I
INNOCENT m
591
INNOCENT III
living were deprived of the services of religion. Against an antagonist armed with such weapons, even Philip Augustus, brave and iirm though he was, was not a match. 'J'he idea of the papal power had too firmly taken hold of men's minds ; the French would gladly have remained true to their king; they dared not dis- obey the vicar of Christ. Besides, as in the case of Nicholas Fs intervention with Lothair, Innocent's \)o\v- er was exercised on behalf of morality, riiilip was obliged to take back his divorced wife, not yielding, as one of his predecessors, Robert I of France (990-1031), had done, to a feeble superstition; not subdued, like Henry IV, by internal dissensions, but vanquished in open fight with an opponent stronger than himself." As we have already said, the external circumstances of that day seem to have favored Innocent, and enabled him " to assert without concealment the idea of papal theocracy ;" that the pope was " the vicegerent of (Jod upon earth;" that to him "was intrusted by St. Peter the government not only of the whole Church, but of the whole world." " Next to God, he was to be so hon- ored by princes that their claim to rule was lost if they failed to serve him ; princes might have power on earth, but priests had power in heaven ; the claim of princes to rule rested ' on human might, that of priests on divine ordinance.' In short, all the prerogatives which had once attached to the emperors were wrested from them, and transferred, with additions, to the popes" (Reichel). The same fate that had befallen Philip Augustus threatened king Leon of Spain for a marriage of his own cousin, the daughter of the king of Portugal. Not willing to sub- mit to the pope's decision against such a marriage, and supported in his resolution by his father-in-law, excom- munication was first resorted to, followed by an interdict on both kingdoms. Not more successful, though en- gaged in a much better cause, was John, king of England. John liaving appointed John de Gray, bishop of Nor- wich, to the vacant see of Canterbury, Innocent would not approve the selection, and bestowed the canonical investiture upon Stephen Langton; and the monks of Canterbury, of course, could and would receive no other archbishojj. In a fit of rage, John drove away the monks and seized their property, for which the whole kingdom was laid under an interdict ; and, as John continued re- fractory, the pope pronounced his deposition, released his vassals from their oath of allegiance, and called upon all Christian princes and barons to invade England and dethrone the impious tj-rant, promising them the remis- sion of their sins. By the consequent preparation of Philip Augustus of France to carry out the pope's invi- tation, John was not only forced to jdeld tlie .point in dispute, agreeing to submit to the pope's will and pay damages to the banished clergy, but he even took an oath of fealty to the Roman see, and at the same time delivered to the papal envoy a charter testifying that he surrendered to pojje Innocent and his successors for- ever the kingdom of England and lordship of Ireland, to be held as fiefs of the holy see by John and his suc- cessors, on condition of their paying an annual tribute of 700 marks of silver for England and 300 for Ireland. Nor were England and Sicily the only countries over which Innocent acquired the rights of a feudal suzerain. " In order to make liis crown independent of his power- ful vassals, and to baftle the claim to supremacy of the king of Castile, Peter 11 of Aragon voluntarily made himself tributary to the pope, binding himself and his successors to the annual payment of 200 pieces of gold. In return, he was crowned by Innocent at Rome, an<l toolv an oath to the pope as his feudal suzerain. From Innocent, too, as his liege lord, John, duke of Bavaria, accepted the kingly crown. Denmark looked to him, and obtained from him justice and redress for the injury inflicted on her royal daughter ; and his legate was dis- patched to Iceland, to warn the inhabitants not to sub- mit to the excommunicated and apostate priest Severo. Perhaps it was well that in those ages there should be some recognised tribunal and fountain for royal honor ;
and in times of turbulence princes probably gained more than they lost by becoming the vassals of the pontiffs. Still, such power vested in the hands of an ecclesiastic was a new thing in the Church, and placed beyond dis- pute the greatness which the papal power had reached" (Reichel).