VIII1198-1305
The Papal Monarchy
The papacy at its medieval zenith: Innocent III judges kings, and Boniface VIII discovers the limits.
Popes No. 176-194
Innocent III inherited the reformed papacy at thirty-seven and drove it to the summit of its worldly power: he placed England under interdict, made kings his vassals, launched crusades, and legislated for every Christian in Europe at the Fourth Lateran Council. The century that followed ran on his machinery of legates, taxes, and canon law.
But monarchy invites rivals, and the era closes with the papacy's most instructive defeat. Boniface VIII, proclaiming in Unam Sanctam that every creature must be subject to the Roman pontiff, was answered not with theology but with soldiers: French agents burst into his palace at Anagni in 1303. He died within weeks, and within two years the papacy itself had begun drifting into French orbit.
The world at the time
- 1204
politicalSack of Constantinople
The Fourth Crusade turns on Christian Constantinople, poisoning East-West relations beyond medieval repair.
- 1209
religiousRise of the mendicant orders
Francis of Assisi wins papal approval for a movement of radical poverty that reshapes the church from below.
- 1215
councilFourth Lateran Council
Innocent III's great council legislates for all Christendom, the medieval papacy's most complete display of authority.
Popes of this era
Innocent IIINo. 176 · 1198-1216- Honorius IIINo. 177 · 1216-1227
- Gregory IXNo. 178 · 1227-1241
- Celestine IVNo. 179 · 1241
- Innocent IVNo. 180 · 1243-1254
- Alexander IVNo. 181 · 1254-1261
- Urban IVNo. 182 · 1261-1264
- Clement IVNo. 183 · 1265-1268
- Gregory XNo. 184 · 1271-1276
- Innocent VNo. 185 · 1276
- Adrian VNo. 186 · 1276
- John XXINo. 187 · 1276-1277
- Nicholas IIINo. 188 · 1277-1280
- Martin IVNo. 189 · 1281-1285
- Honorius IVNo. 190 · 1285-1287
- Nicholas IVNo. 191 · 1288-1292
- Celestine VNo. 192 · 1294
- Boniface VIIINo. 193 · 1295-1303
- Benedict XINo. 194 · 1303-1304