Pope Honorius III and the Holy Land Crusades, 1216-1227: a Study in Responsive Papal Government
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Pope Honorius III and the Holy Land Crusades, 1216-1227: A Study in Responsive Papal Government THOMAS WILLIAM SMITH Supervised by Professor Jonathan Phillips A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 2013 Declaration of Authorship I, Thomas William Smith, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ................................................. Date: ................................................. 2 Abstract This thesis is a study of medieval papal government and the Holy Land crusades under Pope Honorius III (1216-27). Based on the systematic study of the unpublished manuscripts of Honorius’s papal registers (Vatican City, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Registra Vaticana 9-13) and supplemented with contemporary diplomatic evidence and chronicles, it examines the institutions of papal government that were central to Honorius’s administration of crusade affairs in the East and the West. This thesis seeks to repair the significant historiographical gap for Honorius III’s pontificate and to analyse the pope’s reign on its own terms. It also puts forward a new view of the nature of papal crusade government, arguing that Honorius’s administration of the Holy Land crusades was primarily responsive rather than proactive in its operation. This thesis contends the prevailing view in the current historiography that the papacy played a proactive role in formulating, implementing, and modifying a coherent and premeditated crusade policy. Instead it is demonstrated that Honorius pursued his crusade policy responsively, which was defined by input from outside the papal curia. It is established that the direction of most papal crusade decisions was determined in an ad hoc fashion in response to petitioners and diplomats presenting business at the curia. Part one of the thesis is formed of three chapters which provide a chronological framework and propound a detailed political narrative of 3 Honorius’s diplomacy with the lay powers between 1216 and 1227. Part two of the thesis consists of three chapters arranged thematically to consider the institutions of papal government under Honorius, investigating the theology in his letter arengae, his deployment of papal legates, and the management of the crusade tax respectively. 4 Contents List of Illustrations and Maps 7 List of Abbreviations 8 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 12 Contribution to the Historiography 12 The Career of Cencius from Chamberlain to Pope 26 Sources and Methodology 31 Structure of the Thesis 44 PART I: PAPAL DIPLOMACY, 1216-1227 1. The Preparation of the Fifth Crusade, 1216-1218 48 Andrew II’s Negotiations 52 Frederick II’s Imperial Delegation 61 Andrew II’s Expedition 65 Conclusions 75 2. The Administration of the Fifth Crusade, 1218-1221 76 Managing the Leadership of the Crusade 77 Frederick II’s Commitment and Postponements 88 John of Brienne’s Claim to the Armenian Throne 101 Negotiations over the Imperial Coronation 109 Conclusions 128 3. The Organisation of Frederick II’s Crusade, 1221-1227 130 The Veroli Colloquium 131 5 The Ferentino Colloquium 136 The San Germano Colloquium 151 Conclusions 170 PART II: INSTITUTIONS OF PAPAL GOVERNMENT 4. Honorius III’s Theology in his Arengae 173 Authorship 178 Themes 183 Originality 204 Conclusions 225 5. The Deployment of Legates 227 Appointment and Powers 231 Peacemaking and the Crusade 244 Pelagius on the Fifth Crusade 255 Conclusions 268 6. The Tax of a Twentieth 269 The Institution of the Twentieth in 1215 271 Local Collection and Transfer 277 Centralised Collection and Transfer 285 Diversion 296 Exemption 299 Fraud, Theft, and Non-Payment 305 The Fifth Crusade and its Aftermath 312 Conclusions 321 Conclusion 323 Appendix: Pelagius’s Appointment Mandate 329 Bibliography 331 6 List of Illustrations and Maps Illustrations 1. Fresco of St Francis preaching before Pope Honorius III, Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi, Assisi 25 2. Mosaic featuring Pope Honorius III in the apse of the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le mura, Rome 26 Maps 1. The Holy Land 52 2. Damietta and the Nile Delta 77 3. Germany in the thirteenth century 87 4. The Papal State in the thirteenth century 107 5. The kingdom of Sicily in the thirteenth century 108 6. Exemptions from the twentieth tax 305 7. Detected fraud, theft, and non-payment of the twentieth tax 312 7 List of Abbreviations MGH Const. Monumenta Germaniae Historica Constitutiones MGH DD F II Monumenta Germaniae Historica Diplomata Regum et Imperatorum Germaniae (Die Urkunden Friedrichs II.) MGH SrG Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores rerum Germanicarum MGH SS Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores (in Folio) Pressutti Regesta Honorii Papae III, ed. Petrus Pressutti, 2 vols (Rome, 1888-95), [no.] Reg. Vat. Registra Vaticana RHGF Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France RS Rolls Series (Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores or Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland) 