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75-526: Some of the first Singspiele were miracle plays in Germany, where dialogue was interspersed with singing. By the early 17th century, miracle plays had grown profane, the word "Singspiel" is found in print, and secular Singspiele were also being performed, both in translated borrowings or imitations from English and Italian songs and plays, and in original German creations. In the 18th century, some Singspiele were translations of English ballad operas . In 1736,

150-699: A New Testament cycle acted at Coventry . Additionally, a fifteenth-century play of the life of Mary Magdalene , The Brome Abraham and Isaac and a sixteenth-century play of the Conversion of Saint Paul exist. Besides the Middle English drama, there are a few surviving plays in Cornish : namely, the Ordinalia (which is a cycle of three plays) and Pascon Agan Aruth which both tell biblical stories, and Bewnans Ke and Bewnans Meriasek , which tell

225-806: A combination of the Xhosa language , Zulu , English, Latin, and Afrikaans . They revived an adapted version of the production at Shakespeare's Globe in 2015 as The Mysteries . In 2004, two mystery plays (one focusing on the Creation and the other on the Passion) were performed at Canterbury Cathedral, with actor Edward Woodward in the role of God. The large cast also included Daniel MacPherson , Thomas James Longley and Joseph McManners . Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( Latin : Innocentius III ; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni ),

300-458: A daughter of Alfonso VIII , contrary to the laws of the Church, and effected their separation in 1204. For similar reasons he annulled , in 1208, the marriage of the crown-prince, Afonso II of Portugal , with Urraca , daughter of Alfonso of Castile . From Pedro II of Aragon he received that kingdom in vassalage and crowned him king at Rome in 1204. The Muslim recapture of Jerusalem in 1187

375-543: A dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Basilica of St. John Lateran (the cathedral of Rome, thus the 'home church' of all Christendom), he decided to endorse Francis's order. This occurred, according to tradition, on 16 April 1210, and constituted the official founding of the Franciscan Order . The group, then the "Lesser Brothers" ( Order of Friars Minor also known as the Franciscan Order ), preached on

450-494: A new word, "Songspiel", to describe his work Mahagonny-Songspiel . Notes Sources Mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably ) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe . Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song. They told of subjects such as

525-496: A number of days. Taken as a whole, these are referred to as Corpus Christi cycles . These cycles were often performed during the Feast of Corpus Christi . The plays were performed by a combination of clerics and amateurs and were written in highly elaborate stanza forms; they were often marked by extravagant sets and special effects, but could also be stark and intimate. There was a wide variety of theatrical and poetic styles, even in

600-835: A part of the theatre's millennium celebration in 2000. The productions won Bill Bryden the Best Director title in both the 1985 Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the 1985 Laurence Olivier Awards , the year the three plays first appeared together in performance at the Lyceum Theatre . In 2001, the Isango Ensemble produced an African version of the Chester Cycle at the Garrick Theatre in London as The Mysteries – Yiimimangaliso , performing in

675-536: A public stage. This had the effect of transferring the organization of the dramas to town guilds, after which several changes followed. Vernacular texts replaced Latin, and non-Biblical passages were added along with comic scenes, for example in the Secunda Pastorum of the Wakefield Cycle . Acting and characterization became more elaborate. These vernacular religious performances were, in some of

750-575: A series of plays dealing with major events in the Christian calendar, from the Creation to the Day of Judgment. By the end of the 15th century, the practice of acting these plays in cycles on festival days was established in several parts of Europe. Sometimes, each play was performed on a decorated pageant cart that moved about the city to allow different crowds to watch each play. The entire cycle could take up to twenty hours to perform and could be spread over

825-656: A single cycle of plays. There are four complete or nearly complete extant English biblical collections of plays. A collection is the York cycle of forty-eight pageants; there are also the Towneley plays of thirty-two pageants, the Ludus Coventriae , and the Chester cycle of twenty-four pageants, now generally agreed to be an Elizabethan reconstruction of older medieval traditions. Also extant are two pageants from

