The Pageant of Popes, Book 6 · Part 1
121 Innocentius the fourth.
AFter the Cardinals had long wrangled beinge reproued for it sharpelye by the Emperour, they agreed to chose this mā callinge him Innocent the fourth borne in Genua, whose name before was Cynebaldus of the house of Flisci and the countyes of Lauauy: who beinge in time paste the Emperours especiall freinde, became forth with his deadlye ennemye, and did more annoye the noble Prince then any other before had doone. Marius reporteth thus of him, this Pope (sayth he) for hate he bare to Frederick, did forth with summon a councell at Lions whither hee cited Frederick, purposinge himselfe to hauehave preached there: but the Embassadour of Frederick desired he might hauehave a reasonable daye graunted him that he mighte conuenientlye come to Lions, which the Pope did not onlye denye to graunt, but forthwith enflamed with wrath and rage did curse themperour, depriue him of his estate Emperial, release al his Princes of their alleageance and fayth to him, and doth moue them to choose another to be Emperour. He charged ye godly Emperour with diuers false matters, as periurye, sacriledge, emprisoninge certaine of the clergye and such like, whereof though the Emperour had by wryting sent to the Princes very honourablye purged himselfe: yet this malitious man continued so importunate wt the Princes with great promises, that they choose the Landsgraue of Thuringe: and rewarded all men with crosses and pardons, giuen by Proclamation against the Emperour as againe a Turke or infidell. Furthermore he commaunded all bishops and archbishops to publish eueryevery where, how he had cursed, excommunicated, and depriued the Emperour: which was boldly doone in England, Fraunce, and Denmarke, but the bishops of Germany fearing the Emperours displeasure, besoughte the Pope it mighte not be done. Which the Emperour hearinge did valiantlye set himselfe against the Pope and all his tyrannous rebels, til he coulde not escape the Popes snares in Apulia. For the addition to Vspergensis sayth: After the Pope had depriued and excommunicated both Frederick & his sonne Cō radus, Frederick did so shake and worrye the Pope and the Church of Rome, that some marked wt crosses set themselues in battaile againste him, when hee came to batter downe the gates and walles of Rome, where he encountred with a mightye armye of these crossed fellowes. But ouer comminge them and takinge them prisoners, some of them he hewed a fonder wt foure square woundes in forme of a Crosse, of some he cleft their sculs a crosse in 4. parts, some he marked on the forhed with a crosse cut: and as for the clergye hee caused their shaued crownes to be pared a crosse. When the said Henry Landsgraue of Thuringe was chosen kinge of the Romaynes, and Frederick deposed by this fourth excommunication, then the bishoppe of Strosborough like a peaceable prelate of yt time, to gratifye the Pope tooke part with the Landsgraue, and assisted him with such power & strength as he coulde, both against the father and Conradus the sonne: for he assaulted & wan diuers townes, some he sacked and razed to the grounde, some he burnt with fier, which townes and Cityes themperour had recouered to the Empyre in Alsatia. On the other syde Conradus ye sonne of Frederick gathered an armye against Henry, but was easely ouerthrowne and manye of his armye being slaine, diuers of his nobilitye were taken prisoners. But soone after this Henry beinge thus foysted into the Empire by the clergy, grew into cōtempt with them that liked not his election, whereupon he was in mockadge termed King of clarkes & Prince of priestes: but the Pope did straitly charge by his Legates al the Almaine Princes to obeye Henry as their soueraigne, and to defye Frederick & his sonne. In the meane time this Hē ry dyed, and yet the Pope ceased not but sent a Legate into Germanye, one Peter Caputius a Cardinall, who summoninge the Princes at Collen, caused them to electe one VVilliam Earle of Holland, a readye man to maintaine any quarell by the sworde. In the ende the Emperour beinge in Apulia, one hired by the Pope gaue him poyson by meanes whereof he was daungerouslye sicke, but seemed to recouer it: but was smothered to death with a pillowe by Manfredus his bastard sonne, who as some thinke was allured by bryberye and fayre promises of the Pope to do it. The truth hereof is written in sixe bookes of Epistles, written by Peter of the Uine.
Anno 1250. Frederick dyed, and as some write in his last will and testamente he gaue a summe of moneye for satisfaction to the Church of Rome, and bequeathed his estate and the order of all thinges to his sonne Conradus. This Will was brought to the Pope to be approued, but ye Pope did whollye disanull and frustrate the Will, sayinge that the Prince whom he had deposed, could make no Wil and so it was voide. Within a while after a yonge Prince to whom the Emperour by his sonne Kinge Henry was graūdfather was murthered, but by whō no mā could tell.
About this time before ye death of Frederick, there were certaine preachers in Sweueland who stoutlye and openly preached against the Pope and his Cardinals, & iustifyed the doinge of Frederick and his sonne Conradus, sayinge bouldly that the Pope, his bishops and Cardinals, had no auctoritye, because they were al stayned with that one blot of simony, and yt their power depended not vppon Christ: & that a priest committing deadly sinne, coulde neither binde nor loose, nor consecrate: that no man in the world might forbid a Christian to execute diuine functions, & that they should be hearde & celebrated without any difference. And in the ende of their Sermons this pardon (quoth they) which we do pronounce vntounto you, wee do not declare it to you as forged by the Pope and his prelates, but procedinge from Almightye God. These preachers were maintayned by Conradus, and therfore he incurred almost danger of his life.
