In 1198, Innocent III became Pope. During his Papacy, the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople. He himself proclaimed the Albigensian Crusade, which ended the Provencal culture. Church-state conflict between Innocent and Frederick undermined Norman Sicilian society.
In 1216, Innocent died to be succeeded by Honorius III, who continued the Albigensian Crusade and died in 1227, to be succeeded by Gregory IX, who continued the conflict with Frederick and died in 1241. Celestine IV, dying before being consecrated, was succeeded by Innocent IV, who continued the conflict with Frederick.
In timeline beta, there was no Pope Gregory, the weak Celestine directly succeeded Honorius and Frederick ensured that Celestine's successor was an Imperial puppet.
4 comments:
Hi, Paul!
And it was Frederick II's bad luck that of the four popes who led the Church during the bulk of his adult lifetime, three of them (Honorius III, Gregory IX, and Innocent IV) were strong and resolute leaders whose policy eventually led to his defeat. My view is that if Frederick II had succeeded, something like the timeline beta we saw in THE SHIELD OF TIME might well have arisen. And it would have been very bad if the state had come to dominate the Church!
Sean
Sean,
- or the Church to dominate the state?
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Of course! As Our Lord said, "My kingdom is not of this world." The Church is IN the world but not OF the world. Her job is to proclaim the Good News of the salvation offered to us by Christ thru his Incarnation, Passion, and resurrection. So for the Church to take over the state is to trespass beyond her proper field of action.
All the same, the Church can't help but take a part in the affairs of the world. Esp. when Caesar (no matter what form "he" takes) trespasses beyond his propber bounds. My view is that Our Lord's command to give to Caesar what belongsd to them SEPARATELY helped lead to the idea that the state should be limited, that its powers and rights are not all embracing.
Sean
Drat! I meant "Caesar AND GOD."
Sean
Post a Comment