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900-419: A war of conquest. During the siege of Béziers , the leader of the crusader assault famously declared upon being asked how to distinguish Cathars from Catholics at the besieged town " Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius ", which translates as: "Slay them all, God will recognize his own." This statement is often cited as "Kill them all and let God sort them out." The Albigensian Crusade led to

975-609: Is not only himself devoted to the church, but comes from devout ancestors on both sides, ... therefore we decree that he ought to be accepted and supported as king, and ought to be given the crown of empire, after the rights of the Roman church have been secured. "Papal Decree on the choice of a German King, 1201" The confusion in the Empire allowed Innocent to drive out the imperial feudal lords from Ancona , Spoleto and Perugia , who had been installed by Emperor Henry VI. On 3 July 1201,

1050-625: The Cathars in southern France. He organized the Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204, which ended in the sack of Constantinople . Although the attack on Constantinople went against his explicit orders, and the Crusaders were subsequently excommunicated, Innocent reluctantly accepted this result, seeing it as the will of God to reunite the Latin and Eastern Orthodox Churches . In the event,

1125-607: The College of Cardinals to elect Giovanni di San Paolo as his successor, but Lotario de' Conti was elected pope in the ruins of the ancient Septizodium , near the Circus Maximus in Rome after only two ballots on the very day on which Celestine III died. He was only thirty-seven years old at the time. He took the name Innocent III, maybe as a reference to his predecessor Innocent II (1130–1143), who had succeeded in asserting

1200-679: The Elx Mystery Play or Mystery Play of Elx ) is a liturgical drama dating from the 13th century which has been enacted and celebrated every year without any known interruptions. Commemorating the Assumption of Mary, it is played on every 14 and 15 August in the Basilica de Santa María in the city of Elx (also known as Elche ). The prohibition of theatrical plays in churches by the Council of Trent eventually threatened to interrupt

1275-676: The Festival of Britain , and are still performed by the local guilds. The N-Town cycle was revived in 1978 as the Lincoln mystery plays , and in 1994 the Lichfield Mysteries were revived. In 1977 the National Theatre commissioned Tony Harrison to create The Mysteries , a re-working of the Wakefield Cycle and others. It was again revived in 1985 (the production was filmed for Channel 4 Television ), and as

1350-679: The Fourth Lateran Council . This resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law . He is furthermore notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, although these measures were not uniformly successful. Innocent greatly extended the scope of the Crusades , directing crusades against Muslim Iberia and the Holy Land as well as the Albigensian Crusade against

1425-478: The Gesta (between 1187 and 1189). As pope, Lotario was to play a major role in the shaping of canon law through conciliar canons and decretal letters. Shortly after the death of Alexander III (30 August 1181) Lotario returned to Rome and held various ecclesiastical offices during the short reigns of Lucius III , Urban III , Gregory VIII , and Clement III, being ordained a Subdeacon by Gregory VIII and reaching

1500-527: The Prussian ambassador to England commissioned a translation of the ballad opera The Devil to Pay . This was successfully performed in the 1740s in Hamburg and Leipzig. A further version of this was made by Johann Adam Hiller and C. F. Weiße in 1766 ( Der Teufel ist los oder Die verwandelten Weiber ), the first of a string of such collaborations which led to Hiller and Weisse being called "the fathers of

1575-733: The Temptation in the Wilderness , and the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin . In given cycles, the plays came to be sponsored by the newly emerging Medieval craft guilds . The York mercers , for example, sponsored the Doomsday pageant. Other guilds presented scenes appropriate to their trade: the building of the Ark from the carpenters' guild; the five loaves and fishes miracle from

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1650-636: The 19th century, notes that "especially in England, miracle [came] to stand for religious play in general". Cornish language miracle plays, particularly the Ordinalia trilogy, the Beunans Meriasek , and the Bewnans Ke , were traditionally performed at the plain-an-gwarrys . To capture the attention of the audience, "the plays were often noisy, bawdy and entertaining." Attention to

