Une tentative pontificale de reprise en main du Midi : la légation du cardinal Pietro Beneventano en 1214-1215

Abstract

Pascal Montaubin, A pontifical tentative to take in hand the south of France again : the legateship of Cardinal Peter Beneventano in 1214-1215 In 1213, Innocent III sought to give priority to his project of a crusade towards Jerusalem. This project implied, first of all, the pacification of the south of France that the Albigensian Crusade had profoundly destabilised. In order to contain the territorial appetites of the crusaders and to obtain the submission of the southern barons, the Pope resolved to send a legate drawn from the Sacred College to replace Arnaud Amalric, who was too favourable to Simon de Montfort. Announced in May 1213, the despatch of this alter ego of the Pope was delayed by the rebellion of Pedro II of Aragon. Innocent Ill’s choice fell in January 1214 on his faithful cardinal Peter Beneventano, a great jurist with a good experience of the affairs of the Curia. From spring 1214 to summer 1215, the legate travelled through Provence, Languedoc and Aragon, trying to limit the consequences of the battle of Muret. He worked towards the submission of the Occitan barons, in the conditions of the Roman peace, which constituted the means of protecting them from the crusaders while awaiting the pontifical judgement provided for by the Fourth Lateran Council. His success was particularly remarkable in the Kingdom of Aragon, vassal of the Apostolic See, where he preserved the interests of the young James I. His religious action was less visible than his political overtures, but the Council of Montpellier of 8th January 1215 constituted a high point of the ecclesiastical reform and manifested itself in the work of cardinal-legate Robert de Courson on the subject. But this encounter demonstrates also the solidarity of the Languedocian episcopacy with Simon de Montfort, and the legate is obliged to apply, from May onwards, a policy more favourable to the crusaders, consistent with the orders of Innocent III, who is more and more surrounded by the enemies of the Raimondins.