Emperor Henry VI acquired Sicily by marriage;
in 1194, his army enforced this claim and his son, Frederick II, was born;
in 1198, Innocent III became Pope;
Innocent proclaimed the Fourth Crusade, which captured Constantinople, and the Albigensian Crusade, which destroyed the Provencal culture, and contended with Frederick II, thus undermining Norman Sicilian society;
in 1216, Innocent III died, to be succeeded by Honorius III who approached a settlement with Frederick although this was breaking down when Honorius died in 1227;
Pope Gregory IX reigned from 1227 to 1241;
he regularized the Inquisition;
heretics were burned, Jews were massacred, expelled or ghettoized and peasants were suppressed;
in 1241, Celestine IV was elected but died before being consecrated;
the next Pope, Innocent IV, continued the church-state conflict with Frederick.
Instead, in the beta timeline, there is no Gregory, Celestine succeeds Honorius but is no match for Frederick who triumphs, making the following Pope his puppet. When Volstrup completes this account, the wind sobs. (p. 378)
(I move that that wind be told to remain silent or to leave the meeting!)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
It's only fair to say Innocent III never desired or intended for the Fourth Crusade to capture and sack Constantinople. That was mostly because the Venetians, hating the Byzantines for a massacre perpetrated on Venetians in the Eastern Empire, used their leverage on the Fourth Crusaders to divert them from the Holy Land. And a furious Innocent condemned the Sack and excommunicated the Doge of Venice for his role in that.
Again, the atrocities of the Albigensian Crusade had not been desired by the Pope and was largely due to Simon de Montfort.
The thing to remember about Gregory IX was that, unlike his weak successor Celestine IV, he was an iron willed pope defiant of the threats and demands of Frederick II. And my view is that was good for the Church, preventing it from becoming a puppet of the state, any state.
I had to laugh a little at that last line you wrote, moving that the wind should leave the meeting! (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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