Pope Innocent IV


Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universities of Parma and Bologna. He was considered in his own day and by posterity as a fine canonist. On the strength of this reputation, he was called to the Roman Curia by Pope Honorius III. Pope Gregory IX made him a cardinal and appointed him governor of the Ancona in 1235. Fieschi was elected pope in 1243 and took the name Innocent IV. He inherited an ongoing dispute over lands seized by the Holy Roman Emperor, and the following year he traveled to France to escape imperial plots against him in Rome. He returned to Rome in 1250 after the death of the Emperor Frederick II.
On 15 May 1252 he promulgated the bull Ad extirpanda authorizing torture against heretics, equated with ordinary criminals.

Early life

Born in Genoa in an unknown year, Sinibaldo was the son of Beatrice Grillo and Ugo Fieschi, Count of Lavagna. The Fieschi were a noble merchant family of Liguria. Sinibaldo received his education at the universities of Parma and Bologna and may have taught canon law, for a time, at Bologna. The fact is disputed, though, as others pointed out, there is no documentary evidence of his teaching position. From 1216 to 1227 he was a canon of the Cathedral of Parma. He was considered one of the best canonists of his time, He wrote the Apparatus in quinque libros decretalium, a commentary on papal decrees. He was called to serve Pope Honorius III in the Roman Curia where he rapidly rose through the hierarchy. He was Auditor causarum, from 11 November 1226 to 30 May 1227. He was then quickly promoted to the office of Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, though he retained the office and the title for a time after he was named Cardinal.

Cardinal

While vice-Chancellor, Fieschi was soon created Cardinal-Priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina on 18 September 1227 by Pope Gregory IX . He later served as papal governor of the March of Ancona, from 17 October 1235 until 1240.
Sources from the 17th century onwards reported that he became Bishop of Albenga in 1235, but later sources disputed this claim. There is no attestation of this in any of the contemporary sources while there is evidence that the see of Albenga was occupied by a certain Bishop Simon from 1230 until 1255.
Innocent's immediate predecessor was Pope Celestine IV, elected on 25 October 1241, whose reign lasted only fifteen days. The events of Innocent IV's pontificate are therefore inextricably linked to the policies dominating the reigns of popes Innocent III, Honorius III and Gregory IX.
Gregory IX had demanded the return of lands belonging to the Papal States which had been seized by the Emperor Frederick II. The Pope had called a general council to seek the deposing of the emperor with the support of Europe's Church leaders. However, hoping to intimidate the Curia, Frederick had seized two cardinals traveling to the council. Being incarcerated, the two missed the conclave which quickly elected Celestine IV. The conclave reconvened after Celestine's death split into factions supporting contrasting policies about how to treat the Emperor.

New pope, same emperor

After a year and a half of contentious debate and coercion, the papal conclave finally reached a unanimous decision. The choice fell upon Cardinal Sinibaldo de' Fieschi, who very reluctantly accepted election as Pope on 25 June 1243, taking the name of Innocent IV. As a cardinal, Sinibaldo had been on friendly terms with Frederick, even after the latter's excommunication. The Emperor greatly admired the cardinal's wisdom, having enjoyed discussions with him from time to time.
Following the election, the witty Frederick remarked that he had lost the friendship of a cardinal but gained the enmity of a pope.
His jest notwithstanding, Frederick's letter to the new pontiff was respectful, offering congratulations to the new Pope and wishing him success. It also expressed hope for an amicable settlement of the differences between the empire and the papacy. Negotiations began shortly afterwards but were not successful. Innocent refused to back down from his demands and Frederick refused to acquiesce. The dispute continued mostly about the restitution of Lombardy to the Patrimony of St Peter.
The Emperor's machinations aroused a good deal of anti-papal feelings in Italy, particularly in the Papal States, and imperial agents encouraged plots against papal rule. Realizing to be increasingly unsafe in Rome, Innocent IV secretly and hurriedly withdrew, fleeing Rome on 7 June 1244. Traveling in disguise, he made his way to Sutri and then to the port of Civitavecchia, and from there to Genoa, his birthplace, where he arrived on 7 July. On 5 October, he fled from there to France, where he was joyously welcomed. Making his way to Lyon, where he arrived on 29 November 1244, Innocent was greeted cordially by the magistrates of the city.
Innocent was now safe and out of the reach of Frederick II. In a sermon on 27 December 1244, he summoned as many bishops as could get to Lyon to attend what became the 13th General Council of the Church, the first to be held in Lyon. The bishops met for three public sessions: 28 June, 5 July, and 17 July 1245. Their principal purpose was to win over the Emperor Frederick II.

