Neither Bewitched nor Beguiled: Philip Augustus's Alleged Impotence and Innocent III's Response

Abstract

Thus the author of the Gesta Innocentii described the reaction of Philip II Augustus (1180–1223) to his long-awaited bride on August 15, 1193, in the cathedral of Amiens, a reaction that would cause extended annulment proceedings spanning two pontificates over a period of almost twenty years and resulting in extensive papal intervention, especially that of Innocent III (1198–1216). We learn further from the Gesta that, to avoid scandal, some at the French court counseled postponement of the divorce, based initially on the grounds of affinity between Ingeborg and Philip's first wife. Still others encouraged the king to consummate his marriage, which the king attempted to do at Saint-Maur des Fosse, near Paris, where the Danish woman had been taken. All we know of that following fateful wedding night was that, after entering the conjugal bed, Philip soon departed and could barely hear about his wife thereafter. Whereas Ingeborg steadfastly claimed that her marriage had indeed been consummated, Philip maintained that it had not, citing over the course of the divortium (annulment) proceedings not only the incest rules but, most important for my purposes, the canonical impediment of maleficium, a form of impotence with a specific sexual partner, caused through bewitchment that prevented sexual union. Sexual incapacity was primarily and usually temporary, however, and potency could return with a different partner. Probably this was a medieval explanation for impotence resulting from psychological factors. Much of the scholarship discussing the annulment case of Philip and Ingeborg has centered on the canonical impediments of forbidden affinal (that is, relationship through marriage) and consanguineal (relationship through blood) relationships, with only some coverage of alleged sexual incapacity, although ultimately the last charge would determine the outcome of the case. This essay will therefore investigate in detail various issues relating to impotence and their impact on Innocent III's interpretation of marital consummation and dissolution. By placing Philip's attempted divorce in a broader context concerning sexual incapacity as found in earlier sources, such as Gratian's Decretum, Peter Lombard's Sentences, canonistic commentaries, the letters of Innocent's predecessors, and the evidence of other impotence and frigidity cases upon which Innocent III ruled, we can achieve a deeper understanding to illuminate this royal case of divorce. This essay argues that the pope formulated his own consistent interpretation of the impediment of impotence, an interpretation that would influence the lives of the Christian faithful. Furthermore, Innocent's reflections on other cases of sexual incapacity that occurred during his pontificate, as well as his understanding of scripture, marital symbolism, and canon law, aided him in constructing the meanings of impotence and sexual consummation within marriage, particularly in his decision regarding the divorce suit of Philip Augustus of France.