The Deeds of Pope Innocent III

Introduction

I N T R O D U C T I O N Composed in the years from about 1204 to 1209, the Gesta Innocentii III, or Deeds of Innocent III, belongs to a genre of biography that has its origins in the classical period, in such works as Plutarch’s Lives, Suetonius’s Lives of the Twelve Caesars, and the Scriptores historiae Augustae .1 But the more immediate models were the series of papal biographies collected in the Liber Pontificalis, to which were added those written by Cardinal Boso in the second half of the twelfth century.2 The work as we possess it, however, is not a complete papal biography. Not only is it limited to approximately the first eleven years of Innocent III’s eighteen-and-a-half-year reign, but it shows signs that strongly suggest that the author recognized his inability to complete the work xi 1. See Agostino Paravicini-Bagliani, “La storiografia pontificia del secolo XIII: Prospettive di ricerca,” Römische Historische Mitteilungen 18 (1976): 45–54; Brenda Bolton, “Too Important to Neglect: The Gesta Innocentii PP III,” in Church and Chronicle in the Middle Ages: Essays Presented to John Taylor, ed. G. A. Loud and I. N. Wood (London : Hambledon Press, 1991), 87–99, esp. 87–88. Also see Giulia Barone, “I ‘Gesta Innocentii III’: Politica e cultura a Roma all’inizio del duecento,” in Studi sul Medioevo per Girolamo Arnaldi, ed. Giulia Barone, Lidia Capo, and Stefano Gasparri, I libri de Viella 24 (Rome: Viella, 2001), 1–23, which contains a useful bibliography on 22–23. 2. David Gress-Wright [David Wright], The ‘Gesta Innocentii III’: Text, Introduction and Commentary (Ph.D. diss., Bryn Mawr College, 1981), 34*–35*. Hereafter cited as GW. For bibliography, see GW, 129*–36*, and Edward M. Peters, “Lotario dei Segni Becomes Pope Innocent III: The Man and the Pope,” in Pope Innocent III and His World, ed. John C. Moore (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999), 3–24, as well as the other articles in this volume. See also Innocenzo III: Urbs et orbis, ed. Andrea Sommerlechner, 2 vols. (Rome: Società Romana di Storia Patria, 2003). according to his original plan, which rather closely paralleled that of Cardinal Boso. This change of plan was chiefly reflected in the decision of the author to incorporate the material that he had collected to date and to arrange it in a coherent pattern with useful introductory comments. It suggests a change in career or some other major event that forced the author to turn from this project.3 At the same time, internal evidence suggests that he worked to provide a series of “conclusions ” to the work, culminating in the final section, with its gift list. In this sense, we are confronted with a complete work, rather than one that was abandoned in midpassage. Previous authors have stressed the unfinished character of the Gesta . I prefer to put greater emphasis on the effort of the author to present a coherent picture of major aspects of Innocent’s pontificate, even though that pontificate would last about seven more years. Papal biography was not an isolated form. It had its parallels in royal annals and biographies, all of which flourished in the twelfth century . But it was perhaps more distinctive as a form of collective memory for a group of policymakers and bureaucrats that had emerged around the reform papacy in this period. There is abundant evidence that the papacy, taken collectively, was developing a sense of the importance of the past. Indeed, papal letters often served to remind their readers of past contexts.4 The registers of papal letters were a source to be mined along with other archival materials for information needed for the expanding papal administration.5 The Gesta was, therefore, primarily an in-house document. Its audience was mostly composed of members of the curia. For this reason, earlier debates regarding its content, point of view, and purpose largely miss the mark when they xii Introduction 3. GW, 33*–34*. Also see James M. Powell, “Innocent III and Petrus Beneventanus : Reconstructing a Career at the Papal Curia,” in Pope Innocent III and His World, ed. John C. Moore, 51–62, esp. 52–53. 4. James M. Powell, “Myth, Legend, Propaganda, History: The First Crusade, 1140–ca. 1300,” in Autour de la première croisade, ed. Michel Balard (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1996), 127–41, esp. 135. 5. GW, 34*. [3.145.115.195] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 07:07...