Honorius depicted in a 13th-century manuscript fromWeissenau Abbey
Innocent III died on 16 July 1216. Two days later, seventeen cardinals present at his death assembled toelect a new pope. The troubled state of affairs in Italy, the threatening attitude of theTatars, and the fear of aschism induced the cardinals to agree to an election by compromise. Cardinals Ugolino of Ostia (afterwardsPope Gregory IX) and Guido Papareschi were empowered to appoint the new pope. Their choice fell upon Cencio Savelli, who accepted thetiara with reluctance and took the name of Honorius III. He was consecrated at Perugia on 24 July 1216 and was crowned at Rome on 31 August 1216. He took possession of the Lateran on 3 September 1216. The Roman people were greatly elated at the election, for Honorius III was himself a Roman and by his extreme kindness had endeared himself to the hearts of all.[1]
TheFifth Crusade was endorsed by theLateran Council of 1215, and Honorius started preparations for the crusade to begin in 1217.[9] To procure the means necessary for this colossal undertaking, the Pope, and the cardinals were to contribute the tenth part of their income for three years. All other ecclesiastics were to contribute the twentieth part. Though the money thus collected was considerable, it was by no means sufficient for a general crusade as planned by Honorius III.[1]
In July 1216, Honorius once again called uponAndrew II of Hungary to fulfill his father's vow to lead a crusade.[10] (Béla III willed property and money to Andrew, obliging him to lead a crusade to the Holy Land.) Like many other rulers, his former pupil, the Emperor Frederick II of Germany, had taken an oath to embark for the Holy Land in 1217.[1] But Frederick II hung back, and Honorius III repeatedly put off the date for the beginning of the expedition. In spite of the insistence of Honorius III, Frederick II still delayed, and theEgyptian campaign failed miserably with the loss ofDamietta on 8 September 1221.
Most rulers of Europe were engaged in wars of their own and could not leave their countries for any length of time. King Andrew II of Hungary and, somewhat later, a fleet of crusaders from the region along the LowerRhine finally departed for the Holy Land. They took Damietta and a few other places inEgypt, but a lack of unity among the Christians and rivalry between their leaders and thepapal legatePelagius resulted in failure.[1]
24 June 1225 was finally fixed as the date for the departure of Frederick II, and Honorius III brought about his marriage to QueenIsabella II of Jerusalem with a view to binding him closer to the plan. But theTreaty of San Germano in July 1225 permitted a further delay of two years.
Frederick II now made serious preparations for the crusade. In the midst of it, however, Pope Honorius III died in Rome on 18 March 1227 without seeing the achievement of his hopes. It was left to his successor,Pope Gregory IX, to insist upon their accomplishment.
Besides the liberation of the Holy Land, Honorius III felt bound to forward the repression ofCathar heresy in the south ofFrance, the war for the faith in the Spanish peninsula, the planting of Christianity in the lands along theBaltic Sea, and the maintenance of the unsustainable Latin empire in Constantinople.
Of these projects, the rooting out of heresy lay nearest to Honorius III's heart. In the south of France, he carried on Innocent III's work, confirmingSimon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester in the possession of the lands ofRaymond VI of Toulouse and succeeding, as Innocent III had not, in drawing the royal house of France into the conflict.
The most widely important event of this period was thesiege and capture of Avignon in 1226. Both Honorius III and KingLouis VIII of France turned a deaf ear to Frederick II's assertion of the claims of the Empire to that town.
In 1219 Honorius III invitedSaint Dominic and his companions to take up residence at the ancient Romanbasilica ofSanta Sabina, which they did by early 1220. Before that time the friars had only a temporary residence inRome at the convent ofSan Sisto Vecchio, which Honorius had given to St. Dominic c. 1218, intending it to become a convent for a reformation of nuns in Rome under Dominic's guidance. Thestudium conventuale at Santa Sabina was the forerunner of theDominicanstudium generale atSanta Maria sopra Minerva.[14]
Being a man of learning, Honorius insisted that the clergy receive a thorough education, especially in theology. In the case of a certain Hugh whom the chapter ofChartres had elected bishop, he withheld his approbation because the bishop-elect did not possess sufficient knowledge,quum pateretur in litteratura defectum, as the Pope stated in a letter dated 8 January 1219. He even deprived another bishop of his office on account of illiteracy. Honorius bestowed various privileges upon theUniversity of Paris andUniversity of Bologna, the two greatest seats of learning during those times. In order to facilitate the study of theology in dioceses that were distant from the great centers of learning, he ordered in the bullSuper specula Domini that some talented young men should be sent to a recognized theological school to study theology with the purpose of teaching it afterwards in their dioceses.[1]
Honorius III acquired some fame as an author. The most important of his writings is theLiber censuum Romanae ecclesiae, which is the most valuable source for the medieval position of the Church in regard to property and also serves in part as a continuation of theLiber Pontificalis. It comprises a list of the revenues of theApostolic See, a record of donations received, privileges granted, and contracts made with cities and rulers. It was begun underPope Clement III and completed in 1192 underPope Celestine III. The original manuscript of theLiber Censuum is still in existence (Vaticanus latinus 8486).[16]
Honorius III also wrote a biography of Celestine III; a biography ofGregory VII; an "Ordo Romanus", which is a sort of ceremonial containing the rites of the Church for various occasions; and thirty-four sermons.[17]
Honorius is also purported to be the author ofThe Grimoire of Pope Honorius.[18] The text was likely forged near the end of the sixteenth century, roughly four hundred years after the death of its supposed author. According toA. E. Waite, "[I]t is a malicious and somewhat clever imposture, which was undeniably calculated to deceive ignorant persons of its period who may have been magically inclined, more especially ignorant priests, since it pretends to convey the express sanction of the Apostolical Seat for the operations of Infernal Magic and Necromancy."[19]
^Magyar katolikus lexikon I–XV. Főszerk. Diós István; szerk. Viczián János. Budapest: Szent István Társulat. 1993–2010.,[1]
^St. Antoninus of Florence,Chronica, in Augustinus Theiner (editor),Caesaris S. R. E. Cardinalis Baronii, Od. Raynaldi et Jac. Laderchii Annales Ecclesiastici Tomus Vigesimus 1198-1228 (Barri-Ducis: Ludovicus Guerin 1870), under the year 1216, no. 17, p. 355.
