Before the end of 1196 Henry was again in southern Italy. The very Pope was now on his side. Celestine, delighted at the prospect of a new Crusade, forbore to press Henry to discharge the long-deferred homage which every Sicilian king had paid to the Papacy. During his absence the tyranny of the German officials had proved too grievous to be borne, and a formidable Sicilian conspiracy had been formed against them. Henry now stamped out all opposition with incredible brutality and harshness. Fresh from the hideous tortures of his victims, Henry now threw himself with all his might into his schemes of Eastern conquest. The new Greek Emperor, Alexius III., was summoned to surrender all provinces east of Thessalonica as part of the Sicilian inheritance, and cheerfully agreed to pay a heavy tribute to avert the threatened attack. Meanwhile a vast swarm of German warriors had collected in Sicily and Apulia under the pretence of the new Crusade. [Sidenote: The Conquest of the East.] In September the first ships sailed from Messina to Acre. But in the moment of the realisation of his ambitions a sudden fever cut down the great Emperor. [Sidenote: Death of Henry VI., 1197.] On 28th September Henry VI. died at Messina when he was only thirty-two years of age. Before his ashes were laid beside his Sicilian ancestors in the cathedral at Palermo, his brilliant schemes were hopelessly shattered.
CHAPTER XIV EUROPE IN THE DAYS OF INNOCENT III. (1198–1216)[26]
Character and theories of Innocent III.—The Sicilian Succession and the Minority of Frederick II.—The Subjection of Rome and the Patrimony of St. Peter—Innocent and Germany—Rivalry of Philip of Swabia and Otto of Brunswick—Innocent and Philip Augustus—The Pope as Feudal Lord—Otto IV. and Frederick II.—The Crusades—Innocent’s Religious Position—The Lateran Council.
[Sidenote: Election of Innocent III., 1198.]
After the great Emperors came the great Pope. Within four months of the death of Henry VI., Celestine III. had been succeeded by Innocent III., under whom the visions of Gregory VII. and Alexander III. at last became accomplished facts, the papal authority attained its highest point of influence, and the Empire, raised to such heights by Frederick Barbarossa and Henry VI., was reduced to a condition of dependence upon it.