Innocent

Innocent, name of 13 popes. Saint Innocent I (d.417) was pope from 401. He championed papal supremacy, but failed to prevent the sack of Rome by Alaric in 410. Innocent II (Gregorio Papareschi; d.1143) was pope from 1130. He convened the Second Lateral Council (1139). Innocent III (Giovanni Lotario de'Conti; 1161–1216) was pope from 1198. Under him the medieval papacy reached the summit of its power and influence. In an assertion of temporal power he forced King John of England to become his vassal and had Holy Roman Emperor Otto deposed in favor of Frederick II He initiated the Fourth Crusade (1202) and supported the crusade against the Albigenses (1208). He presided over the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the culmination of the entire medieval papacy. Innocent IV (Sinibaldo de'Fieschi; c.1190–1254), pope from 1243, clashed with Emperor Frederick II over the temporal power of the papacy, and was forced to flee to Lyons, France, until Frederick's death. He worked for the unification of the Christian churches. Innocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cibo; 1432–92), pope from 1484, was worldly and unscrupulous. He fomented the witchcraft hysteria and meddled in Italian politics. For a fee he kept the brother and rival of Sultan Bayazid II imprisoned. Innocent XI (Benedetto Odescalchi; 1611–89) was pope from 1676. An opponent of quietism, he favored toleration of Protestantism, and over this and the issue of papal power clashed with Louis XIV of France. Innocent XII (Antonio Pignatelli; 1615–1700) was pope from 1691. A stern reformer, he abolished nepotism and was renowned for his piety and charity. Innocent XIII (Michelangelo Conti; 1655–1724) was pope from 1721. He bestowed Naples and Sicily on their de facto possessor, the Emperor Charles VI, and recognized the claims of James, the Old Pretender, to the British throne in the hope of a Catholic revival.