The registers of pope Innocent III, vol. 16

The sixteenth volume of the edition of pope Innocent IIIs chancery-registers is containing 182 letters addressed to recipients all over Europe and in the Middle East. It is the last of the completely transmitted register volumes of this pope. A starting point is provided by three letters aiming to set off the implementation of two major concerns of the pope: a new crusade to the Holy Land and a universal council bound to issue reform decrees. The letters were distributed in many copies to bishops and rulers all over Western Christendom, and their complicated transmission required special editorial solutions. Another chief concern in this volume is once more the Albigensian crusade in Southern France. A distinct dossier within the register was identified, dealing with the entangled conflicts between the crusaders, the higher clergy, the count of Toulouse, and the king of Aragn. Clashes of interest between the pope, the emperor, the Venetians, and various bishops still dominate the letters to the Latin Empire of Constantinople. In the Roman (German) Empire, the crown of which is contested again, the pope strives to support his candidate and his allies. The repercussions of this struggle also affect Italy, apart from home-made conflicts. On the other hand, the English kings protracted conflict with Innocent III and the major part of his bishops seems to come to a close: King John relents and subjects his realms to the popes suzerainty as his liege lord. Other letters are dealing with 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. As its predecessors, the register of Innocents sixteenth year of pontificate is one of the volumes transmitted not as original but as a copy written at the Curia in mid-14th century and as print published by the French scholar Bosquet in the 17th century. The volume is offering the critical edition of the texts, 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. In the introduction, the manuscript and the editory principles are described, and several indices help to access the contents.