Third Lateran Council
March 5, 1179
Alexander III convened three hundred bishops in Rome to tidy up after the papal schism. The council required a two-thirds majority for papal elections - a rule still in force - and condemned the Cathars and Waldensians, issuing the first formal Latin church definition of public heresy. The council also forbade Jews and Muslims from keeping Christian servants, an early step in the legal segregation that would intensify over the coming century.
In context
Also in 1179 (3 other events on record)
- Death of Hildegard of Bingen · Europe · Culture
- Teaching chairs formalized at Oxford · Europe · Culture
- Alfonso VIII of Castile reaches majority · Europe · Politics
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Religion
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.