The work was very popular for centuries, surviving in more than 700 manuscripts. Shortly after the death of Alexander III (30 August 1181) Lotario returned to Rome and held various ecclesiastical offices during the short reigns of Lucius III, Urban III, Gregory VIII, and Clement III, being ordained a Subdeacon by Gregory VIII and reaching the rank of Cardinal-Priest under Clement III in 1191.Īs a cardinal, Lotario wrote De miseria humanae conditionis (On the Misery of the Human Condition). As pope, Lotario was to play a major role in the shaping of canon law through conciliar canons and decretal letters. Lotario received his early education in Rome, probably at the Benedictine abbey of St Andrea al Celio, under Peter Ismael he studied theology in Paris under the theologians Peter of Poitiers, Melior of Pisa, and Peter of Corbeil, and (possibly) jurisprudence in Bologna, according to the Gesta (between 11). Lotario was the nephew of Pope Clement III his mother, Clarissa Scotti (Romani de Scotti), was from the same noble Roman family.

His father, Count Trasimondo of Segni, was a member of a famous house, the Conti di Segni (Counts of Segni), which produced nine cardinals and four popes, including Gregory IX, Alexander IV and Innocent XIII. Lotario de' Conti was born in Gavignano, Italy, near Anagni. In the event, the sack of Constantinople and the subsequent period of Frankokratia heightened the hostility between the Latin and Greek churches the Byzantine Empire was restored in 1261, albeit much weaker. Although the attack on Constantinople went against his explicit orders, and the Crusaders were subsequently excommunicated, Innocent reluctantly accepted this result, seeing it as the will of God to reunite the Latin and Eastern Orthodox Churches. He organized the Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204, which ended in the sack of Constantinople.

Innocent greatly extended the scope of the Crusades, directing crusades against Muslim Iberia and the Holy Land as well as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. He is furthermore notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, although these measures were not uniformly successful. This resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law. He was central in supporting the Catholic Church's reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and the Fourth Lateran Council. He exerted a wide influence over the Christian states of Europe, claiming supremacy over all of Europe's kings.

Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes. Pope Innocent III ( Latin: Innocentius III 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Bishops consecrated by Pope Innocent III as principal consecrator

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