Pope Innocent III (Lotario de’ Conti)

Lotario de’ Conti was pope from 1198 to 1216. After the murder of his legate in 1208 he called on France to crusade against the Albigenses; according to Lea, he gave his legates secret instructions to amuse the Count of Toulouse with fair promises. At the storming of Béziers in 1209 under his legate Arnaud, according to Lea no one was spared, and the legates themselves reported nearly twenty thousand dead. The Fourth Lateran Council he convened in 1215 prescribed special dress for Jews and Muslims, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia at his instigation. He had forbidden the crusaders to go to Constantinople, but then accepted its conquest in 1204.

Life dates

1160-1216 (about 56 years old)

Country

France, Italy

Institutions

Holy See
Fourth Lateran Council

Category

Anti-Judaism, Heresy trials, Crusade, Persecution

Level of evidence

B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?

Background

Course of events

1. Lotario de’ Conti, son of Count Trasimund of Segni, was born at Anagni in 1160 or 1161, elected pope on 8 January 1198 at the age of thirty-seven and died at Perugia on 16 June 1216.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 8 (1910), Artikel Pope Innocent III

   „born 1160 or 1161 at Anagni, and died 16 June, 1216, at Perugia“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 8 (1910), Artikel Pope Innocent III

   „Celestine III died 8 January, 1198.“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 8 (1910), Artikel Pope Innocent III

   „Lotario de' Conti was elected pope, at Rome, on the very day on which Celestine III died“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 8 (1910), Artikel Pope Innocent III

   „At the time of his accession to the papacy he was only thirty-seven years of age.“

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

1. Count Raymond VI of Toulouse submitted and handed over seven castles as security. According to Lea, the new legates had secret instructions from Innocent to amuse him with fair promises, to detach him from the heretics and, once the crusaders had disposed of them, to deal with him as they saw fit.
   Evidence: Harper & Brothers; Project Gutenberg (eBook 39451), Bd. 1, S. 150

   „He did not know that the legates had secret instructions from Innocent to amuse him with fair promises, to detach him from the heretics, and when they should be disposed of by the Crusaders, to deal with him as they should see fit.“

Response of the Church

1. On 15 November 1215 he opened the Fourth Lateran Council. In canons 68 and 69 it decreed that Jews and Muslims must wear special dress so as to be distinguishable from Christians; according to the Jewish Encyclopedia this was done at the instigation of Innocent III and thereby became a general order of Christendom. The council's creed was directed against the Albigenses and Waldenses.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 8 (1910), Artikel Pope Innocent III

   „his convocation of the Fourth Lateran Council, which he solemnly opened on 15 November, 1215“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 9 (1910), Liste der Kanones

   „Canons 68, 69: Jews and Moslems shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians .“

   Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906), Cyrus Adler, Joseph Jacobs, Einleitung

   „This was made a general order of Christendom at the fourth Lateran Council of 1215. At the instigation of Innocent III.“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 8 (1910), Artikel Pope Innocent III

   „against the Albigenses and Waldenses“

2. Innocent had repeatedly forbidden the crusaders to go to Constantinople. After the conquest and sack of the city in 1204 he was asked to ratify the subjugation of the schismatic people; according to the Britannica, he did so, dazzled by the fait accompli.
   Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt „The Fourth Crusade“

   „in spite of Innocent’s renewed prohibitions“

   Evidence: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911), Abschnitt „The Fourth Crusade“

   „The crusaders appealed to Innocent to ratify the subjugation of a schismatic people, and the union of the Eastern and Western Churches; and Innocent, dazzled by the magic of the fait accompli“

See also

• 1204 · less than 1 year

  Sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade

  • Turkey
  • Admission
  • Violence
  • Crusade
• 1209-1229 · 20 years

  Albigensian Crusade

  • France
  • Violence
  • Crusade
  • Persecution
• 1215-1592 · 377 years

  Fourth Lateran Council: compulsory badge for Jews

  • Germany
  • France
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • Hungary
  • Vatican City
  • United Kingdom
  • Austria
  • Anti-Judaism
  • Persecution

Scholarly literature and reference works

1. Reference work
   The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 8 (1910): Pope Innocent III, 1 January 1910. Original (retrieved 30 Oct 2026)
2. Reference work
   The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 9 (1910): Fourth Lateran Council (1215), 1 January 1910. Original (retrieved 12 Oct 2026)
3. Reference work
   Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906), Cyrus Adler, Joseph Jacobs: Badge. Original (retrieved 12 Oct 2026)
4. Reference work
   Encyclopædia Britannica, 11. Auflage (1911): Crusades, 1 January 1911. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 11 Oct 2026)
5. Scholarly literature
   Harper & Brothers; Project Gutenberg (eBook 39451): Henry Charles Lea, A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, Bd. 1 (New York 1887/88). Original (retrieved 11 Oct 2026)

Last changed on 30 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.