English
- Kings’ Sagas
- Knapwell, Richard
- Kraków
- Lancelot-Grail Cycle
- Late Medieval Preaching
- Latin and Vernacular Song in Medieval Italy
- Latin Arts of Poetry and Prose, Medieval
- Latino, Brunetto
- Learned and Scientific Literature
- Ælfric
- Libraries in England and Wales
- Lindisfarne Gospels
- Liturgical Drama
- Liturgical Processions
- Liturgy
- Lollards and John Wyclif, The
- Lombards in Italy
- London, Medieval
- Love, Nicholas
- Low Countries
- Lydgate, John
- Machaut, Guillaume de
- Magic in the Medieval Theater
- Maidstone, Richard
- Malmesbury, Aldhelm of
- Malory, Sir Thomas
- Manuscript Illumination, Ottonian
- Marie de France
- Markets and Fairs
- Masculinity and Male Sexuality in the Middle Ages
- Medicine
- Medieval Archaeology in Britain, Fifth to Eleventh Centuri...
- Medieval Archaeology in Britain, Twelfth to Fifteenth Cent...
- Medieval Bologna
- Medieval Chant for the Mass Ordinary
- Medieval English Universities
- Medieval Ivories
- Medieval Latin Commentaries on Classical Myth
- Medieval Music Theory
- Medieval Naples
- Medieval Optics
- Melusine
- Mendicant Orders and Late Medieval Art Patronage in Italy
- Middle English Language
- Middle English Lyric
- Mirk, John
- Mosaics in Italy
- Mozarabic Art
- Music and Liturgy for the Cult of Saints
- Music in Medieval Towns and Cities
- Music of the Troubadours and Trouvères
- Musical Instruments
- Necromancy, Theurgy, and Intermediary Beings
- Nibelungenlied, The
- Nicholas of Cusa
- Nordic Laws
- Norman (and Anglo-Norman) Manuscript Ilumination
- N-Town Plays
- Nuns and Abbesses
- Old English Hexateuch, The Illustrated
- Old English Language
- Old English Literature and Critical Theory
- Old English Religious Poetry
- Old Norse-Icelandic Sagas
- Ottonian Art
- Ovid in the Middle Ages
- Ovide moralisé, The
- Owl and the Nightingale, The
- Papacy, The Medieval
- Paris
- Peasants
- Persianate Dynastic Period/Later Caliphate (c. 800–1000)
- Peter Abelard
- Petrarch
- Philosophy in the Eastern Roman Empire
- Pictish Art
- Pizan, Christine de
- Plowman, Piers
- Poland
- Poland, Ethnic and Religious Groups in Medieval
- Pope Innocent III
- Post-Conquest England
- Pre-Carolingian Western European Kingdoms
- Prick of Conscience, The
- Pucci, Antonio
- Pythagoreanism in the Middle Ages
- Queens
- Rate Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 61)
- Regions of Medieval France
- Regular Canons
- Religious Instruction (Homilies, Sermons, etc.)
- Religious Lyrics
- Rímur
- Robert Mannyng of Brunne
- Rolle, Richard
- Roman Law
- Romances (East and West Norse)
- Romanesque Art
- Rus in Medieval Europe
- Ruthwell Cross
- Sagas and Tales of Icelanders
- Saint Plays and Miracles
- Saint-Denis
- Saints’ Lives
- Scandinavian Migration-Period Gold Bracteates
- Schools in Medieval Britain
- Scogan, Henry
- Seals
- Sermons
- Sex and Sexuality
- Ships and Seafaring
- Shirley, John
- Skaldic Poetry
- Slavery in Medieval Europe
- Snorra Edda
- Song of Roland, The
- Songs, Medieval
- Spain
- St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury
- St. Peter's in the Vatican (Rome)
- Syria and Palestine in the Byzantine Empire
- Textiles
- The Middle Ages, The Trojan War in
- The Notre Dame School and the Music of the Magnus liber or...
- The Use of Sarum and Other Liturgical Uses in Later Mediev...
- Theater and Performance, Iberian
- Thirteenth-Century Motets in France
- Thomas Aquinas
- Thomism
- Thornton, Robert
- Tomb Sculpture
- Travel and Travelers
- Trevisa, John
- Tropes
- Troubadours and Trouvères
- Troyes, Chrétien de
- Umayyad History
- Usk, Adam
- Usk, Thomas
- Venerable Bede, The
- Vercelli Book, The
- Vernon Manuscript, The
- Vikings
- Von Eschenbach, Wolfram
- Wace
- Wall Painting in Europe
- Wearmouth-Jarrow
- Welsh Literature
- William of Ockham
- Witchcraft
- Women's Life Cycles
- Wulfstan
- York Corpus Christi Plays
- York, Medieval