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The Fourth Council of the Lateran was summoned by Pope Innocent III with his Bull of April 19, 1213. The assembly took place in November, 1215. It was the 12th ecumenical council and is sometimes called "the General Council of Lateran" due to the attendance by seventy-one patriarchs and metropolitans, four hundred and twelve bishops, and nine hundred abbots and priors.

Innocent III stated his purposes as the defense of the Catholic faith, for the aid to the Crusader States in Palestine, and to establish the liberty of the Church from lay investiture and other lay interference. The pope presented to the council seventy decrees; these were considered along with the organization of the Fifth Crusade and with measures against heretics. In this context, Saint Dominic and bishop Foulques of Toulouse discussed with the pope the establishment and constitution of the Order of Friars Preachers, finally approved fifteen months later by the new Pope Honorius III.

Raymond VI of Toulouse, his son (afterwards Raymond VII), and Raymond-Roger of Foix attended the Council to vindicate themselves and to dispute the threatened confiscation of their territories; bishop Foulques and Guy of Montfort (brother of Simon) argued in favour of the confiscation. Raymond's son-in-law, Pierre-Bermond II of Sauve, was also present to lay his own claim to the county of Toulouse.

As regards the Canons presented to the Council, it approved them with little discussion or variation. They included:

• Canon 1. Exposition of the faith and of the dogma of transubstantiation, affirmation of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
• Canon 2. Condemnation of Joachim of Fiore and Amalric of Bennes for heresy; vindication of Peter Lombard
• Canons 3-4. Procedure and penalties against heretics and their protectors, including the provision that "Catholics who have taken the cross to exterminate heretics shall enjoy the indulgences and privileges granted to those who fight for the Holy Land"
• Canon 5. Proclamation of the papal primacy. After the pope, primacy is attributed to the patriarchal sees in the following order:
  • Constantinople (at this time there was a Latin Patriarch)
  • Alexandria
  • Antioch
  • Jerusalem
• Canon 9. Provision for the celebration of divine offices according to varying rites and in multiple languages
• Canon 13. Founding of new religious orders forbidden
• Canons 14-16. Rules on the conduct of the clergy including against irregularities such as:
  • incontinence or non-celibate living
  • drunkenness
  • hunting
  • attendance at farces and histrionic exhibitions
  • performing of surgical operations
  • conducting trials by ordeal or combat
• Canon 21, the Omnis utriusque sexus (also called the Easter Duty), which commands every Christian who has reached the years of discretion to confess all their sins at least once a year to their priest
• Canon 51. Clandestine marriages forbidden
• Canon 68. Jews and Muslims shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians (see Judenhut, yellow badge). This is partly so that Christians will not unknowingly have sexual relations with Jews or Muslims. The latter are not to go outdoors during four days of Easter week. Jews are not to be given public offices.

The Council confirmed the elevation of Frederick II to the position of Holy Roman Emperor. Pierre-Bermond of Sauve's claim to Toulouse was rejected. The county of Toulouse was adjudged to Simon de Montfort; the lordship of Melgueil was separated from Toulouse and entrusted to the bishops of Maguelonne. The county of Provence, a possession of Raymond VI, was confiscated and kept in trust to be restored to his son if he proved worthy of it; the county of Foix was eventually to be restored to Raymond-Roger. In the event, Raymond VII pre-empted the decision concerning Provence by reconquering the county for himself.

• Ecumenical council

• Canons of the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Fourth Lateran Council (1215)
• Fourth Lateran Council
• Un document retrouvé by Achille Luchaire, in Journal des savants, n.s. 3 (1905), 557-567, including a list of participants in the Council