1725-507: The 23 historical figures depicted in marble relief portraits above the gallery doors of the U.S. House of Representatives in honor of their influence on the development of American law. Polish–American sculptor Joseph Kiselewski created the likeness of Innocent in the House in 1951. His Latin works include De miseria humanae conditionis , a tract on asceticism that Innocent III wrote before becoming pope, and De sacro altaris mysterio ,

1800-662: The Creation, Adam and Eve , the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment . Often they were performed together in cycles which could last for days. The name derives from mystery used in its sense of miracle , but an occasionally quoted derivation is from ministerium , meaning craft , and so the 'mysteries' or plays performed by the craft guilds . As early as the fifth century, living tableaux were introduced into sacred services. The plays originated as simple tropes , verbal embellishments of liturgical texts, and slowly became more elaborate. At an early period chants from

1875-565: The German Singspiel." French operas with spoken dialogue ( opéras comiques ) were frequently transcribed into German and became very successful in Vienna in the late 1770s and early 1780s. By contrast, German translations of contemporary Italian opere buffe , which were quite successful in England and France at the time, were significantly less frequent. Singspiele were considered middle-to-lower class entertainment – as opposed to

1950-665: The Kingdom of Sicily. Given the papal interest to keep Germany and Sicily apart, Innocent now supported his ward, King Frederick of Sicily, to resist Otto's advances and restore the Staufen dynasty to the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick was duly elected by the Staufen partisans. The conflict was decided by the Battle of Bouvines on 27 July 1214, which pitted Otto, allied to King John of England against Philip II Augustus. Otto

2025-568: The Medieval Mystery plays began to grow during the early 1800s, after their reference and publication by William Hone and James Heywood Markland . Notably, poet Lord Byron wrote the plays Cain and Heaven and Earth: A Mystery as modern version of medieval dramas on similar subjects. Mystery plays are produced regularly throughout the United Kingdom . The local cycles were revived in both York and Chester in 1951 as part of

2100-453: The age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III. Before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV . The Pope invested

2175-572: The bakers; and the visit of the Magi , with their offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh, from the goldsmiths. The guild associations are not, however, to be understood as the method of production for all towns. While the Chester pageants are associated with guilds, there is no indication that the N-Town plays are either associated with guilds or performed on pageant wagons . Perhaps the most famous of

2250-495: The capital of the Byzantine Empire, at the behest of the exiled Byzantine prince Alexios IV . This diversion was taken without any knowledge by Innocent III, and he did not learn of it until after the city had been plundered. Innocent III was heavily opposed to the attack on Constantinople and sent many letters warning the crusaders to not sack the city. He excommunicated the crusaders who attacked Byzantine cities, but

2325-552: The council reviewed the nature of the Holy Eucharist , the ordered annual confession of sins, and prescribed detailed procedures for the election of bishops. The council also mandated a strict lifestyle for clergy. Canon 68 states: Jews and Muslims shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians so that no Christian shall come to marry them ignorant of who they are. Canon 69 forbade "that Jews be given preferment in public office since this offers them

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2400-610: The crusader's vow, but could no longer fulfill it, could be released by a contribution of funds. The pope put Archbishop Hubert Walter in charge of collecting these dues. At the onset of the crusade, the intended destination was Egypt, as the Christians and Muslims were under a truce at the time. An agreement was made between the French Crusaders and the Venetians. The Venetians would supply vessels and supplies for

2475-511: The crusaders and in return the crusaders would pay 85,000 marks (£200,000). Innocent gave his approval of this agreement under two conditions: a representative of the pope must accompany the crusade, and the attack on any other Christians was strictly forbidden. The French failed to raise sufficient funds for payment of the Venetians. As a result, the Crusaders diverted the crusade to the Christian Dalmatian city of Zadar in 1202 at

