Celestine III A student of Peter Abelard, Giancinto Bobone was born c. 1106 in Rome and served as a cardinal deacon for 47 years before his election to the papacy in 1191. He took the name Celestine in honor of Pope/St. Celestine I. Thomas ŕ Becket considered Cardinal Bobone totally trustworthy, a trait he and many others considered rare for a cardinal. Prior to his election, Bobone had been a papal legate to Germany and Spain; he defended his teacher at the Council of Sens in 1121. As pope, Celestine blessed the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights. Celestine crowned Henry VI Holy Roman Emperor in the year of his own election to the papacy and did not excommunicate the emperor when Henry failed to return all the territory he had taken from the papal states and when he kidnapped Richard the Lion-Hearted of England. Celestine died in 1198.
12th-century Catholic popePope Celestine III (Latin: Caelestinus III; c. 1106 – 8 January 1198), born Giacinto Bobone, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 March or 10 April 1191 to his death. He had a tense relationship with several monarchs, including Emperor Henry VI, King Tancred of Sicily, and King Alfonso IX of León.
Early career
Giacinto Bobone was born into the noble Orsini family in Rome and served as a cardinal-deacon prior to becoming pope. He was ordained as a priest on 13 April 1191. Considered by the Roman Curia as an expert on Spain, Bobone conducted two legatine missions to Spain in (1154–55) and (1172–75) as the Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
Pontificate
Celestine crowned Emperor Henry VI on the day after his election in 1191 with a ceremony symbolizing his absolute supremacy, as described by Roger of Hoveden, after Henry VI promised to cede Tusculum. In 1192 he threatened to excommunicate King Tancred of Sicily, forcing him to release his aunt Empress Constance, wife of Henry VI and a contender of Sicilian crown, captured by Tancred in 1191, to Rome to exchange for his recognition of Tancred while also put pressure on Henry, but Constance was released by German soldiers on borders of the Papal States before reaching Rome the following summer. He subsequently nearly excommunicated Henry VI for wrongfully keeping King Richard I of England in prison. He placed Pisa under an interdict, which was lifted by his successor, Innocent III in 1198. He condemned King Alfonso IX of León for his marriage to Theresa of Portugal on the grounds of consanguinity. Then, in 1196, he excommunicated him for allying with the Almohad Caliphate while making war on Castile. Following his marriage with Berengaria of Castile, Celestine excommunicated Alfonso and placed an interdict over León.
In 1198, Celestine confirmed the statutes of the Teutonic Knights as a military order.
Death
Celestine would have resigned the papacy and recommended a successor (Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo, O.S.B.) shortly before his death, but was not allowed to do so by the cardinals.