In the former councell helde at Lions it was decreed that the Cardinals should ryde on their trapped Gennets throughe the streates, and weare red hattes and crimsen roabes: to signifye (sayth Parisius) that they are readye to spend their bloud for the Catholicke fayth and the safetye of the people: but as (Platina sayth) for the honour of their estate. Also in that councell Innocentius decreed amonge manye matters that the Pope mighte depose the Emperour. He did greatly fauoure the order of begging fryers, and bestowed on them manye priuiledges and benefittes. He preferred the Dominicans to dignityes Ecclesiastical: and aduaūced the Franciscās to be the Popes confessours: He adopted the White fryers and Augustine friers to be his sonnes: wher as they liued before in deserts he brought them into Cityes, teachinge them to begge their breade wt idlenes. By the helpe of the Dominicans he reformed the rule of the Whitefryers, mitigated it, and finallye with his blessinge confirmed it that (as the sayd rule sheweth) they should hope to be saued not onlye by Christ: He graū ted these & the begging fryers lycence to preach, to dispute, and to shriue people. Also he exempted them from all power & iurisdiction of kinges and bishops: whereupon they crammed the worlde ful, and chaoked it with their gloses vponupon Sentences, decretals, cannons, wich their commentaries vponupon Aristotle, their Sophisms, Repertories, Sū maries, Tables, Trinies, Quatrinies, Conclusions, Questions, Distinctions, Quidities, Quodlibets, Myracles of the dead, Legendaryes, Saincts liues, Martyrdoms, Uisions, Dreames, Reuelatiōs, Exorsisms, Concordances, Discordāces, Marials, perspectiues, Aphorismes, wyth a thousande vaine and combrous pamphlets, full of grosse & deceitful heresyes: and then nothing was counted deuinitye nor lawe, but their fansyes and canons. And in these dayes the world was fallen into such grosse blindnesse, ignorance, and barbarousnesse, that not onelye knowledge in diuinity, but also other learning was almost decayed, the knowledge of the tongues as Greeke and Hebrew buried in ignoraunce, & though some rubbishe of the latine tongue were left, yet it was rustye, corrupte, and broken stuffe, as appeareth yet by theyr wrytings, yt the like barbarousnesse is not in any tongue. But to returne to Pope Innocent: he canonized diuers, makinge them saincts that for his aduauncemente had played the traytours and rebels against theyr owne Princes, as one Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury, and other of sondrye places.
Till the time of this Innocentius the 4. (sayth Bibliander) it was not an article of fayth, nor a law of the Church that men should worship the breade and the wyne in ye Sacrament: therefore (sayth he) ye Pope as a creator brought forth a newe God Mauzis by transubstantiation. This Pope offred to sell to king Henry the third of England, ye kingdome of both Sicils to the vse of his sonne Prince Edmond, and yet Conradus kinge thereof was lyuinge. He vexed and polled the Churches of England with myserable exactions: for money he maintayned and licensed anye wickednes amonge the clergye, suffering worser matters in his bastards whereof he had diuers, especiallye one called VVilliam. One Robert Capito bishop of Lincolne, had a great controuersye with this Pope, for he detested & defyed both in preachinge and wrytinge, the Popes couetousnes, pride and tyrannye. He would not admit one of ye Popes bastardes because he was vnlearned and but a boye of yeares, to a canonship of Lincolne, but rebuked ye Pope for it in a letter, and withstoode the Popes pollinge & …obbinge the Realme: and therefore the Pope receyuinge the sharpe letter from this Robert Grosted, for anger rayled not onlye on the bishop, but also brast into these arrogante wordes against his Prince king Henry the third, sayinge (as Mattheus Parisius testifyeth): Is not ye kinge of Englād our vassel, our slaue, & our page, who may at our pleasure to hamper him, put him in prison, & to vtter shame? And finallye because he coulde not tell howe otherwise to ease his rancke stomacke against the bishop hee excommunicated him: but he constantlye defyed and despised his excommunication euen to the death. He defended in disputation that ye Pope could do nothinge against iustice & truth, and that he was worse then Lucifer and Antichrist: at the length being cited to appeare in ye court, and condempned by the Pope wrongfullye, he appealed to the iudgemente of Christe. This good bishop after he had detected much of the Popes treachery, before his death vttered these two Uerses applying them against the Pope.
Eius luxuriae meretrix non sufficit omnis,
Eius auariciae totus non sufficit orbis.
One concubine could not suffice
his burning lust to quenche,
Nor yet his honger after golde,
one world serude not to stenche.
Also this bishoppe by diligent searche tryed it that this Pope and his clarkes had in reuenewes out of Englande aboue iii. score and tenne thousande markes, where as the reuenewes of the Crowne came not to 30. thousand. Cestrensis in his seuenth booke wryteth, that when this bishop of Lincolne dyed, a voyce was heard in ye Popes court sayinge Veni miser in iudiciū dei, that is Come thou vvretch to be iudged of God. And that the Pope was found deade in his bedde the next daye, and a blewe stroke in his bodye as if he had beene beaten wyth a staffe. This was done Anno 1253. he being at Naples and loking soone after to hauehave enioyed the whole kingdome of Sicill, where he lyeth buryed. Thaddition to Vspergensis sheweth, that the yeare before, as the Pope was going from Liōs to Millen, these straunge tokens happened: certaine bloudy cloudes were seene in the ayre, & streames of bloud gusshed out of breade as oute of wounded bodyes. After his death the seate was voide two yeares.