Innocent’s Transaction with the King John of England

Innocent III, as did all the popes of the middle ages, laid claim, as we have seen, to jurisdiction over the entire world -- kings, governments and republics -- as the lord of the world, and over the whole church as its lord too. And he succeeded, better than any of his predecessors in realizing these preposterous and anti-scriptural claims, firstly because circumstances favored him. Secondly, because, he was great in his shrewdness as a worldly politician. For that is what he was, as we began...