The Papacy reached the height of its power under Innocent
III. The eighteen years of his pontificate were one long effort, for the most
part successful, to make the pope the arbiter of Europe. Innocent announced the
claims of the Papacy in the most uncompromising manner. "As the
moon," he declared, "receives its light from the sun, and is inferior
to the sun, so do kings receive all their glory and dignity from the Holy
See." This meant, according to Innocent, that the pope has the right to
interfere in all secular matters and in the quarrels of rulers.
"God," he continued, "has set the Prince of the Apostles over
kings and kingdoms, with a mission to tear up, plant, destroy, scatter, and rebuild."
INNOCENT AND KING PHILIP OF FRANCE
That Innocent's claims were not idle boasts is shown by
what he accomplished. When Philip Augustus, king of France, divorced his wife
and made another marriage, Innocent declared the divorce void and ordered him
to take back his discarded queen. Philip refused, and Innocent, through his
legate, put France under an interdict. From that hour all religious rites
ceased. The church doors were barred; the church bells were silent, the sick
died unshriven, the dead lay unburied. Philip, deserted by his retainers, was
compelled to submit.
