The Will of God and the Ordination of Change

Papal Political Theology and Intervention in Southeastern Europe under Innocent III

Abstract

This paper analyzes Pope Innocent III’s philosophy of political intervention in Southeastern Europe through the lens of his 1208 letter addressed to Nicaean Emperor Theodore Laskaris. Derived from a larger thesis discussing Innocent’s relationship with Andrew II of Hungary and Henry I of Constantinople, this essay inspects interactions between Innocent and these two rulers in order to examine Innocent’s application of the philosophy found in his letter to Laskaris, revealing a biblically informed strategy of political intervention which placed the prerogative to transfer secular power into God’s hands. Rather than reversing or condemning power transfers he deemed unjust, Innocent saw them as manifestations of God’s will to further the Church’s spiritual objectives, especially the reunification of the Eastern and Western churches and the prosecution of the crusades. Thus, Innocent would avoid interference in political changes in Southeastern Europe unless he believed that they directly contradicted God’s will. Instead, he used these political changes to achieve goals which he believed to be spiritually necessary. This pattern remains consistent in his dealings with the sack of Constantinople, the establishment and preservation of the Latin Empire, internal conflicts within Hungary and Hungarian expansionism under Andrew II.