Pope Honorius IV
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Martin IV | |
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Successor | Nicholas IV |
Orders | |
Consecration | 20 May 1285 by Latino Malabranca Orsini |
Created cardinal | 17 December 1261 by Urban IV |
Personal details | |
Born | Giacomo Savelli c. 1210 |
Died | 3 April 1287 Rome, Papal States | (aged 76–77)
Previous post(s) |
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Coat of arms | |
Other popes named Honorius |
Pope Honorius IV (c. 1210 – 3 April 1287), born Giacomo Savelli, was head of the
Early career
Giacomo Savelli was born in
In 1261 he was created
In 1274 he accompanied Gregory X to the
Savelli became Protodeacon of the Sacred College in November 1277 and as such, he crowned Popes Nicholas III on 26 December 1277 and Martin IV on 23 March 1281.
According to John Julius Norwich, he was the last pope to be married before ordination.[4]
Elected Pope
When Martin IV died on 28 March 1285, at Perugia, Cardinal Savelli was unanimously elected Pope on 2 April, on the first ballot, and took the name of Honorius IV. He remained at Perugia throughout April,[5] but, once negotiations were completed, he travelled to Rome and took up residence in the family palace next to Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill.[6] He was ordained a priest by Cardinal Latino Malabranca Orsini on May 19, and was consecrated a bishop and crowned pope on Trinity Sunday, 20 May in St. Peter's Basilica.[7] Honorius IV was already advanced in age and so severely affected with gout (or arthritis) that he could neither stand nor walk. When saying Mass he was obliged to sit in a specially constructed chair, and at the elevation of the host his hands had to be raised by a mechanical contrivance.
Sicilian Conflict
Sicilian affairs required immediate attention from the new pope. Previously, under Martin IV, the Sicilians had rejected the rule of Charles of Anjou, taking Peter III of Aragon as their king without the consent and approval of the Pope.
The massacre of 31 March 1282 known as the
Honorius did not approve of the tyrannical government the Sicilians had been subject to under Charles of Anjou. This is evident from legislation embodied in his constitution of 17 September 1285 (Constitutio super ordinatione regni Siciliae), in which he stated that no government can prosper that is not founded on justice and peace. He passed forty-five ordinances intended chiefly to protect the people of Sicily against their king and his officials.
The death of Peter III on 11 November 1285 changed the Sicilian situation in that his kingdoms were divided between his two oldest sons: Alfonso III of Aragon, who received the crown of Aragon, and James II of Aragon, who succeeded as King of Sicily. Honorius IV acknowledged neither the one nor the other: on 11 April 1286, he solemnly excommunicated King James II of Sicily and the bishops who had taken part in his coronation at Palermo on 2 February. Neither the king nor the bishops concerned themselves about the excommunication. The king even sent a hostile fleet to the Roman coast and destroyed the city of Astura by fire.
Charles of Salerno, the Angevin pretender, who was still held captive by the Sicilians, finally grew tired of his long captivity and signed a contract on 27 February 1287 in which he renounced his claims to the kingdom of Sicily in favour of James II of Aragon and his heirs. Honorius IV, however, declared the contract invalid and forbade all similar agreements for the future.
While Honorius IV was inexorable in the stand he had taken towards Sicily, his relations towards Alfonso III of Aragon became less hostile. Through the efforts of King Edward I of England, negotiations for peace were begun by Honorius IV and King Alfonso III. The Pope, however, did not live long enough to complete these negotiations, which finally resulted in a peaceful settlement of the Aragonese as well as the Sicilian question in 1302 under Pope Boniface VIII.
Rome
Rome and the Papal States enjoyed a period of tranquillity during the reign of Honorius IV, the like of which they had not enjoyed for many years. He had the satisfaction of reducing the most powerful and obstinate enemy of papal authority, Count Guy of Montefeltro, who for many years had successfully resisted the papal troops. The authority of the pope was now recognized throughout the Papal States, which then comprised the Ravenna, the March of Ancona, the Duchy of Spoleto, the County of Bertinoro, the Mathildian lands, and the Pentapolis, i.e., the cities of Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Senigallia, and Ancona. Honorius IV was the first pope to employ the great family banking houses of central and northern Italy for the collection of papal dues.
The Romans were greatly elated at the election of Honorius IV, for he was a citizen of Rome and a brother of Pandulf, a senator of Rome. The continuous disturbances in Rome during the pontificate of Martin IV had not allowed that pope to live in Rome, but now the Romans cordially invited Honorius IV to make Rome his permanent residence. During the first few months of his pontificate he lived in the Vatican, but in the autumn of 1285 he removed to the magnificent palace he had just erected on the Aventine.
Empire
In his relations with the
Other acts
Honorius IV inherited plans for another
The two largest religious orders received many new privileges from Honorius IV, documented in his Regesta. He often appointed them to special missions and to bishoprics, and gave them exclusive charge of the Inquisition.
He also approved the privileges of the
At the
He raised only one man to be cardinal, his cousin
The
Contacts with the Mongols
The Mongol ruler Arghun sent an embassy and a letter to Pope Honorius IV in 1285, a Latin translation of which is preserved in the Vatican. It mentions the links to Christianity of Arghun's family, and proposes a combined military conquest of Muslim lands:
"As the land of the Muslims, that is, Syria and Egypt, is placed between us and you, we will encircle and strangle ("estrengebimus") it. We will send our messengers to ask you to send an army to Egypt, so that us on one side, and you on the other, we can, with good warriors, take it over. Let us know through secure messengers when you would like this to happen. We will chase the
Saracens, with the help of the Lord, the Pope, and the Great Khan."— Extract from the 1285 letter from Arghun to Honorius IV, Vatican Archives[8]
Honorius IV was hardly capable of acting on this invasion and could not muster the military support necessary to achieve this plan.
See also
References
- ^ Ingrid Baumgartner, "Savelli," Die grossen Familien Italiens (ed. Volker Reinhardt) (Stuttgart 1992), 480-534.
- ^ Luigi Pompili Olivieri, Il senato Romano I (Roma 1886), p. 197.
- ^ Bernhard Pawlicki, Papst Honorius IV. Eine Monographie (Münster 1896), p. 4.
- ^ Norwich, John Julius, Absolute Monarchs, London: 2011, page 196, footnote
- ^ Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum II (Berlin 1875), 1795-1796.
- ^ Maria Floriani Squarciapino, "Aventino pagano e cristiano. La zona di Santa Sabina e del palazzo Savelli," Scavi e ricerche archeologiche degli anni 1976-1979 2 (1985), 257-259. Pierre-Yves Le Pogam, "Cantieri e residenze dei papi nella seconda meta del XIII secolo. Il caso del castello Savelli sull'Aventino," Domus et splendida palatia. Residenze papali e cardinalizie a Roma fra XII e XV secolo. Atti della giornata di studi... 23 novembre 2002 (ed. Alessio Monciatti) (Pisa 2004), 77-87.
- ^ Potthast, p. 1797.
- ^ Rene Grousset, p. 700.
Bibliography
- F. Gregorovius, History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Volume V.2 second edition, revised (London: George Bell, 1906) 491–515.
- Grousset, René (1935). Histoire des Croisades III, 1188-1291 (in French). Editions Perrin. ISBN 978-2-262-02569-4.
- Venditelli, Marco, "Onorio IV," Enciclopedia dei papi (Roma 2000) I, pp. 449–455.
External links
- Biography, newadvent.org. Accessed 23 February 2024.
- The cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, fiu.edu. Accessed 23 February 2024.