162 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1198-1216.
were with the Guelf, Otto, rather than with the Hohenstaufen. Moreover, Philip had given offence by occupying, as duke of Tuscany, the estates of Matilda.
Innocent made the high claim that the German throne depended for its occupant "from the beginning and ulti mately " upon the decision of the papal see. Had not the Church transferred the empire from the East to the West ? And had not the Church itself conferred the imperial crown,1 passing by the claims of Frederick and pronouncing Philip " unworthy of empire " ? Innocent decided in 1201 in favor of Otto, " his dearest son in Christ who was himself devoted to the Church and on both sides was descended from devout stock." The decision inured to Rome's advantage. By the stipulation of Neuss, subsequently repeated at Spires, 1209, Otto promised obedience to the pope and renounced all claim to dominion in the State of the Church and also to Naples and Sicily. This written document was a dangerous ratifi cation of the real or pretended territorial rights and privi leges of the papacy from Constantine and Pepin down.
Civil war broke out, and when the tide of success turned in Philip's favor, the pope released him from the sentence of excommunication and was about to acknowledge him as emperor2 when the murderous sword of Otto of Wittelsbach, in 1208, brought Philip's career to a tragic end. The year following Otto was crowned in St. Peter's, but he forgot his promises and proceeded to act out the independent policy of the rival house of the Hohenstaufen.3 He laid heavy hand upon Central Italy, distributing rich estates and provinces
1 Imperium principaliter et finaliter dignoscitur pertinere, principaliter quia ipsa transtulit imperium ab Orients ad Occidentem; finaliter quia ipsa concedit coronam imperil. Migne, 216, 1182 ; Potthast, 98; also Migne, 216, 1048; Potthast, 119.
'2 The very archbishop of Cologne who had crowned Otto now put the crown on Philip's head.
3 Otto had sought to join the fortunes of the two houses by marrying Philip's daughter, Beatrice, who died soon after the nuptials.
§ 38. INNOCENT AND THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 163
among his vassals and sequestrating the revenues of the clergy. He then marched to Southern Italy, the territory of Frederick, and received the surrender of Naples.
All that Innocent had gained seemed in danger of being lost. Prompt measures showed him equal to the emergency. He wrote that the stone he had erected to be the head of the corner had become a rock of offence. Like Rachel he mourned over his son whom he lamented to have made king. Otto was excommunicated and a meeting of magnates at Niirnberg, 1211, declared him deposed, and, pronouncing in favor of Frederick, sent envoys to Palermo to convey to him the intelligence. Otto crossed the Alps to reclaim his power, but it was too late. Frederick started north, stopping at Rome, where Innocent saw him for the first and last time, April, 1212. He was elected and crowned king at Frankfurt, December, 1212, and was recognized by nearly all the princes at Eger the year following. Before setting out from Italy he had again recognized Sicily as a fief of Rome. At Eger he disavowed all imperial right to the State of the Church.1
Otto joined in league with John of England and the Flem ish princes against Philip Augustus of France; but his hopes were dashed to the ground on the battlefield of Bou vines, Belgium, 1415. His authority was thenceforth confined to his ancestral estate. He died 1218. Innocent had gained the day. His successors were to be defied by the young king, Frederick, for nearly half a century.
With equal spirit and decision, Innocent mingled in the affairs of the other states of Europe. In France, the contro versy was over the sanctity of the marriage vow. Philip Augustus put away his second wife,2 a Danish princess, a
1 This was the so-called Golden Bull of Eger, July 12, 1213. Frederick calls himself in it, " King of the Romans and of Sicily." He promised to defend Sicily for the Roman Church as a " devoted son and Catholic prince," devotus filius et Catholicus princeps. Mirbt, Quellen, 131 sqq. ; Matthews, 115 sqq.
2 Migne, 215, 1493, etc.