The Empire and the Papacy, 918-1273Tout, T. F. (Thomas Frederick)
History
The Empire and the Papacy, 918-1273
Tout, T. F. (Thomas Frederick)
Europe -- History -- 476-1492; Holy Roman Empire -- History -- 843-1273; Papacy
The coronation of Otto IV. did not end Innocent’s troubles with the
Empire. It was soon followed by an open breach between the Pope and his
nominee, from which ultimately developed something like a general
European war, between a league of partisans of the Pope and a league of
partisans of Otto. It was inevitable that Otto, as a crowned Emperor,
should look upon the papal power in a way very different from that in
which he had regarded it, when a faction leader struggling for the
crown. [Sidenote: Quarrel of Innocent with Otto IV., 1210.] Then the
support of the Pope was indispensable. Now the autocracy of the Pope was
to be feared. The Hohenstaufen _ministeriales_, who now surrounded the
Guelfic Emperor, raised his ideals and modified his policy. Henry of
Kalden, the old minister of Henry VI., was now his closest confidant,
and, under his direction, it soon became Otto’s ambition to continue the
policy of the Hohenstaufen. The great object of Henry VI. had been the
union of Sicily with the Empire. To the alarm and disgust of Innocent,
his ancient dependant now strove to continue Henry VI.’s policy by
driving out Henry VI.’s son from his Sicilian inheritance. Otto now
established relations with Diepold and the other German adventurers, who
still defied Frederick II. and the Pope in Apulia. He soon claimed the
inheritance of Matilda as well as the Sicilian monarchy. In August 1210
he occupied Matilda’s Tuscan lands, and in November invaded Apulia, and
prepared to despatch a Pisan fleet against Sicily. Innocent was moved to
terrible wrath. On hearing of the capture of Capua, and the revolt of
Salerno and Naples, he excommunicated the Emperor and freed his subjects
from their oaths of fealty to him. But, despite the threats of the
Church, Otto conquered most of Apulia and was equally successful in
reviving the imperial authority in northern Italy.
[Sidenote: Election of Frederick II., 1212.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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