Celestine was elected on 29/30 March 1191 and ordained a priest 13 April 1191.[2] He crowned Emperor Henry VI a day or two after his ordination.[4] In 1192, Celestine recognized Tancred as king of Sicily, despite Henry VI's wife's claim.[5] He threatened to excommunicate Henry VI for wrongfully keeping King Richard I of England imprisoned, but he could do little else since the College of cardinals were against it. [5][6]
He placed Pisa under an interdict, which was lifted by his successor, Innocent III in 1198.[7]
Celestine, in 1192, sent a cardinal-priest of St. Lorenzo, Cinthius, to Denmark to address the discord between the Danish princes.[8] Upon Cinthius' return to Rome, Celestine issued three papal bulls;Cum Romana ecclesia, Etsi sedes debeat, Quanto magnitudinem tuam. These bulls advised the archbishop Absalon of Lund to instruct the King of Denmark to release the bishop of Schleswig.[9] The bulls also threatened to excommunicate the offending Duke Valdemar, who had imprisoned the bishop of Schleswig, and place the kingdom of Denmark under interdict.[9] The bishop would stay imprisoned until Pope Innocent III restarted the process in 1203.[10]
Celestine condemned King Alfonso IX of León for his marriage to Theresa of Portugal on the grounds of consanguinity.[11] Portugal and León were placed under interdict.[11] Then, in 1196, he excommunicated Alfonso IX for allying with the Almohad Caliphate while making war on Castile.[12] Following his marriage with Berengaria of Castile, Celestine excommunicated Alfonso and placed an interdict over León.[13]
In December 1196, Celestine issued a bull acknowledging the possessions of the Teutonic Knights.[14]
^William Stubbs (editor), Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene Vol. IV (London 1871), pp. 32-33.
^Karl Holder, Die Designation der Nachfolger durch die Päpste (Freiburg Switzerland: B. Veith 1892), pp. 69-70.
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Cross, F.L., ed. (1997). "Celestine III". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press.
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Edbury, Peter W. (2016). "Celestine III, the Crusade and the Latin East". In Doran, John; Smith, Damian J. (eds.). Pope Celestine III (1191-1198): Diplomat and Pastor. Routledge. pp. 129–144.
Lay, Stephen (2009). The Reconquest Kings of Portugal: Political and Cultural Reorientation on the Medieval Frontier. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lower, Michael (2014). "The Papacy and Christian Mercenaries of Thirteenth-Century North Africa". Speculum. 89 (3 JULY). The University of Chicago Press: 601–631. doi:10.1017/S0038713414000761. S2CID154773840.
Moore, John Clare (2003). Pope Innocent III (1160/61–1216): To root up and to plant. BRILL.
Nielsen, Torben K. (2016). "Celestine III and the North". In Doran, John; Smith, Damian J. (eds.). Pope Celestine III (1191-1198): Diplomat and Pastor. Routledge. pp. 159–178.
Poole, Austin Lane (1926). "The Emperor Henry VI". In Tanner, J.R.; Previte-Orton, C.W.; Brooke, Z.N. (eds.). The Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. V: Contest of empire and papacy. Cambridge at the University Press.
Robinson, I.S. (1990). The Papacy, 1073-1198: Continuity and Innovation. Cambridge University Press.
Robinson, I.S. (2004). "The institutions of the church, 1073-1216". In Luscombe, David; Riley-Smith, Jonathan (eds.). The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. IV: c.1024-c.1198, Part 1. Cambridge University Press.
Robinson, I.S. (2006). "The papacy". In Luscombe, David; Riley-Smith, Jonathan (eds.). The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. IV: c.1024-c.1198, Part II. Cambridge University Press. pp. 317–384.