ABSTRACT
The relationship of Pope Innocent III with the Spanish kingdoms has not drawn much attention, even though he had to deal with several complex issues.1 Among them was the troublesome connection between the Spanish realms of Castile and Leon. United since the middle of the eleventh century, the two monarchies had been divided in 1157 and in the ensuing fifty years an intense rivalry had developed between them. Animosity between the kings of Castile and Leon reached a peak in the years just preceding Innocent's accession to power. It was a most inopportune time for quarreling because the Almohads, a Muslim sect that dominated Morocco, invaded the Iberian peninsula and set about re-establishing unity among the fractured states of al-Andalus. The Christians found themselves on the defensive, and the controversy between the kings of Castile and Leon placed the whole of Christian Spain at grave risk of assault and possible conquest by the Almohads. That was the situation when Innocent III ascended the papal throne in 1198. His task was threefold: to dissolve the Leonese marriage, to pacify Christian Spain, and to encourage the prosecution of the war against the
Abbreviations: BRAH-Boletin de la Real Academia de laHistoria. ES - Espana Sagrada, ed. Enrique Florez et al., 51 vols (Madrid: A. Sancha, 1754-1759). Spanish affairs receive only cursory mention in the following books dedicated to Innocent III:
Leonard Elliott Binns, Innocent III (London, 1931); Joseph Clayton, Pope Innocent III and his Times (Milwaukee, 1941); Sidney Packard, Europe and the Church under Innocent III, rev. edn (New York, l96%y,Brmdsi&o\ton, Innocent III: Studies on Papal Authority and Pastoral Care (Aldershot, 1995); Jane Sayers, Innocent III (New York, 1994). Other studies having direct relevance to the Spanish situation will be cited below.
