Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III
Bishop of Rome
Detail of a fresco at the cloister Sacro Speco, c. 1219
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	8 January 1198
Papacy ended	16 July 1216
Predecessor	Celestine III
Successor	Honorius III
Orders
Ordination	21 February 1198
Consecration	22 February 1198 by Ottaviano di Paoli
Created cardinal	September 1190 by Clement III
Personal details
Born	Lotario de' Conti di Segni 22 February 1161 Gavignano, Papal States
Died	16 July 1216(1216-07-16) (aged 55) Perugia, Papal States
Nationality	Italian
Parents	Count Trasimund of Segni and Claricia Scotti
Previous post(s)	Cardinal-Deacon of St. George in Velabro and Sts. Sergius and Bacchus (1190–1191) Cardinal-Priest of St. Pudentiana (1191–1198)
Coat of arms
Ordination history
History Episcopal consecration Consecrated by Ottaviano di Paoli Date 22 February 1198 Place Rome Cardinalate Elevated by Pope Clement III Date September 1190
Episcopal succession Bishops consecrated by Pope Innocent III as principal consecrator Raynald of Nocera March 1198 Adhémar de Peirat 7 April 1198 John of Leighlin 18 September 1198 Mauger of Worcester 4 June 1200 Albert Longhi 22 June 1203 Malachias of Lismore 5 November 1203 Tommaso Morsini 27 March 1205 Peter des Roches 25 September 1205 Albrecht de Kevenburg 24 December 1206 Guillaume Amanevi 1207 Antelm of Patrae Veteres 29 April 1207 Stephen Langton 17 June 1207 Gérard de Cros 1209 Andrea de Celano 1214 Filippo of Troia October 1214 Christian to the Prussians 1215 Bonfigli of Siena 10 April 1216 Silvester of Evesham 3 July 1216
Other popes named Innocent

Pope Innocent III (Latin: Innocentius III; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216),^[1] born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), 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 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 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, 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 much weaker.^[2]