Innocent III and South-eastern Europe: Orthodox, Heterodox, or Heretics?

Francesco Dall’Aglio

doi:10.18778/2084-140X.09.01

Authors

Francesco Dall’Aglio Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Institute for Historical Studies https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3318-7011

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.09.01

Keywords:

Church studies, crusade studies, medieval Bulgaria, Latin Empire of Constantinople, medieval Bosnia, medieval Serbia, medieval heresies, Innocent III

Abstract

In the beginning of the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216) the necessity of creating a large coalition for a better organization of the Fourth Crusade convinced the pope to establish diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and Serbia, and to support Hungarian expansion in Bosnia. His aim was to surround Constantinople with a ring of states loyal to the Roman Church, thus forcing the empire to participate in the crusade. In order to achieve this result, Innocent was more than willing to put aside his concerns for strict religious orthodoxy and allow the existence, to a certain extent, of non-conforming practices and beliefs in the lands of South-eastern Europe. While this plan was successful at first, and both Bulgaria and Serbia recognized pontifical authority in exchange for political legitimization, the establishment of the so-called Latin empire of Constantinople in 1204 changed the picture. Its relations with Bulgaria were extremely conflicted, and the threat posed by Bulgaria to the very existence of the empire forced again Innocent III to a politics of compromise. The survival of the Latin empire was of the greatest importance, since Innocent hoped to use it as a launching point for future crusades: yet, he tried until possible to maintain a conciliatory politics towards Bulgaria as well.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Acta Innocentii PP. III (1198–1216), ed. T. Haluščynskyj, Vatican City 1944 [= Pontificia commissio ad redigendum codicem iuris canonici orientalis. Fontes, 3.2].
Google Scholar

Demetrii Chomateni Ponemata Diaphora, ed. G. Prinzing, Berlin 2002 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae, 38].
Google Scholar

Dujčev I., Prepiskata na papa Inokentij III s bălgarite. Uvod, tekst i komentar, “Годишник на Софий- ския Университет. Историко-Филологически факултет” / “Godišnik na Sofijskija Universitet. Istoriko-Filologičeski fakultet” 38, 3, 1942, p. 71–116.
Google Scholar

Nicetae Choniatae Historia, ed. J.-L. van Dieten, Berlin–New York 1975 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae. Series Berolinensis, 11].
Google Scholar

Regesta pontificum romanorum, vol. I, ed. A. Potthast, Graz 1957.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 1. Pontifikatsjahr, 1198/1199: Texte, ed. O. Hageneder, A. Haidachert, Graz–Köln 1964.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 2. Pontifikatsjahr, 1199/1200: Texte, ed. O. Hageneder et al., Rome–Vienna 1979.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 5. Pontifikatsjahr, 1202/1203: Texte, ed. O. Hageneder et al., Vienna 1993.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 6. Pontifikatsjahr, 1203/1204: Texte und Indices, ed. O. Hageneder et al., Vienna 1995.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 7. Pontifikatsjahr, 1204/1205: Texte und Indices, ed. O. Hageneder et al., Vienna 1997.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 8. Pontifikatsjahr, 1205/1206: Texte und Indices, ed. O. Hageneder, A. Sommerlechner et al., Vienna 2001.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 10. Pontifikatsjahr, 1207/1208: Texte und Indices, ed. R. Murauer, A. Sommerlechner et al., Vienna 2007.
Google Scholar

Die Register Innocenz’ III, 11. Pontifikatsjahr, 1208/1209: Texte und Indices, ed. O. Hageneder, A. Sommerlechner et al., Vienna 2010.
Google Scholar

Vetera monumenta slavorum meridionalium historiam illustrantia, vol. I, ed. A. Theiner, Rome 1836.
Google Scholar

Barabás G., Heretics, Pirates, and Legates. The Bosnian Heresy, the Hungarian Kingdom, and the Popes in the Early 13th Century, “Specimina Nova, Pars Prima. Sectio Mediaevalis” 9, 2017, p. 35–58.
Google Scholar

Bird J., Innocent III, Peter the Chanter’s Circle, and the Crusade Indulgence: Theory, Implementation, and Aftermath, [in:] Innocenzo III. Urbs et Orbis. Atti del Congresso Internazionale (Roma, 9–15 settembre 1998), vol. I, ed. A. Sommerlechner, Rome 2003, p. 503–524.
Google Scholar