2550-735: The death of Emperor Henry VI , who had recently also conquered the Kingdom of Sicily , the succession became disputed : as Henry's son Frederick was still a small child, the partisans of the Staufen dynasty elected Henry's brother, Philip, Duke of Swabia , king in March 1198, whereas the princes opposed to the Staufen dynasty elected Otto, Duke of Brunswick , of the House of Welf . King Philip II of France supported Philip's claim, whereas King Richard I of England supported his nephew Otto. In 1201,

2625-510: The deaths of approximately 20,000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike, decimating the number of practising Cathars and diminishing the region's distinct culture. The conflict took on a political flavor, directed not only against the heretics, but also the nobility of Toulouse and vassals of the Crown of Aragon , and finally brought the region firmly under the control of the king of France. King Peter II of Aragon , Count of Barcelona,

2700-679: The decree Venerabilem , addressed to the Duke of Zähringen , in which he explained his thinking on the relation between the papacy and the Empire. This decree was afterwards embodied in the Corpus Juris Canonici and contained the following items: Despite papal support, Otto could not oust his rival Philip before the latter was murdered in a private feud. His rule now undisputed, Otto reneged on his earlier promises and set his sights on reestablishing Imperial power in Italy and claiming even

2775-465: The emperor is raised to his position by the pope who blesses him, crowns him and invests him with the empire. ...Therefore, since three persons have lately been elected king by different parties, namely the youth [Frederick, son of Henry VI], Philip [of Hohenstaufen, brother of Henry VI], and Otto [of Brunswick, of the Welf family], so also three things must be taken into account in regard to each one, namely:

2850-438: The first time a pope ever imposed a direct tax on the clergy. He faced many difficulties in collecting this tax, including corrupt tax collectors and disregard in England. He also sent envoys to King John of England and King Philip of France, who pledged to contribute to the campaign, and John also declared his support for the clerical tax in his kingdom. The crusaders too contributed funds: Innocent declared that those who took

2925-563: The kings of France and England with specific instructions to convince them to settle their differences, resulting in a truce of five years between the two nations, beginning in 1199. The intent of the truce was not to allow the two kings to lead the crusade, but rather to free their resources to assist the Crusade. For the army's leadership, Innocent aimed his pleas at the knights and nobles of Europe, succeeding in France, where many lords answered

3000-643: The larger cities in England such as York , performed and produced by guilds , with each guild taking responsibility for a particular piece of scriptural history. From the guild control originated the term mystery play or mysteries, from the Latin ministerium meaning "occupation" (i.e. that of the guilds). The genre was again banned as a result of the Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England in 1534. The mystery play developed, in some places, into

3075-410: The legality, the suitability and the expediency of his election. ...Far be it from us that we should defer to man rather than to God, or that we should fear the countenance of the powerful. ...On the foregoing grounds, then, we decide that the youth should not at present be given the empire; we utterly reject Philip for his manifest unfitness and we order his usurpation to be resisted by all ... since Otto

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3150-551: The maritime cities of Pisa and Genoa by removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III and concluding a pact with Genoa. Innocent III, however, died suddenly at Perugia on 16 July 1216. He was buried in the cathedral of Perugia , where his body remained until Pope Leo XIII had it transferred to the Lateran in December 1891. Innocent is one of two popes (the other being Gregory IX ) among

3225-469: The medieval political theory of the sun and the moon . His papacy asserted the absolute spiritual authority of his office, while still respecting the temporal authority of kings. There was scarcely a country in Europe over which Innocent III did not in some way or other assert the supremacy which he claimed for the papacy. He excommunicated Alfonso IX of Leon , for marrying a near relative, Berengaria ,

3300-546: The murdered legate and whom the pope suspected as the instigator of the murder. The count protested his innocence and submitted to the pope but the pope placed no further trust in him. He called upon the King of France, Philip II to raise an army for the suppression of the Albigenses. Under the leadership of Simon of Montfort a cruel campaign ensued against the Albigenses which, despite the protest of Innocent, soon turned into

