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The Third Council of the Lateran met in Rome in March 1179. Pope Alexander III presided and 302 bishops attended. The Catholic Church regards it as the eleventh ecumenical council.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “Third Council of the Lateran”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Third Council of the Lateran met in Rome in March 1179. Pope Alexander III presided and 302 bishops attended. The Catholic Church regards it as the eleventh ecumenical council.
By agreement reached at the Peace of Venice in 1177 the bitter conflict between Alexander III and Emperor Frederick I was brought to an end. When Pope Adrian IV died in 1159, the divided cardinals elected two popes: Roland of Siena, who took the name of Alexander III, and Octavian of Rome who, though nominated by fewer cardinals, was supported by Frederick and assumed the name of Pope Victor IV. Frederick, wishing to remove all that stood in the way of his authority in Italy, declared war upon the Italian states and especially the Church which was enjoying great authority. A serious schism arose out of this conflict, and after Victor IV's death in 1164, two further antipopes were nominated in opposition to Alexander III: Paschal III (1164–1168) and Callistus III (1168–1178). Eventually, at the Peace of Venice, when Alexander gained victory, he promised Frederick that he would summon an ecumenical council.
Besides removing the remains of the recent schism, the Council condemned the Cathar heresies and pushed for the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline. It also became the first general Council of the Church to legislate against sodomy. Three sessions were held, on 5, 14, and 19 March, in which 27 canons were promulgated.
The most important of these canons were:
Among the many attendees at the Council was William of Tyre, the historian and, at the time, archbishop of Tyre. William was sent by Baldwin IV as the representative of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and wrote about the journey to the Council in his history. The Kingdom of Hungary was represented by Andrew, Archbishop of Kalocsa.
Archbishop-elect Berthold of Bremen attended, expecting to have his election confirmed although he had not taken major orders. His presence was resented by the other archbishops and the lobbying of Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony succeeded in getting his election quashed. His former teacher, Girard la Pucelle, spoke unavailingly in his defence.
Due to the 26th canon forbidding Christians from dwelling among Jews and Muslims, segregation laws were occasionally enforced by European governments against Jews, creating Jewish quarters. Later in Venice, the term ghetto was born from a segregated Jewish quarter.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Third Council of the Lateran”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.