61S CONCLUSION. was ardent in his recognition of the mysterious wisdom of God in thus overthrowing the Greek heresy, and he took prompt action to secure the utmost advantage to be expected from it. He ordered the crusaders to suspend all priests ordained by Greek bishops, and to provide Latin priests for the churches seized, tak- ing care that their property was not dissipated. A hungry horde of clerics speedily precipitated itself on the new possessions, em- barrassing those in charge, and Innocent, in answer to inqui- ries, advised that only those who brought commendatious letters should be allowed to officiate in public. Thus, in the Latin king- doms of the East a new hierarchy was imposed upon the churches, but the people were not converted, and an embarrassing situa- tion arose concerning which no clearly defined policy could be preserved.* Strictly speaking, all schismatics and heretics were under ipso facto excommunication, but this could be disregarded if it was politic to do so, as when, in 1244, Innocent IV., in sending Domini- can missionaries to the Greeks, Jacobines, Nestorians, and other heretics of the East, gave full authority to participate with them in all the offices of religion. Where the Greek churches were independent efforts were made to win them over by persuasion and negotiation, as in the mission sent in 1233 by Gregory IX. to Germanus, Patriarch of Nicaea, and in 1247 by Innocent IV. to the Russians; but when these endeavors failed there was no hesita- tion in resorting to force, and the disappointed Gregory preached a crusade for the purpose of reducing the schismatics to obedience. So, in 1267, when the measureless ambition of Charles of Anjou, inflamed by the conquest of Xaples, dreamed of reconquering Con- stantinople, his treaty with the titular emperor, Baldwin II. , recites the uniting of the Eastern Empire with the Church of Rome as the impelling motive. Charles's enterprise was postponed by the submission of Michael Palaeologus at the Council of Lyons in 1274, but this only stirred up rebellion among his subjects ; Michael Comnenus was placed at the head of the party sustaining the national church, and war broke out in 1279. Although Charles hastened to take advantage of this, the Sicilian Vespers, in 1283,
- Innoc. PP. HI. Regest. vn. 2-12, 121, 152-4, 164, 203-5; ix. 243-6; x.
49-51.
