Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

by Dan Jones

On the second matter, that of the hierarchy of western power, Innocent had become a wholehearted believer in the political theory of the sun and moon, an astronomical allegory that asserted papal supremacy in all Christian realms. In this view, the pope was the sun, emitting light; royal rulers (particularly the Holy Roman emperor) were like the moon, merely reflecting it. They were not equals. In 1198, right at the start of his papacy, Innocent wrote, “Just as God, founder of the universe, has constituted two large luminaries in the firmament of Heaven, a major one to dominate the day and a minor one to dominate the night, so he has established in the firmament of the Universal Church, which is signified by the name of Heaven, two great dignities, a major one to preside . . . over the days of the souls, and a minor one to preside over the nights of the bodies. They are the Pontifical authority and the royal power.”35 This was not a new idea: by the time of Innocent’s elevation to the papacy, popes had been tussling with kings for preeminence for almost four hundred years. But Innocent went further than almost any other pope in history toward turning high philosophy into political reality. His papacy, which lasted from 1198 until his death in 1216, was a tour de force of legalistic papal statesmanship, in which Innocent tried to impress the power of Rome over everyone and everything, with some extraordinary results. In crusading terms, the immediate background to Innocent’...