INNOCENT III, Sylvester Hassell Innocent III. Was pope from 1198 to 1216. The papacy reached the zenith of its power in him. He was the Commander-in-chief of the armies and navies of Christendom. No other man ever wielded such power in both “Church” and State. He ruled from the Jordan to the Atlantic, and from the Mediterranean to beyond the Baltic. (Hassell’s History pg 442)