3375-654: The mystery plays, at least to modern readers and audiences, are those of Wakefield. Unfortunately, we cannot know whether the plays of the Towneley manuscript are actually the plays performed at Wakefield but a reference in the Second Shepherds' Play to Horbery Shrogys is strongly suggestive. In "The London Burial Grounds" by Mrs Basil Holmes (1897), the author claims that the Holy Priory Church, next to St Katherine Cree on Leadenhall Street, London

3450-435: The papacy's authority over the emperor (in contrast with Celestine III 's recent policy). As pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority. During Innocent III's reign, the papacy was at the height of its powers. He was considered to be the most powerful person in Europe at the time. In 1198, Innocent wrote to the prefect Acerbius and the nobles of Tuscany expressing his support of

3525-423: The papal bull Post miserabile in 1198. Unlike past popes, Innocent III displayed interest in leading the crusade himself, rather than simply instigating it and allowing secular leaders to organize the expedition according to their own aspirations. Innocent III's first order of business in preaching the crusade was to send missionaries to every Catholic state to endorse the campaign. He sent Peter of Capua to

3600-493: The papal legate, Cardinal-Bishop Guido of Palestrina, announced to the people, in the cathedral of Cologne, that Otto IV had been approved by the pope as Roman king and threatened with excommunication all those who refused to acknowledge him. At the same time, Innocent encouraged the cities in Tuscany to form a league called the League of San Genesio against German imperial interests in Italy, and they placed themselves under Innocent's protection. In May 1202, Innocent issued

3675-446: The politics of Norway, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Spain and England. At the request of England's King John, Pope Innocent III declared Magna Carta annulled, which resulted in a rebellion by the English barons who rejected the disenfranchisement. Pope Innocent III spent a majority of his tenure as Pope (1198–1216) preparing for a great crusade on the Holy Land . His first attempt was the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) which he decreed by

3750-423: The pope agreed to admit the group informally, adding that when God increased the group in grace and number, they could return for an official admittance. The group was tonsured . This was important in part because it recognized Church authority and protected his followers from possible accusations of heresy, as had happened to the Waldensians decades earlier. Though Pope Innocent initially had his doubts, following

3825-403: The pope openly espoused the side of Otto IV, whose family had always been opposed to the house of Hohenstaufen . It is the business of the pope to look after the interests of the Roman empire, since the empire derives its origin and its final authority from the papacy; its origin, because it was originally transferred from Greece by and for the sake of the papacy; ... its final authority, because

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3900-439: The pope's call, including the army's two eventual leaders, Theobald of Champagne and Boniface , marquis of Montferrat. The pope's calls to action were not received with as much enthusiasm in England or Germany, and the expedition became mainly a French affair. The Fourth Crusade was an expensive endeavor. Innocent III chose to raise funds with a new approach: requiring all clergy to donate one fortieth of their income. This marked

3975-514: The popes and later called the Papal States . The patrimonium was routinely threatened by Hohenstaufen German kings who, as Roman emperors, claimed it for themselves. Emperor Henry VI expected his infant son Frederick to bring Germany, Italy, and Sicily under a single ruler, which would leave the Papal States exceedingly vulnerable. Henry's early death left his 3-year-old son, Frederick, as king of Sicily. Henry VI's widow, Constance of Sicily , ruled over Sicily for her young son before he reached

4050-580: The predominantly aristocratic genres of opera, ballet and stage play – and were usually performed by traveling troupes (such as the Koch, Döbbelin and Koberwein companies), rather than by established companies within metropolitan centers. Mozart wrote several Singspiele: Bastien und Bastienne (1768), Zaide (1780), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Der Schauspieldirektor (1786), and finally Die Zauberflöte (1791). E. T. A. Hoffmann , who admired him, composed Singspiele, such as Liebe und Eifersucht in 1807. In 1927, Kurt Weill created