Božilov I., Familijata na Asenevci (1186–1460). Genealogija i prosopografija, Sofija 1994.
Google Scholar

Chrissis N., Crusading in Frankish Greece. A Study of Byzantine-Western Relations and Attitudes, 1204–1282, Turnhout 2012.
Google Scholar

Dall’Aglio F., Innocenzo III e i Balcani. Fede e politica nei ‘Regesta’ pontifici, Napoli 2003.
Google Scholar

Dautović D., Crkva Bosanska: moderni historiografski tokovi, rasprave i kontroverze (2005–2015), “Historijska traganja” 15, 2015, p. 127–160.
Google Scholar

Elze R., Die papstliche Kapelle im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert, “Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Kanonistische Abteilung” 36, 1, 1950, p. 145–204.
Google Scholar

Fedalto G., La Chiesa latina in Oriente, vol. I, 2Verona 1981.
Google Scholar

Fenomen “krstjani” u srednjovjekovnoj Bosni i Humu, ed. F. Šanjek, Sarajevo–Zagreb 2005.
Google Scholar

Filipović E., Bosansko kraljevstvo. Historija srednjovjekovne bosanske države, Sarajevo 2016.
Google Scholar

Fine J.V.A. Jr., The Bosnian Church. A New Interpretation, New York 1975.
Google Scholar

Giovanni da Casamari in Dalmazia e Bosnia, ed. N. Veselic, Rome 2019.
Google Scholar

Hageneder O., Studien zur Dekretale “Vergentis” (X. V, 7, 10): Ein Beitrag zur Haretikergesetzgebung Innocenz’ III, “Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Kanonistische Abteilung” 49, 1963, p. 138–173.
Google Scholar

Hamilton J., Hamilton B., Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World c. 650–c. 1450, Manchester 1998.
Google Scholar

Innocenzo III. Urbs et Orbis. Atti del Congresso Internazionale (Roma, 9–15 settembre 1998), vol. II, ed. A. Sommerlechner, Rome 2003.
Google Scholar

Kamp N., Kirche und Monarchie im staufischen Konigreich Sizilien. Prosopographische Grundlegung: Bistumer und Bischofe des Konigreichs 1194–1266, vol. I, Munich 1973.
Google Scholar

Kay R., The Albigensian Twentieth of 1221–3: an Early Chapter in the History of Papal Taxation, “Journal of Medieval History” 6, 1980, p. 307–315.
Google Scholar

Madgearu A., The Asanids. The Political and Military History of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1280), Leiden 2017.
Google Scholar

Majnarić I., Papinski kapelan Ivan od Casamarija i bilinopoljska abjuracija 1203. Papinski legat koji to u Bosni nije bio?, “Radovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru” 50, 2008, p. 1–13.
Google Scholar

Maleczek W., Papst und Kardinalkolleg von 1191 bis 1216, Vienna 1984.
Google Scholar

Moore J.C., Pope Innocent III (1160/61–1216). To Root up and to Plant, Leiden 2003.
Google Scholar

Nikolova B., Ustroistvo i upravlenie na bălgarskata pravoslavna cărkva, IX–XIV vek, Sofija 1997.
Google Scholar

Papadakis A., Talbot A.M., John X Camaterus Confronts Innocent III: an Unpublished Correspondence, “Byzantinoslavica. Revue internationale des études byzantines” 33, 1972, p. 26–41.
Google Scholar

Powell J.M., Anatomy of a Crusade, 1213–1221, Philadelphia 1986.
Google Scholar

Powell J.M., Innocent III and Alexios III: a Crusade Plan that Failed, [in:] The Experience of Crusading, vol. I, ed. M. Bull, N. Housley, Cambridge 2003, p. 96–102.
Google Scholar

Spiteris J., La critica bizantina del primato romano nel secolo XII, Rome 1979.
Google Scholar

Štimac Z., Die bosnische Kirche. Versuch eines religionswissenschaftlichen Zugangs, Frankfurt 2004.
Google Scholar

Tafel G., Thomas G., Urkunden zur alteren Handels- und Staatsgeschichte der Republik Venedig, vol. II, Amsterdam 1964 [repr.].
Google Scholar

Tarnanidis I., Byzantine-Bulgarian Ecclesiastical Relations during the Reigns of Ioannis Vatatzis and Ivan Asen II, up to the Year 1235, “Cyrillomethodianum” 3, 1975, p. 28–52.
Google Scholar