ABSTRACT
This chapter had its origin in a conversation with Leonard Boyle to whom the author, like many others, owe an immense debt of gratitude. Leonard Boyle preferred to think of himself as a medievalist, a broader term than historian because it includes everything that is relevant to the study of medieval life and thought. His desire was for each of people to be constant in their attempt 'to make the wisdom of the past part of the present and of the future', in other words to come to comprehend thereby to enhance 'the human condition in the present from their study of the past'. Innocent's own devotional sympathies may be inferred from his writings as being close to monastic practice and as pope he introduced a more modest standard of living for himself and his household in contrast to that of some of his predecessors.
