Innocent III, pope (1198- 1216)

On the death of Celestine III, the energetic Lotario dei Conti di Segni, was elected with the name of Innocent III. An advocate of the full recognition of papal supremacy over all lay authorities, he was nominated by Constance de Hauteville guardian of the infant Frederick II. He supported the latter and the king of France, Philip Augustus, in the conflict with Otto IV of Brunswick and John Lackland of England that resulted in the battle of Bouvines (1214). In 1204 he instituted the Fourth Crusade and, in 1208, the terrible crusade against the Albigenses. In 1210 Innocent III gave his verbal approval to the first order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans). After his death in 1216, Cencio Savelli, who had been Frederick II’s tutor, succeeded him with the name of Honorius III.