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March 5. Lyons. Pope Innocent IV writes to King Henry [I] of Cyprus, relating that he is happy that the king is abandoning the former emperor Fr[ederick II] and returning to the Church. The king’s petition that was read to the pope claimed that the king had taken an oath of fealty and homage to F[rederick], but now out of fear of the Lord he wished to separate from F[rederick], seeking refuge with the Apostolic See and asking to be absolved from the oath and taken along with his kingdom under papal protection. Since F[rederick] goes from protector of the Church to prosecutor, trying to make the Mother Church – which raised him from the cradle and exalted him over all the princes of the globe – subservient and attacking the Catholic faith, the pope deprived him of the empire, kingdoms, and every other title at the Council of Lyons, and on the advice of the prelates at the council he absolved everyone from their oaths to the former emperor. The pope therefore absolves the king of his oath and takes him and his kingdom under papal protection, declaring them subject to the pope alone.