8 Acknowledgements First and foremost, it is a great pleasure to thank my supervisor, Jonathan Phillips, who gave this project his enthusiastic support from the very beginning. This thesis has been improved considerably by his incisive feedback, and I have benefitted personally from his astute guidance and kind support. I could never have undertaken this research without generous financial sponsorship: I am extremely grateful to Royal Holloway College for the award of a Reid Research Scholarship for the first three years of my PhD, and to the Institute of Historical Research, where I was honoured to hold a Scouloudi Junior Research Fellowship throughout my fourth year (funded by the Scouloudi Foundation). I also wish to thank the Department of History at Royal Holloway for a series of grants from its Discretionary Research Fund which helped to finance German tuition at the Goethe Institut, London. I owe special thanks to Barbara Bombi, who has ever been one of my greatest supporters, and who shared her knowledge of papal government and unpublished articles with me throughout my research. I am indebted to Barbara for guiding me towards the study of Honorius III; I hope I have done the subject justice. It is a privilege to thank Bernard Hamilton, who has always helped me most generously, and who - among his many kindnesses - went above and beyond the call of duty to read a research paper in Spain on my behalf when I was unable to travel. David d’Avray’s encouragement has been inspirational. The lines of 9 thought expressed in this thesis were sharpened by Jonathan Harris. I offer my gratitude to Matt Phillips who gave me feedback on two chapters and to Matthieu Rajohnson for his advice on crusade prayers. I wish to thank Pierre-Vincent Claverie for his generosity in sending me a copy of his newly published monograph on Honorius III. Carlotta Dionisotti, Susan Edgington, and Hannes Kleineke kindly allowed me to attend their Latin courses. I extend thanks to classmates past and present of the ‘Latin Therapy’ seminars, where I received invaluable assistance in refining my arenga translations, especially from Martin Hall, Simon Parsons, and Susan Edgington herself. Regrettably it is not possible to mention all those who have influenced me during my research, but I wish to thank the following people for their advice and assistance: Sophie Ambler; Sarah Ansari; Philip Baldwin; Brenda Bolton; Mike Carr; Nikolaos Chrissis; Michael Clanchy; Peter Clarke; Lowly Dale; Anne Duggan; William Gibson; Peregrine Horden; Zsolt Hunyadi; Simon John; Tom Lawrence; Guy Perry; Gianluca Raccagni; Jonathan Rubin; Jane Sayers; Chris Schabel; Damian Smith; Danica Summerlin; Miles Taylor; Christopher Tilley; Claire Trenery; Jan Vandeburie; Mark Whelan; and Sebastian Zanke. I claim responsibility for any infelicities which might remain in the text. Towards the end of my research I was deeply saddened to learn of John Doran’s passing. John helped and inspired me in equal measure; he is greatly missed. Finally, and without doubt, most importantly, I thank my parents, Jonathan and Gillian, and my brother, James, whose love, guidance, and unwavering 10 support throughout my life made it possible to get this far. My grandparents, William and Kay, have also shown interest in the project throughout, and generously funded the printing and binding of this thesis, for which I am very grateful. Thomas W. Smith Rotherfield, June 2013 11 Introduction Contribution to the Historiography This thesis is a study of the organisation of the Holy Land crusades under Pope Honorius III (1216-27), namely the Fifth Crusade (1217-21) and the preparation of the Crusade of Frederick II (1228-29). It has two main aims: the first is to help repair the significant gap in the historiography that exists for Honorius III’s pontificate; the second is to put forward a different understanding of the way that papal government operated in its administration of the Holy Land crusades to that commonly propounded in the historiography. To begin by addressing the first aim, Honorius III’s pontificate has long been overshadowed by his more famous predecessor, Pope Innocent III (1198- 1216), and his successor, Pope Gregory IX (1227-41).1 Next to these two seemingly more dynamic and assertive popes, Honorius appeared less significant. He did not intervene decisively to remove candidates for the imperial throne who threatened the papacy, such as Innocent did, nor did he excommunicate and go to war with Emperor Frederick II (king of Sicily, 1208-50; king of Germany, 1211- 20; Roman-German Emperor, 1220-50), as Gregory did. Honorius’s pontificate has often been viewed as an historical backwater in which nothing really 1 Raoul Manselli, ‘Onorio III e Federico II: revisione d’un giudizio?’, Studi Romani, 11 (1963), 142. 12 happened, and he is often given short shrift in general textbooks on the papacy.2 Honorius does appear - sometimes only as a cameo - in histories of the Dominicans and Franciscans, in which he played an important role by recognising the orders in 1216 and 1223 respectively, and also in studies of Frederick II.3 Works that did mention Honorius often did so disparagingly.