Honorius III

(d. 1227)

   Pope.

   Honorius was born Censio Savelli in Rome, Italy. He became a Cardinal in 1193, was tutor to Frederick II and was elected Pope in 1216 in succession to Innocent III. He was greatly involved in the politics of Europe; he crowned Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor and Peter of Courtney, Emperor of Byzantium. He supported the boy-king Henry III of England and he arbitrated between Philip II of France and James of Aragon. His main concern, however, was to liberate Jerusalem from Muslim control, to which end he called the Fifth Crusade; this did not prove a success. More significantly he encouraged the new Dominican and Franciscan Orders and he continued a crusade against the heresy of the Albigensians, whom his forces crushed with utmost ferocity. Many of his writings survive, including an important collection of Canon Laws.

   J.N.D. Kelly (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (1986);

   J.E. Sayers, Papal Government in England during the Pontificate of Honorius III (1984).