| Abstract | Paper -a:
No abstract submitted
Paper -b:
Innocent III (1198–1216) canonized Gilbert of Sempringham, the founder of the Order of Sempringham, which was made up of a double community of nuns and the canons who served them. Innocent had a keen interest in the vita apostolica and had encouraged a number of groups to pursue a variety of models of religious life. From the beginning of his pontificate, Honorius III (1216–1227) attempted to persuade the community at Sempringham to send a small community to Rome, where a church and convent would be provided for them. It is tempting to see this development as an extension of Innocent III’s policy of attracting new religious communities to Rome and establishing model communities there for the mutual benefit of the papacy and the wider Church. However, this policy did not originate with Innocent III and Honorius’s initiative can equally be seen as the continuation of a more established tradition, championed, among others, by his own mentor, Celestine III (1191–1198). This paper seeks to emphasise the extent to which Innocent III was himself a follower in earlier papal footsteps rather than the innovator he has sometimes been presented as.
Paper -c:
Jacques de Vitry's Historia Orientalis should not be looked at merely in the context of his preaching activities for the crusading cause. This encyclopedia of the Holy Land is a syncretic work that also has to be seen in the light of De Vitry's efforts for the reform movement of Lateran IV. Not only did the book provide Rome with an extensive report on the Holy Land to use in their policy making towards the Crusades, but it also provided preachers and papal legates with all kinds of information in addition to his Historia Occidentalis to support the policies of both Innocent III and Honorius III. This paper will focus on the life of Jacques de Vitry and how his education, career, and travels greatly influenced his writings.
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