First Council of Lyon

The First Council of Lyon of 1245 had the fewest participants of any previous General Council. However, three patriarchs and the Latin emperor of Constantinople attended, along with about 150 bishops, most of them prelates from France and Spain. They came quickly, and Innocent could rely on their help. Bishops from the rest of Europe outside Spain and France feared retribution from Frederick, while many other bishops were prevented from attending either by the invasions of the Mongols in the Far East or Muslim incursions in the Middle East. The bishop of Belgorod in Russia, Peter, attended and provided information on the Mongols via the Tractatus de ortu Tartarorum.
During the session, Frederick II's position was defended by Taddeo of Suessa, who renewed in his master's name all the promises made before, but refused to give the guarantees the pope demanded. The council ended on 17 July with the fathers solemnly deposing and excommunicating the Emperor, while absolving all his subjects from their allegiance.

After Lyon

The council's acts inflamed the political conflict across Europe. The tension subsided only with Frederick's death in December 1250: this removed the threat to Innocent's life and allowed his return to Italy. He departed Lyon on 19 April 1251 and arrived in Genoa on 18 May. On 1 July, he was in Milan, accompanied by only three cardinals and the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He stayed there until mid-September, when he began an inspection tour of Lombardy, heading for Bologna. On 5 November he reached Perugia. From 1251 to 1253 the Pope stayed at Perugia until it was safe for him to bring the papal court back to Rome. He finally saw Rome again in the first week of October 1253. He left Rome on 27 April 1254, for Assisi and then Anagni. He immediately dealt with the succession to the possessions of Frederick II, both as German Emperor and as King of Sicily. In both instances, Innocent continued Pope Gregory IX's policy of opposition to the Hohenstaufen, supporting whatever opposing party could be found. This policy embroiled Italy in one conflict after another for the next three decades. Innocent IV himself, following the papal army which was seeking to destroy Frederick's son Manfred, died in Naples on 7 December 1254.
While in Perugia, on 15 May 1252, Innocent IV issued the papal bull Ad extirpanda, composed of thirty-eight 'laws'. He advised civil authorities in Italy to treat heretics as criminals, and authorized torture as long as it was done "without killing them or breaking their arms or legs" to compel disclosures, "as thieves and robbers of material goods are made to accuse their accomplices and confess the crimes they have committed."

Ruler of princes and kings

As Innocent III had before him, Innocent IV saw himself as the Vicar of Christ, whose power was above earthly kings. Innocent, therefore, had no objection to intervening in purely secular matters. He appointed Afonso III administrator of Portugal, and lent his protection to Ottokar, the son of the King of Bohemia. The Pope even sided with King Henry III against both nobles and bishops of England, despite the king's harassment of Edmund Rich, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, and the royal policy of having the income of a vacant bishopric or benefice delivered to the royal coffers, rather than handed over to a papal Administrator or a Papal collector of revenue, or delivered directly to the Pope.
In the case of the Mongols, too, Innocent maintained that he, as Vicar of Christ, could make non-Christians accept his dominion and even exact punishment should they violate the non-God centred commands of the Ten Commandments. This policy was held more in theory than in practice and was eventually repudiated centuries later.

Northern Crusades

Shortly after Innocent IV's election to the papacy, the Teutonic Order sought his consent for the suppression of the Prussian rebellion and for their struggle against the Lithuanians. In response the Pope issued on 23 September 1243 the papal bull Qui iustis causis, authorizing crusades in Livonia and Prussia. The bull was reissued by Innocent and his successors in October 1243, March 1256, August 1256 and August 1257.

Vicar of Christ

The papal preoccupation with imperial matters and secular princes caused other matters to suffer. On the one hand, the internal governance of the Papal States was neglected. Taxation increased in proportion to the discontent of the inhabitants.
On the other hand, the spiritual condition of the Church raised concerns. Innocent attempted to give attention to the latter through a number of interventions.