Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 114.: Innocent III to Acerbius, 1198. - A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age

Return to Title Page for A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Collection: Primary Sources
Subject Area: History

114.: Innocent III to Acerbius, 1198. - Oliver J. Thatcher, A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age [1905]

Edition used:

A Source Book for Mediaeval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age, ed. Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar Holmes McNeal (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


114.

Innocent III to Acerbius, 1198.

Innocent III here gives an interesting statement of the theory of papal supremacy and of the relations existing between papacy and empire.

Innocent III to Acerbius, prior, and to the other clergy in Tuscany. As God, the creator of the universe, set two great lights in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night [Gen. 1:15, 16], so He set two great dignities in the firmament of the universal church, . . . the greater to rule the day, that is, souls, and the lesser to rule the night, that is, bodies. These dignities are the papal authority and the royal power. And just as the moon gets her light from the sun, and is inferior to the sun in quality, quantity, position, and effect, so the royal power gets the splendor of its dignity from the papal authority. . . .