equal to his father's, his very selfishness and ruthlessness gave him
a success denied to his predecessor. All Henry's acts were associated
with his own aggrandisement, and the result shows that the Papacy no
less than the Empire was dependent for its influence chiefly upon the
personality of the holder of the office. Henry had to deal at Rome
with Popes of inferior capacity. Had Innocent III been elected a few
years earlier, the tragedy of Anagni--the maltreatment of Boniface
VIII by the emissaries of the King of France--might have been
anticipated by a century.




CHAPTER IX

INNOCENT III


[Sidenote: The new Pope.]

Celestine III died less than four months after the Emperor Henry VI,
and the centre of interest immediately shifted from the Empire to the
Papacy. For, in their desire to shut out the Roman clergy and people
from any share in the election, the Cardinals made haste to find a
successor. As it happened, the object of their choice was also the
favourite of the Roman people. Lothair of Segni was the youngest of
the Cardinals, being only thirty-seven years of age. He was sprung
from a German family which had settled in the tenth century in the
Campagna. He had studied in Paris and Bologna, and had been made
Cardinal by his uncle, Clement III. Celestine was of the rival family