4125-462: The pretext to vent their wrath against the Christians." It assumes that Jews blaspheme Christ, and therefore, as it would be "too absurd for a blasphemer of Christ to exercise power over Christians", Jews should not be appointed to public offices. The Council had set the beginning of the Fifth Crusade for 1217, under the direct leadership of the Church. After the Council, in the spring of 1216, Innocent moved to northern Italy in an attempt to reconcile

4200-527: The rank of Cardinal-Priest under Clement III in 1191. As a cardinal, Lotario wrote De miseria humanae conditionis (On the Misery of the Human Condition). The work was very popular for centuries, surviving in more than 700 manuscripts . Although he never returned to the complementary work he intended to write, On the Dignity of Human Nature , Bartolomeo Facio (1400–1457) took up the task writing De excellentia ac praestantia hominis . Celestine III died on 8 January 1198. Before his death he had urged

4275-432: The responsorium were later elaborated with dialogue and dramatic action. Early performances were given in Latin, and were preceded by a vernacular prologue spoken by a herald who gave a synopsis of the events. The writers and directors of the earliest plays were probably monks or clerics. In 1210, suspicious of the growing popularity of miracle plays, Pope Innocent III issued a papal edict forbidding clergy from acting on

4350-488: The sack of Constantinople and the subsequent period of Frankokratia heightened the hostility between the Latin and Greek churches; the Byzantine Empire was restored in 1261 , albeit in a much weaker state. Lotario de' Conti was born in Gavignano , Italy, near Anagni . His father, Count Trasimondo of Segni, was a member of a famous house, the Counts of Segni , which produced nine cardinals and four popes, including Gregory IX , Alexander IV and Innocent XIII . Lotario

4425-433: The service of the day were added to the prose dialogue. As these liturgical plays increased in popularity, vernacular forms emerged, and travelling companies of actors and theatrical productions became common in the later Middle Ages. The Quem quaeritis? is the best known early form of the dramas. It is a schematic dialogue between the angel at the tomb of Christ and the women who are seeking his dead body. Early forms of

4500-410: The stories of the lives of saints. These biblical plays differ widely in content. Most contain episodes such as the Fall of Lucifer , the Creation and Fall of Man , Cain and Abel , Noah and the Flood , Abraham and Isaac , the Nativity , the Raising of Lazarus , the Passion , and the Resurrection . Other pageants included the story of Moses , the Procession of the Prophets , Christ's Baptism ,

4575-417: The streets and had no possessions. They were centered in Porziuncola and preached first in Umbria, before expanding throughout Italy. The lesser religious orders which Pope Innocent III approved are the Hospitallers of the Holy Ghost on 23 April 1198, the Trinitarians on 17 December 1198, and the Humiliati , in June 1201. On 15 November 1215, Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Lateran Council which

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4650-468: The two papal legates, Peter of Castelnau and Raoul. When, however, these missionaries were ridiculed and despised by the Albigenses, and the papal legate Castelnau was assassinated in 1208, Innocent resorted to force. He ordered the bishops of Southern France to put under interdict the participants in the murder and all the towns that gave shelter to them. He was especially incensed against Count Raymond of Toulouse who had previously been excommunicated by

4725-442: The will of the Venetian Enrico Dandolo , to subsidize the debt. This diversion was adopted without the consent of Innocent III, who threatened excommunication to any who took part in the attack. A majority of the French ignored the threat and attacked Zadar, and were excommunicated by Innocent III, but soon were forgiven so as to continue the crusade. A second diversion then occurred when the crusaders decided to conquer Constantinople,

4800-468: The yearly performance of the Misteri, but in 1632 Pope Urban VIII issued a special permit for its continuation. In 2001, UNESCO declared it one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Miracle plays, or Saint's plays, are now distinguished from mystery plays as they specifically re-enacted miraculous interventions by the saints , particularly St. Nicholas or St. Mary , rather than biblical events. Robert Chambers , writing in

