First Council of Lyon deposes Frederick II

1245

Pope Innocent IV, in exile from Italy, convened a council that declared the Hohenstaufen emperor deposed for tyranny, heresy, and perjury. Frederick laughed and kept ruling. The breach between empire and papacy widened into an abyss that would outlive both men. The council's sweeping claims of papal supremacy over temporal rulers pushed the theoretical reach of the medieval papacy to its absolute limit.