Innocent IV (pope)
1195 – 1254 Italian Pope (1243-1254)
Pope who deposed Emperor Frederick II and approved torture in heresy trials.
- Religion
- Catholic; Bishop of Rome
- Affiliations
- The papacy
Innocent IV drove the war between papacy and empire to its peak. At the First Council of Lyon in 1245 he declared Emperor Frederick II deposed. In his 1252 bull Ad extirpanda he allowed the use of torture to extract confessions from suspected heretics. He also sent friars as envoys to the Mongol khan, seeking to learn the intentions of the armies that had just swept into Europe.
In the timeline
- 1252 Ad extirpanda authorizes torture mentioned