ABSTRACT

The registers of Honorius  III contain almost 200 letters dealing with the organization and support of the Fifth Crusade, the departure of which was scheduled for June 1217 by the Fourth Lateran Council. The papacy wanted to entrust the negotium Terre Sancte to the faithful who had solemnly received the sign of the cross. Medieval canonists distinguished the crucesignati from crucesignandi, whose declarations of intent should have been followed by a solemn commitment to the defence of the holy places. During the Fifth Crusade, these fighters received a significant amount of correspondence from Honorius, whom we know oversaw the drafting of the curial letters sent during his pontificate because there is evidence that he corrected the addresses of letters which seemed to him to be erroneous.2