^Recent revisionist argumentation has suggested that he might not have been a Savelli. The argument is based on the undeniable fact that there is no contemporary document that calls him Cencio Savelli. However, surnames were not in common use in the 12th and 13th century. The first use of the name Savelli is in connection with the father of Honorius IV, Luca Savelli. See Renato Lefevre, "Un papa Savelli (Onorio III) che non fu Savelli,"Strenna dei Romanisti 52 (1991) 283–290; and Gualtiero Sirtoli, "Onorio III: il permanere di un dubbio sulla sua appartenenza al lignaggio Savelli,"Frate Francesco 71 (2005), 415-431. But there is no certain proof that Honorius III didnot belong to the Savelli family.
^The date is an inference. His latest signature as a cardinal deacon was on April 13, 1200. His first signature on a document as cardinal priest occurs on November 23, 1201. SeeAugustus Potthast,Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin 1874), p. 466. Conradus Eubel,Hierarchia catholica medii aevi I editio altera (Monasterii 1913), p. 3 n. 1.
^Bárány, Attila (2012). "II. András balkáni külpolitikája [Andrew II's foreign policy in the Balkans]". In Kerny, Terézia; Smohay, András (eds.). II. András and Székesfehérvár [Andrew II and Székesfehérvár] (in Hungarian). Székesfehérvári Egyházmegyei Múzeum. p. 462.ISBN978-963-87898-4-6.
^Religiosam vitam: A. Tommassetti,Bullarum, Diplomatum, et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum Taurinensis editio III (Turin 1858), p. 309–311 (December 22, 1216).
^Solet annuere: A. Tommassetti,Bullarum, Diplomatum, et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum Taurinensis editio III (Turin 1858), p. 394–397 (November 29, 1223).
^Ut vivendi: A. Tommassetti,Bullarum, Diplomatum, et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum Taurinensis editio III (Turin 1858), p. 415–417 (January 30, 1226).
^This institution would be transformed in the 16th century into the College of Saint Thomas (Latin:Collegium Divi Thomæ), and then in the 20th century into thePontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the "Angelicum"), sited at the convent ofSaints Dominic and Sixtus. The curriculum specializes in the strict interpretation of the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas; 3/4 of its 1000 students are from the clergy.
^Grumeza, Ion (2010).The Roots of Balkanization Eastern Europe C.E. 500-1500. United States of America: University Press of America. p. 161.ISBN978-0-7618-5135-6.
^Paul Fabre,Étude sur le Liber Censuum de l'Église romain (Paris: Ernest Thorin 1892). Paul Fabre,Le liber censuum de l' Église romaine Tome I (Paris: Albert Fontemoing 1905). Paul Fabre and Louis Duchesne,Le liber censuum de l'église romaine Volume 1, Part 1 (Paris: Fontemoing 1910). Paul Fabre and L. Duchesne,Le Liber censuum de l'église romaine, Volume 2 (E. de Boccard, 1952). Giorgio Fedalto,Appunti al liber censuum romanae ecclesiae, edito nel vol. 5. delle Antiquitates italicae medii aevi (Firenze: Olschki, 1975).
^These are to be found in César Auguste Horoy,Honorii III Romani pontificis opera Omnia Vol. I (Paris 1879).
^Gardner, Gerald (2004).The Meaning of Witchcraft.Red Wheel Weiser Conari. p. 98.ISBN978-1-57863-309-8.. Alberto Fidi,Il grimorio di papa Onorio III (Milano: Alberto Fidi, 1924).Grimoire du Pape Honorius: Avec un recueil des plus rares secrets (1670).
Collins, Roger (2009).Keepers of the Keys of Heaven: A History of the Papacy. Basic Books.260
Abbé César Auguste Horoy,Honorii III Romani pontificis opera Omnia 5 vols. (Paris 1879–1882).
Pietro Pressuti (editor),I regesti del pontefice Onorio III dall anno 1216 al anno 1227 Vol. 1 (Roma 1884).
J. Clausen,Papst Honorius III (1216–1227). Eine Monographie (Bonn: P. Hauptmann 1895).
Ferdinand Gregorovius,History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Volume V.1 second edition, revised (London: George Bell, 1906) Book IX, Chapter 3, pp. 96–128.
Narciso Mengozzi,Papa Onorio III e le sue relazioni col regno di Inghilterra (Siena: L. Lazzeri, 1911).
Mauro Giacomo Sanna,Onorio III e la Sardegna (1216–1227) (Cagliari: Centro studi filologici sardi, 2013).
Pierre-Vincent Claverie,Honorius III et l'Orient (1216–1227): Étude et publication de sources inédites des Archives vaticanes (ASV) (Leiden: Brill 2013).
Thomas W. Smith,Curia and Crusade: Pope Honorius III and the Recovery of the Holy Land, 1216-1227 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017).
Initial text taken from a paper copy of the 9th edition of theEncyclopædia Britannica; 1881. Please update as needed.
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