Editing Pope Honorius III (section)

===Fifth Crusade===
[[File:LANCUM-9BA377, Medieval papal bulla of Honorius III (FindID 217402).jpg|thumb|[[Papal bulla]] of Honorius III ]]
The [[Fifth Crusade]] was endorsed by the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran|Lateran Council]] of 1215, and Honorius started preparations for the crusade to begin in 1217.<ref>Smith, Thomas W. (2013). "[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/28904246.pdf Pope Honorius III and the Holy Land Crusades, 1216–1227: A Study in Responsive Papal Government]“. Ph.D thesis, University of London.</ref> To procure the means necessary for this colossal undertaking, the Pope, and the cardinals were to contribute the tenth part of their income for three years. All other ecclesiastics were to contribute the twentieth part. Though the money thus collected was considerable, it was by no means sufficient for a general crusade as planned by Honorius III.<ref name="Catholic"/>

Far-reaching prospects seemed to open before him when Honorius crowned [[Peter II of Courtenay]] as [[Latin Empire|Latin Emperor]] of [[Constantinople]] in April 1217, but the new Emperor was captured on his eastward journey by the [[Despotate of Epirus|despot of Epirus]], [[Theodore Komnenos Doukas]], and died in confinement.

In July 1216, Honorius once again called upon [[Andrew II of Hungary]] to fulfill his father's vow to lead a crusade.<ref>Bárány, Attila (2012). "II. András balkáni külpolitikája [Andrew II's foreign policy in the Balkans]". In Kerny, Terézia; Smohay, András (eds.). II. András and Székesfehérvár [Andrew II and Székesfehérvár] (in Hungarian). Székesfehérvári Egyházmegyei Múzeum. p. 
462. {{ISBN|978-963-87898-4-6}}.</ref> (Béla III willed property and money to Andrew, obliging him to lead a crusade to the Holy Land.) Like many other rulers, his former pupil, the Emperor Frederick II of Germany, had taken an oath to embark for the Holy Land in 1217.<ref name="Catholic"/> But Frederick II hung back, and Honorius III repeatedly put off the date for the beginning of the expedition. In spite of the insistence of Honorius III, Frederick II still delayed, and the [[Egypt]]ian campaign failed miserably with the loss of [[Damietta]] on 8 September 1221.

Most rulers of Europe were engaged in wars of their own and could not leave their countries for any length of time. King Andrew II of Hungary and, somewhat later, a fleet of crusaders from the region along the Lower [[Rhine]] finally departed for the Holy Land. They took Damietta and a few other places in [[Egypt]], but a lack of unity among the Christians and rivalry between their leaders and the [[papal legate]] [[Pelagius (papal legate)|Pelagius]] resulted in failure.<ref name="Catholic"/>

24 June 1225 was finally fixed as the date for the departure of Frederick II, and Honorius III brought about his marriage to Queen [[Isabella II of Jerusalem]] with a view to binding him closer to the plan. But the [[Treaty of San Germano]] in July 1225 permitted a further delay of two years.

Frederick II now made serious preparations for the crusade. In the midst of it, however, Pope Honorius III died in Rome on 18 March 1227 without seeing the achievement of his hopes. It was left to his successor, [[Pope Gregory IX]], to insist upon their accomplishment.

Besides the liberation of the Holy Land, Honorius III felt bound to forward the repression of [[Cathar]] heresy in the south of [[France]], the war for the faith in the Spanish peninsula, the planting of Christianity in the lands along the [[Baltic Sea]], and the maintenance of the unsustainable Latin empire in Constantinople.

Of these projects, the rooting out of heresy lay nearest to Honorius III's heart. In the south of France, he carried on Innocent III's work, confirming [[Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester]] in the possession of the lands of [[Raymond VI of Toulouse]] and succeeding, as Innocent III had not, in drawing the royal house of France into the conflict.

The most widely important event of this period was the [[Siege of Avignon (1226)|siege and capture of Avignon]] in 1226. Both Honorius III and King [[Louis VIII of France]] turned a deaf ear to Frederick II's assertion of the claims of the Empire to that town.