Pope Innocent III and the secular crusades

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject History of Europe - Middle Ages, Early Modern Age, grade: 74.0%, Durham University, language: English, abstract: Propagated in his papal bull of April 1213, the "Vineam domini sabaoth", is Pope Innocent III's essential conception of, and approach to, his duty as Supreme Pontiff: "Among all the good things which our heart can desire, there are two in this world which we value above all: that is to promote the recovery of the Holy Land and the reform of the universal church".

This bull, summoning the ecclesiastical leaders of Western Christendom to the Fourth Lateran Council, provides an essential background to our examination of "crusade" during the pontificate of Pope Innocent III. It reflects the crucial foundation by which Innocent directed his efforts, and the efforts of his curia, in the years 1198-1216, whereby crusade and crusading achieved a primacy in the formulation of papal policy (unrivalled up this point in the history of the crusading movement), a primacy which was challenged only, but importantly not surpassed, by "the reform of the universal church".