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The College of Cardinals Under Honorius III: A Nepotistic Household?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Thomas W. Smith
Thomas W. Smith*
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London
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Extract

The College of Cardinals constituted the innermost circle of the medieval papal household – arguably one of the most important households in Christendom – whose influence was sought by envoys pursuing diplomatic affairs and petitioners looking to secure grace and justice. The relationships between the pope and the cardinals of his household, and of the household with those outside the papal curia, were integral to the operation of papal government. The college consulted with the pope on matters of politics and everyday church administration, and its specific roles included the election of new popes, the concession of privileges, auditing legal cases heard at the papal curia, deployment of its members as legates a latere, and the administration of important curial departments. Although the pope could not dismiss existing cardinals, it was the personal prerogative of the reigning pope to select clergy for appointment to this elite household, although his decisions seem to have been subject to ratification by the existing members of the college, whose exact level of involvement in appointments remains unclear.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 50: Religion and the Household , 2014 , pp. 74 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2014

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Footnotes

*

I wish to express my gratitude to Barbara Bombi, Sarah Foot, Bernard Hamilton, Christopher Tilley and the editors of Studies in Church History for commenting on this essay.

References

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28 Reg. Vat. 9, fol. 201v (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, no. 1015); ET Vincent, Nicholas: The Letters and Charters of Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, Papal Legate in England, 1216-1218 (Woodbridge, 1996), lxxiii, 144–5 (no. 177)Google Scholar; John Doran kindly brought this reference to my attention.

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32 Reg. Vat. 11, fol. 107r (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, no. 3241).

33 Regesta, ed. Pressutti, nos 1177, 2095, 2096; Acta Honorii III (1216-1221) et Grcgorii IX (1227-1241) e registris vaticanis aliisque fontibus collegit, ed. Tautu, A. L. (Vatican City, 1950), 98–9 (no. 69).Google Scholar

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38 Reg. Vat. 9, fol. 249 (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, no. 1277).

39 Reg. Vat. 10, fols 43v, 46 (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, nos 1781, 1798).

40 Reg.Vat. 10, fol. 92v (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, no. 2055).

41 Reg.Vat. 10, fol. 173r (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, no. 2405).

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48 Eubel, Hierarchia, 5, not to be confused with his predecessor as cardinal bishop of Tusculum (1204-18/19), also named Nicholas.

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55 Regesta, ed. Pressutti, nos 2043, 2204, 4447, 4562, 5449, 5639, 6000.

56 Reg. Vat. 10, fol. 131v (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, no. 2201).

57 Reg. Vat. 10, fol. I40v (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, no. 2261).

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61 Ibid. 281-2; Eubel, Hicrarchia, 93.

62 Maleczek, Petrus, 281.

63 Reg. Vat. 10, fols 86r, 152r (Regesta, ed. Pressutti, nos 2031, 2285); Ganzer, Entwicklung, 165.

64 Regesta, ed. Pressutti, nos 2321, 3449, 3793, 6232; Maleczek, Petrus, 282.

65 Eubel, Hierarchia, 5; Hoogeweg, H., ed., Die Schriften des kölner Domsclwlasters, späleren Bischofs von Paderborn und Kardinal-Bischofs von S. Sabina (Tübingen, 1894), 1.Google Scholar

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69 Ibid.

70 See Vincent’s point regarding Innocent III’s creation of Guala Bicchieri: Letters, ed. Vincent, xxxiv.

71 Doran, ‘Lifetime’, 31-2.

72 Maleczek, Kardinalskolleg, 294. Innocent III, however, made considerable use of Cistercians to combat heresy in southern France: Moore, John. C., Pope Innocent III (1160/61-1216): To Root up and to Plant (Leiden, 2003), 152–3.Google Scholar