Die Register Innocenz‘ III. 12. Band. 1209/1210

The twelfth volume of the edition of pope Innocent III`s chancery-registers, published as the tenth in the series of the whole edition, is containing 177 letters written in 1209 and 1210, most of which were issued by the pope, and 28 oaths and promissions issued by authorities in Southern France, which were sent to Rome in two dossiers by the papal legates for the Albigensian crusade, and copied into the register. Other entries were sent to the pope by the same legates, by the military leader of the crusade, Simon de Montfort, and by prelates from the Latin Empire in favour of the patriarch of Constantinople. Most of the letters, however, are dealing with theological, liturgical, legistic and juridical questions, the Albigensain crusade, the church organisation of the Latin Empire, political and ecclesiastical issues from Southern Italy to Scandinavia, matrimonial matters and property questions, privileges and confirmations of rights and possessions of bishoprics and monasteries, matters concerning the episcopate and litigation within the Church, such as contested elections or disciplinary problems, and a variety of decisions offering insights in major and minor problems of the church and the people around 1200. The integration of the Catholic Poor into the Church, advocated by the pope, met resistance of the local hierarchies. Whereas the conflict with the king of England over the election to the see of Canterbury had come to a standstill, the consequences of the succession contest and the murder of Philip of Swabia still were virulent in the Empire, and tensions with the Curia were renewed with Otto IV`s approach to Rome for the imperial coronation. A smaller number of letters than in previous years have become decretals. The volume is offering the critical edition of the texts, the dating of hitherto undated letters, ample historical comments, identifications of textual parallels and quotations from the Bible, Canon and Roman law, theological, liturgical and classical texts, and the letters` insertion in decretal collections. It has been prepared in cooperation of the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung and the Austrian Historical Institute in Rome.