Cardinal D’Segni, the nephew of Pope Celestine, is elected pope on the day of his uncle's death in 1198, and takes the name Innocent III.

Involved in imperial affairs from the outset of his pontificate, the new pope recognizes as king of Sicily the son of the late Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, following the widowed Constance of Sicily’s acceptance of papal sovereignty over Sicily.

At Constance’s death later in 1198, Innocent becomes regent for the infant Frederick.

The same year, Innocent makes his cousin, Ugolino dei conti di Segni, a native of Anagni, Italy, a cardinal deacon.

Innocent attempts to reorganize the Crusading efforts under papal auspices.

Despite manifold problems in the West, he is the first pope since Urban II to be both anxious and able to consider the Crusade a major papal concern.

In 1198, he broaches the subject of a new expedition through legates and encyclical letters.

He immediately lays an interdict on Laon in an attempt to stamp out independent beliefs there.

This will be followed by interdicts against France in 1199 and Normandy in 1203.