Pope Honorius III

Other ones would be confession to priests in 1215.

The adoration of the wafer, Pope Honorius III in 1220.

The cup taken away in communion in 1414.

Purgatory proclaimed as dogma by the Council of Florence in 1439.

This week, I spoke with Dr. Thomas Smith about the Fifth Crusade.

Tom is Keeper of the Scholars at Rugby School, an honorary researcher at both Royal Holloway and the University of Kent, and the author of Curia and Crusade, Pope Honorius III and the Recovery of the Holy Land, 1216-1227.

You may remember Tom from his episode back in 2024 where we talked about rewriting the First Crusade, Epistolary Culture in the Middle Ages, a book which Peter and I both picked as one of the best of the year and that has since won the Best Book Award from the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East.

Tom's new book is The Fifth Crusade, A History of the Epic Campaign to Conquer Egypt.

It was fortunate for the emperor in this matter of the crusade as in others that the stern and imperious Pope Innocent died in the following year.

His successor, Honorius III, was a man of comparatively gentle and tolerant nature, qualities which rendered him ill-fitted to guide the bark of St. Peter along its ambitious course.

The successful medieval pope was a creature of sterile heart and petrified humanity, expediency his only guide, the aggrandizement of the papal power his single purpose.

Honorius was too mild of disposition, too chary of harsh measures, and Frederick was thus allowed a grace of eleven years wherein to develop his power before another militant pontiff arose to lay jealous hands upon the imperial edifice which he had restored.

He simply had a kingdom and an empire to put in order first, and the order never seemed to come.

In twelve twenty, Frederick traveled to Rome and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the next pope, Honorius the Third, a gentler and more patient man than Innocent had been.

Now Frederick held everything his father had held, the empire in the north and the Kingdom of Sicily in the south, the very combination the papacy had always dreaded.

He had promised the popes that he would keep the two realms separate, that Sicily would not be permanently joined to the empire.

Whether that whisper was fair is impossible to know now, but it meant that when the conflict with the papacy finally came, his enemies were ready to believe the very worst about him.

For the moment, though, the relationship held.

The patient old Pope Honorius kept extending the deadline for the crusade, accepting Frederick's excuses and renewed promises year after year.

The emperor was busy.

Despite some military successes, the kingdom was increasingly isolated.

When Baldwin IV died in Elfhundertfunfunaktsik and his young successor died shortly after, Sibylla and her husband Guy of Lusignan took power.

Their reign was marked by further division among the local nobility, just as Saladin prepared for a final offensive against the Frankish territories.

Fall and Recovery By Elfhundert Sieben und Achtzig, the lack of Western support and the fragmentation of alliances left the kingdom in a precarious state.

Fifth Crusade At the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, plans were finalized for a massive new expedition directed by the Papacy.

Pope Innocent III introduced new ways to fund the campaign, including a general tax on the clergy and the option for individuals to provide financial support in exchange for spiritual rewards.

After Innocent's death, his successor, Honorius III, continued the preparations.

Armies from Hungary and Austria arrived at Acre in 1217, followed by groups from Germany and the Low Countries.

That canoe is actually now sinking.

You know, Dominicans are, right from day one, One of the reasons why Honorius III, the pontiff, has said is because you Dominicans have a practical use.

You know, the church has a practical application for you to be.

And that is because you are going out there to save souls.

It was fortunate for the emperor in this matter of the crusade as in others that the stern and imperious Pope Innocent died in the following year.

His successor, Honorius III, was a man of comparatively gentle and tolerant nature, qualities which rendered him ill-fitted to guide the bark of St. Peter along its ambitious course.

The successful medieval pope was a creature of sterile heart and petrified humanity, expediency his only guide, the aggrandizement of the papal power his single purpose.

Honorius was too mild of disposition, too chary of harsh measures, and Frederick was thus allowed a grace of eleven years wherein to develop his power before another militant pontiff arose to lay jealous hands upon the imperial edifice which he had restored.

Even Honorius, however, was not minded to let the prolonged delays of the laggard crusader pass unrebuked.

Frederick was willing enough to assist him in spurring the barons and knights of Germany into activity, but postponed his own departure year after year.

Youth, power, fame, your vow, the example of your ancestors summon you to fulfill your glorious enterprise, wrote Honorius in twelve twenty.

That which your illustrious grandfather Frederick I undertook with all his puissance, it is your mission to bring to a glorious end.