View source for Third Council of the Lateran

{{Short description|Ecumenical council}}
{{Infobox ecumenical council
| council_name = Third Council of the Lateran
| council_date = 1179
| accepted_by = [[Catholic Church]]
| previous = [[Second Council of the Lateran]]
| next = [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]]
| convoked_by = [[Pope Alexander III]]
| presided_by = Pope Alexander III
| attendance = 302
| topics = [[Catharism]] and [[Waldensianism]], church discipline
| documents = twenty-seven [[canon law|canons]], limitation of [[papal election]] to the [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinals]], condemnation of [[simony]]
}}
{{Ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church}}

The '''Third Council of the Lateran''' met in Rome in March 1179. [[Pope Alexander III]] presided and 302 [[bishop]]s attended. The [[Catholic Church]] regards it as the eleventh [[ecumenical council]].

By agreement reached at the [[Peace of Venice]] in 1177 the bitter conflict between Alexander III and [[Emperor Frederick I]] was brought to an end. When [[Pope Adrian IV]] died in 1159, the divided [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinals]] elected two popes: Roland of Siena, who took the name of Alexander III, and Octavian of Rome who, though nominated by fewer cardinals, was supported by Frederick and assumed the name of [[Antipope Victor IV (1159–1164)|Pope Victor IV]].<ref>J. P. Adams, ''Conclave'', [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1159.html ''Sede Vacante 1159''], retrieved: 2017-03-21.</ref> Frederick, wishing to remove all that stood in the way of his authority in Italy, declared war upon the Italian states and especially the Church which was enjoying great authority. A serious schism arose out of this conflict, and after Victor IV's death in 1164, two further [[antipope]]s were nominated in opposition to Alexander III: [[Antipope Paschal III|Paschal III]] (1164&ndash;1168) and [[Antipope Callistus III|Callistus III]] (1168&ndash;1178). Eventually, at the Peace of Venice, when Alexander gained victory, he promised Frederick that he would summon an ecumenical council. 

Besides removing the remains of the recent [[schism]], the Council condemned the [[Cathar]] [[Heresy in Christianity|heresies]] and pushed for the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline. It also became the first general Council of the Church to [[legislate]] against [[sodomy]]. Three sessions were held, on 5, 14, and 19 March, in which 27 [[canon law|canons]] were promulgated. 

The most important of these were:

*Canon 1. In order to prevent the possibility of future schisms, only [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinals]] were to possess the right to elect a [[pope]]. In addition a two-thirds majority was to be required in order for the election to be valid. If any candidate should declare himself pope without receiving the required majority, he and his supporters were to be [[excommunication|excommunicated]].
*Canon 2 declared null and void those [[ordination]]s performed by the [[antipope]]s Octavian ([[Antipope Victor IV (1159–1164)|Victor IV]]), Guy of Crema ([[Paschal III]]), and John de Struma ([[Antipope Callixtus III|Callixtus III]]).
*Canon 3 forbade the promotion of anyone to a parish before the age of 25 and to the [[Bishop|episcopate]] before the age of 30.
*Canon 5 forbade the ordination of clerics not provided with any means of proper support.
*Canon 7 forbade the [[simony|charging of money to conduct burials, bless a marriage or indeed the celebration of any of the sacraments]].
*Canon 11 forbade clerics to have women in their houses or to visit the [[monastery|monasteries]] of nuns without a good reason; declared that married clergy should lose their benefices; and decreed that priests who engaged in "that unnatural vice for which the wrath of God came down upon the sons of disobedience and destroyed the five cities with fire" ([[sodomy]])<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum11.htm| title = ''Third Lateran Council'', English translation.| date = 5 March 1179}}</ref><ref>Victoria Blud, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9bM4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 ''The Unspeakable, Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Literature, 1000-1400'', page 66.]</ref> should be deposed from clerical office and required to do penance—while laymen should be [[excommunicated]].
*Canon 18 required every cathedral church to appoint a master to teach the clerics and the poor scholars of the church; this action helped launch the cathedral schools that later became universities.<ref>[[Nicholas Orme]], ''Medieval Schools'', New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006.</ref> It also regulated the license to teach (''licentia docendi''), stating "let no one demand any money for a licence to teach, or under cover of some custom seek anything from teachers, or forbid anyone to teach who is suitable and has sought a licence." Selling the license to teach could prevent the progress of churches.<ref name="PapalEncyclicals">{{cite web |title=Third Lateran Council – 1179 A.D. |url=https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum11.htm |website=Papal Encyclicals |access-date=9 May 2020 |language=en |date=5 March 1179}}</ref>
*Canon 19 declared excommunication for those who tried to tax churches and clergy without the consent of the bishop.
*Canon 23 concerns the proper organisation of accommodation for lepers.
*Canon 25 excommunicated those who engage in [[usury]].
*Canon 26 forbade Jews and Muslims from having Christian servants and states that the evidence of Christians is always to be accepted against Jews. It also excommunicates any Christian who lives with a Jew or Muslim.
*Canon 27 stressed the duty of princes to repress [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]] and condemned "the Brabantians, Aragonese, Basques, Navarrese, and others who practice such cruelty toward Christians that they respect neither churches nor monasteries, spare neither widows nor orphans, neither age nor sex, but after the manner of pagans, destroy and lay waste everything" (''De Brabantionibus et Aragonensibus, Navariis, Bascolis, Coterellis et Triaverdinis, qui tantam in Christianos immanitatem exercent, ut nec ecclesiis, nec monasteriis deferant, non viduis, et pupillis, non senibus, et pueris, nec cuilibet parcant aetati, aut sexui, sed more paganorum omnia perdant, et vastent'').<ref>Karen Sullivan, ''Truth and the heretic: crises of knowledge in medieval French literature'' (University of Chicago Press, 2005) p. 120</ref>