4875-411: The young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198. He also later induced Frederick II to marry Constance of Aragon , the widow of King Emeric of Hungary , in 1209. Innocent was concerned that the marriage of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily gave the Hohenstaufens a claim to all the Italian peninsula with the exception of the Papal States, which would be surrounded by Imperial territory. After

4950-399: Was considered to be the most important Church council of the Middle Ages . By its conclusion, it issued seventy reformatory decrees. Among other things, it encouraged creating schools and holding clergy to a higher standard than the laity. Canon 18 forbade clergymen to participate in the practice of the judicial ordeal , effectively banning its use. In order to define fundamental doctrines,

5025-410: Was defeated by the French and thereafter lost all influence. He died on 19 May 1218, leaving Frederick II the undisputed emperor. Meanwhile, King John was forced to acknowledge the Pope as his feudal lord and accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury . In his turn, Frederick II would later become a bitter opponent of the papacy once his empire was secure. Innocent III played further roles in

5100-402: Was directly involved in the conflict, and was killed in the course of the Battle of Muret in 1213. The conflict largely ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1229 , in which the integration of the Occitan territory in the French crown was agreed upon. In 1209, Francis of Assisi led his first eleven followers to Rome to seek permission from Pope Innocent III to found a new religious order which

5175-433: Was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes. He exerted a wide influence over the Christian states of Europe, claiming supremacy over all of Europe's kings. He was central in supporting the Catholic Church 's reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and

5250-490: Was the location of miracle plays from the tenth to the sixteenth century. Edmund Bonner , Bishop of London (c 1500 - 1569) stopped this in 1542. The oldest liturgical drama in Spain is from the 12th century and kept today in Toledo Cathedral . It is a play about the Biblical Magi , three wise men from the East who followed a star and visited the baby Jesus in Bethlehem . It is believed to have been based on an earlier play written in France. The Misteri d'Elx (in English,

5325-425: Was the nephew of Pope Clement III ; his mother, Clarissa Scotti (Romani de Scotti), was from the same noble Roman family. Lotario received his early education in Rome , probably at the Benedictine abbey of St Andrea al Celio, under Peter Ismael; he studied theology in Paris under the theologians Peter of Poitiers , Melior of Pisa, and Peter of Corbeil , and (possibly) jurisprudence in Bologna , according to

5400-403: Was to him a divine judgment on the moral lapses of Christian princes. He was also determined to protect what he called "the liberty of the Church" from inroads by secular princes. This determination meant, among other things, that princes should not be involved in the selection of bishops , and it was focused especially on the " patrimonium " of the papacy, the section of central Italy claimed by

5475-642: Was turned against the Albigenses whose expansion he viewed as a mortal threat to Catholicism. They were especially numerous in a few cities of Northern and Southern France. During the first year of his pontificate, Innocent sent the two Cistercian monks Rainer and Guido to the Albigenses in France to preach to them the true doctrines of the Catholic faith and dispute with them on controverted topics of religion. The two Cistercian missionaries were soon followed by Diego, Bishop of Osma , then by Saint Dominic and

5550-488: Was ultimately granted. Upon entry to Rome, the brothers encountered Bishop Guido of Assisi , who had in his company Giovanni di San Paolo , the Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina . The cardinal, who was the confessor of Pope Innocent III, was immediately sympathetic to Francis and agreed to represent Francis to the pope. Reluctantly, Pope Innocent agreed to meet with Francis and the brothers the next day. After several days,

5625-506: Was unable to physically halt or overturn their actions. One of the pope's goals had been to persuade Alexios III , uncle of the exiled prince Alexios IV, to participate in the crusade. The attack on Constantinople led to the start of the Latin Empire 's rule of Constantinople, which lasted for the next sixty years. Pope Innocent III was also a zealous protector of the Catholic faith and a strenuous opponent of heresy. His chief activity

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