How Did Pope Innocent III Influence The Crusade Movement

Pope Innocent III initiated numerous technical innovations in the organization of the crusades specifically concerning raising funds, universal recruitment, and preaching the cross. Innocent III’s crusading bulls forcefully reclaimed the authority of the crusade for the papacy. For the first time under Innocent III, the Church led the crusade movement in all its entirety. Reinvented by Innocent III and further developed by his successors, the crusade movement capitalized on the concept of Christendom to define and further extend the religious and political boundaries of papal power. Pope Innocent III undertook an extensive reform that fundamentally changed the character of crusading and put into action a program which consistently increased

For Innocent III, this reorganization of the principles of the crusading movement meant its close association with the Church. Innocent’s program aimed to make the mechanics of recruitment and financing more efficient and to guarantee the Pope’s executive leadership and complete supremacy over the entire crusading movement. In a circular letter sent across Europe during 1212, the Pope urged the bishops to arrange processions modeled after the one he had held in Rome at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. This drawing upon banners, liturgical crosses, and relics to craft his new program and liturgical form of intercession for the crusade were orchestrated monthly. While intercessory processions had been long been employed on local basis to avert undesirable situations both natural and superstitious, Innocent’s appeal was the first time which procession were held throughout Christendom for the benefit of the crusading

Through these doctrines, Innocent continued to form and give direction to the Church. Orchestrated initially by Innocent’s preparations in the publication of Quia maior, the Fifth Crusade was launched under Pope Honorius III in 1217. This change in leadership was a radical shift within itself, given that instead of individual nobles or an emperor leading as they had been in previous crusades the Pope now lead the crusade. Being far more carefully planned and financed than earlier crusades, the Fifth Crusade revealed a greater degree of commitment as well as reflected a new degree of spirituality of those taking on the “imitatio Christi”. The Fifth Crusade marked a major shift in crusade strategy, not only in the populist shift of Christendom but in the location of the siege. Aimed at Egypt instead of Syria, the crusaders intended to break Muslim power in the region through the capture of key locations across Egypt and in turn trade them for Jerusalem. Verging upon the edge of success throughout the expedition, the Fifth Crusade failed mainly due to the divided and segmentation leadership between Christian forces. Undermined by a combination of personal and ideological differences, Cardinal Pelagius maintained that the Crusaders were under the jurisdiction of the Church. Sustaining this stance, Pelagius refused to accept the leadership of