Among the many attendees at the Council was [[William of Tyre]], the historian and, at the time, [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tyre|archbishop of Tyre]]. William was sent by [[Baldwin IV of Jerusalem|Baldwin IV]] as the representative of the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], and wrote about the journey to the Council in his history.<ref>William of Tyre, XXI.26</ref> The [[Kingdom of Hungary]] was represented by [[Andrew (archbishop of Kalocsa)|Andrew, Archbishop of Kalocsa]].<ref>* {{cite book |last=Udvardy |first=József |year=1991 |title=A kalocsai érsekek életrajza (1000–1526) ''[Biographies of Archbishops of Kalocsa, 1000–1526]'' |page=75 |publisher=[[Görres Society|Görres Gesellschaft]] |language=hu}}</ref>

Archbishop-elect [[Bertram of Metz|Berthold of Bremen]] attended, expecting to have his election confirmed although he had not taken [[major orders]]. His presence was resented by the other archbishops and the lobbying of Duke [[Henry the Lion]] of Saxony succeeded in getting his election quashed. His former teacher, [[Girard la Pucelle]], spoke unavailingly in his defence.<ref name=AH>{{citation |author=Arnaud Hari |title=Écrire l'histoire des évêques de Metz au Moyen Âge: les Gesta episcorum de la fin du VIII<sup>e</sup> à la fin du XIV<sup>e</sup> siècle |type=PhD diss. |institution=[[Paul Verlaine University – Metz]] |year=2010}}, 2 vols., at [http://docnum.univ-lorraine.fr/public/UPV-M/Theses/2010/Hari_Arnaud_2_LMZ1007.pdf vol. 2], pp. 463–465.</ref><ref name=JBF>{{citation |author=John B. Freed |year=2016 |title=Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth |publisher=Yale University Press}}, pp. 396–397.</ref>

==Effects==
Due to the 26th canon forbidding Christians from dwelling among Jews and Muslims, [[Racial segregation|segregation]] laws were occasionally enforced by European governments against Jews, creating Jewish quarters. Later in [[History of the Jews in Venice|Venice]], the term [[ghetto]] was born from a segregated Jewish quarter.<ref name="umd1">{{cite web |title=From Geographical Realia to Historiographical Symbol |url=https://faculty.history.umd.edu/BCooperman/NewCity/Geographical.html |website=faculty.history.umd.edu |access-date=15 August 2024}}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last=Summerlin|first=Danica|title=The Canons of the Third Lateran Council of 1179: Their Origins and Reception|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_e3DwAAQBAJ|year=2019|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-14582-5}}

==External links==
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09017b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Third Lateran Council (1179)]
*[http://www.legionofmarytidewater.com/faith/ECUM11.HTM Third Lateran Council]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131006143907/http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Medieval%20Papacy/Lateran%20III%20Complete.pdf Full Latin text of the canons preceded by an analysis of the Council's legislation]
*[https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum11.htm Third Lateran Council – 1179 A.D. - Papal Encyclicals Online]

{{History of the Catholic Church}}
{{Ecumenical councils}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Third Council Of The Lateran}}
[[Category:1179 in Europe]]
[[Category:12th century in the Papal States]]
[[Category:Lateran councils|3]]
[[Category:12th-century Catholic Church councils|Lateran 3]]
[[Category:Catharism]]
[[Category:Catholic Church ecumenical councils|Lateran 3]]
[[Category:Pope Alexander III]]
[[Category:Catholicism and Judaism]]
[[Category:Christian antisemitism in the Middle Ages]]